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In Reply to: A Cancer Story posted by Daniel on February 22, 2006 at 13:39:30:
For every case in which someone survived cancer without medical treatment (although in your mother's case she did receive some chemotherapy), you will find many more in which people who opted for no treatment, delayed treatment or stopped it died prematurely.
For example, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 33. A few years later she died of metastisized breast cancer (which spread to her blood, bones and the lining of her brain) at age 37.
Because of the Family's general opposition to medical care and belief in faith healing, she did not receive regular medical checkups and the cancer was detected much later than it would have been otherwise. She had actually noticed some potential symptoms and problems years earlier but instead of going to a doctor she was persuaded to simply trust in God to heal her. When she was finally diagnosed and the doctors unaminously reccomened immediate surgery and chemotherapy, the Family and the leaders made it clear that they strongly this. Instead they prescribed prayer, exorcism, fasting and natural foods (carrot juice, etc). Finally they allowed her to go to a larger city for ineffective radiation treatment. But they complained about the cost ($15/week) and after only a few months they sent her back to the home where she had been living. When she tried to escape with her three younger children, she was prevented from doing so, held in isolation and subjected to cruel, harsh and degrading treatment which caused her to have a mental breakdown. Then , whe she was too weak to fight them or resist their plan to not allow her to leave the Family with her own children, they expelled her from the Family without any of her children, gave her $100 and put her on a plane to the States. She finally got the surgery and chemotherapy she needed almost nine months after she was diagnosed. I am almost certain (although there is no way to be sure) that she would still be alive or have lived much longer if her cancer had been diagnosed earlier and if the surgery and chemotherapy she needed immediately had not been delayed so long.
If she had not received the needed chemotherapy, radiation and surgery at all it is absolutely certain that she would have died much sooner.
My father left the COG years before my mother and when he was not a member of the COG he received regular medical checkups. He was later diagnosed with another type of cancer (which I won't specify to protect his privacy) but it was detected very early, he got apropriate treatment and it has been in total remission for more than 14 years.
You seem to be opposed to many medical treatments (first SSRIs and now cancer treatment) which have saved many lives and improved the quality of life for many people. Yes, many of these drugs have serious risks and some have nasty side effects but your arguments against using them don't seem to be rational or responsible. Most people who stop chemotherapy or radiation prematurely actually die and do not live longer as you claim. However, I do believe there are some cases in which chemotherapy or radiation would not be of much benefit and in those cases a patient may make a rational choice to stop chemo or radiation to improve the quality of life in their last few months with an understanding of the risks involved.
Your citation (in another post below) of an extremely outdated (from 1969!) quote from Jones is also not very persuasive.
Research on cancer treatment has advanced consirably (to say the least) since 1969. However, even Jones (in the part you didn't quote), didn't argue that all patients would live longer without any radiation or chemotherapy. He does say he is refeerring to these treatmets "other than when used in immediate life-threatening situations."
Here is part of the quote in context:
"My studies have proved conclusively that untreated cancer victims live
up to four times longer than treated individuals. If one has cancer
and opts to do nothing at all, he will live longer and feel better than
if he undergoes radiation, chemotherapy or surgery, other than when used
in immediate life-threatening situations."-- Dr Hardin B. Jones,
Professor of Medical Physics & Physiology at Berkeley, announced the
results of sifting and collating a large number of unpublished hospital
records, announced at the 1969 Science Writers Conference of the ACS."
What's the next position you will take after arguing against SSRIs, chemotherapy and radiation? Let me guess - perhaps it will be something like "HIV does not cause AIDS."
