     
|
|
|
Texas parents' gift to boost UI research on rare bone cancer
Posted April 1, 2002
IOWA CITY -- What are the chances that a young man from Texas would be stricken with a very rare form of bone cancer called chondrosarcoma? And what is the likelihood that his parents, Margaret and Richard Ling of Houston, Texas -- whose son was not even treated at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics -- would give the UI $50,000 in his memory to support research on chondrosarcoma? The whole situation is remarkable, just like Ben Ling, the young man faced with chondrosarcoma -- a disease that strikes just 300 people a year -- in the prime of his life. After graduating from Colby College in Waterville, Maine, Ben was working as a cowboy on a ranch in west Texas when he noticed a persistent pain in his hip. He worked through the pain until it became so bad that one day he phoned his mother in tears. It turned out Ben had a broken hip -- and a devastating malignant tumor eating away at his bone. Ben had hip replacement surgery in June 1999 to remove the diseased bone. He seemed cured, and he happily moved to Washington, D.C., to work on Capitol Hill. Ben returned every three months to check in with his doctor at the University of Texas, Kristin Weber, who completed a residency in orthopaedic surgery at the UI in 1996. In October 2000, Ben experienced pain in his pelvis and chest, but this time his cancer was inoperable. There was no treatment for his chondrosarcoma, and the disease quickly spread through his body. Ben died in March 2001, having just turned 25. Despite the cruel and sudden nature of his illness, and his young age, Ben Ling never bemoaned his fate. His mother, Margaret, recounts, "I said to Ben, 'Why did this have to happen to you?' But he always said cancer was the best thing that ever happened to him because it made him really appreciate his life, and it was better for him to get chondrosarcoma than some 3-year-old child. "Ben's courage and acceptance have inspired me to try to do all I can to help others with this cancer. It's my mission in life now to let people know about chondrosarcoma and to help raise money to support research into this disease." The Lings learned from Ben's physician, Dr. Weber, that UI Hospitals and Clinics is one of the few institutions in the nation that has assembled a team of surgeons, pathologists and scientists in genetics and cell and molecular biology to advance understanding of how chondrosarcomas grow and spread. After learning more about this UI program, the family decided to create the Ben Ling Chondrosarcoma Research Fund (through a gift to the UI Foundation) to support the research of UI physicians and scientists such as orthopaedic oncologist Joseph Buckwalter, chair of orthopaedic surgery at UI Hospitals and Clinics and the UI College of Medicine; molecular geneticist Bento Soares; cell biologist James Martin; pathologist Barry De Young; orthopaedic surgeon Jose Morceunde; and cell biologist and anatomist Mary Hendrix. "The patients I have cared for who suffered from this disease, the love of the Lings for their son and their dedication to this cause have inspired me and others to work harder to move our chondrosarcoma research program forward," Buckwalter said. "This gift from the Lings has already been used to spur promising new research directions that will enable us to find better, more effective treatments that we hope will prevent chondrosarcoma tumors from growing and spreading." The UI's group of leading scientists and clinicians has launched an innovative and multidisciplinary chondrosarcoma research program, trying first to advance basic understanding of these malignancies, which are quite unlike the tumors found in breast cancer, for example. So far, it is difficult for physicians to determine just from a tumor's appearance how aggressive an individual's chondrosarcoma might turn out to be, and this can affect early treatment. Surgery is currently the main treatment for chondrosarcoma, but surgery isn't always effective at removing all areas of cancerous bone. Radical resections can be significantly disabling, and surgery is often not even an option if the cancer metastasizes. Unfortunately, chondrosarcoma doesn't usually respond to conventional cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation. Therefore, new options must be discovered. UI researchers are using gene transfer technology to study telomerase activity (telomerase is an enzyme that appears to be responsible for the unchecked growth of cancer cells) as a possible indicator of chondrosarcoma's metastatic and growth potential, and are also working to identify the genes expressed in chondrosarcomas compared to those found in other tumor tissue and normal tissue. Results so far are "promising," according to team member Mary Hendrix. She added, "This is an understudied area of research that is in urgent need of attention." With additional private support, scientists working in the UI Chondrosarcoma Research Program hope to make further strides in their research that will lead to winning federal grants. These grants, in turn, should help Iowa's Chondrosarcoma Research Program greatly expand understanding of chondrosarcoma, develop new treatment options -- and finally find a cure. "You never read about chondrosarcoma," said Margaret Ling, who with her husband has pledged ongoing support for the battle against this rare killer cancer. "But everyone who gets this disease is a person with a family, and I don't want other people to go through this. We are so happy about the UI chondrosarcoma research program." The UI Foundation is the preferred channel for private contributions to all areas of the university. Foundation staff work with alumni and friends to generate funds for scholarships, professorships, facilities improvements, equipment purchases, research and other UI initiatives. Contact Information
Sheila Baldwin Additional information about supporting the UI College of Medicine also is available on this site. |