Judges’ comments:
When the diagnosis is cancer, a patient can count on receiving the full attention of medical staff, family, and the most powerful tools in medicine. The all are bent to one purpose: eradicating the tumor and and the deadly threat within. If the cancer wins, the patient dies. But what happens when the patient wins? Cure‘s winter issue answers that question brilliantly, and hauntingly. In “The Cost of Living,” writer Kathy LaTour explores the little known, dangerous after-effects of radiation therapy, some of which don’t come to light until years after the cancer is declared in remission. The irony here: Many of these side effects wouldn’t affect a patient unless he or she lived to a ripe old age, so a successful cure might mean a painful afterlife of health woes. Is the cure worse than the disease? The Cure helps us explore that vexing possibility.
This briskly told story manages to tackle a little-known topic – ‘late effects’ of radiation – with thorough, detailed reporting and compelling storytelling. And it deftly underscores a central irony – that radiation can save lives but also shorten them. The piece also includes valuable information on what doctors and patients should be doing to minimize ‘late effects; it doesn’t t just lay out the problem but also solutions.
1. Provide the title of your story or series and the names of the journalists involved.
The Cost of Living by Kathy LaTour
2. List date(s) this work was published or aired.
December 2010, 2010 Winter Issue, CURE magazine, the country’s largest direct to patient cancer publication
3. Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
a. In 2006, the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council released From Cancer Patient to Cancer Survivor: Lost in Transition. The goal of the study, the first of its kind, was to examine the range of medical and psychological issues faced by cancer survivors and to make recommendations to improve their health and quality of life. One such recommendation was the recognition that cancer survivors have unique medical needs and should have available, specialized follow-up care. Since then, clinicians and researchers have begun addressing the issues of who provides survivor care, how that care is delivered, and what services are provided. What has not received adequate focus are those long-term survivors who are at risk for late effects as a result of treatment received 10, 20, or 40 years ago. 1. There are 12 million cancer survivors in the country and an estimated 50 % received radiation as part of their treatment. This article looks at one segment of those survivors. 2. New research on long- term cancer survivors who received radiation as part of their treatment shows that some are walking time bombs. The article explains how, over time, radiation damages the cells in a way that creates the perfect conditions for heart attacks and strokes by clogging arteries. In addition, radiation can cause second cancers, and, for women who received radiation in the chest area for Hodgkin Lymphoma, there is a high probability they will be diagnosed with breast cancer. 3. The survivor population for the most part is unaware of these risks, and those who are don’t know what to do to cope with the possibility that what kept them alive is now killing them. b. Sidebar 1 is an interview with Anthony Zietman, MD, the head of the American Society of Radiation Oncology, who himself has a sister who has had heart problems as a result of radiation for Hodgkin Lymphoma. Zietman speaks primarily to the concerns of today’s patients that they receive the right dosage in the correct way to prevent the late effects experienced by older survivors. c. Sidebar 2. Now what? If you had radiation that you are concerned may have caused other issues, how do you determine this. This sidebar tells survivors where to go in the country for the specialized follow up they may need and
4. Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
a. The IOM report of 2006. Newly released studies on the late effects of radiation causing stroke and heart attack. b. Journal articles showing the effect radiation has on cells. c. Childhood Cancer Survivor Study, a multi-institution effort that since 1994 has followed some 14,000 five-year survivors of childhood and adolescent cancer diagnosed between 1970 and 1986.
5. Explain types of human sources used.
a. Two cancer survivors: Sam LaMonte, MD, A head and neck surgeon who was diagnosed with head and neck cancer himself and has experience significant late effects to the point that he is now one of the country’s top advocates for survivorship. b. Eileen Gould, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma a number of years ago and has had significant heart problems and a second cancer diagnosis of breast cancer. c. Michael Stubblefield, MD, is an assistant attending physiatrist, or rehabilitation physician, in the Rehabilitation Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. d. Kevin Oeffinger, MD, a primary care physician and director of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Adult Long-Term Follow-Up Program. e. Anthony Zietman, MD, chair of American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).
6. Results (if any).
The story was published in December 2010, so results have not yet come in.
7. Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
None.
8. Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
The entire area of cancer survivorship is very new, meaning there are 12 million people in the US who are not being given information on the physical and emotional results of cancer treatment. In some instances the research is only now becoming available, but patients have the story that is anecdotal. Those in the medical field will see a trend based on patient stories and begin following it, but the publicity to those at high risk won’t go out until there is considerable science, even if the medical field has come to accept it. For our magazine, which is the only one in the country that covers cancer survivorship, this kind of story could save a reader’s life.