The end of cancer?

It kills millions every year, but after a slew of failed treatments scientists say vaccines could hold the key — not just to a cure but to wiping out cancer forever, writes Sharon Begley

BY all rights, Shari Baker should have said her final goodbyes years ago. In 2005, more than a year after doctors dismissed a lump under her arm as a harmless cyst, she was diagnosed with stage IV (metastatic) breast cancer, which takes the lives of at least 80% of patients within five years.

Half of those diagnosed with breast cancer that has spread — in Baker, it had reached her spine — die within 39 months. But the 53-year-old jewellery designer in Scottsdale, Arizona, wasn’t ready to die.