COMMENTARY ON PREVIOUS POSTED ARTICLE

You may have never heard of a glioma until Ted Kennedy got sick and died from it.
I had.
My little brother, Jimmy, died of a gliobastoma multi form when he was 15 in 1999. (I may have spelled something wrong in that)

In the recent months I heard from Kennedy haters about what a wonderful place this would be had he never been born. "His father should have shot that on the headboard instead!" That is a direct quote.
I have also heard all the wonderful things he did, bills he supported, that made life better for millions of Americans.
If he did nothing else besdies bring attention to this diesase by dying from it, I will hold a tender place in my heart for this otherwise lowlife man. But that is me. And this is personal.
Glioma aside, I think he was a pretty sleasy, crooked, worthly guy (can't use the word MAN, because you have to have held a real job at least ONCE in your life you be considered a REAL MAN or WOMAN).
Any of the good that came from him being a representative could have been just as easily acomplished by some other good Democrat holding that office.

Back to the article:
Jimmy had surgery to remove as much of the tumor as they could on Sept 3, 1997. He died on Feb 20, 1999. That is about a year and a half (18 months). The article says that the trials so far have dramatically increased life expectancy. What is dramatic? Months? Years? Quality time, or hospital time? The article says that this new drug plays well with others, and doesn't have as bad of side effects. I would love to read a more in depth article or report on this new drug.
Of course I don't give a rat's ass that it was developed in Cuba, no should it matter. I am beyond saddened that thousands of children per year have missed the oppurtunity to benifit from this drug because of political delay. Children in China were being treated before American children. Being born and raised in Miami, I'm so tired of hearing about big bad Cuba and I  think that opening dialouge and trade with Cuba, ending the embargo, is a good idea.

I cried when I read this article. But I was happy too. Happy that we are one step closer to keeping another family from having to lose a child to this ugly, aggresive form of cancer.

One step closer.

CUBAN CANCER DRUG UNDERGOES RARE U.S. TRIAL

BY JOHN DORSCHNER


jdorschner@MiamiHerald.com

For the first time since Fidel Castro took power in Cuba over a half-century ago, a drug developed by the Communist regime is going through clinical trials in the United States.

The drug nimotuzumab is designed to target cancer cells including those in rare and deadly types like glioma, the brain cancer that killed Sen. Ted Kennedy. A researcher at the University of Florida, where one trial is already in progress, calls the drug ``exciting, interesting.''


The hitch: Even if trials prove successful, nimotuzumab could not be sold in the United States because 20 percent of the company holding the license is owned by the Cuban government.

``We're in the business of developing drugs,'' said David G.P. Allan, chief of YM Biosciences, based in Canada. ``We could care less about the political side.''

YM Biosciences owns 80 percent of CIMYM, the company that has the rights to develop nimotuzumab in North America, Europe, Japan and other places. The other 20 percent is owned by the Center of Molecular Immunology, the biotech lab in Havana that developed the drug.

Given by injection, nimotuzumab is already approved for marketing in 20 countries, including India and China, where the licensing was done directly by Cuba, not YM. It is not approved in North America, Europe or Japan, but almost 20 trials are in progress.

Amy Smith, a pediatric neuro-oncologist at the University of Florida, said the theory is that nimotuzumab works by attacking epidermal growth factor receptors, shutting off the growth of cancer cells.

Smith said early studies in Europe indicate the drug showed considerable promise in prolonging the lives of children who have inoperable brain stem glioma. Even with radiation, those children generally survive only eight to 15 months.

To test the Cuban drug in the United States, YM needed an exception from the embargo by applying to the Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control -- a process that Allan called ``slow and formal.''

Other companies have done this -- Smithkline Beecham for a Cuba-made meningitis vaccine, and CancerVax for a cancer vaccine. In both cases, they obtained the necessary Treasury permission but after research decided not to do clinical trials.

For nimotuzumab, YM received approval in 2006 for trials involving children with inoperable brain cancer. Those tests are still progressing. Results are expected next year.

