All posts by Raishad Peoples

Cancer patient gets her name in lights above Chicago expressway

Most of the 260,000 drivers who zoom past on a typical weekday likely don’t realize the significance of the sign. “People are like, ‘Who’s Rosie?” said John Novak, 61, founder of Novak Construction.

“Then I tell them the story. I tell them there is a pretty sick little girl and we put it up for her.”

The megawatt gesture has meant a lot to the Colucci family.

“It gives me a lot of strength, just knowing people care and that they’re praying for her and they stand behind us in our fight,” said Rosie’s mom, JoAnne Colucci, 50.

“The sign is not just a sign,” she said. “It’s hope.”

Read More…

When unapproved drugs are the only hope

The debate over compassionate use and “Right to Try” legislation.

The U.S. has a system meant to help: it’s called compassionate use and it’s a way for terminally ill or otherwise optionless patients to access experimental drugs outside of clinical trials. For a patient to receive a medicine on that basis, she must have the support of her physician, the consent of the Food and Drug Administration and a pharmaceutical company willing to supply the drug. That’s where the Trallers, and many others, have gotten stuck.

change-org-petition-increase

Read More…