The profile on her blog reads: Living in London. Working in ads. Currently undergoing treatment for Breast Cancer. And that about sums it up for this woman whose life has become hijacked by cancer. That's the way it goes. Cancer strikes and life revolves around it for so much longer than we'd like.

The 30-something Anne-Marie Weeden writes in a recent blog post:

I was genuinely confident at the beginning of this process that the whole chemo thing should not affect life too much. And in the first three treatments it didn't really. But the last three have just escalated in terms of the challenges they have thrown my way. They said it would be cumulative but I didn't realise it would accumulate on such a scale. I'd say the last two treatment cycles have been at least ten times as hard as the first one.

Researchers from Dartmouth Medical School say they have a new way of identifying a deadly form of breast cancer that plagues 17 to 37 percent of all breast cancer patients and mostly premenopausal black women.

Identification comes in the form of locating the marker nestin -- a long filamentous protein indicating the presence of basal epithelial tumors -- which makes this type of cancer hard to diagnose and hard to treat. It also puts patients at high risk for recurrence, marked by a very short time between treatment and relapse.

"Ideally, a marker like nestin would enable clinicians to monitor these patients through frequent tests of a biomarker and, in doing so, detect the cancer before it has a chance to come back," says one professor.

Researchers must now find an effective means of detecting nestin in a clinical screening setting. It won't be as simple as a blood test -- but a non-invasive collection of mammary duct samples may enable the development of a screening tool for at-risk patients.

Rock legend Black Sabbath Ozzy Osbourne spoke about his wife Sharon's colon cancer diagnosis during a recent interview with Hello! magazine, in which he is quoted as saying, "When I found out it was like someone had got a slab of concrete and hit me with a big dose of reality. I thought cancer plus patient equals death. The thought of losing her was more than I could bear."

In 2002, the entire Osbourne family appeared in a MTV reality show The Osbournes. During the taping, Sharon was diagnosed with colon cancer. Rather than cancel the show, she agreed to share the experience of chemotherapy and cancer survivorship with the viewers to help raise awareness for cancer.

Osbourne said that while he is always happy for the professional success his wife enjoys with such shows as the U.K. talent show X Factor and The Sharon Osbourne Show, he misses the time away from her.

Ozzy has designed a limited-edition signature series t-shirt for the Hard Rock Cafe, with profits from the sale of the t-shirts to benefit the Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Program. The cancer charity offers colonoscopies and screenings to people without medical insurance, as well as those with minimal coverage, transportation to chemotherapy for patients and nursing consultation to those in need of assistance with their aftercare.

Now a four-year colon cancer survivor, Sharon's life philosophy is simple: "live everyday to the fullest, and don't save for tomorrow what you can do today." Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne are featured on the cover of the February 2007 issue of Hello! magazine.

A liquid form of the hormonal therapy Tamoxifen is now available for women who have difficultly swallowing pills.

Soltamox, the brand name for liquid Tamoxifen, was approved by the FDA in October. Some women develop dysphagia, difficultly or painful swallowing, during or after chemotherapy and radiation treatments. These women might cut or crush up their pills in order to be able to swallow them. This can impact how the body absorbs the medication and the overall effectiveness of Tamoxifen.

Some women skip doses or avoid taking the pills all together. The new delivery method for Tamoxifen may help you if you suffer from dysphagia and your doctor recommends that you take hormonal therapy.

The medication is sugar free, clear and colorless. It tastes and smells like licorice and aniseed. Liquid and pill form Tamoxifen have the same side effects.

I still can't believe I got breast cancer. I really can't believe it's been two years since my whole journey began.

I found a lump in my breast on November 16, 2004. It took eight days of doctoring and worry before the mystery that lingered beneath the skin of my left breast unfolded.

Ever since that November day, I have been documenting my struggles and triumphs with a disease that turned my life upside down.

It all started exactly like this.

