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Cancer Diary: mRNA Vaccines and Cancer — What’s Really Going On

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  If you’ve spent any time online in the last few years, you’ve probably seen two very different claims about mRNA vaccines. One paints them as a breakthrough in cancer treatment. The other whispers that they might cause cancer. Both ideas travel under the same banner, but they couldn’t be more different. And for anyone living with cancer, recovering from it, or simply trying to stay informed, the noise can feel overwhelming. So let’s slow it down. Let’s separate the science from the static. 1. The hopeful side: mRNA as a cancer treatment This is the part of the story that deserves more attention. mRNA technology—the same platform used in COVID‑19 vaccines—is now being adapted to teach the immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells . Not in theory. In clinical trials. In real patients. Here’s the simplest way to picture it: Cancer cells carry mutations that make them look slightly “off,” but not off enough for the immune system to notice. An mRNA cancer vaccine delivers t...
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Alzheimer's: The Family’s Perspective

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  For families, Alzheimer’s begins as a question: Is something changing? It’s not a single moment of realization but a gradual noticing—a pattern that feels off, a conversation that loops, a familiar task that suddenly seems foreign. At first, loved ones fill in the gaps, offering reminders, finishing sentences, smoothing over missed details. It feels like helping. It feels like love. And it is. But it’s also the beginning of a long adjustment. The early stage of Alzheimer’s asks families to hold two truths at once: the person they love is still here, and something within them is quietly shifting. That dual awareness can be painful. It can make ordinary interactions feel uncertain—when to correct, when to let go, when to step in. Families often describe this phase as living in two realities: one anchored in memory, the other in adaptation. What helps most is understanding that the disease changes process , not personhood . The person remains—their humor, their preferences, their r...
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🌷 Mother’s Day: A Day Born from Love, Loss, and Legacy

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  Mother’s Day didn’t begin as a commercial celebration. It began with one daughter trying to honor the woman who shaped her life. The modern holiday traces back to Anna Jarvis , who founded Mother’s Day in the United States after her mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis , died on the second Sunday in May 1905. Ann had spent her life organizing Mothers’ Day Work Clubs to improve health and sanitation and even created Mothers’ Friendship Days after the Civil War to help former Union and Confederate families reconcile. In 1908, Anna held the first formal Mother’s Day service at her mother’s church in Grafton, West Virginia , distributing white carnations — her mother’s favorite flower — as symbols of remembrance. Within a few years, nearly every state observed the day, and in 1914 , President Woodrow Wilson declared Mother’s Day a national holiday. Ironically, Anna Jarvis later fought against the commercialization of the holiday she created, believing it had strayed from its purpose: a quiet...
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Publisher's pride: Books on bestseller lists - Racing against Time (Weiss)

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  Today's publisher's pride is  Racing against Time  by Jeffrey Weiss, which has reached #131 in triathlons  on Amazon. Book Description: In  Racing Against Time , Jeff Weiss shares the story of his late middle-age transformation.  Weiss went from running a first 10K race at age 48 to becoming an Ironman and ultramarathoner by his late 50s.  Along the way he discovers the extraordinary physical and emotional benefits that flow from chasing ever-increasing fitness goals.  Weiss’s journey shows us that we have the power to influence how we age, that goal-setting and adventure are not solely the province of the young.  At a time when so many of us are looking for ways to increase our health span – that portion of life that we spend in good health – Weiss’s story shows us one way to get there.   Keywords: midlife fitness transformation, running after 40, Ironman after 50. ultramarathon training in your 50s, late bloomer athlete, healthy...
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