Category: JPH Guide

Short-term and long-term disability insurance benefits can provide essential financial support for brain tumor patients and their caregivers who are unable to work due to the medical condition. Here’s an overview of how these disability programs work:1. Enrollment and Coverage:Employer-Sponsored Plans: Many employers offer short-term and long-term disability insurance as part of their employee benefits package. Employees may enroll in these plans during open enrollment periods or when they first become eligible for benefits.Individual Policies: Individuals can also purchase private short-term and long-term disability insurance policies from insurance companies to supplement or replace employer-provided coverage.

What is Health Insurance and Why is it Important? Health insurance is a legal entitlement to payment or reimbursement for your health care costs, generally under a contract with a health insurance company.  Health insurance provides important financial protection in case you have an accident or sickness. For example, health insurance may help to pay for doctors’ services, medications, hospital care, and special equipment when someone is sick or injured, often in exchange for a monthly premium. It may help cover a stay at a rehabilitation hospital or even a portion of home health care.

Different parts of the brain control different functions, so brain tumor symptoms will vary depending on the tumor’s location. For example, a brain tumor located in the cerebellum at the back of the head may cause trouble with movement, walking, balance, and coordination. If the tumor affects the optic pathway, which is responsible for sight, vision changes may occur.The tumor’s size and how fast it’s growing also affect which symptoms a person will experience.

Kansas City beneficiary partners, the University of Kansas Cancer Center and Children’s Mercy, collaborated in efforts to treat a pediatric brain tumor patient.

Astrocytomas are tumors that develop in your central nervous system (CNS) that grow from star-shaped astrocyte cells. They usually develop in your brain but can develop in your spinal cord as well. Astrocytomas can be benign (noncancerous) or malignant (cancerous).Astrocytes are glial cells (the type of cells that provide supportive tissue in your brain). Other glial cells include oligodendrocytes and ependymal cells. Astrocytoma is the most common glioma. A glioma is a tumor that forms when glial cells grow out of control.Healthcare providers use grades to describe different types of astrocytomas. They don’t use a staging system as they do for many other types of cancer.

Novocure was founded to provide patients with a new cancer treatment based on using alternating electric fields, when applied at specific frequencies, can disrupt cancer cell division and cause cancer cell death. This innovative treatment, Tumor Treating Fields, is a completely different approach to cancer therapy. What are TTFields?TTFields are electric fields that exert physical forces to kill cancer cells via a variety of mechanisms.Electric fields have different effects on the human body depending on their frequency, leading to diverse applications in healthcare such as microwave ablation, deep brain stimulation, and pacemakers.

For episode 08 of the Rare Enough podcast we share a conversation with Shane Brown, where we explore the groundbreaking innovations of GT Medical Technologies and more specifically, the GammaTile.What is the Gamma Tile?  GammaTile, created by GT Medical Technologies, is redefining brain tumor treatment. By delivering targeted radiation directly to the tumor bed during surgery, GammaTile minimizes exposure to healthy tissue, offering enhanced outcomes and reduced side effects for patients facing the complexities of brain tumors.

The book empathetically captures the emotional nuances of caregiving, validating the challenges and celebrating the strength and resilience of those in this vital role.

In the age of digital connectivity and social media, the internet has become an invaluable tool for providing support and staying connected, especially for patients and their caregivers.

When hearing the words, ‘You have a brain tumor’, your mind begins to wander in multiple places; How long do I have? What does this mean? Is it even true? Are you sure? Could it be anything else?