Mission News

Hot Mission News From The American Cancer Society
Bush Has Five Polyps Removed in Colon Cancer Test
Doctors found and removed five small polyps from President Bush’s colon during a cancer screening.
The five polyps, or growths, measured less than a centimeter in diameter each, and were later found to be benign, or non-cancerous.
A White House spokesman said President Bush, 61, would have a follow-up colonoscopy in three years, rather than waiting longer, because polyps were discovered.
It was the second cancer screening of Mr. Bush’s presidency. During the first, in 2002, doctors found no polyps. But doctors did find and remove benign polyps from Mr. Bush’s colon during exams in 1998 and 1999, when he was the governor of Texas.
The polyps were of a type called adenomatous, which arise out of glandular tissue. In such cases, doctors recommend follow-up examinations every few years to search for new polyps and to check for smaller polyps that may have escaped notice in earlier colonoscopies.

ABC’s Robin Roberts Has Breast Cancer
ABC's "Good Morning America” anchor Robin Roberts discovered she had breast cancer after following her own advice about early detection in a story about former colleague Joel Siegel’s cancer death. Roberts, who announced her diagnosis on the show, has since undergone surgery and returned to work.
“Hearing the words and saying it and seeing - it’s surreal,” Roberts, 46, told viewers in an on-air conversation with co-anchor Diane Sawyer.
Siegel, the ABC morning show’s longtime film critic, died of colon cancer earlier this summer. During an ABC tribute to him, Roberts did a story about how early detection is key to surviving cancer. She went home that night and examined her breasts.
She found a lump. Roberts went in for follow-up tests and the cancer was discovered not in a mammogram, but in a more advanced ultrasound test and later biopsy.

Royal Caribbean to Ban Smoking in Cabins
Royal Caribbean became the latest—and by far the biggest—liner to say it’ll ban smoking in cruise ship cabins, following in the footsteps of Disney, Oceania and Regent Seven Seas. The ban will take effect on most ships in January 2008.
Royal Caribbean says that, unlike on Oceania and Regent, its customers still will be able to light up on cabin balconies. It’s a notable compromise in the wake of last year’s deadly fire aboard the Star Princess, which some officials suspect was the result of a careless smoker who flung a cigarette off a balcony.