Farrah in her younger days
In Farrah Fawcett's case, she originally had anal cancer but it spread to her liver. If you do not already know, liver is one of the most important organ in our body. Among one of the most important functions of the liver is detoxification. Liver helps to get rid of toxic materials in our body. Without a liver, we will die within days.
People suffering from liver cancer often have very slim hopes of surviving. One of the reasons is that when these people go for the conventional cancer treatment like chemotherapy, they are ingesting some of the most deadly and toxic cocktail of drugs available on this planet. Imagine how would the liver, already damaged by cancer, get rid of these poisons? Besides, these very drugs threaten to destroy the healthy liver cells too.
Image courtesy of The Life Tree
My own brother-in-law died from liver cancer too. Originally he had rectal cancer, but despite undergoing a rectal operation, the cancer managed to spread to his liver. This is why cancer is so deadly. You can cut off that part of your body which is cancerous but that may not stop it from spreading to other parts.
The standard treatment for cancers nowadays are
1) Cut (surgery)
2) Burn (radiation)
3) Poison (chemotherapy)
Now let me tell you why these conventional treatment do not work most of the time. I am no doctor, but anyone with any common sense will easily figure out why they don't help to cure cancer.
Conventional medicine views cancer as a local problem. So what you need to do to get rid of the cancer is to cut off that area with cancerous cells, or burn them out by radiation or poison them with chemical drugs.
The problem with cutting out the affected cancerous area is the cancer is inevitably made to spread. So instead of just rectal cancer, you suddenly find that after your rectal surgery to remove the cancer, you ended up with liver cancer!
Cancer is not a localised problem. This is a fact. If you have cancer of the breast, do cutting off your breast cure the cancer? Yes, temporarily. If you did not make any lifestyle changes and continue to abuse your body and your health everyday, your cancer will return. In fact, it did not go away in the first place. It was still there in your body waiting for the right time to show itself. Probably in another part of your body. That part which has the weakest link.
Radiation and chemotherapy kills off the healthy as well as the cancerous cells so it's really a matter of hoping that the cancer cells are all killed off before too many healthy cells are destroyed! In other words, the cancer patient will most likely die from the cancer or from the treatment! Either way, the cancer patient loses.
Besides, chemotherapy further suppresses an already weakened immune system, rendering the patient helpless in defending against the cancer and its secondary infections. Chemotherapy also poisons an already poisoned system, which was what caused the cancer to develop in the first place.
Image courtesy of thecancerblog.org
Of course I am not saying that there is not a single person who gets cured from cancer undergoing these conventional treatments. There are, and they are mostly those who detected their cancers in the early stages. This is also why early detection of cancer makes a huge difference.
But do you know how do the medical fraternity define someone who is "cured from cancer"? They define it as still alive for 5 years after the first treatment. I don't know, but surviving for five years can hardly be called a cure.
The problem with the current medical experts with regards to cancer is threefold.
1) They do not know the cause of cancer.
2) They do not know the cure.
3) And they do not know how to prevent it.
Yet, doctors are trained and taught to prescribe the standard conventional treatment that involves surgeries, radiation and drugs. Even though the success rate of these treatments are not encouraging to say the least!
If only the medical community would focus more on how to prevent cancer instead of concentrating on how to cure it. Then again, why would they? There's simply more money to be made from chasing cures and selling drugs than teaching lifestyle changes to prevent disease.
Consider the overly expensive drugs used to treat cancers! If medical experts were to focus on prevention, the pharmaceutical and drug companies would stand to lose millions!
My post today is not to ridicule the medical experts and the medical community. I am writing this simply to highlight my opinion on this matter. I just want people to be aware that when it comes to cancer, you do not have to rely 100 percent on your doctor. With the correct knowledge, you can in fact make informed choices and decisions. Of course, the decision is solely yours.
One thing's certain. The best way to cure cancer is to prevent it from occurring in the first place. Not early detection which is of course, another way the pharmaceutical companies make more money off you! But prevention.
