Latest news with #Comprehensive
Business Insider
06-05-2025
- Health
- Business Insider
A woman was diagnosed with colon cancer at 31. She had unexplained abdominal pain for years and cycled through multiple diets.
For years, Naiké Vorbe tried to ease her abdominal pain. A dietitian advised her to cut gluten and lactose, but nothing worked. Stomach discomfort wasn't new for her: throughout most of her adult life, she cycled from being constipated to having diarrhea. "I was constantly one or the other," Vorbe, 42, told Business Insider. When she was pregnant with her second child, she saw a gynecologist. Her bowel movements were explained away as common pregnancy symptoms. Then the pain intensified. After she gave birth to her daughter, "going to the bathroom was more excruciating for me than giving birth," Vorbe said. She kept touching her stomach, knowing that something was wrong. Lying down, she felt a lump. Shortly after, Vorbe, who lived in Haiti, booked an appointment with a GI. He immediately told her to fly to Miami from Haiti and see a specialist for colon cancer at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami. At 31, two months after giving birth, Vorbe was diagnosed with stage 3B colon cancer. Fighting for her fertility In 2014, a few weeks after her colonoscopy revealed a malignant tumor, Vorbe underwent surgery to get part of her colon removed. Months later, the cancer spread to her liver. Vorbe had no idea what her immediate future would look like. She had a six-year-old daughter and a newborn back in Haiti, along with the rest of her family. Her then-fiancé (now husband), a film director, was traveling a lot for his first movie. She said she asked her doctor to end her chemotherapy appointments on Thursdays, so she could fly back to Haiti on Friday and stay through Monday to be with her older daughter for the next 10 days. Then, she'd repeat the process. Zooming out even more, she was concerned about how chemotherapy would affect her fertility. She wanted more kids, so she asked her doctor if she'd be able to have children after treatment. She said he told her that saving her life was the priority. "But for my life to be worth it, I need the answer to this," Vorbe told him. He connected her to a gynecologist who administered a gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) every month, which temporarily suppressed ovary function and reduced the risk of chemotherapy-induced infertility. Vorbe described him as a "big angel" in her life. "Every ball I threw at him, he worked with me," she said. She did 12 rounds of chemotherapy. After her 4th, she was scheduled to have part of her liver removed. She took a break from chemo for a few weeks to recover, marrying her husband back in Haiti. When she returned, the tumor on her liver was gone. The part was still removed out of caution, but when it was dissected, no traces of cancer could be found. Vorbe wanted to quit chemotherapy earlier, now that the tumors were gone. Her doctor insisted on 12 cycles, to give her the best chance of long-term survival. Dr. Daniel Sussman, Vorbe's physician and a gastroenterologist at the University of Miami Health System, told BI that in 2014, when Vorbe was treated, 12 cycles of chemo was "probably considered what was necessary" to increase the likelihood of successful treatment. An underlying genetic risk As a child, Vorbe remembers having unexplained stomach pain. Her father would take her to the doctor to be tested for worms and parasites. When she developed the lump in her abdomen as an adult, a gynecologist initially told her to try an enema. "I was overlooked and pushed to the side because I was so young, I looked healthy," she said. Additionally, she said discussions around bowel movements are taboo in Haitian culture. "You don't really speak about gastrointestinal issues." When she was diagnosed with colon cancer, she took a recommended gene panel and learned she had Lynch syndrome, a symptomless genetic condition that raises the risk of developing colon cancer. She wondered if her grandmother, who died at 48, had it, too. "Nobody ever understood that's what happened to her," Vorbe said. Sussman, who specializes in Lynch syndrome and was involved in diagnosing Vorbe, said that because the field of genetics is so young, entire families may have unknown genetic predispositions for certain cancers. Naiké "ended up being that first person in the family to undergo that genetic evaluation," he said. Her mom was diagnosed with uterine cancer earlier Vorbe, now a mom of five, has been in remission for 10 years. As a former colon cancer patient, she gets the recommended yearly colonoscopies. She also gets an endoscopy every two years, as Lynch syndrome puts her at risk of developing other cancers. She said learning about Lynch syndrome not only helped her understand her diagnosis better. It also helped her mom, who carries the same genetic risk, to get diagnosed with uterine cancer early. Her mother had a polyp in her uterus that was left alone because it hadn't grown over the years. When she told her gynecologist that Vorbe had Lynch syndrome and was being treated for colon cancer, her doctor immediately scheduled a biopsy. Vorbe's mother was diagnosed with stage 1 uterine cancer and had her uterus removed. Vorbe said her family is what kept her going through treatments. She remembers thinking "There's no way I can die: I have these two beautiful little girls right in front of me. I want to see them grow up." Despite being over a two-hour flight away, her family buoyed her throughout her recovery. Her godmother flew with her to her first chemo appointment. Her cousins flew to Miami to be in the house after the appointment, to cheer her up. In Haiti, her sister-in-law would care for Vorbe's baby overnight, then bring her to Vorbe in the morning. "I had so much love and light around me, it just carried me," Vorbe said.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Essex begins planning for town's future
