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The world lost a true visionary yesterday with the passing of Steve Jobs, former CEO of Apple. I remember back in the late 80’s when I was a young computer programmer/designer fresh out of grad school using the (Apple) MacIntosh computer for the very first time.
The MacIntosh user interface was so intuitive and such a leap ahead of the predominant Microsoft DOS operating system (remember? type commands at the green screen prompt) that I thought I had died and gone to heaven.
This new and emerging user interface in the 1980s that is taken for granted today rocketed the task of computer design light years ahead and allowed the development of computer systems to at last be something users could be involved in and easily understand.
There is no doubt that Steve Jobs’ passing at 56 years old was premature. He had much more to contribute to the world and I for one feel the world has been cheated now that he is gone.
Pictures of him in his final days showed a frail, shockingly thin frame consistent with a person who had undergone chemotherapy treatments for cancer.
While every single detail of Mr. Jobs’ cancer treatments over the years are not publicly known, one can’t help but wonder if his chemotherapy and radiation treatments contributed to his demise.
Just a few weeks ago, Kara Kennedy, daughter of the late Senator Edward Kennedy died at age 51 from a heart attack. Her brother, Patrick Kennedy said that her many years of chemotherapy to treat lung cancer took a severe toll on her health and weakened her physically to the point where “her heart just gave out.”
Is Conventional Treatment for Cancer Worse Than the Disease?
It seems that chemotherapy/radiation treatments causing death rather than preserving life are becoming more common.
Radiation in particular ups the risk of heart problems in women undergoing conventional treatment for breast cancer. The May 2000 issue of The Lancet reported that women who had undergone radiation for breast cancer increased their odds of dying from other causes, usually heart related, by 21% compared with women who had not undergone radiation with the 20 year survival rate for breast cancer improving by only 1%.
Does that seem worth it to you? It sure doesn’t to me.
Chemotherapy is another conventional treatment for cancer that seems to hasten people’s death. The National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death in the UK reported that its review of 600 cancer patients who died within 30 days of treatment revealed that over one quarter had in fact been killed by the chemo and not cancer.
The extreme toxicity of chemo treatments is what causes the rapid demise, usually infections such as the very serious neutropenic sepsis.
In the case of Mr. Jobs, this appears to be what happened. According to reports from multiple sources, he had received chemotherapy treatments in recent months at the Stanford Cancer Center in Palo Alto California and his devastating physical deterioration from these treatments almost certainly contributed to his quick passing.
Would You Ever Use Chemo or Radiation to Treat Cancer?
If you received a cancer diagnosis, would you ever agree to chemotherapy or radiation treatments or would you explore nontoxic alternative therapies?
I, for one, would not consider conventional cancer treatment as such an approach to disease seems more than a little misguided. How can use of toxic chemicals and/or radiation possibly be beneficial when both of these treatments actually have been shown to cause cancer in the long run?
It seems that a more holistic approach to cancer would be wiser than the slash and burn approach of conventional cancer treatments.
In his article A Holistic Approach To Cancer, Dr. Tom Cowan MD writes:
“… the job of the doctor is to distinguish between the therapy and the illness. What I mean by that is if you get a splinter in your finger, and then your body makes pus to get the splinter out, is the pus the therapy or the disease? We know that pus indicates infection and the presence of microorganisms, and we learned in medical school that doctors should kill the pus. But I don’t think it is that far of a stretch to see that if you have a splinter in your finger, the pus is the therapy for the splinter. If you don’t take the splinter out, the pus will do it for you. If you mistakenly think that the pus is the disease and you destroy the pus, the splinter will stay and your body will attempt this process again. If you destroy the pus again, your body might repeat this process three or four more times. Then you have a chronic infection as the body keeps trying to remove the splinter. Eventually it will either succeed, or it will encapsulate the splinter, which is a tumor, a new growth. It is not a cancerous tumor but a benign cystic tumor of the splinter. The understanding that the pus is the therapy allows you to predict what is going to happen in the future.
Now think of this example. Joe Bloke is a smoker. In other words, he puts a bunch of splinters in his lungs every day. Twice a year Joe gets cough, fever, mucus–all to get the splinters out of his lungs. I prefer to say “cough, fever, mucus” rather than “bronchitis” because the word “bronchitis” separates you from the reality of the situation. His body is producing an inflammatory response–it is making a mucus-pus-fever response to cleanse his lungs of splinters. If Joe goes to a doctor who makes the mistake of thinking that the response is the problem, he will give drugs to stop the bronchitis–which is actually the medicine. So Joe will be left with the splinters. That scenario will happen twice a year for thirty years and then Joe has a big bag of splinters in his lungs, and we call that lung cancer.”
