Okay, There Is One Thing You Should Never Say/Send To A Cancer Patient

And that’s one of those stupid “news” items about an all-natural cure for cancer that is being suppressed by the “medical establishment” so that unscrupulous doctors and drug companies can continue to make billions off the misery of cancer patients.

Folks, a juice fast won’t cure cancer. No, not even a soursop juice fast. Mega-doses of vitamin C/D/E/Q/XYZ won’t cure cancer. They won’t even give you a fighting chance against cancer if you have been diagnosed. Your only hope is chemotherapy and/or radiation as administered by medical professionals.

If fresh juice could cure cancer, doctors would be turning handsprings. Nurses would weep with joy. And more important, the big drug companies would already have their own branded formulations on the market. Until you see Pfizer Soursop Juice (fresh, not from concentrate) or Novartis Anti-Carcinoma All-Pure Fruit & Veg Drink or Bayer All-In-One Vitamin Cancer Treatment With Prescription-Strength Anti-Nausea (Plus Aspirin!) in pharmacies, go with science over super-foods and magic water.

(And while I’m at it, stuffing your face with antioxidant veg like broccoli won’t reduce your risk of cancer from cigarettes. The only way to do that is to quit smoking.)

I mention this not just because it’s my last round of chemotherapy but because Xeni Jardin of BoingBoing, herself a breast cancer survivor, has posted an article about Belle Gibson, who perpetrated an enormous fraud by falsely claiming she cured her own cancer with magic food. Belle Gibson never had cancer. Now Ms Gibson is apparently giving interviews about how being the extraordinary person she is caused her to tell lies.

http://boingboing.net/2015/04/22/wellness-guru-belle-gibson.html 

I don’t like to think about how many desperate people believed her. Yeah, yeah, they should have known better. But desperate people do desperate things–especially desperate people with cancer and no health insurance.

If you have a friend with cancer and you really care about that person, you won’t inflict one of those ridiculous “news” items detailing “The Cancer Cure Your Doctor Doesn’t Want You To Know About!” on them. There are far better ways to show your support.

If you have a friend with cancer who has already fallen for one of these frauds…I don’t know what to tell you. Try to encourage your friend to seek conventional medical treatment without seeming too judgmental. See above re desperate people.

And if you have been newly diagnosed and you’re wondering about all-natural cures because you’ve heard a lot of horror stories about chemo: the unknown is scary. I was jumpy as hell in the days before I had my first treatment because I really didn’t know what to expect. Would I vomit for hours? Would all my hair fall out at once–in public? Would I be too weak to get out of bed? Would it make everything taste like library paste?

Next to the anticipation, the reality was anti-climax. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it might be and it still isn’t. Why? Because I’m freakin’ alive! Because most of the time, I’m not ill. Because life is sweet.

The drugs work. Take medicine, not promises.