It could be the cure for the common hospital gown -- you know, the faded, ultra-thin gowns with the revealing and drafty designs. If only hospital buyers could fork over a few extra bucks, we could all lounge in our hospital beds in The Original Healing Threads -- a stylish alternative to standard-issue hospital attire.

Cancer patient Peg Feodoroff was thinking of the traditional humiliating hospital gown in the spring of 2003 while she was undergoing treatment for stage 3 melanoma and her sister, Claire, was undergoing chemotherapy for stage 4 metastatic colon cancer.

Feodoroff's thoughts led to an idea. And so she recruited Claire and another sister, Patty, and together the three sisters crafted a machine-washable, wrinkle-resistant, StainSmart garment with an Asian-inspired look and special features -- long, wide sleeves that roll up for tests, hidden panels easily accessed for bandage changing, inner pockets to hold treatment and drainage bags, and easy-to-use buttons, fasteners, and ties. Breakaway pants and robes and also part of the The Original Healing Threads collection.

A portion of The Original Healing Threads profits go to creating Claire's Foundation, a group supporting single mothers fighting terminal illnesses, in honor of Claire, who lost her battle with cancer just one year ago.

Don't wait for your local hospitals to buy into this novel idea. Buy one on-line for yourself or a loved one. Prices range from $44 to $120.

Kim Taylor is a 45-year-old single mother who lives in Suwannee County, Florida and is proud to have successfully raised one daughter -- a graduate of the University of Florida. Kim enjoys outdoor activities like camping as well as sewing, crafting, and carpentry projects. She is most at peace spending time with her family, working as a youth volunteer -- and raising awareness for breast cancer. It's a interest she acquired just two years ago, compliments of a personal encounter with the disease that has taught her to let the little things go, to appreciate every sunrise, to make every moment matter.

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.

In previous Boobs bouncing blogs bouncing boobs for a cause, Bouncing for boobs boobs bouncing countdown, Boobeque bouncing for boobs barbeque and Bouncing for Boobs: 100 days 1 million boobs bounced $10,000! posts, we have been following the progress of Priscilla as she blogged the Bouncing for Boobs campaign with the goal to bounce one million times in 100 days to raise $10,000 dollars to help her single mom sister Kathleen keep the lights on and food in the pantry when chemotherapy drained her of any energy to get up and go to work. It was a single effort by a single person to make a difference in a sister's life.

On June 4, Bouncing for Boobs did indeed reach the one million times in 100 days mark and raised $10,000 dollars.

In the process of helping her sister Kathleen, the campaign grew larger than the single effort Priscilla originally intended, and last week, Priscilla blogged at Bouncing for Boobs that the non-profit organization she launched to help single mothers worldwide who face financial concerns of providing for their children while undergoing chemotherapy and cannot work, has taken steps to receive official charity status. Bouncing for Breast Cancer is on its way, and if the past is an indicator of the future, with Priscilla at the helm, success for the Bouncing for Breast Cancer organization is inevitable.

Welcome back from the weekend! Here is a review of what we were talking about during the second week in July in our other health blogs.

From The Cardio Blog:

• Bucindolol: experimental heart failure drug.
• Mammograms can find heart health problems.
• Eggs: bad or not bad for heart health -- which is it?
• The clock of life and time of day determines heart health.
• Extreme obesity raises mortality rate in women.
• Austrailian stem cell research innovates new heart treatment.
• Public physical activity program helps weight loss, lower blood pressure.
• Tuna imported from Latin America has highest mercury level.
• Eating less helps slow aging process.
• Teens helped to learn healthy diet habits with household food rules.
• Volunteer work helps seniors stay active and healthy.
• Working overtime worse for womens health.
• Aging and single living combined linked to higher heart disease risk.
• Tubby kids motivated to exercise by reward of TV time.
• Humidity and high temps linked to rise in summer heart attacks.
• Comedian Red Button dies of vascular disease.
• Migraine aura linked to increased heart attack stroke risk.
  