Holistic approaches to cancer help resolve whatever caused the cancer in the first place. Conventional chemo/radiation treat only the “pus” of the cancer as described by Dr. Cowan.
Stopping cancer symptoms by “killing” the cancer cells with chemo or radiation is not in any way a cure as Mr. Jobs tragically discovered in his long running quest to regain his health.
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist.com
Source: Doctors Rely on Chemo Too Much
i wouldn’t have either personally,i think they do more harm than any small ‘good’ they are supposed to…
Fo me and my little ones , I would only consider it as a last resort not first… we would pursue prayer and natural alternatives
Let thy food by thy medicine.
i believe chemo and radiation are only necessary as a last resort. they often make people sicker than the cancer itself.
I think it’s not a decision that can made outside of the situation. I will say this though, I think regardless of the treatments chosen people shouldn’t jump in right after diagnosis, especially when harsh methods like chemo are decided upon. Horrible news weakens the immune response, I wouldn’t want to pump chemicals and the like into my system in that state. Frankly I’d want to wait a week or two, meditate, do yoga etc. and then start treatment. But I’m not a doc, what do I know? =)
I do know thatJ obs initially attemptedto treat his cancer dietarily/nutritionally, but was strongly urged by Apple’s board to take surgery/chemo. But anyway, for us, like the OP, I can’t say for sure, but my intent if I did havecancer would beto refuse pharmaceuticals.
I read somewhere that chemo is only effecrive on 3 specific types of cancer. My husband and I have talked about this a lot, and we have seen many people suffer through traditional treatment, only to still die. Until we are personally faced with it for sure, we won’t say 100%…..but most likely, we will refuse traditional treatments and find altenative, body strengthening options.
My husband and I feel the same way as Lisa and we have seen loved ones (our dads included) suffer from chemo and radiation. We believe the treatment usually is the killer. We would rather have our last days to be quality days. I had skin cancer that needed treatment and was asked radiation or MUHS (surgery). No radiation! My husband wouldn’t have the cancer removed and I think I would.
I am afraid my body wouldn’t even be helped with traditional/alternative treatments as Lyme has damaged it so much. I haven’t done very well in making strides toward the WAP diet, my fatigue holds me back in EVERYTHING! I do have a kefir smoothie everyday and have kombucha here and there. I really want to do better, but like I said, the fatigue. How do you do something to give you better health when you don’t have the health to do it?
Just to clarify in regards to having cancers removed and not know whether I would or not. I did have the basal cell carcinoma removed and have had squamous cell carcinomas removed, but they were just skin (surface) cancers.
Look into Black Salve for skin cancers. Also Bloodroot.
I have had both of those removed, too. The basal cell kept coming back, so the MOHS surgery (not MUHS) was done.
Don’t be discouraged. Remember every positive change you make is a step in the right direction! You are better off than you would be without the healthy whole food probiotics that you are getting into yourself. Good for you for trying!
great question!
Poor guy!
Would You Ever Use Chemo or Radiation for Cancer? – The Healthy Home Economist http://t.co/W1oP6WTK
Saw on Facebook link about an Italian doctor who treats cancer with a very high success rate and he uses a sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) solution thru a port directly into the tumor. Anyone interested should look for it on YouTube. It is a 3 part series and very interesting.
You’re basing information about an extremely dangerous “treatment” off sources you found on facebook. Next time do more research before you end up with innocent deaths on your hand.
http://www.cancertreatmentwatch.org/reports/simoncini.shtml
there is also a Canadian scientist who has successfully decreased the size of tumors with baking soda. and he, as far as i know, did not believe cancer to be a fungus. we should remember that no 2 bodies are the same. why do we treat everyone medically as such? each body will respond differently to each treatment. also, look into Germanic New Medicine. Dr. Hamer believes he has found the true Cause of caner. Trauma. Also, for more info on successful treatment of cancer, HIV, AIDS, ect. look into Dr. Hulda Clark. – please take nothing I say as scripture – look into it all and always question everything.
an extremely dangerous “treatment”? What do you think radiation and chemo poisoning are? They call it therapy, but in reality they are poisoning you to death.
I would never use chemo etc. ever. There are so many natural ways to heal from cancer over growth that are getting to be known now.
Medical doctors have no cure for it and never address diet or alternative answers to cancer.
