High-quality cancer care
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pril is Cancer Awareness Month, and we fight the disease every day at the UAB MedicineRussell Medical Cancer Center, located on U.S. route 280 in Alexander City. Thanks to our innovative relationship with the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB, we’re able to provide world class cancer care right here in our corner of the world. Approximately 2,500 members of our community will be diagnosed with cancer in 2021. To put that number in perspective, in every group of 10 people, three will be diagnosed with this disease. The most prevalent cancers in our community are skin, breast, prostate, lung and colorectal cancer. The good news is that we have made so much progress in the last two decades in detecting and treating cancer that nearly twothirds of cancer patients survive more than five years. Perhaps the most progress we’ve made recently is in lung cancer, where five-year survival rates have climbed from about 12 percent to 18 percent in recent years. Thanks in part to lung cancer screening with computed tomography, approved in 2015, which has increased the number of lung cancer cases diagnosed at earlier stages. The five-year survival rate is now 56 percent. New molecular-based treatments for advanced lung cancer have also extended survival – sometimes by several years – for patients who have incurable cancer. While we still have a way to go, we’ve made significant progress in turning cancer from a fatal disease to a chronic illness, like diabetes or heart disease. The good news is that no one has to drive to Birmingham or Montgomery to get high-quality cancer care. Nationally recognized physicians, like breast surgeon 32 Lake Martin Living
Dr. Helen Krontiras and colorectal surgeon Dr. Gregory Kennedy, commute to Russell Medical every week to take care of our neighbors. Radiation oncologists on the forefront of research – including proton therapy specialists Drs. Michael Soike and Adam Kole – staff our radiation therapy center every day. Dr. Hunter Boggs utilizes innovative treatment methods (SBRT, proton therapy) to reduce the amount of radiation that breast cancer patients are exposed to while still receiving curative doses. Dr. Rojymon Jacob, an expert in treating gastrointestinal cancers, sits on editorial boards deciding which research studies to publish. Our medical oncologists, Dr. Mary Emily Sheffield and Dr. Alex Minter, could have worked at any cancer center in the country but chose to come to the Lake Martin community because they grew up in small towns and know how important, and yet how rare, it is for rural communities to have access to excellent cancer care. We screen people for cancer to detect the disease early while it’s still curable. I inform patients about recommended cancer screenings for the five most prevalent cancers, beginning with skin cancer. Next month, we celebrate “Melanoma Monday,” where we will be providing skin cancer screening at our rural health centers in Dadeville, New Site and at the Cancer Center in Alexander City. Follow our Russell Medical Facebook page or local newspapers for screening information. September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. There is a difference of opinions among the professional societies regarding prostate screening, but the American Urological Association recommends screening beginning