From The Diabetes Blog:

• Martial arts black belt uses youth group to fight diabetes.
• FDA approves GlaxoSmithKline diabetes drug.
• Pink Floyd Syd Barrett dies from diabetes complications.
• Update on fatal NC car crash involving diabetic driver.
• Major study links Type 2 diabetes and glaucoma risk.
• Life insurance industry plays catch-up.
• A1c Champions program trains diabetes mentors.
• Danish study confirms suspected diabetes, multiple sclerosis link.
• Debate continues on virtues, shortcomings of inhalable insulin, Exubera.
• Blogger's advice to T2 diabetics: follow in footsteps of movie producer Weinstein.
• Diabetes, obesity blamed for sky-high US kidney failure rates.
• Canadians await approval of inhalable insulin.
• Lifestyle ed could greatly reduce diabetes onset in older Americans, say researchers.

To your good health! To a great week!

When Priscilla started her Bouncing for Boobs campaign to bounce one million times in 100 days to raise $10,000 dollars to help her single mom sister Kathleen keep the lights on and food in the pantry when chemotherapy drained her of any energy to get up and go to work, it was a single effort by a single person to make a difference in someone else's life. With a defined goal, and a step-by-step plan for achieving the goal -- and the heart to see it through -- on day 100, after one million bounces, Priscilla has raised $10,000 dollars to help her sister.

In the process, the campaign grew larger than the single effort of helping a single mom diagnosed with breast cancer. When Priscilla returns to her home in London, she begins the next phase of her vision of making a difference in the lives of single moms facing cancer treatments keep the lights on and food in the pantry by officially launching the Bouncing for Breast Cancer non-profit organization. Because along the way of bouncing her boobs for breast cancer, seven more bouncers signed on to join her and corporate sponsors are more than delighted to be a part of her vision to make a difference in the lives of single moms battling breast cancer.

For anyone who has ever had an idea on how to help make the world a better place and the lives of people gentler and less worrisome, and dismissed it as too big, or undoable, or they simply felt they just didn't know where they would begin -- Priscilla is an inspiration in example that you simple start at the beginning, and with a vision, and a goal, and a plan, and with heart  -- nothing is impossible. If you would like to see the start of something big, here are some other blog posts as we watched the idea of Bouncing for Boobs go from a single idea to became a life-changing reality:

Boobeque bouncing for boobs barbeque
Bouncing for boobs boobs bouncing countdown
Boobs bouncing blogs bouncing boobs for a cause

And I predict this is just the beginning of yet bigger things to come. 

Over the Memorial Day weekend, while you were enjoying a backyard barbeque with family and friends, Priscilla and friends were having a boobeque. While you were huddled together and collectively saying cheese for the group photo, Priscilla and friends were huddled together collectively saying boob for the camera. With three days to go, and $1500 dollars short of the $10,000 dollar fundraising goal, Priscilla is not only bouncing her boobs with a few venues planned in Florida while she visits with her sister Kathleen, but she is pulling out all the stops by offering License to bounce and Bouncing for boobs t-shirts at the Bouncing for Breast Cancer online store.

The Bouncing for Boobs blog and the Bouncing for Breast Cancer website started as a personal appeal to raise money for Kathleen, her sister, a single mother in need of financial, emotional and wellbeing support while she goes through chemotherapy. The campaign has grown and Priscilla now plans on expanding the campaign to benefit other single mothers fighting to survive breast cancer. I cannot think of a better cause than helping single mothers and their children through one of the most difficult times of life. Stay tuned. Priscilla is a phenomenally determined woman and I will be sharing the results of her efforts and the exciting accomplishments as she continues to change the world for single mothers everywhere. First for Kathleen.

Multiple pregnancies for women who carry the inherited mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes appears to reduce the risk of developing breast cancer, according to researchers from the German Cancer Research Center. The International BRCA1/2 Carrier Cohort Study set out to examine if the same breast cancer protective factors of multiple births and breastfeeding provided to women without the genetic mutations extended to women with the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes. 

