Palmer Events Center
Truth About Chemotherapy Bleak
RECEIVED Tue., Aug. 8, 2006
Dear Editor,
I have a friend with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy treatments. She doesn't live in Austin, so she won't read this, and I'm glad, because I'm afraid she might lose hope. And hope is very important to survival.
What might make her lose hope is the fact that countless doctors and other professionals working at prestigious hospitals, universities, and cancer centers around the world are clearly saying chemotherapy does not cure and does not even improve the life span for the vast majority of cancer patients. In fact, it may kill them. But the studies being done don't/can't easily prove it when patients die later of "heart disease" or "another" cancer.
Saying chemotherapy has little value seems like a strong statement. Yet the truth about chemotherapy is bleak. In all but a few rare types of cancer such as acute lymphocytic leukemia, Hodgkin's disease, and nonseminomatous testicular cancer, chemotherapy is often said to actually do more harm than good.
I've known many people with cancer. My grandfather, my uncle, an aunt, my mother-in-law's husband, several friends, my niece. They all had chemotherapy treatments. They all died, most at very young ages, with the exception of my niece with acute lymphocytic leukemia, who did survive.
I'm writing to urge readers to research extensively before making a treatment choice. The pharmaceutical companies will "prove" fewer women are dying of breast cancer based on five-year survival rates where quality of life doesn't matter. If you die year six or seven, was the chemo a success? If you hadn't received it would you have died sooner? They say it takes eight years for breast cancer cells to grow to a centimeter-sized tumor. What if you wait it out? Could you live without treatment just as long?
My friend is completing her chemotherapy treatments next week. Her dad has terminal liver cancer. He had colon cancer a few years back and had chemotherapy back then. Statistically, he was a cancer success. I pray for them both.
I have a friend with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy treatments. She doesn't live in Austin, so she won't read this, and I'm glad, because I'm afraid she might lose hope. And hope is very important to survival.
What might make her lose hope is the fact that countless doctors and other professionals working at prestigious hospitals, universities, and cancer centers around the world are clearly saying chemotherapy does not cure and does not even improve the life span for the vast majority of cancer patients. In fact, it may kill them. But the studies being done don't/can't easily prove it when patients die later of "heart disease" or "another" cancer.
Saying chemotherapy has little value seems like a strong statement. Yet the truth about chemotherapy is bleak. In all but a few rare types of cancer such as acute lymphocytic leukemia, Hodgkin's disease, and nonseminomatous testicular cancer, chemotherapy is often said to actually do more harm than good.
I've known many people with cancer. My grandfather, my uncle, an aunt, my mother-in-law's husband, several friends, my niece. They all had chemotherapy treatments. They all died, most at very young ages, with the exception of my niece with acute lymphocytic leukemia, who did survive.
I'm writing to urge readers to research extensively before making a treatment choice. The pharmaceutical companies will "prove" fewer women are dying of breast cancer based on five-year survival rates where quality of life doesn't matter. If you die year six or seven, was the chemo a success? If you hadn't received it would you have died sooner? They say it takes eight years for breast cancer cells to grow to a centimeter-sized tumor. What if you wait it out? Could you live without treatment just as long?
My friend is completing her chemotherapy treatments next week. Her dad has terminal liver cancer. He had colon cancer a few years back and had chemotherapy back then. Statistically, he was a cancer success. I pray for them both.
Kelly Hayes