On November 16, 2004, I felt a lump in my left breast while taking a shower. I have always been aware of what my breasts feel like. I have a lot of dense tissue -- so dense that the surgeon who performed my breast reduction had trouble separating the tissue to take some out and leave some in.

My breasts always seem lumpy to me and I never knew if I'd be able to tell the difference between normal and abnormal tissue. Four years ago I had a mammogram because of something I felt. It all turned out fine -- it was just the dense tissue. All of my annual GYN visits have revealed nothing abnormal. But I've always been aware and curious which is why I found something in the shower. I knew it was not normal.

It was hard and felt like a small green pea. It moved around and for the first few days, I had a hard time locating it. Once I became obsessed with it, I could find it immediately.

Worldwide, and through the month of October, Hard Rock Cafes are hosting the Rocktoberfest to raise money for breast cancer research in finding a cancer cure. During Rocktoberfest, patrons can attend live music events featuring popular and up-and-coming female artists. This year The Go-Go's have joined in promoting breast cancer awareness and in raising research funds to find a cure.

In addition, Hard Rock International is offering Hard Rock's new and exclusive Limited Edition 2006 Breast Cancer Awareness Pin. 100 percent of the net proceeds will go to the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation. The pin features an acoustic guitar bearing the pink ribbon symbol for breast cancer, along with the message Stop Breast Cancer for Life. You can purchase a pin at any of the Hard Rock Cafes or online at the Hard Rock Cafe estore.

Rocktoberfest artists performing in U.S. cafes include Alexa Ray Joel, Toby Lightman, The Randies, The Duhks, Liz Berlin, the Thrusters and Slacktone. Overseas, performers include Melanie C, Bonnie Tyler and Keisha White.

I'm not sure it matters what color computer hard drives come in. What does matter is that the Seagate Pocket Hard Drive has partnered with one of the leading breast cancer foundations -- the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. And to signify this partnership, Seagate has chosen the power of one color that really does matter when it comes to breast cancer causes. Pink.

Ten percent of the price of this 6-Gbyte drive will go to the Komen Foundation. Seagate, also a sponsor of the Komen Race for the Cure in San Francisco, reports that the drive comes preloaded with songs and videos from popular musicians -- like Joan Jett, Stefy, Toby Lightman, and more. The hard drive will be sold through Amazon.com and Buy.com for an estimated $109.

Stomach cancer is hard to detect. It has no symptoms in its early stages, and there is no effective screening to detect its presence. So early detection and early treatment for this disease -- that attacks 800,000 people worldwide -- are hard to come by. In Taiwan, stomach cancer is the fifth most common cancer and the focus of study for researchers working to devise a method for detecting stomach cancer in its infancy.

A team of researchers at National Taiwan University Hospital have discovered a toxic factor -- GroES -- that causes stomach cancer. And they have discovered that a simple blood test will show either a positive or negative result for this substance, leading to immediate endoscopic exams for patients who may be at risk for stomach cancer. The test to identify GroES has already achieved a 65 percent accuracy rate.

Apparently, if the human body is infected with GroES, it produces antibodies to the factor and can cause chronic inflammation of the stomach, causing cells to rupture and proliferate. Long-term inflammation can cause stomach cancer. Researchers say about 45 percent of adults in Taiwan are infected with GroES -- and one percent will go on to develop stomach cancer.

Right now, patent applications are underway in the United States, Japan, and Taiwan. Once a kit is developed, a single drop of blood will be all it takes to determine the risk for stomach cancer.

A chemical found in hard plastics -- such as CD cases, baby bottles, food-storage containers, and even electronics parts -- has been loosely linked to incidences of breast cancer. Popular opinion cautions that if we were not worried about this news yesterday, we should not be worried about it today -- because studies are preliminary and nothing is definitive at this point. But there are definitely two sides to the debate over how harmful these hard plastics may be.