Knowing about The 7 Stages Of Disease will definitely help.
Note: At the time of writing, Australian scientists have developed a "Trojan Horse" therapy which uses nano technology to directly target cancer cells with chemotherapy. This technology is a breakthrough which if proven successful in human clinical trials, will have the potential to kill only cancer cells and leave the healthy cells intact.
FIRST COMMENTER
Those treatments have got side effects though.
I meant conventional treatments.
Do cancer treatment works? Absolutely it did for me!!! Mine is no early stage. But with all the help of conventional medicine and Faith in God, blessedly, I'm still cancer free for almost 17 years now.
I've learned that all of us have cancer cells in our body. It depends on our body's immune system to combat them or allow them to do their radical acts. We wouldn't know, unless it manifests itself.
Like all cancers, if you detect it in the very early stages,you can beat it. But alas, in most cases, the cancer cells have gone elsewhere and that's why it is so painful to go through the various treatments.
true, so far medical experts have only found out the risk factors that could cause cancer, but the specific cause for cancer has yet to be found.
instead of letting cancer spread and untreated, excision, radiotherapy and chemotherapy is executed to at least slow down the progress of cancer. it's not cure entirely, but at least the patient's lifespan is extended for another 5 years. it's not like you can extend it to forever right? considering the patient has got a severe disease. so, prognosis of 5 years is considerably long in a patient with cancer.
liver cancer is undoubtedly one of the most fatal form of cancer. rectal cancer progressively will lead to mets to the liver, true. but having said that, not all rectal cancer patients die from mets to the liver. the key is to diagnose the rectal cancer while it is still in the first stage. but more often than not, first stage cancer is often asymptomatic and patients don't normally notice it. and by the time all the symptoms present, it's already an advance form of cancer. if the cancer is detected early, resection and radiotherapy could save the patient.
even breast cancer patients live as long as normal people. perhaps breast cancer is an easier example. any form of lumps in the breast would trigger alarm in any patients. and before the cancer lumps spraed to the regional area, excision of the lumps plus clearing the regional lymph nodes followed by radio and chemo could uneventfully cure the patient.
but having said that, it's true that the main cause of cancer is yet to be recognized. prevention is always better than cure. so... depending on which cancer you're targetting, modifying your lifestyle is a start. but ultimately, quit smoking and alcohol, high fibre diets and eat healthily. sometimes, genetics cause is hard to avoid. liver cancer and breast cancer both have genetic correlations, that's why sometimes, these cancers run in the family.
Chemotheraphy kills all cells in our body good or bad so it isn't really recommended.
Getting rid of the part where it is cancer infected is also another thing that isn't at all practical because it is like human, when you are force out of your home, you find a new home.
My mom had cancer, she went surgery and all but docotr said is isn't a guarantee it will not return. What my mom did was she drank "Pak Fa Se Cho", some herbal that she boiled everyday in the old days and drank.. claims to be very strong for detoxifying. My mom goes for medical check-up every year, and never got diagnose with cancer for the past 16 years now. Looks like the herb worked. So our family drink that once week now. :)
Oh mind you, the herb is VERY bitter! And I don't know what is it in English, maybe going to a Chinese Herbal shop might be able to tell us hehe :P. And please my hanyu pinyin is bad.. I think the "Se" is wrong.. but pronounced as "Celery"'s "Ce". :)
i think sometimes it depends on how the body receives it too, sometimes, we just have to choose between the lesser evil since medicines do have their side effects. thankfully, i know some friends who were able to fight cancer.
I hope I don't get cancer one day. It's a scary thought
mei teng, yes they have lots of side effects which include nausea, hair loss, fatigue, infection, intestinal problems, loss of appetite, dry skin, nerve problems among others. Some people get more of these side effects while others get little or none.