According to the study, women with one child have the same breast cancer risk as childless women. The risk of developing breast cancer after age 40 was lowered by 14 percent with every child. Interestingly, women with a BRCA2 mutation had twice the cancer risk if they had given birth to their first child after age 20 compared to those who had become mothers before age 20. For carriers of BRCA1 mutations, it was the exact opposite. The risk of getting breast cancer was lower in women who had given birth to their first child after age 30. The only thing about research -- it is only correct until the next research study. I only say this because I hear over and over from women who are surprised by a breast cancer diagnosis when they did not have any of the risk factors or they fit the profile of a woman with reduced risk. If you have the inherited BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, the study results are a generalization, and your individual situation might differ. I would not sit here and read into this study that you are going to get breast cancer because you only gave birth to one child -- or that you didn't have children at the optimum age.

When I went through chemotherapy there were days when I did not have the strength to walk across the room. If you haven't been through chemotherapy you might think this is an exaggeration. If you have been through the grueling mean rigors of chemotherapy you know exactly what I am talking about. On some days, during the worst of it, I would have to stop half-way across the room to rest before continuing to the other side of the room -- I am not joking.

Chemotherapy brings a human body as close to the edge of death as is possible without actually dying. Because I know what chemotherapy can do to a person, when I found the Bouncing for Boobs blog, my heart was captivated by the efforts of Priscilla to help her sister Kathleen for the time when she would be going through chemotherapy. Kathleen is a single mom with children to provide for and bills to pay. There is no way she will be able to work full-time to keep the lights on and food in the pantry.

Priscilla came up with a fundraising plan to help by bouncing on a trampoline and asking for donations to match the number of times she bounced her boobs. Its tongue and cheek and it's very serious at the same time. The Bouncing for Boobs campaign officially ends June 3rd, and to date Priscilla has been able to raise $7,000 dollars. She has bounced her boobs over 900,000 times in six countries -- England, India, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland -- at famous landmarks that include the Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower, London Eye, Dom Cathedral, Leaning Tower of Pisa. Her bouncing boobs are gaining worldwide attention. From this single effort of one sister helping another sister, an organization has been created that will go on to help other single mothers going through chemotherapy keep the lights on and food in the pantry. Priscilla is an every day heroine, an example of what each of us has the capacity to do if we set our minds and hearts to it. If you can, get over to Bouncing for Boobs and help her reach her 10,000 boobs bouncing goal of raising $10,000 dollars before June 3rd.

When Kathleen was diagnosed with breast cancer, her sister Priscilla wanted to help in all the ways a loving sister could think to do -- and she came up with the idea to launch Bouncing for Breast Cancer -- better known as Bouncing for Boobs -- as a way to help support her sister Kathleen with her household bills while she undergoing treatment for breast cancer.

In an effort to raise $10,000 dollars, Priscilla pledged to bounce one million times in 100 days on a trampoline. According to Priscilla, what started as a personal campaign to help one sister is gaining momentum, and the plans are now to take bouncing for boobs to a worldwide level of campaigning in support of other women and single mothers who are struggling with breast cancer.

Priscilla blogs Bouncing for Boobs and maintains the Bouncing for Breast Cancer website. In addition, she is an innovative Image and Performance Mastery coach. All of which is reflected in her blogging. I highly-recommend this blog for all women struggling with and living to survive breast cancer. There are some thoughtful posts related to honoring the self and the healing journey. And it's fun to read as Priscilla bounces her boobs at different locations around the world.

Before I even get started, here is a sampling of the news headlines that are appearing in relation to a study indicating mothers who work outside the home are in better health than stay-at-home mothers. Working mothers less likely to become obese -- Working moms healthier than full-time homemakers -- Mothers who work enjoy better health -- Working Moms -- Healthier and thinner.

According to researchers who analyzed data from a study that tracked the health of women born in 1946 -- women who were employed outside the home were less likely than stay-at-home mothers and single mothers to report poor health or to be obese in middle age. Obesity is a known lifestyle factor contributing to a greater risk for a number of cancers. However, Dr Anne McMunn, of the University College in London, takes obesity into a debatable realm when she states that it has been known for some time that women who combine employment with motherhood and partnership have better health.