THE WORK AHEAD
It’s time for the community of sarcoma patients, their families and friends to raise a banner and be heard.
Most cancers are of epithelial origin.
They are collectively called carcinomas and derive from cells that are from either:
endoderm
(the inner cell lining; e.g., colon cells).
ectoderm
(the outer cell lining of the developing fetus; eg skin)
This does not mean cancers begin during fetal development, it’s merely a way of differentiating the cell-types of various cancers.
Where does EHE fall into place?
Cancers that derive from cells of mesodermal origin (the middle layer of tissue in between the ectoderm and endoderm; e.g., muscle, blood vessels, bone) are called sarcomas and EHE falls into this group.
Sarcomas make up roughly 10% of all cancers.
However, almost all available research funding goes to study carcinomas, especially breast, prostate, lung and colon.
It’s time for the community of sarcoma patients, their families and friends to raise a banner and be heard.
Unfortunately
Sarcoma research is the poor cousin of cancer research and receives only a tiny amount of research funding, far less than the 10% it is entitled to.
It’s time for money for research to be spent proportionately.
Sarcomas might be individually rare,
BUT are common as a group and they are important scientifically as well.
Understanding the biology of sarcomas
has provided and will continue to provide important insights into the nature and possible treatment of all types of cancer.
Let’s work together to improve the visibility of sarcomas and the need to support research in the field.
If you want to help,
contribute to fund research on EHE or other sarcomas.
If you want the government to help,
we must have our voices heard together. We will probably need to launch a campaign to make politicians aware of these funding discrepancies and the importance of rectifying them.