Suzanne Pleshette's agent reported on Friday that the actress is currently undergoing treatment for lung cancer. The cancer was discovered during a routine X-ray and was no bigger than a grain of sand. Pleshette apparently feels very lucky and is in great spirits as she receives outpatient chemotherapy at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center -- where the cancer was diagnosed.

When children diagnosed with cancer undergo radiation treatments at the Hospital for Sick Children and Princess Margaret Hospital it can be scary -- the unknown is scary at any age. Traditionally, to help make a child more comfortable, they are given a plush animal as a radiation buddy.

Now Toronto hospitals have something more to help in the way of an animated interactive CD-ROM that shows what will be happening during radiation treatment.

Called Radiation for Kids, it is also written to ease concerns of parents about what their child will be facing in treatment by providing a glossary of medical terms and tips on how to talk to their child about cancer.

In Radiation for Kids, a child creates an animated character and follows it on a virtual tour into treatment. The program is written with different levels of age-related information, puzzles and games so that young children and teens can both benefit from Radiation for Kids.

According to the children and parents who have viewed Radiation for Kids, the information provided does lift fear and gives everyone a sense of confidence in what lies ahead. For information about obtaining a copy of the CD, visit the CBC News feature on Radiation for Kids.

Japanese-American actor Mako Iwamatsu, who received an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor when he played the Chinese character Po-ha in the 1966 movie The Sand Pebbles, is credited for Hollywood's acceptance of Asian-Americans as serious actors, not merely caricatures or stereotypes. Last Friday, Mako died of esophageal cancer.

During Mako's career in film and theater, he co-founded the first Asian-American theater company, East West Players, where he trained aspiring actors and playwrights. Mako had roles in the films Conan the Barbarian, Seven Years in Tibet, Pearl Harbor and the Japanese film Owls Castle.

Mako was the voice of evil demon Aku in the animated series Samurai Jack, and as the parody of Aku, Achoo, in Duck Dodgers, as well as Uncle Iroh in Avatar: The Last Airbender.

According to artistic director Tim Dang of East West Players, "If it wasn't for Mako there wouldn't have been Asian-American theater. He is revered as sort of the godfather of Asian-American theater." Born in Kobe, Japan, Mako was the son of noted children's book author and illustrator Taro Yashima. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Mako was 72.

According to the National Cancer Institute, one out of two men and one out of three women will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, and three out of four American families will have at least one family member diagnosed with cancer. Those statistics are so overwhelming in scope that it takes a minute before it sinks in just how epidemic cancer is and how many lives it touches. And even after the reality of the numbers has become a reality in my mind, I am still always surprised when I find out someone has been diagnosed with cancer, or someone they are related to has died of cancer.

I was happily and distractedly researching information for something entirely unrelated to cancer -- a recently released animated movie based on a favorite comic strip Over The Hedge -- when in an interview with Bruce Willis, who is the voice of RJ the raccoon in the movie, shared his philosophy about life and living. Willis lost his younger brother to pancreatic cancer five years ago. In the interview Willis remarks:

From the Homer Simpson D'oh Research Institute comes the results of a study ... No, wait. I'll start again. Baby boomers are aging. The largest percentage of cancer diagnosis occurs in the older population. When it comes to cancer, it is a true and unavoidable fact that the older one gets, the greater the risk for developing cancer.

One day, with continued advancements in prevention and research, that fact might change. But for now, that is where we are in the reality of cancer risks. The baby boomers, a generation born between 1946 and 1960, are reaching, in mass, people of a certain age. Old age. Don't say that to them. Baby boomers decided, upon reaching 40, that 40 was the new 30, and 50 was the new 40. But you can't fool mother nature, and like it or not, we are all getting older. The first baby boomers turn 60 this year.

Which brings me to the point of the isn't it obvious study from the Homer Simpson D'oh Research Institute.

With the healthcare system in crisis now -- with public and private providers scrambling to figure out how to pay for all the cancer treatments needed for all the patients who have been diagnosed with cancer now -- what is the future of healthcare going to look like, say in ten more years, as significant numbers of baby boomers continue to age and more get sick from age-related life-threatening diseases -- specifically cancer?

When it comes to baby boomers, it is difficult to predict. Since coming of age in the 1960s, they have influenced the cultural landscape as no other generation. They are, as a whole, innovatively affluent, and have in subtle ways, already begun to change the healthcare system. An example is the marketing hospitals do to attract baby boomers as patients with amenities unimagined in previous decades. Some hospitals now serve wine with the hospital meal.

Baby boomers are the premiere paradigm shifters. If there is no change in the current system, we are in terrible trouble in the next ten years. It will be interesting to watch how the baby boomers decide to define and shape the approach to health issues that old age brings. 

Disclaimer: The Homer Simpson D'oh Research Institute is an imaginary facility that does not conduct research because it doesn't exist in real life.