The drug companys and FDA rule the roost.
You die if you do not educate yourself.
Start with stopping eating all processed foods now.
It’s a travesty how our country is run.
Money always wins-much to the disadvantage of keeping us healthy.
Cheep food = bad food.
Food corps run the FDA. ETC.ETC.ETC.
GRRrrrrrr
I know this is an old post, but as a lung cancer survivor, I feel I must comment. A non-smoker, I was diagnosed at 43 with small cell which is the type of cancer that usually occurs in people who have been heavy smokers for 30+ years. I chose to do chemo & radiation ALONG with nutritional support, energy work and I had armies of people praying for me. I did not lose much weight and only had to take a couple of days off from work after each round of Chemo. I will say that losing my hair pretty much sucked, but I now have a different perspective about “bad hair days”. C&R took out most of the tumor, but I did have to have surgery – my entire right lung was removed in 2007. Pathology revealed that I had a non-small cell tumor underneath the small cell tumor. SC typically responds very well to C&R, while non-SC does not. The reason I am still here is 2 fold. First and foremost was EARLY DETECTION. My cancer had not spread at all. Second, as a non-smoker, I had sufficient lung function that I could have 1 lung removed. I am quite healthy and enjoy normal activity, which includes daily walks.
I am all for living a healthy, traditional lifestyle, but please don’t paint all cancer treatments with the same black brush. I would not be here if it wasn’t for chemo & radiation.
hey everybody! cmon! dont’ you know Sarah is crazy? she likes getting people worked up. then sit back and watch the fireworks. she’s a demon!
I know that this is an old post but I wanted to put my two cents in. Cancer is a very complicated and terrible disease. Depending on the diagnosis, the effectiveness of the recommended treatment and also on things like my age and my kids age at the time of diagnosis will greatly determine whether or not I go through the conventional treatment. Not because I think alternative medicine will “cure” me, but because I know that cancer has no cure- alternative or conventional. There was a fantastic article written by Ken Murray. (link below). If the outlook is too bad, then I will forgo all treatment. I will die as a medical doctor will die:
http://zocalopublicsquare.org/thepublicsquare/2012/07/23/doctors-really-do-die-differently/read/nexus/
Cancer is not an immune deficiency, a fungus or an oxidative cellular problem as some people are suggesting. Cancer is a general term for what happens when your cells DNA gets mutated in such a way that causes cells to not only divide uncontrollably, but to spread and harm the person by blocking vital functions of organs. Your immune system is built to recognize foreign cells and particles (viruses) as dangerous- Cancer is not foreign- in fact, it has the same proteins, lipids makeup as your noncancerous cells. Your immune system doesn’t recognize the cancerous cells as dangerous. As the cancer progresses, it will pick up more mutations which will alter its physical characteristics; however, even if your immune system recognizes it at this point, its already too late.
The similarities between the cancerous cells and your noncancerous cells is also the problem with any drugs given to people. Drugs against bacteria are tailored specifically for their protein walls, their ribosomes, their DNA replication machinery. The drugs hardly effect you because your cells have different protein, lipid content, etc. How are scientists to design drugs that recognize cancerous cells without harming the persons noncancerous cells? Hint: they can’t. The most effective drugs against cancer don’t necessarily target cancer, but rather rapidly dividing cells. Is chemotherapy and radiation poison? Hell yeah. If you didn’t have cancer, I would strongly suggest you stay away from both.
Lastly, the biggest problem that I had with this post is that it implies that cancer is avoidable and curable. If you get a cancer diagnosis, it will kill you eventually. (unless you’re hit by a bus, car, elephant, etc.) Whether its eight months down the road, a few years down the road. Conventional treatment may or may not extend your time here on earth depending on your starting health, the progress of the cancer, and mutational makeup of the cancer. Chemotherapy has a risk of killing the patients, but cancer will 100% kill you in the end.
Cancer, if you live long enough, is inevitable. If this WAPF diet really is so fantastic and something else doesn’t kill you, you will get cancer. The mutation rate of DNA is too high and the number of times that your cells divide will give you cancer. You can increase your odds of getting cancer by smoking, sunbathing and contracting HPV, but even if you do everything right, and lived in a clean room your whole life, you will still get cancer-its a symptom of age. Also, it turns out, we will all die. We’re not immortal. Stop pretending you are.
wrong link (although, that was also good, this is the first article):
http://zocalopublicsquare.org/thepublicsquare/2011/11/30/how-doctors-die/read/nexus/