Several drugs in the same class as nimotuzumab are already approved, including Eli Lilly's Erbitux. These types of drugs do not lead to miracle cures, said Allan, but can help extend life by allowing chemo and radiation therapies to be more effective. YM maintains that nimotuzumab is superior to others in its class because it alone does not lead to toxic skin conditions.

Erbitux has a North American market of more than $1 billion a year, Allan said, and is used with mixed results on a wide range of cancers. For inoperable brain cancer cases, the U.S. market is about 5,000 patients -- not a large population for a drug manufacturer, especially since treatments could cost $10,000 to $50,000 per patient.

That's why YM Biosciences went back to the Treasury and asked to import the Cuban drug to test on patients with all sorts of cancers. That approval came earlier this month.

Not all the nimotuzumab news has been positive. In March, the European Medicines Agency rejected an application to market the drug, listing 27 major objections, including ``major deficiencies in the control, consistency and validation of the drug substance'' at the Havana manufacturing plant.

Allan said the application was made by a European company that had sub-contracted with YM and was ``based on impoverished data'' which was bound to be rejected. Next time, the application will be much sounder, he said.

U.S. trials are expected to take three or four years. If the trials succeed, YM would need a change in the embargo law.

Would a life-extending drug be worth an embargo exception? Ana Carbonell, chief of staff for Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, issued a statement Friday, saying the Republican congressman from Miami ``supports all efforts to find cures for cancer.

``The medical trials for this drug will take several years. Diaz-Balart hopes that by then the Cuban people will be free.''

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!

What's the secret to growing old gracefully?

Just don't grow up.

Here are some pictures of my dad playin' hard & workin' hard. Those are the 2 things he does best. (Besides spoiling his children)

THE BUSINESS END OF A PEACOCK

Still kinda pretty, isn't it?

3 STEPS = CRUISING

I use volleyball rules. It needs to go over the net 3 times to count as a volley. Well, she moved her feet in a forward motion for right, left and then right again. That is cruising. She has actually had a longer volley going, we just didn't catch it on camera.

WATCH OUT! SHE'S MOBIL!

BURDINES BABY

There is a florida baby if I ever saw one!

Maybe even a little Cubanish... but it's okay.

Aye, Que Lindas!

WHERE'S THE BABY?

.

.

Can you find the baby in the bubbles?

There she is!

I SCREAM, YOU SCREAM, WE ALL SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM!

POO POO IN THE BIG GIRL POTTY!

I was almost finished bathing her when I saw it turtling out. So I yelled to Mark "What should I do?" His response, "Put her on the toliet!" Then he immediately ran in the other direction to go get the cameras. We have video too, but I thought that was too graphic to post here. It sure is funny though! You got to hear the grunting and see the pushing.

AIN'T NOTHIN' BUT A "G"(erber) THANG

Her latest album, PIMPIN' IN PAMPERS, drops on the 18th.

She's ready to star in the next PIT BULL video, no?

She's got that hard core stare down.

KITCHEN JAIL

I swear to goodness, she got in there and stood up all by herself!

I was just letting her explore the kitchen while I did dishes.

Now, we have another round of:

MOMMY vs. DADDY!

Who's pictures do you like better?

Mommy's?

Or Daddy's?

TRYING TO GET WHAT SHE WANTS

Joey really wanted my camera. After she finaly realized that she can't will herself to be taller or have a longer reach, she changed her mind. She wanted the camera in Mommy's hands instead!

BLUEBERRIES?

I don't get it mom. How come they're called blueberries, if they turn me purple?

While we're on the subject, if you choke a smurf, what color does he turn?

DANCING WITH HIS JOSEPHINES

Below is Mark dancing with Grammy at our wedding.

Josephine (Parise) (Meyers) Milke

Dancing with his very own Josephine in the living room tonight.

Josephine Marie Craven-Meyers

CHEERLEADING COACH

For those of you not in the know, Mark & his friend, Big Mark, coached a girl's cheerleading teem once while in Highschool.

So Mark is using that wisdom to train his own little cheerleader.

Watch out! She's got it now!

