Course helps cancer patients survive, thrive

The UNM Cancer Center is helping women diagnosed with ovarian cancer, a disease that one in 70 women will develop in their lifetime.

Carolyn Muller, the UNMCC chief of gynecological oncology, said screening and prevention are the most effective methods to prevent ovarian cancer. She said that on April 9 UNMCC held an ovarian cancer survivors course, which helped them get more up-to-date information about the condition.

“It was an all-day course which was designed to present the latest and greatest science and understanding about the cancer to the patients in the room who are either survivors or people with ovarian cancer,” Muller said.

Betty Langley was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in January 2010. Three people recommended Langley seek treatment from Muller, so Langley said she was confident that UNMCC was the place to be treated. She said she was reminded of how great the UNMCC was after the survivors course in Albuquerque.

“For the people who attended the conference and the knowledge you come out of it with, knowledge is power, so you feel like you have power over your own situation,” Langley said.

Muller said about 145 people attended the event, which was sponsored by the Foundation for Women’s Cancer. She said getting the foundation to come to New Mexico was a monumental accomplishment.

“They’ve done about 30 or more survivors courses, but this is the first one they brought to Albuquerque,” she said. “Most of the time they go to big cities like New York or Los Angeles. And when they go there, they usually get about 100 to 200 people. They never expected, nor did we, the turnout out we had here.”

Muller said the survivors course gave attendees the latest information about clinical trials and how they can participate, drug developments and cancer patient treatment.

Muller said the event was so well-attended that they had to stream presentations into a second room.

“We bring in speakers from all over the country … as well as us local folks,” she said. “We have a growing, fairly substantial group of basic and clinical scientists here at UNM that are doing work on clinical research here at UNM.”