ESSEX — The Town of Essex has started the process of updating its plan for the future of the town. The town would like residents to take a survey about what they envision for the community in the coming years, Essex Town Supervisor Ken Hughes said. 'This Comprehensive Plan update is a critical opportunity for our community to come together and shape the future of Essex,' Hughes said in a news release. 'We encourage all residents to participate in this process and help create a vision that reflects our shared values and aspirations.' Key points of the Essex Comprehensive Plan update process include: - Community involvement: Residents, local stakeholders, and businesses will play a vital role in identifying and evaluating existing conditions, issues, and opportunities. - Smart Growth principles: The update will be based on Smart Growth principles, ensuring sustainable and efficient development. - Vision and implementation: The plan will reflect community goals and include a clear implementation strategy. CONSULTANT PLAN The Town of Essex hired LaBella Associates of Latham as consultants to guide the planning process and help with community engagement. Jamie Konkoski is the senior planner at LaBella working with the town. In cooperation with the town, LaBella will develop an updated plan, which will include an overview of existing conditions, a series of goals for the future of Essex, and strategies to implement these goals, Hughes said. A Comprehensive Plan Local Committee chaired by Kristin Kimball was already formed to provide input on all elements of the plan and planning process, he said. The committee will meet next at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 26 at Whallonsburg Grange Hall. Meetings are open to the public. The updated plan will expand upon the town's 2002 Comprehensive Plan and more recent planning initiatives such as the Historic Hamlet Revitalization Strategy and Essex Marine Base Complex Adaptive Use Feasibility Study. Hughes said the town has created a web page to keep the community informed on progress of revising the plan. It's at: and also includes a link to the survey online. The site will be updated with plan information as it develops, Hughes said. 'Community members are encouraged to check the site for event dates, plan updates, and general information throughout the process.,' he said. Printed copies of the survey are also available at the Essex Town Hall and can be filled out and returned.
CBS News
15-02-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Dolphins Cancer Challenge funds research and hope
MIAMI GARDENS – The Dolphins Cancer Challenge has raised more than $75 million for Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, since the ride started in 2010. Why Sylvester? It's the only National Cancer Institute designated cancer center in all South Florida. It conducted 120 new clinical trials in 2023 alone. Sylvester is also home to 2,500 physicians, scientists and support staff who are saving lives daily. That's in large part due to funding raised through the DCC. "We have this incredible partnership that allows us to do things that no other cancer center can do. We can run programs like "Believe in You," we can hire the brightest talent, we can have the best equipment. It allows us to recruit not only the top-of-the-line scientists and physicians, but it attracts younger, our brightest minds that are the future," Dr. Tracy Crane said. Cancer survivor looks forward to the "challenge" Dr. Crane is the Director of Lifestyle Medicine and Prevention and Digital Health at Sylvester. She's also a DCC participant. It's something she said she looks forward to every year. "I get to be out there with 160 survivors and their support people and be able to participate with all of them. The energy between the cyclists coming in over the finish line. Having all these people there together for the common purpose of trying to fight cancer and make things better. It's an incredible day and an incredible moment," she said. "If I could bottle it up, I could sell it because it's an incredible day full of happiness and hope and talking about the future and that's what we're really after. The future for these survivors and making it the best it can be." Cancer research is about more than finding a cure Dr. Crane's focus isn't just on finding a cure. It's also on helping patients reduce symptoms, improve quality of life and make treatments work better to improve their long term outcomes. "I would say cancer, in most cases, is not a death sentence. It's scary and it's a hard thing to go through. Your whole support system goes through it with you. It can be life changing. But it doesn't mean it's the end. There's so much you can do and there is so much hope," she said. Dr. Cane said that hope is amplified through the DCC. "This bolster of money that can come into Sylvester from something like the DCC can allow us to get to what we call pilot data. It's the first preliminary findings that you need to then go after these larger federal grants. So, it can significantly shorten the time that we are able to get to finding an answer."