The chemical in question -- a pseudo-estrogen called bisphenol-A (BPA) -- appears to be absorbed by breast tumor cells, according to a new study published in the August 28 issue of Chemistry & Biology. Previous studies have linked small exposures of BPA to prostate abnormalities in mice that suggest a link between the plastic chemical and human prostate cancer. Some studies even theorize that embryonic and fetal exposure might influence mental retardation and birth defects. And because this pseudo-estrogen is a synthetic material that in human cells can trigger estrogenic effects, breast cancer now comes up as a disease that may result from this questionable chemical.

Critics say that average levels of the chemical found in urine is infinitesimally small -- about one part per billion. Some say the results of this research come from in-vitro studies that one expert says can never fully explain human disease. Yet the real crux of the matter, according to another expert, is that we are surrounded by all sorts of chemicals that are pseudo-estrogenic -- not just BPA -- and it's the cumulative effects that we do need to worry about.

Just before my chemotherapy for breast cancer started -- when I was fantastically frightened by the toxic drugs that were about to drip into my veins -- I was told by doctors, nurses, survivors, friends that I would be just fine. I was young and strong and tough. I would easily tolerate the beating my body was about to take. This is what I was told and actually came to believe myself. I had no other choice really than to approach chemotherapy with a fighter mentality. And so I did. And I did pretty well for my first three doses of Adriamycin and Cytoxan -- given every two weeks instead of three in a dose-dense fashion -- followed by one injection of Neulasta 24 hours later to maintain normal blood counts. And then something happened. And I did not end up tolerating the chemotherapy my gut told me was a scary endeavor.

Every time I hear about someone who has died from cancer, it knocks me down a notch. It makes me sad for the person, for the family, for the friends, for me -- because I know I am not guaranteed survival from cancer and while I mostly live each day as if I am immune to this tragic outcome, the knowledge that people do really die from this disease that I am trying to beat is overwhelmingly sobering. And what shakes me most is the fact that these people who die from cancer must have had the same outlook as me at some point in their journey -- the outlook of promise and hope and continued survival. And then something happens that jolts this hope from their grasp. It could happen to me -- and my family and my friends. And that scares me.

Sometime last year, my husband told me about a woman in one of his graduate classes whose husband was fighting melanoma that had spread to his brain. He was in year number eight of constant treatment -- both traditional and alternative -- and with each day, his hope for survival was fading. His wife and my husband talked at times about his journey -- and they talked about my journey with breast cancer. And after the class ended, both spouses periodically checked on each other. Today, my husband asked this woman in an e-mail about her husband. She replied and shared that he died last October. She wrote that he could not fight any longer -- that the last chemotherapy he tried to endure was too hard on him. He died with dignity. And she is proud of him. And I can't stop crying.

My tears will dry. And sadness will drift from my every thought. And I will return to my usual enthusiastic approach to surviving my own dreaded disease. But in the back of my mind, where I have saved every sad story about cancer and death, my sorrow will linger. And I suppose it should. So I can keep my sights on the possibility that surrounds me -- death -- and so I can continue living with every fiber of my being. Because living is not a guarantee. Ever.

Dealing with cancer in private is hard. Dealing with cancer publicly can be even harder. CEO Donna McAleer -- the founding executive and public face of the large, growing health care company Elant -- knows this firsthand. She just recently went public with her breast cancer diagnosis and prognosis after rumors of her demise started circulating. McAleer set the record straight, announcing that she is doing just fine. While her experience has been frightening, she is surviving well -- and she wants the public to know. She has run Elant for 20 years and wants to dispel any myths about its stability. Apple CEO Steve Jobs faced the same public drama in 2004 after surgery for pancreatic cancer and subsequent drops in Apple stock. Jobs recovered -- and so did the stock -- but the speculation that swirled was powerful and potentially damaging. Just as it was that same year when Kraft Foods was criticized for withholding details of its CEO's hospitalization.

