Philadelphia, Surrounding Counties, Delaware and Southern New Jersey
The PHILLY CONNECTION
January 20, 2008 was a bitter cold day, one of those days in which 'mature' adults navigate the sidewalks gingerly.
Our kick-off meeting was held at an upscale dance studio in historic Head House Square in Philadelphia's Society Hill. In keeping with our mission to educate the Carcinoid/NET patient in the Delaware Valley and create awareness in the medical community and community at large, Nancy Gardner was our guest speaker. Nancy, who worked alongside Dr. Larry Kvols at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa Florida is currently on the faculty at the College of Nursing at Rutgers University and continues with her Carcinoid research having received a grant last year from the Neuroendocrine Research Foundation for the pilot study "Familial carcinoid tumors of the small intestine." Nancy also serves on the Novartis faculty as an "Expert" and "Key Opinion Leader" for Sandostatin. Maryann and Bob Wahmann of the Carcinoid Awareness Network traveled from New York to support our effort, and Teresa Lanza from the Pennsylvania Carcinoid Cancer Awareness Network, our sister group, also braved the cold. DVCC founding group members Deb Kilmartin and Shirley Jelinek helped the effort by spreading the word in their communities. And, we'd like to thank the twenty or so people that participated; some were curious - old-timers- others, newly-diagnosed looking for direction, answers, support and empathy.
Our kick-off meeting was held at an upscale dance studio in historic Head House Square in Philadelphia's Society Hill. In keeping with our mission to educate the Carcinoid/NET patient in the Delaware Valley and create awareness in the medical community and community at large, Nancy Gardner was our guest speaker. Nancy, who worked alongside Dr. Larry Kvols at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa Florida is currently on the faculty at the College of Nursing at Rutgers University and continues with her Carcinoid research having received a grant last year from the Neuroendocrine Research Foundation for the pilot study "Familial carcinoid tumors of the small intestine." Nancy also serves on the Novartis faculty as an "Expert" and "Key Opinion Leader" for Sandostatin. Maryann and Bob Wahmann of the Carcinoid Awareness Network traveled from New York to support our effort, and Teresa Lanza from the Pennsylvania Carcinoid Cancer Awareness Network, our sister group, also braved the cold. DVCC founding group members Deb Kilmartin and Shirley Jelinek helped the effort by spreading the word in their communities. And, we'd like to thank the twenty or so people that participated; some were curious - old-timers- others, newly-diagnosed looking for direction, answers, support and empathy.
We mourn the passing of our dear friend and inspiration, Deb Kilmartin and we celebrate her life in dedicating this site to her memory.
In the medical community, the term "zebra" is universally understood as a reference to an orphan, or rare disease or condition, Carcinoid being one of them. Physicians are taught the core tenet of medical diagnosis - to assume that the simplest explanation is usually the best, i.e., it is generally more productive to look for common rather than exotic causes for disease, hence the phrase "If you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras."
Hence, the zebra is the icon for Carcinoid Cancer.
Click here to join our new
Philly Carcinoid on-line forum.
We'd like to recognize a great group of bright, young people from Peirce Middle School's accelerated class (The Inventors' Course) in the West Chester Pennsylvania school district who donated their time to set this up for us as a way to communicate and discuss issues.
