By The Survivors Club Staff
June 25, 2009

A new drug treatment for cancer has produced "highly promising results" in preliminary trials, according to new research published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine.

The new cancer drug, called Olaparib, was given to 19 patients with inherited forms of advanced breast cancer, ovarian cancer and prostate cancer caused by mutations of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes.  With 12 patients - among whom other treatments had failed - cancer tumors shrank or stabilized. In one case, a woman with breast cancer is still in remission two years after being one of the first to be treated with Olaparib.

Olaparib is a member of a new class of drugs called PARP inhibitors that target cancer cells but leave healthy cells relatively untouched.  NBC's science correspondent Robert Bazell calls this news "the most exciting development in cancer research in a decade or more.  In just a few years it could save thousands of lives."

By TSC Staff
June 24, 2009

Sometimes television imitates life.  And sometimes life imitates television.

Consider the remarkable story of nine-year-old Grayson Wynne who was separated from his family on a weekend hike in a forest in northern Utah.

According to the Associated Press, Grayson immediately thought about one of his favorite television shows on the Discovery Channel: Man vs. Wild. He watches with his dad and brothers and admires Bear Grylls, the survivalist who demonstrates how to overcome every kind of wildnerness adversity.

Lost in the Ashley National Forest, Grayson simply did what he learned on TV, leaving clues for searchers to find.  On Saturday, he ripped up his yellow rain coat and tied little shreds to trees.  "I just used my hands," says Grayson, who was found on Sunday after 18 hours in the woods.  "I don't know how many times I tore the thing but quite a lot."

The moment he he was reunited with his father, Grayson's first words were "Happy Father's Day."

By TSC Staff
June 22, 2009
Update 3:30 am PDT

Two rush-hour metro trains collided Monday on the Red Line in northeast Washington, DC.  At least seven people died and 75 were injured.  Crews cut the two trains apart to get people out.

The six-car trains were both headed in the same direction, according to Metro spokewoman Lisa Farbstein. One train smashed into the back of another as cars from the trailing train jack-knifed into the air and fell atop the first.  The female operator of the trailing train died.

"Obviously something went terribly wrong for two trains to be on the same track," she said.

According to The Washington Post, this is the third time in the last 15 years that two Metro trains have collided. The last was in November 2004, when a Red Line train rolled backwards down a steep stretch of track, and smashed into another train at the Woodley Park station. Twenty people were injured.

How safe is subway or commuter rail travel in the US? What can you do to stay safer?

By TSC Staff
June 22, 2009

A British veteran of World War I has officially become the world's oldest man at the age of 113 after the previous record holder in Japan died in his sleep, according to Guinness World Records.

The death of Tomoji Tanabe at the age of 113 means Henry Allingham of Britain now holds the title as the oldest man alive.  His birthdate was June 6, 1896, the same month that Henry Ford test-drove his first automobile and Guglielmo Marconi received a patent for the radio.

What is the secret of Allingham's long life? "Cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women,” he once joked.  But what's the real answer?

By TSC Staff

The Survivors Club is home to many people around the world who are going through every kind of adversity.  It's also a place to share stories about the animals we love, both wild and domestic. 

It’s definitely been a crazy week for pets.  First, there was Dyno, the week-old Cocker Spaniel puppy, flushed down the toilet in west London, England.  Then there was Rosie the cat in England who was blasted 50 times with shotgun pellets.  Finally, there was Postina, the two-pound, eight-week-old kitten, dropped in a mailbox in Boston and found among all the letters and envelopes.

All three animals survived...

Do you know a great animal survival story?

Please share and we'll post your story here: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

By TSC Staff
June 18, 2009

It's a terrifying scenario.  You're on a transatlantic flight from Brussels to Newark.  Over the intercom, flight attendants ask if there's a doctor on board because of a medical situation. 

There are 247 passengers on board, but no one is told about the severity of the medical crisis.

It turns out the 60-year-old pilot is ill.  Around three or four hours into the flight, he dies.

By TSC Staff
June 16, 2009

Every now and then, we come upon a survival story that's almost impossible to believe.  This time, we bring you the tale of a week-old Cocker Spaniel puppy that survived an accidental flush down the toilet. Yes, a flush down the loo in west London, England.

It all began when Daniel Blair, the puppy's four-year-old master, tried to give the muddy dog a bath in the toilet.  To rinse the dog, he pulled the chain.  Poof.  The dog vanished down the drain.

Daniel's mother Allison discovered the dog was missing and ran into the street.  "I assumed it was dead," she told the Daily Mirror of London.  "I went into the garden, managed to lift up the drain cover, and was amazed to hear him crying."

By Ben Sherwood
TSC Founder & CEO

Not long ago, I drove to El Centro, Calif., a dusty town in the Imperial Valley just miles from the border with Mexico.  I was drawn to this outpost in the Sonoran Desert after reading a column in The New York Times that described it as the "capital city" of the Great Recession.

El Centro means "the center" in Spanish but it sits in the middle of nowhere, really.  El Centro was settled by hardscrabble men and women at the turn of the last century who managed to transform the desert into a vast garden that produces 66 percent of the country's winter fruits and vegetables.  It's a place accustomed to ups and downs and tough economic times.  Even so, it has been especially hard hit by this recession.  Today, unemployment in the El Centro stands at 26.9 percent - the highest of any big metropolitan area in the country -- and that number will surely rise in the broiling summer months ahead.

My purpose in visiting El Centro was to learn how people are surviving (and thriving) in these incredibly hard times.  Sure enough, I saw people who are struggling.  I also met many people who are realistic about the challenges and optimistic about the future.  The city's glossy promotional brochure proclaims that El Centro is the "center of opportunity." While many residents are losing their homes and straining to feed their families, the city's leaders are confident that brighter days lie ahead.

To read more about El Centro and surviving the recession, please take a look at my article in Parade magazine (excerpted below):

By TSC Staff
June 11, 2009

West Nile Virus season is here.  In Utah, for instance, public health officials are bracing for the worst mosquito season in 20 years, according to experts. Mosquito abatement workers are seeing twice the number of mosquitoes compared to last year. 

In 2008, the Centers for Disease Control reports there were 1,356 cases of West Nile virus activity in the US and 44 deaths.

West Nile virus is spread by infected mosquitoes, and can cause serious, life-altering and even fatal disease, according to the CDC.  Enjoy the warm weather, the CDC says, but remember that mosquitoes carrying West Nile virus are already on the wing in some areas, so lather on some mosquito repellent. Remember to check around your home and drain any standing water where mosquitoes lay eggs.

By TSC Staff
Sunday, June 7, 2009

America’s 12 million cancer survivors observed the 22nd annual National Cancer Survivors Day on Sunday.  Hundreds of communities across America and around the world hosted events to celebrate life. There were picnics, dinners, parties and inspiring stories about facing life-threatening adversity.

At every event, there was one essential message about living with cancer.  “This is not a death sentence,” says Susan Sheehan, a breast cancer survivor from Palm Desert, California.  “More people with cancer are living longer," says Sheehan, a mother and grandmother. "You just have to take it one day at a time.”

By the year 2020, according to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 20 million Americans will be cancer survivors.  And many of them will learn the wisdom of Susan Sheehan: “I live my life one day at a time,” she says.  “I don't make my life about, ‘Oh my God, I have cancer.'”