There is some debate in the business world about all of this -- about whether or not executive illnesses should be disclosed. For public companies, one opinion is that there is an obligation to respond quickly to the public. In a private company, it's up to the CEO. McAleer's Elant is not a publicly traded company and there is no worry about stock price -- but her decision to reveal her personal health crisis was the right thing to do, she says. "I have an obligation to share this news in how I progress, in order to educate and make sure people aren't frightened by it," she said in reference to the memo she sent to her 700 employees and community groups too.

I'm open and honest about my own cancer experience because I believe it can help others -- and it helps me to talk about it too. So I'm a fan of a forthcoming approach in the workplace. I appreciate that some fear repercussions that might result from such a disclosure. But honesty may be the best policy -- for prevention of rumors and addressing worry and raising awareness too. McAleer seems to agree as she takes this opportunity to speak up, to encourage women to seek mammograms and to follow up on them.

Caregivers are affected by cancer in their own unique and special ways. And those of us who have never been cancer caregivers and those of us who are patients receiving the care will never really know how it feels to walk in caregiver shoes -- until we do it ourselves.

Dr. Mitchell Luftig has done it himself. And after traveling a dark and unwanted journey of caring for his wife with breast cancer, he realized that he had learned a thing or two -- and he learned that he could share a thing or two. So he wrote a book, Be a Hero To The Woman You Love When She Gets Sick, and he speaks openly about his role as caregiver -- and his role at the time as father of twin high school daughters and husband of 20 years and clinical psychologist too. The whole ordeal turned his world upside down and he hopes that his story helps others -- primarily men -- who find themselves in a lonely place with the daunting job of caring for the people they love. As a psychologist, Luftig has good insight. And he wishes to help minimize the psychological barriers that prevent men from effectively caring for loved ones during times of serious illness.

Luftig shares in his book his realization that while he cannot repair and fix all hard times, he does have some important tools. And his power tools are love, support, and understanding. He has learned to sew joy out of rough cloth. He understands that he cannot shelter his family members from bad times, but he can shoulder their burden. And he now appreciates that all things are not so bad when measured against the yardstick of a life-threatening disease like cancer. Luftig's whole collection of wisdom and lessons and advice fill his book -- and bits and pieces also appear in periodic articles in Coping magazine. It's worth the read -- and the journey starts here.

Lori Raimondo set off on a cross country journey in May with the goal of raising $9,490 -- one dollar for every day that her mother battled breast cancer. And just yesterday, she reported that her trek is over, that she is back home in New York City after her amazing adventure in search of hope. I think she found the hope she was looking for because she not only met her goal -- she exceeded it. She raised a grand total of $12,610.90 while traveling 10,334 miles -- and every cent was donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation where hope for a cure just got a bit sweeter.

Lori coined her trip the Road for a Cure and what a road it was. She crossed many state borders, met charming and kind and outrageous locals, visited with friends along the way, ate at tucked-away restaurants and slept in quaint places, toured roadside stops, and while accompishing her fundraising chronicled it all through words and photographs that appear on her own personal blog. It's inspiring -- that Lori would give of her time and effort and spirit to help others. All in honor of her mother, who lost her battle with breast cancer, and in support of those currently fighting their own battles. I am truly thankful -- as a breast cancer survivor -- that the research that might one day save my life may be a result of Lori's courage and bravery and hard work and generosity.

Welcome home, Lori. And congratulations on a road well traveled.

"It's said that chemotherapy is like skiing in front of an avalanche. You do one thing wrong, and the avalanche is going to get you." -- Harvey Rushfeldt

Using the principles he learned in Alcoholics Anonymous, AA, helped Harvey Rushfeldt, 72, diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma last October, create a strategy for successfully living through the often grueling ordeal of chemotherapy. Rushfeldt sees both cancer and alcoholism as mortal threats and he approached his cancer treatments with the same 12 step attitude and perspectives alcoholics adopt on the one-day-at-a-time road to recovery.