[graciegirl]

I didn't hear all of it but Ann Curry didn't give Suzanne Sommers much opportunity to talk this morning.....Which is just fine with me. I think that Sommers views on chemo therapy are very dangerous.

I do agree that Chemo is a harsh ugly poison but it does work in many cases. In the future we will look back on it as archaic and barbaric.

I only heard part of what Sommers had to say about Cancer being a huge business and the occurence or death rate (?) only dropped five percent in the last so many years.

It really bothers me to hear the traditional medical community attacked in such a way as to make people think that the entire medical community relish cancer as an opportunity for doctors to make money.

[nONIE]

Oh Gracie, but in some ways Suzanne is right on. Cancer is BIG business! Very sad!

[graciegirl]

Nonie.

It is big business, just as any widespread disease causes a lot of expense. That doesn't mean that we can malign the medical community for that.

And cancer is sad. I am losing two good friends to it right now.

I think that the future will hold more promise for a cure for cancer as we understand the genetic origins of the disease better.

Cancer may be big business until you face it straight on. Then it is a different story. 3 year survivor and enjoying every day of life.

[Ooper]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

I didn't hear all of it ...

You can listen and read more about her interview here:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/333472...-today_health/

[graciegirl]

Me too. So grateful for the last five years, which wouldn't be so if I hadn't had that good ole chemo. But much more grateful for the past 12 years of our daughter Helene's life. Her cancer was much more deadly and so the treatment was a lot more powerful. She looked like death for many months but thank God she is with us today. And thank the wonderful physicians too.

[KathieI]

I agree with you GG. I wish they would have had something like chemo to save my mom, but it was already too late. We would have given anything to have a chance for her to survive.

Sadly, these big stars are all out of touch with reality and we all know some wonderful people who have been helped and saved by chemo and radiation and its bad press like this that makes people hesitate to give donations or funds for research. The advances that have been made in the past 20 years or so, have far outweighed the negative aspects of the therapy. That's my humble opinion. As I stated above, I wish Mom had had a choice.

[katezbox]

Gracie,

I know you thank God every day for your own and Helene's recoveries. I'm sure Henry does as well.

I have seen what chemo and radiation do to friends and family. It is horrible - but it can save lives. I also just read The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. Still not sure how such a sad story can be uplifting - but it was.

My issue with Suzanne Sommers and other celebrities who write and speak on topics as complex as cancer, is that they often do more harm than good. Many patients will try any treatment that holds out a ray of hope - but so often these treatments have no merit in science.

I am not against alternative medicine - just against those who speak out without the credentials to do so. If you were on a jury in a murder trial and they asked an actress to testify on DNA evidence because she played an expert on TV, you would not take this seriously. Yet we frequently give "famous" people the same consideration we give those with hard-earned educations.

[carm310]

I lost my sister to cancer in 2003. She was only 51. Chemo was the last ditch effort to save her and I am glad she tried it but after only two treatments she died. Seeing what chemo did to her was frightening and I am convinced she died sooner than she would of had she not gone the chemo route. She died just a couple of weeks after the second chemo treatment.

I do believe in alternative treatments as well as traditional medicine, I wish the two would work together more for the good of the patient. My daughter has scoliosis and the traditional treatment of a rigid brace was brutal, we chose an alternative method with a flexible brace used in other parts of the world. But doing so was a major battle with doctors and insurance. I stuck it out longer than they were willing to deal with me (about two months of fighting with them) and the alternative treatment won out. It has helped slow the curve progression though she is not out of the woods yet. She is better off than she would have been in a rigid brace that she didn't want to wear. (Try keeping a teen girl in one of those things!)

If alternative medicine has worked for Suzanne Summers it gives me hope and successful traditional treatments give me hope as well, especially if some awful illness touches my life or the lives of those around me.

I don't think the medical community should be attacked either - whether traditional or alternative - Most doctors do what they can, they are not God. One thing I learned watching my sister's illness (and then my mother 10 months later - she died from a different illness) was that doctors are "practicing" medicine. They don't have all the answers. But they do the best they can.

Gracie, I am so sorry your friends are hurting with this terrible disease. Hang in there, be there for them and create cherished memories. I wouldn't trade the time I had with my sister the last few months of her life for anything. I have precious memories that far surpass the painful ones.

[Hawkwind]

I believe on of the most promising treatments for cancer was again documented on 60 Minutes last night. You can see the video at http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60mi...main3415.shtml and click on The Kanzius Machine.

John Kanzius was a well known ham radio operator from Erie Pa. Although I have never met John a number of my ham radio friends in the area have known John for many years. John even tried his machine on himself as described in the video. Today I was talking to a friend that has known John for years he said that it was no surprise him that John tried the machine on himself because that was the type of person he was. John wanted to do something that would help cure this disease and is not one to wait for "official" trials as he felt so strongly about his machine.

R.I.P John

[graciegirl]

Hawkwind. I just viewed the clip about the Kanzius machine with your link.

You are so right. It is something like this that will ultimately stop this horrible killer. I also have great hope in the research that is being done now that science has unmapped the human genome.

Thank you Hawkwind, for pointing this out to me. I encourage everyone to view this. There are all kinds of smart, but we shouldn't lose our common sense.....or our trust in traditional medicine. Chemo and radiation are all we have for now.

[fgrider]

I did not see the show but I can tell you from experience that as bad a chemo is it saved my life. Over the past eight years I have had my original diagnosis of lung cancer and it returned three more times and if it wasn't for radiation treatments and four different series of chemo I wouldn' be here today. I was really scared undergoing one round as I was on a phase 1 clinical trial and the first person in the Boston area to agree to going on it and I did it not only for myself but for other people. It was a long six months of once a week treatments but in the end it saved my life. I guess it is a decison that each person must make for themselves which is the best course of action for them but I know that I made the right decision for myself and thank God that I had wonderful doctors.

[katezbox]

Originally Posted by fgrider

I did not see the show but I can tell you from experience that as bad a chemo is it saved my life. Over the past eight years I have had my original diagnosis of lung cancer and it returned three more times and if it wasn't for radiation treatments and four different series of chemo I wouldn' be here today. I was really scared undergoing one round as I was on a phase 1 clinical trial and the first person in the Boston area to agree to going on it and I did it not only for myself but for other people. It was a long six months of once a week treatments but in the end it saved my life. I guess it is a decison that each person must make for themselves which is the best course of action for them but I know that I made the right decision for myself and thank God that I had wonderful doctors.

Thank you for sharing your journey - may you be blessed with many more years.

Kate

[Freeda]

Factors that promote cancer (and other diseases) prevention are what need to receive more focus, and publicity; and in the future will become a much bigger role in health care. These same factors will also become the most effective approach for alleviation of disease.

Research funding, including both government and private sector sources, including the dollars contributed or raised by well-intentioned people and organizations, is heavily weighted toward 'cure' - or just 'treatment', ie, 'management' of chronic illness - rather than prevention; and we have to, and will, as a society challenge why this is so; wherein will lie the only real and lasting solutions to our healthcare costs crisis.

[Tamma49]

At times I wonder if there is a cure out there for cancer but it's suppressed based on the loss of jobs it would create.