A Fox News contributor has died from an aggressive brain cancer that’s expected to soar in the coming years.
Podiatrist Dr Kelly Powers passed last week after a four-year battle with glioblastoma, a brain cancer that kills most patients in less than a year.
The 45-year-old from New Jersey had been diagnosed in 2020 and went into remission the following year — but it came back more aggressive than ever earlier this year.
The mother-of-one had also suffered several other scares leading up to the diagnosis, including being diagnosed with gallbladder and heart disease at just 39 years old.
Dr Powers is one of the 10,000 Americans to die from glioblastoma every year, including Senator John McCain and Beau Biden.
Most often forming in the brain’s frontal lobe, the cancer typically affects adults over age 70, as age-related damage to cells leaves them more prone to cancer-causing mutations.
However, experts have warned that glioblastoma is on the rise among all age groups, with rates expected to surge nearly three-quarters in the coming years.
Though doctors are largely unsure what’s behind the spike, radiation, pollution, and exposure to chemicals like pesticides have all been suspected.
Dr Kelly Powers, pictured here with her husband and son, died last week from glioblastoma, years after also suffering gallbladder and heart disease
Dr Powers was first diagnosed with glioblastoma in 2020 and went into remission in 2021. However, when the cancer returned earlier this year, she was out of treatments
Dr Powers had started suffering from frequent headaches in 2020 when she eventually had a grand mal seizure, the most serious type.
In an interview with Preferred Health Magazine, she said her father found her passed out on the floor foaming at the mouth.
She was rushed for a CT scan, which revealed the tumor and required emergency surgery.
Dr Powers underwent three brain surgeries, as well as chemotherapy, radiation, and immunotherapy.
During the first operation, doctors even told her that her surrogate was pregnant with her son, who is now three years old.
Dr Powers went into remission in 2021, though the cancer returned earlier this year, and the last treatment left was only available in Germany. It’s unclear what kind of therapy this was.
Glioblastoma is most commonly found in the frontal lobe, which is responsible for personality, movement, language, and impulse control, among other functions.
The average survival rate is just 15 months, and the tumor often doesn’t respond to traditional treatments like chemotherapy and radiation.
The cancer affects 15,000 Americans per year and kills 10,000, who are typically between ages 70 and 79.
However, research in the Journal of Clinical Oncology predicts that rates will surge from 10,688 in 2010 to 18,466 in 2050, a 72 percent increase. And the team warned that prediction ‘may underestimate the true magnitude of the coming change.’
Some experts have suggested this may be due to an increasing population of older adults, dubbed America’s ‘Silver Tsunami.’
A report released earlier this year, for instance, estimated that a record number of 4.1million Americans will turn 65 this year, and the surge will continue through 2027.
Senator John McCain (left) and Beau Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, both died from glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer that kills most patients within a year
However, this does not account for younger patients like Dr Powers.
Some evidence suggests that increasing exposure to pollution and toxic chemicals could be to blame.
A 2020 study, for example, evaluated the link between air pollution and chronic brain inflammation.
The researchers found that men who were exposed to benzene, an industrial chemical used to make plastics and synthetic fibers, were more likely to develop brain cancers like glioblastomas than those with less exposure to the chemical.
Brain inflammation causes immune cells to release cytokines, which damage DNA and inhibit mechanisms meant to suppress tumors.
A study published earlier this year in the journal Medicine also suggested that glioblastomas thrive in highly inflammatory environments, as inflammation discrupts the blood-brain barrier and allows the cancer to spread faster and become resistant to treatments.
Air pollution has also been linked to glioblastoma.
In 2019, a study found that ultra-fine particles produced by fuel burning, such as driving a car, increased brain cancer risk by up to 50 percent for people in large cities like Toronto compared to more rural areas.
Some evidence also suggests that rising conditions like heart disease could also be to blame.
Additionally, experts at Moffitt Cancer Center point toward ionizing radiation as a culprit. This is a form of radiation used in medical imaging like CT scans, which have become more common over the past few decades for diagnosing conditions.
The experts noted this radiation could create breaks in DNA strands, which could reduce the risk of cancer-causing mutations.
The above graph, from a 2020 study in the journal Cureus, shows the increase the glioblastoma cases from 2008 to 2017
The above graph shows how gallstones could lead to heart disease, which has then been linked to brain cancers like glioblastoma
Prior to her brain cancer diagnosis, Dr Powers learned she had gallbladder and heart disease in 2018, leading her to need her gallbladder removed.
The gallbladder stores bile, a fluid produced by the liver that helps break down fats during digestion.
Conditions like high cholesterol and obesity may cause the liver to excrete more bile than the body can dissolve, leading the bile to crystalize and form gallstones.
Gallstones may contribute to heart disease by disrupting bile acid secretion.
A recent study of more than 270,000 Americans, for example, suggested that when too much bile acid is secreted, harmful bacteria can form in the gut microbiome that promote inflammation and plaque building up in the arteries.
According to a study published last year, the buildup of plaque in the arteries that results in heart disease triggers inflammation throughout the body, including in the brain.
Dr Powers’ family set up a GoFundMe to cover medical costs before her death.
