Baby Boomers Changing The Healthcare Landscape

Kendra and Jay Jeffcoat are the quintessential baby boomer couple. Kendra, 69, recently retired after a long and successful career as a college professor and administrator. Jay, 70, who spent his college years as student body president at the University of California, Santa Barbara, protesting the Vietnam War, continues to work full time as a corporate attorney in San Diego. In January 2013, Kendra was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, which had metastasized in her brain. She never smoked, nor was she around secondhand smoke. But as Healthline noted in November 2014, lung cancer among women who don't smoke is on the rise. Kendra endured brain surgery, several courses of chemotherapy, and a clinical trial for a cancer vaccine. She is now being treated with Opdivo, a new immunotherapy medication from Bristol-Myers Squibb that helps a person's immune system fight cancer. It was approved last year by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The emergence of immunotherapies is considered a game changer in the treatment of cancer. Kendra and her husband are pleased that this new treatment is available. Kendra said she was shocked when she was first diagnosed, but age has given her the wisdom to deal with it. "The joy of being over 60 is that a person has the experience and wisdom to deal with the realities of a crisis with joy, hope, and laughter," she told Healthline. "Each round of chemo, radiation, vaccine therapy, and now immunotherapy, provides an opportunity for a r...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news