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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 genuinely enjoy reading your blog, but may I respectfully say that the timing of this particular post might be in bad taste. I will, of course, continue reading your blog every day because I appreciate your insight, and certainly you are entitled to your opinion, but this article simply comes across as opinionated and judgmental, rather than compassionate and caring.
I am curious how stating one’s opinion on a particular subject can be considered judgmental? I criticized or passed judgment on no one personally with this article. Just asked a question based on a current newsworthy item and answered the question with what I would have done personally. Perhaps you did not read it closely enough but only scanned it and derived a conclusion that was not intended if the full text was read.
I did read the post carefully, twice. Sarah, I mean this in the kindest possible way. Sometimes it’s not WHAT you say, but how you say it. You may be right about this issue of chemo, but to be right AND winsome is a worthy goal.
I never claimed to be a perfect communicator. Only someone who cares enough to try and get the word out about some important issues worth consideration.
No, I would not do conventional cancer treatment. It’s easy for someone to say that “you can’t possibly know what you would do, but I just don’t think that’s true. There are lots of convictions that have been tested of mine throughout my life, and I have always stuck with my original decision. Here’s the thing, though. Cancer can’t be treated with just B17, or random supplements. The whole diet, lifestyle has to change. One supplement is not going to get rid of cancer, and those who think that it will, are just as delusional as those that think
I’ve seen many people die from conventional cancer treatments, and I have no desire to end up in their position. A young friend was discovered to have a brain tumor; she had just gotten married. She was given emergency surgery, which had the unfortunate side effect of rendering her a vegetable. Now she is alive, but just barely, and her family had to change their lives to take care of her 24/7. Was that better than death after a few months or years? Not sure about that…you would have to ask her husband and family. She probably was not given any choice but the surgery. My father in law died before he was 50 while being treated for cancer that had moved from his leg to his hip to his lungs. At our wedding he could barely stay for the whole thing because of the chemo, and he died before our first anniversary. He’s only one of many declines that I’ve witnessed after conventional cancer treatment. I’ve never known anyone in real life who didn’t use chemo/radiation to treat cancer.
@ Tina: in brief, hyperacidity. In the modern world, with compromised air, water & food for the last 3+ decades, I don’t know that tbere can be a black & white answer to that, however, eating local & clean, living as chemical-free as possible & doing periodic cleanses is a good start. Yes.
1028 evidence-based medical research studies from the US Medical Library regarding the apoptotic benefit (programmed cell death) of 334 natural substances:
http://www.greenmedinfo.com/pharmacological-action/apoptotic
Pat
Bunch of info about Nutrition and Cancer: http://heal-thyself.ning.com/profiles/blogs/cancer-and-nutrition
And specifically about probiotics and cancer: http://heal-thyself.ning.com/profiles/blogs/probiotics-and-cancer
[Actual medical research linked to PubMed studies.]
“This encyclopedic reference currently contains over 90 compounds and substances with cancer fighting properties that most people don’t know about, and the scholarly studies behind them. With this vast array of mostly natural substances you can apply these complimentary alternative treatments to boost your odds of beating cancer, and you can definitely increase your odds of never getting cancer”.
Additionally, evidence-based medical research from GreenMedInfo.com, ‘Toxic Effects of Chemotherapy’:
http://www.greenmedinfo.com/toxic-ingredient/chemotherapy
http://www.greenmedinfo.com/anti-therapeutic-action/chemotherapy
2,509 medical research studies from the US Medical Library regarding natural substances and their therapeutic benefit to cancer.
http://www.greenmedinfo.com/disease/cancers-all
The ‘Dark Side’ of cancer research fund raising: http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/featured-october-article
Knowledge is Power. Inform yourself.
Pat Robinson
“Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.”
~ Buddha
Hi y’all:
I was diagnosed with a large meningioma (benign) brain tumor on 9-11-02, 6x4x3cm. Although it is “benign”, there is only so much room up there so the treatments are very similar to cancer treatments. I was not offered chemotherapy, just radiation. I had 24 hours of surgery to debulk as much of the tumor as possible, followed immediately by 30 targeted radiation treatments to the tumor. I took Decadron (equal to Prednisone X10) for 16 months after all of this. I deal with some issues now that make things a bit more challenging. I can blame the radiation and/or all the steroids, but the fact is, I’m alive today and am very grateful. I don’t know what would have happened without the radiation. I was told that the tumor would have had a far greater chance of growing back as only 70% of it was removed in the surgeries. I would not have had whole brain radiation, but because this was targeted I was much more comfortable with the probability that healthy cells would not be damaged as much as with whole brain radiation.
In my opinion asking questions that are thought provoking is a good thing. Every situation is different, that’s for sure. I’ve enjoyed reading everyone’s different perspectives. My heart goes out to those who have had first hand experience with cancer.
Hi Sarah! Thanks for all the great thought provoking info. I enjoy reading it so much. This is a suject that I am especially interested in. Have you ever read the book Cancer: Step Outside the Box by Ty Bollinger. Excellent book! It undercovers so much false thinking we have today about treating cancer and reveals how we got here and the force behind it in the first section and the second section covers successful natural treatments. In it he recommends advanced thermography scans to safely replace mammograms. He believes mammograms cause cancer. Have you addressed this issue? May I hear your thoughts please? I am currently being harassed by my medical doctor with calls and emails and verbal confrontations about this. I am not firm enough to intelligently represent myself and I need some more education on the subject before I trod into the deep waters of going against the system. Thanks for your time!
My mom (mentioned above) had thermograms for 2 years to keep track of things while using natural treatments for breast cancer. The tumors that started growing never ever showed up on the thermograms, so she thought she was fine and that the natural treatments had worked. Now the cancer is in a lot of lymph nodes and in her skin, and those cancerous parts were removed today, along with both breasts.
Beware the lying thermogram!
Wow! I thought thermograms were more reliable, at least that’s what I have read. And I just told my mom not to have a mammogram because of the risks. Hum.
What causes cancer? How does one prevent it? Does sugar feed cancer?
I want to see other procedures tested not just the ones that make people rich. I don’t know what I would do if I had cancer but I doubt I’d do chemo or radiation unless there was a very good chance it’d put me in remission.
I just discovered this site…! My husband was diagnosed w/stage 4 tonsil cancer. Had radiation & chemo. Then still had 4 nodes with cancer. He just had those plus 13 more neck nodes removed. At this time he is still on a feeding tube because he can’t eat yet. We have faith in the Drs & treatments. He’s tired but ok. Hoping he can start eating soon. He has an ulcer on his tonsil & will see the Dr next week to see if it is healing since the last Dr visit.
If anyone has any ideas how he can get back to eating, I’m all ears!
Slippery Elm powder can be added to a quart of water and drank throughout the day and I read that it is so nutritious that people like your husband can live off of it alone. I do know if he can drink, but maybe you could build him back up by putting it into his feeding tube? American Health and Herbs has a bunch of info on herbs and their healing benefits. Don’t be discouraged, put your trust in God. He is the One who knows best and He loves you and your husband more than anyone else. Look to Him for answers and strength. He will never forsake those who seek Him with a whole heart. God bless you and yours.