Cynthia Yousefi is a wife and mother of three living in Granada Hills, CA. She is 42 years old and works as an analyst for a Federal agency. She and her family enjoy trips to Harrah's Rincon Casino in San Diego -- and while the destination is a favorite, the sights along the way also bring them pleasure. Cynthia enjoys museums and amusement parks and swimming and evening walks. She enjoys a lot these days because she feels she's been given a second chance at life -- now that she is surviving breast cancer.

A reader left a comment the other day on the Cancer Blog post death by cancer dims outlook of promise, hope, survival. It was positive and supportive and inspiring -- and sad too. The reader shared that her mother passed away in February after a year-long battle with gallbladder cancer. She wrote that her mother handled her diagnosis, chemotherapy, transfusions, medications -- and her final days -- with true grace. And this is a big deal. Because there is not much information floating around on the topic of this cancer. So this woman didn't have much to cling to. Like I do. As a breast cancer survivor, I have mounds of resources at my disposal. I have books and magazines and websites and blogs that devote generous coverage to breast cancer. There are walks and runs and yard sales and fashion shows and other fundraisers that make breast cancer survivors the lucky recipients of extensive research and study. I see pink ribbons all over town and license plates on the roads and clothing and hats and even tennis shoes that promote breast cancer awareness. I could go on -- and on and on.

Gallbladder cancer is rare. So perhaps that's why there is not an abundance of information on the disease that has no known cause or test to detect its presence in the body. The American Cancer Society estimates that about 8,750 new cases of gallbladder cancer and bile duct cancer (excluding bile ducts within the liver) will be diagnosed in 2006 in the United States. And about 3,260 people will die of these cancers in 2006. Of these new cases and deaths, about half are due to gallbladder cancer, which affects predominantly women and those who are older than 65. Diagnosis of this cancer is difficult because symptoms do not often surface until the late stages when aggressive treatment becomes necessary. Surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy are typical treatment tools, along with palliative therapy to help control or reduce symptoms. There are also drugs currently under study in the areas of both targeted therapy and immunotherapy.

It's good to know that gallbladder cancer is rare -- and that it takes far fewer lives than breast cancer and other diseases -- but for the unfortunate ones who are diagnosed with this life-threatening illness, the lack of information and resources is a truly an unfortunate side effect.

Most of us know her as Elyse Keaton on the long-time ago sitcom Family Ties. Many also know her from the variety of characters she has portrayed on television specials and movies. And Meredith Baxter is also known for her support of breast cancer research -- something not so apparent or obvious but just as significant in the scope of her life in the spotlight. Like many issues she speaks out on -- women's rights, gun control, state legislative matters -- breast cancer is an issue about which she is passionate. She has appeared at Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walks and presented gifts to the cause of breast cancer research and has starred in the 1994 television movie My Breast -- about a woman who successfully battles breast cancer. And she also has her own Meredith Baxter Foundation for Breast Cancer Research which began when she donated $10,000 to the University of Minnesota Cancer Center where her foundation was started. Much of the funding for this foundation comes from Baxter herself via the profits she makes from her own skin care products that are available in gift stores around the country. She says that life has been so kind to her that she was looking for a way to share her good fortune. So she took her concern about breast cancer prevention into the business arena. And just as she soared to success as one of the best-known TV moms, Meredith Baxter is soaring to new heights -- where she hopes to help prevent and one day cure breast cancer.