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NYC after-school providers warn programs could close without more funds
New York City providers who run free after-school for tens of thousands of children are asking Mayor Adams for an infusion of cash — or risk closing programs. On Thursday, 62 organizations — representing about 2 in 5 of those contracted to run after-school programs for the city — sent a letter warning that more than a decade of disinvestment has pushed them to a breaking point, with the best-case scenario still jeopardizing the quality of their programming. 'This puts providers in an impossible position,' read the letter drafted by United Neighborhood Houses, an umbrella organization representing local settlement houses. 'If we refuse to sign the extensions, it means closing programs that our families rely upon and laying off valued and dedicated staff. 'However, if we do sign the extensions, we are greenlighting the City's underinvestment and committing ourselves to barebones programs or utilizing lines of credit just to be able to meet the basic requirements of the program,' their plea continued. Instead of running its own after-school programs, the city's Department of Youth and Community Development awards contracts to independent operators, mainly through two programs: the Comprehensive After School System of NYC (COMPASS NYC) and School's Out New York City (SONYC). The families of up to 93,000 children rely on the system for childcare and enrichment after regular school hours. The programs typically run from school dismissal through the end of the workday, and may focus on homework help, leadership development, civics, sports or arts, among others. 'I don't know of many families who have the ability to have one parent staying home like they used to — New York is just too expensive,' said Nora Moran, director of policy and advocacy at the United Neighborhood Houses. 'So after-school really helps to fill that gap.' But rather than renegotiate those contracts, Adams and his predecessors have circumvented the standard procurement process with a series of short-term contract extensions, according to the letter. Paired with persistent delays during the Adams administration in paying city contractors, providers say they are in a bind. 'Our real fear is that if we wait another year, we're going to see organizations start to say, 'I can't do this anymore,' or 'I can't swing it or wait another year until there's a new contract in place,'' Moran said. As of this year, rates were negotiated at least a decade ago, with some after-school contracts dating back to 2011. The letter's signers — which also include the nonprofits Children's Aid, Citizens' Committee for Children of New York and the YMCA of Greater NY — claim the city's youth development officials have been promising a new request for proposals, or RFP, 'for months' to no avail. City officials who work with young people said they expect the more than 150 after-school providers will continue programming under their existing contracts and confirmed a concept paper is in development — the precursor to a request for proposals. 'COMPASS remains the largest afterschool program of its kind in the nation,' said Mark Zustovich, spokesman for the Department of Youth and Community Development. 'Extending COMPASS contracts through fiscal year 2026 helps ensure uninterrupted services for young people, and a safe place for families to send their children after regular school hours. DYCD looks forward to receiving ongoing feedback from our outstanding providers, as we work together to build the next generation of COMPASS programs.' The pressure campaign comes as Adams' challengers have seized on childcare as a top issue in this year's mayoral race. Zellnor Myrie, a Democratic state senator, has made free after-school a central tenet of his campaign. Other candidates have called for extending universal childcare programs to the families of 2-year-olds. United Neighborhood Houses has proposed a phase-in process for higher contract rates, starting next school year with a halfway base rate, per pupil increase of COMPASS elementary to $4,900 and SONYC middle school programs to $4,150. By the 2027 fiscal year, researchers said the city should cover the 'true cost' of high-quality care — which covers the cost of labor, state-mandated health and safety guidelines, and other services, such as licensed social workers. 'In this moment when you rightly have focused on making New York City more affordable for working families,' the letter said, referencing Adams' recent State of the City address, 'we must focus on equitable and sustainable funding for one of the basic supports the City provides them — after-school.'
