Did This 15-Year-Old Boy Just Find a Cure for Pancreatic Cancer? (elephant journal 2/7)

jack

Did this 15-year-old schoolboy from Crownsville, MD just find a cure for pancreatic cancer?

Not quite, but his new invention promises to bring survival rates up to nearly 100 percent.

Jack Andraka has invented a new, low-cost test to detect for the earliest stages of the deadly disease. This brilliant young mind was inspired to take action following the death of his uncle to this most dreaded disease.

A simple ‘dip test’ looks for levels of mesothelin, a biomarker for this disease, in both the blood and urine. This innovative test will potentially revolutionize treatment for pancreatic cancer—a disease which currently kills 19 of the 20 patients diagnosed within the first five years.

The test, in its earliest phase of review, is already over 90 percent accurate for detecting pancreatic cancer at it’s earliest state; where once previously this diagnosis was a near certain ‘death sentence,’now there is hope.
And the cost of this test? Only three cents per strip.

I’ll bet that will turn the pharmaceutical heads and lobbyists right straight onto their collective ears.

Watch this video to learn a little more:

About

Tara Lemieux is a mindful wanderer, and faithful stargazer. Although she often appears to be listening with great care, rest assured she is most certainly‘forever lost in thought. She is an ardent explorer and lover of finding things previously undiscovered or at the very least mostly not-uncovered.

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