Cancer Lifeline believes cancer survivors - from diagnoses - their families, friends and coworkers, and caregivers are all people living with cancer. They believe that emotional, spiritual, and mental components of health are as important as the physical. Cancer Lifeline values listening to the needs of their clients and creating excellent services to meet those needs.

One of the things I loved about reading and seeing on their website is the beautiful healing gardens. If you live in the Seattle area this is a beautiful place to visit.

• The Earth/Sky Garden - is partly open to the sky and lovely views, and partly sheltered by an arbor.
• The Celebration Garden - is completely open to the sun and sky and populated with a wide variety of colorful plants.
• The Reflection Garden - is a place for contemplation and meditation. Quiet shadows mix with rich greens of shade-loving plants, while a small fountain bubbles across rocks and moss.

These gardens are just a small taste of what you can experience at Cancer Lifeline. Click here to find out all of what Cancer Lifeline has to offer.

All Cancer Lifeline services are free of charge.

If your mom was one to harp on you about eating your vegetables, it was likely because she knew how good veggies are for the body. Moms everywhere now have research on their side.

A large study of 500,000 American retirees has shown that increasing consumption of fruits or vegetables is enough to reduce the risk of head and neck cancer. Specifically, eating six servings of fruit and vegetables per day per 1,000 calories cut the risk of these cancers by 29 percent compared to eating one and a half servings.

"It may not sound like news that vegetables protect from cancer, but there is actually some controversy in the literature," says Dr. Alan Kristal, associate head of the cancer prevention program at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

Clearly, diet plays a role in cancer. Experts believe that up to two-thirds of all cancer cases stem from lifestyle factors such as smoking, lack of exercise, and diet. So keep crunching those carrots and growing those green beans. You'll make your momma proud.

Researchers have found that when cells become cancerous, they become 100 times more likely to genetically mutate than non-cancerous cells. This explains why tumor cells have so many mutations. Good news on the research front. But bad news on the treatment front -- because therapies that target a certain gene may be largely ineffective in controlling cancer.

"This is very bad news, because it means that cancer cells in a tumor will have mutations that protect them from therapeutics," says lead researcher Dr. Lawrence Loeb, professor of pathology and biochemistry at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, who presented his findings February 18 at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Francisco.

Loeb says chemotherapy drugs target specific oncogenes -- genes that affect the malignancy of a cell -- but if cancer cells are mutator cells, then a single tumor may have cells with all sorts of oncogenes. And while chemotherapy may kill some cancerous cells, millions of others will live on.

It's not all bad news, though, says Loeb who believes this research may help doctors determine the stage and malignancy of tumors by testing the number of mutations. It may also help researchers understand what makes a cancer cell a mutator and how to slow the rate of mutation.

"The idea is that if you might normally get exposed to something in the environment at 20 years old that would give you cancer by age 55, then if we cut the mutation rate in half, you might not get cancer until age 90, and you may even die of something else before that," Loeb explained.

I know just how Jon Lester feels as he survives the cancer that took him out of the game of baseball and threw him into the arms of the medical system.

It's not the baseball I can identify with. It's the little bit of cancer fear that never really goes away. And it's the will to return to the land of the living that Lester and I share.

"When you're laying in bed at night, when you're not doing anything, you think about it a little bit," he says. "As long as I keep busy, I'm all right. Every now and again I feel something and go, `OK, what was that?' but I try not to think about it too much."

Lately, Lester is thinking mostly about a return to Boston's pitching staff, less than six months after a cancer curve ball came right at him, threatening both his promising career and his life.

Lester, whose weight was down to 190 during chemotherapy, is back up to 212 -- five pounds less than his normal weight -- and his arms are powerful, his legs strong, his appearance healthy.

As a rookie last year, Lester became the first Red Sox left-hander to win his first five decisions. He was 7-2 with a 4.76 ERA when cancer came crashing into his world. Diagnosed with anaplastic large cell lymphoma in August, Lester received treatment at both the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and at his hometown Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. His last chemotherapy dose was delivered on December 4. His last check-up was in January. And now, newly 23 and cancer-free, Lester is ready to play ball.

Lester is prepared for his coaching staff to hold him back. He says he can tell everyone until he's blue in the face that he's ready but he knows the staff has his best interests in mind. He trusts their professional opinions, and he'll accept a return to the minors if that's what is in store for him.

"I'm not as hard on myself as I was last year," he said. "It's just a matter of enjoying playing baseball and not necessarily the result. So (I'm) just trying to enjoy things and take it day by day and live my life the best I can."

Journalist, teacher, mother and eight-year breast cancer survivor Jeanne Sather is a self-described outspoken advocate for the cancer patient's point of view.

A vegetarian since the age of 16 and fairly active, she does not have any of the known risk factors for breast cancer. After an all-clear mammogram at the age of 40, she was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 43. In an ironic twist of employment fate, the very job she was hired to do in chronicling her life online as a breast cancer patient, may have led to her firing because of the flexible work schedule breast cancer treatment required.

With a sharp clarity and well-earned perspective, Sather is The Assertive Cancer Patient. To our good fortune here at The Cancer Blog, she has agreed to take part in our Survivor Spotlight series featuring interviews with breast cancer survivors.

Grey's Anatomy has teamed up with Warriors in Pink in a sweepstakes called Gear Up with Grey's Anatomy. The Warriors in Pink Prize Package winner will receive a 2007 Ford Fusion, a trip to the Grey's Anatomy set, and a Warrior in Pink apparel package including gear autographed by the cast of Grey's Anatomy. No purchase is necessary to win and the deadline to enter the sweepstakes is 11:59 PM (EST) on December 31, 2006. For more details, and to enter the sweepstakes, visit Warriors in Pink Gear Up with Grey's Anatomy Sweepstakes.

In addition, Warriors in Pink has launched a magnificent virtual quilt online. Breast cancer survivors and co-survivors are invited to contribute to the quilt with a personal message of encouragement, inspiration, love, support and celebration by designing a symbolic patch that will then be added to the Virtual Quilt online. According to the keepers of the Warriors in Pink Virtual Quilt, "There is strength in numbers, and decorated with the Warriors in Pink symbols, each patch is a personal message for friends and loved ones. Experience the vastness and behold the Warriors in Pink beautiful and valiant fight against breast cancer."

The Virtual Quilt is also available as a screensaver. To date, there are 2740 patches. To visit, the Virtual Quilt requires Flash Player 8 or higher.

On July 20 in Portland, Oregon, Pearl Jam held a benefit concert for the Northwest Chapter of the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) to raise awareness for a disease no one likes to discuss. Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready was diagnosed with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis twenty years ago and has gone public with what he personally felt for many years was an embarrassing disease.

McCready, a spokesperson for the NW Chapter of CCFA, said, "Having struggled with Crohn's disease for more than 20 years and experienced first hand difficulties in getting a diagnosis and treatment, I want to help others learn about the disease, how it is affecting them and how to find ways to cope."

UCB, a leading global biopharmaceutical company that recently launched Crohns and Me, an information and resource website for people with Crohn's disease, joined with CCFA, in sponsoring the Pearl Jam Portland benefit concert.