Hannah Jones is a terminally ill 13 year old who has won a court battle in Britain allowing her to die peacefully instead of undergoing the major surgery that could prolong her life.
posted by grapefruitmoon on Nov 13, 2008 - 111 comments

Josie's Lalaland (embedded QT) is a delicate and ethereal short CG/animation film by Yibi Hu. It is his response to a couple of real world events. [more inside]
posted by peacay on Oct 10, 2007 - 13 comments

NewsFilter: Sen. Craig Thomas (R-WY) has died. He had been receiving chemotherapy for acute myeloid leukemia. Wyoming's Democratic Governor will appoint a successor from one of three finalists chosen by the state Republican party.
posted by pruner on Jun 4, 2007 - 55 comments

Newsfilter: The trial of a new drug to treat rheumatoid arthritis and leukaemia goes horribly wrong. 6 normally healthy volunteers have a freak reaction to the drug resulting in multiple organ failure. All 6 men are in intensive care. 4 are seriously ill while 2 remain in a critical condition. An eyewitness, fortunate to have taken only a placebo recalls the nightmare as the men around him begin to fall ill.
posted by piscatorius on Mar 16, 2006 - 98 comments

She never asked for anything. Everything I ever did was voluntary. Mother tricks community (and her daughter) into believing that her daughter has leukaemia. I suppose scams like this are so successful because you just don't make stuff like this up, right? The article doesn't mention it but is this what they call Munchausen's by Proxy?
posted by jontyjago on Feb 24, 2003 - 17 comments

'Diver' finishes marathon.
Next time we complain about lugging our heavy shopping home, lets spare a thought for this guy. To raise money he donned an 1940s diving suit and battled on to complete the 26 mile London Marathon. I tip my hat to you sir.
posted by monkeyJuice on Apr 19, 2002 - 11 comments

Cure for Cancer in 10 Years? Anyone else see West Wing last night? Apparently, drugs called signal transduction inhibitors (STIs) - such as phenoxodiol, the drug referred to by Pres. Bartlet - are a reality, and early studies have shown their effectiveness in striking cancer's Achilles heel. Furthermore, in the Law and Order episode which followed, Gleevec was mentioned as the key to curing a type of leukemia, which is in fact a remarkably potent STI recently FDA-approved. Perhaps Aaron Sorkin isn't spinning a fantasy tale as I initially thought -- any oncologists in the house? [If Newsgurus doesn't let you in, try Google's cache.]
posted by padjet1 on Jan 17, 2002 - 27 comments

A couple from the UK have a beloved son who has leukemia, and who may need a marrow transplant to save his life. They are using in-vitro fertilization to select a fertilized egg which will be genetically similar enough to their son so that the resulting baby could be a marrow donor. Is it ethical to design a baby as a transplant donor, even to save the life of another child?
posted by Steven Den Beste on Oct 15, 2001 - 25 comments

I'm always on the lookout for good uses of the web, things that aren't about money, or convenience, but about the ways the web can help people and change society for the better. Dan Bricklin mentioned Don Rose, who built a diary that chronicles how he and his 5-year old son deal with leukemia. Amazing, amazing stuff.
posted by mathowie on Jan 20, 2000 - 1 comment