After watching a controversial video report on CNN this morning, I couldn’t keep silent and wanted to share some thoughts with you. The report was about a mother of a 13-year-old boy diagnosed with a type of cancer called Hotchkins Lymphoma. Supposedly, the mother and the boy refused to get chemotherapy and chose a natural, holistic treatment based on Native Indian philosophies to heal the body. The boy said that he doesn’t want any chemo because he tried it once and believed it would kill him. Since the boy and the mom opted out for alternative medicine now court has issued warrant for the mother.

With all due respect to all my friends who are battling cancer and to those whose relatives are battling or have died from cancer, I think there is something fundamentally wrong with this report. First of all, the government has no business “forcing” anyone to get chemo. That’s a personal decision that should be left private. It’s no different than abortion, same sex marriage or choice of religious belief. Just because your views may not be shared by the majority it doesn’t make them wrong or less valid. Government intervention in such cases is nothing more than seizing our constitutional rights. If America still wants to hold the title as the Land of the Free, government should leave cancer victims to decide for themselves if chemo is the right choice.

Second of all, chemotherapy is not the ONLY way to treat cancer. If fact, it kills more patients than it helps, 27 percent according to a recent report by the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death, published at BBC. That’s roughly 1/3 of all people who get chemo! Disturbing statistic, isn’t it? If I was a mother of a child diagnosed with cancer, with this kind of fatality rate, I would opt out of chemo and go for alternative medicine too. There are much more natural and less dangerous cures out there but the general population doesn’t know because 1). the doctors who propose alternative treatments are ostracized by the medical field, 2). the mass media blackout on alternative and holistic medicine, 3). it’s estimated that an average chemo regimen costs between $300,000 and $1,000,000 so obviously the pharma field has no value in curing cancer. Just follow the money trail and you will understand why there is still no cure for cancer.

The problem with chemo is that is a temporary solution to cancer. It may prolong the life of the victim but it doesn’t cure the illness. Think of it this way, let’s say your car needed some major repair. Instead of targeting the cause of the problem and eliminating it altogether, you kept spending few bucks here and there to maintain the stability of the car. Sooner or later, your car will break down and you not only wasted money on small repairs but your car will no longer function. Now imagine that car was your body. Cancer is the major repair that needs to be eradicated. But conventional medicine only offers small repairs along the way called chemo. Just when you think your cancer has gone into remission it comes back again.

Earlier this year I wrote a blog about Matthew “Jett” Schaefer, an actor, model and private pilot. Matt was an inspiration to many especially after his battle with cancer last year. He underwent chemo too and thought he beat cancer. In January 2009, Maximum Fitness magazine featured him on their cover with a title, “How I cheated death.” Ironically, that month Matthew passed away unexpectedly not from the cancer, but from a rare sinus infection. According to his memorial web site, the infection would have not been as deadly had Matthew produced enough white cells to fight it off. But his body was too weak from the latest chemo therapy which killed all of his white cells. It makes you wonder, did chemo really helped Matt or killed him.

Here is another important point to consider. Cancer may not be curable but it’s surely preventable. For example, carcinogens such as parabens (another name for artificial fragrances), phthalates and aluminum are abundant in conventional beauty care products. They get absorbed by our skin into the endocrine system and produce cancerous cells. Genetically modified foods (GMO) and antibiotics/hormones treated animals are ever more present in our food. Humans are not meant to eat or drink such ingredients without the danger of developing cancer, diabetes, heart diseases and other disorders. It makes sense why such prevalent health problems today were virtually unheard of prior to 20th century. Had FDA applied stricter laws to food and beauty care products, cancer rates would drop drastically.

I may not be a doctor or even a cancer expert but my intuition tells me that there is another way. There must be! My wish is that more cancer researchers will turn to alternative medicine and shed light on those treatments. Perhaps there is already a cure, lingering right before our eyes, but we have not thought about it yet. It can even be simple and inexpensive. Or perhaps the cure to cancer is to prevent it from entering our bodies in the first place.

© 2009 Zoe Vaklinova – All Rights Reserved

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