A GAME OF "GUESS WHAT I FOUND?"

So I was undressing Joey last night for her bath. Guess what I found in her onesie?
drum roll please.... .... ...

A chip clip.


She has a box of kitchen stuff as one of her "toys". A wooden spoon, a chip clip, kitchen timer, reusable can lid are some of the things. I'm all about using things I already have to entertain the baby. She is just as happy, and it doesn't cost anything. Well, apparently she likes the chip clip a lot.

MINI LOBSTER SEASON

So we caught 28 keepers (not all were present for this photo). We probably caught close to 50, counting shorties, but you have to throw those back. In fact, you aren't even allowed to bring them on the boat to measure.

I'm sure we would have caught more had our 3rd lung not broke. We didn't even go out on Thursday. We frequent deeper spots, @ 25 ft deep, and there is just no point without the 3rd lung. I mean, yeah, I could probably catch one, free diving at that depth, but you can't really work a hole at that depth without some air support.

And, I fixed my ear by going down! My ear had been clogged for 2 weeks from not equalizing correctly while coming up from about a 30 ft free dive. I went to the doctor and he said I had barometric trauma. Well, I couldn't help myself. I tried, and found I could go down, and up, and I think I fixed my ear by going back down to the pressure I messed it up at, and slowly returning, equalizing the whole way.

Did I ever tell you about the time my daddy popped his hip back in to place while trying to water ski? It's a Craven thang.

COUPON CUTTING

So how much are you REALLY saving?

It has become a Sunday ritual at our house. While I feed the baby, Mark ventures out to get his beloved Mobil Gas Station coffee (Green Mountain). While he is there, he grabs the Sunday paper for me. Not that we really read the Herald. You can really see why newspapers are going out of business after reading the Herald a couple times. We buy the Sunday paper because I am a coupon cutter.

On the front page of the paper, in the upper corner is a colorful tag exclaiming that there are over $200 worth of savings inside! I'm gonna call bullshit on that one. But even in the realistic sense, I have seen the GMA shows that show families saving $50 to $100 a week easily with coupons easily. To that I say, EATING WHAT?

There are no coupons for fresh vegetables or meat. The coupons are for packaged and processed things. Mark and I eat healthy. We eat fabulously, actually. We both love to cook and have FOOD NETWORK saved as one of our favorites on the computer. I TIVO Alton Brown & Sandra Lee. I have 4 Rachel Ray cook books that I use ALL THE TIME. So just because there is a coupon for Hamburger Helper, I'm not buying it. Mark and I eat fresh everything and about 1/2 of that is organic.

The only coupons I really use are for baby stuff, toiletries and cleaning products. Even then, only to a point. We still are committed to buying environmentally friendly cleaning products, organic body products and, of course, only organic for the baby.
I think we average close to $40 a week savings, but that is not just coupons. That includes advantage buys. What cut of meat is on sale this week? What is BOGO? 2 for ___?

I was just wondering if the people who think they are saving so much money by eating that cheap, processed food with their coupons understand that they are just going to pay more much more in medical bills. Because you know they are going to be overweight or diabetic or have high blood pressure or ... (you get the point.)

And I know that I'm saving more money then the receipt says because we actually like the food we are cooking. Which means we eat all the leftovers and don't waste food and stretch the meals out longer. And, in the end, though I may be saving less money, I'm also saving my family's health. Put a price tag on that.

AN APPLE A DAY

HOW MUCH IS THAT DOGGIE IN THE WINDOW?

I wanna pet the puppy Mommy.

Someone can't get enough of pulling up to standing on ANYTHING!

Dude Mom, you gotta clean these windows!

BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

Mark and I had a difference of opinion. I thought we should post the following pictures of our little FSU cheerleader.

Mark, however, thought that the following pictures were better.

To each his own I guess.

JOEY CRAWLING

Sorry so late posting this. This is about 2 weeks ago. (She is 6 1/2 months now).

Now she is pulling up on EVERYTHING! She has basically figured out how to fall back down onto her rump. Much less head knocking now. All in the knees.