THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT

Last week I had the pleasure of hosting a young woman named Winter Vinecki in my laboratory. I met Winter for the first time in Washington, DC several weeks ago at the Celebration of Science sponsored by the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF). 

Winter has been a fundraiser for PCF ever since she lost her father Michael Vinecki to prostate cancer when he was 40 - one year older than me. Since the time her father was diagnosed, Winter has been driven to help find solutions to the problem of prostate cancer.

Despite the fact that she is only 13 years old, Winter has raised nearly $400,000 for prostate cancer research, and I have been a direct recipient of her fundraising. Therefore, when a local TV reporter Tim Becker asked me whether I would be interested in hosting her and her mom in the lab, I leaped at the chance. 

I showed Winter how we grow prostate cancer cells in the laboratory and what these cells looks like under the microscope. I introduced her to the folks in the lab and tried to give her a sense of how much progress we as a prostate cancer community have made - five new prostate cancer drug approvals in the past two years compared with only one drug approval prior to that time - but also how far we still have to go.

I explained that very soon we will be initiating a $10 million project with 5 other centers on the West Coast to perform the equivalent of the human genome project in 300 tumors from men with prostate cancer.  While the original human genome project cost $3 billion dollars and took 13 years to complete, we can now sequence a tumor for around $1000 dollars in 2 days. Progress continues to accelerate, but for many patients and their families, progress cannot come fast enough. I feel their urgency every week in clinic, and that is what motivates me more than anything.

There are few heroes in this world who force us to question ourselves, our own commitment, and our own desire. Winter Vinecki is one of those people.  She plans to run 7 marathons on 7 different continents, she and has already completed her first in Eugene, Oregon. Kenya, her second, is next week.

http://www.koinlocal6.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoid=3761413

I told Winter that my son Nicholas often asks me, "Dad, why do you have to go to work at the lab every day ?" I told Winter what I tell Nicholas when he asks me that -  one death from prostate cancer is one death too many.
How can one give anything less than one's all?  How can one be satisfied with the treatment progress we have made in recent years? How can one rest when prostate cancer takes one Michael Vinecki from us every 16 minutes in the United States?

The answer is we cannot, and we will not.  For Winter now inspires me, too. 

Julian Castro, the keynote speaker at the Democratic Convention last month in Charlotte, said that the American Dream is not a sprint. It is not a marathon. It is a relay. We are all linked. We are all in this together. The cure for cancer is no different.

I am honored to be a member of Team Winter, and I will do my best to follow her example... and to keep up with her tireless efforts and endless accomplishments so that one day our discontent with prostate cancer outcomes may turn into content.