Chemotherapy: Blessing or Curse?
Victoria Hardy
September 26, 2008
I would imagine that being told you have cancer is probably one of the most frightening experiences anyone can encounter on this journey through life. We watched the downfall of Tony Snow in hopeful despair, both cheering for his success and aching for his pain and the obvious worsening of his condition. Despite our political leanings, I think we all felt a loss when we heard he lost his battle with cancer.
In our own lives we´ve witnessed the suffering of our friends or family members struggling with this disease, so we go to our doctors in the hope of catching the invader as soon as possible, certain that with early detection we will not succumb to the same fate of our loved ones.
Upon diagnosis of cancer the battle begins, with chemotherapy and radiation therapy as the most commonly used weapons in our arsenal in the war. President Nixon declared the War on Cancer in 1971 and just like today´s Iraq war, the definition of success is a little muddied. Successful treatment in cancer research are those in which the cancer patient lives five years from the time he was diagnosed: if he dies one day after that 5-year mark, the treatment is still considered successful. Another measurement of success is found in the reduction of tumors: if a tumor shrinks, then the treatment is called a success and is not dependent on whether or not the patient survives.
In 1972, the American Cancer Society showed that 33% of those with cancer had a 5-year survival rate. Today that rate has increased to 40%, but it seems their way of compiling statistics has been altered. The ACS now accepts non-deadly and benign cancers, including skin cancers, that were not factored into the original statistics. And if a patient dies during a prolonged chemotherapy or radiotherapy study, the information is not included in the final results because the patient did not complete the study. The American Cancer Society determines these statistics by comparing cancer patients who undergo typical treatments like surgery, chemo and other therapies to those who simply accepted surgery and no further intervention. Rarely have studies been performed on treated patients versus non-treated patients, but luckily for us, a few studies do exist.
It seems the medical community has a history of attempting to poison the body to kill cancer. In the 1843, a study was performed in France to compare survival rates of those who chose the traditional cancer therapies to those who refused treatment. The potions of the day consisted of caustics such as nitric acid; sulfuric acid mixed with saffron; poisonous minerals such as lead, mercury, or arsenic nitrate; or alkaline caustics such as sulfate of zinc. Copper sulfate (mixed with borax), quicklime, or potassium permanganate were also used. The study found that those who refused treatment lived longer than those who accepted treatment.
In the 1980s, Dr. Hardin Jones, professor of medical physics and physiology at the University of California, Berkeley, repeated the study using modern day therapies. He stated to the ACS panel, "My studies have proven conclusively that untreated cancer victims actually live up to four times longer than treated individuals. For a typical type of cancer, people who refused treatment lived for an average of 12-1/2 years. Those who accepted surgery or other kinds of treatment (chemotherapy, radiation, cobalt) lived an average of only three years . . .. I attribute this to the traumatic effect of surgery on the body's natural defense mechanism. The body has a natural defense against every type of cancer."
In our own lives we´ve witnessed the suffering of our friends or family members struggling with this disease, so we go to our doctors in the hope of catching the invader as soon as possible, certain that with early detection we will not succumb to the same fate of our loved ones.
Upon diagnosis of cancer the battle begins, with chemotherapy and radiation therapy as the most commonly used weapons in our arsenal in the war. President Nixon declared the War on Cancer in 1971 and just like today´s Iraq war, the definition of success is a little muddied. Successful treatment in cancer research are those in which the cancer patient lives five years from the time he was diagnosed: if he dies one day after that 5-year mark, the treatment is still considered successful. Another measurement of success is found in the reduction of tumors: if a tumor shrinks, then the treatment is called a success and is not dependent on whether or not the patient survives.
In 1972, the American Cancer Society showed that 33% of those with cancer had a 5-year survival rate. Today that rate has increased to 40%, but it seems their way of compiling statistics has been altered. The ACS now accepts non-deadly and benign cancers, including skin cancers, that were not factored into the original statistics. And if a patient dies during a prolonged chemotherapy or radiotherapy study, the information is not included in the final results because the patient did not complete the study. The American Cancer Society determines these statistics by comparing cancer patients who undergo typical treatments like surgery, chemo and other therapies to those who simply accepted surgery and no further intervention. Rarely have studies been performed on treated patients versus non-treated patients, but luckily for us, a few studies do exist.
It seems the medical community has a history of attempting to poison the body to kill cancer. In the 1843, a study was performed in France to compare survival rates of those who chose the traditional cancer therapies to those who refused treatment. The potions of the day consisted of caustics such as nitric acid; sulfuric acid mixed with saffron; poisonous minerals such as lead, mercury, or arsenic nitrate; or alkaline caustics such as sulfate of zinc. Copper sulfate (mixed with borax), quicklime, or potassium permanganate were also used. The study found that those who refused treatment lived longer than those who accepted treatment.
In the 1980s, Dr. Hardin Jones, professor of medical physics and physiology at the University of California, Berkeley, repeated the study using modern day therapies. He stated to the ACS panel, "My studies have proven conclusively that untreated cancer victims actually live up to four times longer than treated individuals. For a typical type of cancer, people who refused treatment lived for an average of 12-1/2 years. Those who accepted surgery or other kinds of treatment (chemotherapy, radiation, cobalt) lived an average of only three years . . .. I attribute this to the traumatic effect of surgery on the body's natural defense mechanism. The body has a natural defense against every type of cancer."
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