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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 think the tone of this post is the cause of the controversy here. And it isn’t the first time I have felt a holier-than-thou vibe coming off the screen. The yogurt post (silly woman in the store buying a cart full of store yogurt). The marathon post (silly people who think that running is healthy). And now this, the silly people who think chemo and radiation are the only way. You didn’t say silly, but the implication is clear. Sarah, you may disagree with conventional wisdom, and that’s your prerogative. I actually agree with you most of the time. But consider your delivery. Lots of real food bloggers post on these same topics, yet come across as encouraging, not condemning.
It’s impossible to write something where the tone makes everyone happy unless its a noncontroversial recipe post or something like that. If I tone it down, the post will be viewed as wishy washy by some. Note how many comments here indicate that the tone was fine and respectful. You just happen to disagree.
Hi Katie,
I didn’t find this post condemning at all, and this is coming from a person whose close friend had went through chemo and died within three months from it. There is nothing encouraging about doing chemo and radiation treatments. This post merely lays out the truth about what really happens after chemo. The truth hurts, but the truth will ultimately set you free.
You most definitely have to be in it yourself to answer this. I have eaten as healthy as possible, did ferments, etc., for years and by the time they diagnosed Non-hodgkin lymphoma I had lost 2/3 of my blood to a tumor ,and do believe them when they say I was within two months of death. I could do NOTHING for myself…not even get a glass of water! I opted for chemo/radiation because insurance covered it and my healthy lifestyle had not prevented this condition. Still, I would liked to have hit it with more alternative medicine but did not have the financial means to do so. Many times it is a matter of what is possible with insurance and what is not. I will not be surprised at complications down the road; but for the here-and-now, I am glad to be here, back to a healthy lifestyle which includes walking four miles up and down hills to do errands, my ferments and such things.
I think whether or not you would accept treatment should NOT depend on whether you are in a cancerous situation or not. It is like when you are going to give birth and you have predetermined that you are not going to get the epidural. When I was in labor it was a “no-brainer” that I would not have an epidural. Not once did I think about having an epidural because I already made up my mind that I would approach birth naturally. It was a non-issue. Also, I surrounded myself with people who had the same in mind for me….because those were my wishes. When it comes to cancer, I KNOW without a doubt, that I will not have chemo or radiation. Period.
Hi Sarah,
I wouldn’t worry about these negative comments because at the end of the day, the truth is the truth. I know a very close friend of mine who died within three months from chemo and radiation treatments. The truth hurts, but it will also set many people free. Continue spreading the truth, Sarah, because the truth will ultimately save many people’s lives.
Thanks Erica. It’s encouraging comments from readers like you that keep me blogging and help me overcome the discouragement from the naysayers! I really appreciate it. 🙂
Nice post, Sarah! It is posts like these that will ultimately wake people up to witness just how weak the conventional medical system truly is at curing and preventing disease and cancer. They should stick to what they do best, emergency care. The real doctor will remain where it has always been, in our refrigerators and pantries: “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food,” Hippocrates.
No. I would probably go on a food grade hydrogen peroxide treatment plan
For people in the Northwest, I have found the Health and Wellness Institute in Mountlake Terrace, WA to be kind, compassionate, and wonderfully alternative. I highly recommend their care for all holistic needs, from everyday issues to cancer.
http://www.ehealthandhealing.com/
Thank you Debbie, we need to know about clinics like that. There are so few of them.
I am still trying to figure out how this is “capitalizing” on his death. If he’d been hit by a drunk driver, would it be taboo to talk about the dangers of drinking and driving? I just don’t get it.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/10/05/steve-jobs-dies-his-unorthodox-treatment-for-neuroendocrine-cancer.html
According to this article Steve Jobs tried 9 months of diet therapy when first diagnosd instead of the recommended surgery. When tests showed that the tumor grew over those 9 months, he then opted for the surgery. His first surgery was extensive involving other organs suggeting that they cancer had spread beyond the pancreas. The article goes on to say that HE NEVER HAD CHEMO OR RADIATION. He then had the liver transplant, when the cancer spread to his liver.
No two cancers are the same. You simply cannot make generalizations when it comes to cancer. It is too complex a disease. And stating that you would not pursue chemo or radiation when you don’t actually have a diagnosis and don’t actually know what you are facing is not helpful to those who are or will in the future face a cancer diagnosis.
Other sources say otherwise with Fortune magazine reporting that Jobs took a secret trip to Switzerland for radiotherapy.