Joey, my oldest child, is six years old and already quite a clever creator. He can make houses out of sticks and boats out of cardboard boxes. He can build an entire city with toy blocks and crafty cabins with the same Lincoln Logs his daddy used more than 30 years ago. Most recently, Joey has been sharpening his skills with Lego.

Today, while his daddy built him a Lego jet, Joey constructed his own masterpiece. He called it his Cancer Center.

I wasn't around to hear Joey dedicate his building to such an important cause. But I heard about it after the fact when Joey offered me a mini-tour of the structure. I learned that the center has a helicopter landing pad and offices with windows for the employees. I was shown an emergency vehicle with its own system for taking blood from patients, rendering it healthy, and then returning it to the body. And then just as I wanted more -- more details, more specifics, more history on just why he built this cancer center -- Joey's attention moved elsewhere. And so I know nothing more about the cancer center sitting in the playroom of my house.

Cancer is no strange topic for Joey who has been along on my own cancer ride for the past two years -- so perhaps I am the inspiration for his architectural creation. But I suspect the real driving force behind Joey's latest project is the vacant land we passed yesterday. This land is the future site of a new cancer center in our city, and Joey probably heard me talking about the ground breaking ceremony that just took place. Regardless, cancer was on his mind this morning. And while the topic may be far from his mind now -- and I'm sure the building will be demolished by the day's end -- I am touched that for mere moments, Joey was invested in a noble cancer endeavor.

When Patsy Ramsey passed away from a recurrence of ovarian cancer two months ago, many felt she died under the shadow of suspicion concerning her possible involvement in the murder of her six-year-old daughter JonBenet, whose beaten and strangled body was found by her father John Ramsey in the basement of her family's home in Boulder, Colorado.

At the time of Patsy Ramsey's death, the family attorney Lin Wood said, "I think people will remember Patsy as being someone who was falsely accused in connection with the death of her daughter when she should be remembered for being an incredibly loving mother, wonderful wife, and person who showed great courage in fighting a vicious disease over the last many years."

Today, breaking news reveals that a suspect has been arrested in the murder of JonBenet. Confessing to elements of the crime, the 42-year-old American second-grade school teacher John Karr was apprehended in Thailand.

John Ramsey confirmed in a written statement that Patsy was aware of the authorities interest in the suspect and she died knowing that the case was about to be solved and the murderer of her child was about to be brought to justice. She did not leave this world not knowing.

Safeway, a major-chain grocery store, announced that it has raised a whopping $5.1 million dollars during its Prostate Cancer Awareness Month fundraiser in June. In just six years, Safeway has raised more than $17.8 million dollars to benefit the Prostate Cancer Foundation for prostate cancer awareness and research.

In addition to the traditional solicited customer donations at checkstands they do each year, Safeway also attributes its fundraising success this year to Safeway employees who held parking lot barbecues, carnivals, book sales, and raffles.

As I said in an earlier post about Safeway's fundraising abilities, they are one of the most effective organizations to raise donations for cancer charity. Because it is seldom possible to get out of a grocery store without spending several hundred dollars, adding one more dollar for a worthy cause is easy to agree to do.

There is still time to register, volunteer or donate for the Avon Walk For Breast Cancer which will take place in several cities across the United States -- Los Angeles, New York, Charlotte, Washington DC, Boston, Chicago, Denver, and San Francisco. This weekend walk that extends over two days and 39 miles will take place as soon as September 2006 in Los Angeles and as late as July 2007 in Denver. This walk, designed to benefit medically underserved women and men -- allowing them treatment they otherwise would not receive -- also funds research teams as they continue their quest for a cure. With Prevention magazine as the national sponsor and other official sponsors such as Reebok, the Avon Walk For Breast Cancer has made quite a mark already. This year's Chicago walk raised a record-breaking $8.2 million and tracked the steps of more than 3,500 participants. There is no better proof than this -- in my opinion -- that walking can make quite a difference.

The UK's Daily Mail has published an incredible news story featuring a surgical procedure that cuts out tumors so quickly that it allows women to undergo breast surgery to remove breast lumps during their lunch break.

According to an explanation of how this works, in a procedure that lasts at the longest 30 minutes -- using a machine called Soros -- a small incision is made (that heals quickly and leaves no scar); the lump is sliced up into tiny pieces and vacuumed out of the body; and the woman has time left over to presumably have lunch.

This high-tech procedure is currently in clinical trials at the Princess Grace Hospital in London, and is expected to be used in the surgical removal of both benign and malignant tumors up to three centimeters in size. For a detailed step-by-step description, read Breast cancer surgery in your lunch break.

When researchers transplanted white blood cells from a strain of  cancer-resistant mice into ordinary laboratory mice with advanced cancers, the transplant cured the cancers. According to Wake Forest University School of Medicine researchers, even highly aggressive forms of cancer with extremely large tumors were destroyed. This is breaking news. It gets better. After the white cell transplant from the super cancer-resistant mice wiped out the cancer, the white cells also protected the ordinary mice from any new deadly cancers. And it keeps getting better.

Previous studies showed that cancer-resistance in mice can be inherited. The current cancer-resistant mice all come from a single mouse discovered seven years ago. The researchers said that the cancer resistance trait has been passed to more than 2,000 descendants in 14 generations. The white cell transplant that killed the cancer came from these mice. When they can figure out how to translate all of this to the benefit of humans, the possibility for cancer cure is amazing. Truly amazing.

Menopause naturally happens in a woman's life some time between the age of 45 to 55. In the case of chemo-induced menopause, there is no traditional timeline. For younger women, menopause brought on by chemotherapy can be a temporary phase or permanent transition. For women already nearing the age when menopause might start to occur, chemotherapy can push them into it a few years early. But -- however a woman reaches the menopause phase of life -- the experience of menopause is universally the same. Knowing this, Jeanie Linders, a writer, produced the first Menopause The Musical in 2001. According to information provided on the show website, "Since its first performance, the show has evolved as a grassroots movement of women who deal with life after 40 and all the challenges that result in the mental, physical and spiritual freedom of over 38 million baby boomer females." According to the audience, it is hilarious!

Janet Rigdon wanted to see the musical, but it wasn't going to be touring anywhere near where she lived, so she emailed Linders to ask if the show could make a stop in her town. That's the beauty of email -- you can do that sort of thing. Rigdon told Linders she was an ovarian cancer survivor who felt the musical was something women cancer survivors like her and her support group of women friends could relate to when she said, “I told her we could go to dinner and then play, and take our minds off cancer for one night. We want to laugh too.”

After getting to know Rigdon through email conversations, Linders decided to use the show to raise awareness and research funds for ovarian cancer. Through the musical's Women Foundation, a national ovarian cancer campaign was launched under the banner Menopause the Musical Out Loud: Breaking the Silence of Ovarian Cancer. Rigdon and her friends got to see the show, and through the wonder of web email, a new campaign for cancer was launched -- in the form of a laugh out loud musical.

Thanks to Sue of My Menopause Blog for the introduction to a musical about menopause! Who knew.