I have been fetching Stage 4 cancer patients for many years to hospitals for treatment but they all died in the end cos they were already at Stage 4. Bottomline, is due to bad karma that one often suffers from cancer. So it is better to clear our bad karma so that cancer might not happen. That's my opinion.
tita beng, I believe your faith in God helped to turn the tide in your favour. Because having strong spirituality and positive mind and support from family members can make a huge difference, and we cannot just rely on medicines and drugs.
Sadly, however, most advanced stage cancer patients who undergo conventional treatments never make it.
keats the sunshine girl, yes early detection helps, and the person is also strong enough to withstand the onslaught of chemotherapy drugs.
The problem starts when the cancer spread to other parts of the body.
Prevention is better than cure but if there is no choice then dont be stubborn, go for the treatment. It definitely helps in the early stages and may be serious cases too.
Go for green, go organic and do more exercise for a greater health! But... sadly we cannot control the air we breath, so, smoker please say 'Tak Nak'!
medie007, wow! Thanks for your long and detailed comment here, you, the doctor-in-the-making! : )
Yes, early detection will help save lives - totally agree on that! But as you said, most early stages of cancer do not exhibit any symptoms. This is the major problem. Once people notice the symptoms, the cancer would have progressed to advanced stage.
It's good to know that a doctor-in-the-making is also encouraging prevention. For those whose cancer runs in the family, they have to be even more strict on their lifestyle.
I guess you can say that is karma?
ladyviral, congrats to your mom for being cancer free for 16 years already! The herb must be helping. I guess if it helps to detoxify, then it does help to prevent cancer as toxins in our body is what I believe lead to damage to our cells. Thanks for the information on the herb! : )
betchai, yes I agree different people will have different reactions to the conventional cancer treatments.I guess you will have to weigh the pros and cons and choose the lesser evil. Thanks for your comment! : )
borneo falcon, yes it's scary, but we can't live our lives always worried about cancer. I guess we just need to think positive and live our lives to the fullest! : )
To me,there is no such thing as colon cancer, liver cancer,categorily speaking, cancer is just cancer.
Stay happy, love more, angry no more, give more...
twilight zone, how come you have been fetching cancer patients to hospitals for treatment? Stage 4 is a most advanced stage of cancer and I guess it will take a miracle to survive. Most will not survive more than 2 years.
A good example is my brother-in-law who was diagnosed with rectal cancer and then liver cancer. The doctor gave him a few months but he managed to survive for a little more than 2 years.
It could be due to bad karma like you said. How do you clear all the bad karma?
molly, yes go green, go organic and go for exercises! As for smokers, I guess most smokers already know the consequences of smoking, it's just that they are addicted and could not stop smoking.
There are heavy smokers who live up to very old age with no cancer. These are smokers who have the good genes and maybe good karma in past lives. That's how I see it. But those who have bad genes, and bad karma, smoking is definitely not recommended.
eugene, you are right! Cancer is cancer and even though we want to categorize it as breast cancer or colon cancer or liver cancer, essentially they are all cancers and just happen to manifest itself in the weakest part of the body. That's why it makes no sense to treat the cancerous part only and ignore the rest of the body. Cancer, in my opinion, should be treated holistically.
Stay happy, love more, forgive more - all these are definitely ingredients to a cancer free life! Thanks for dropping by! : )
I think the result of cancer treatment would greatly depends on how healthy your body is. Best policy is to excercise regularly and eat a balanced diet!
Foong, unfortunately, genes play a part in whether a person will be stricken with the big C in his or her lifetime. I'm with you on prevention being the best method and certainly smoking is absolutely detrimental to health.
Medie007, thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge.
Ladyviral, thanks too - for sharing that herb. It's good to know.
psstttt.... welcome to Adsense. ;)
it's always best to prevent rather than to cure. but more often than not, do the people listen? how often did we encourage people not to smoke and how high is the success rate? in the end they come in with all sort of problems, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer and what not. same goes to all the other modifiable diseases as well. type 2 diabetes mellitus and such.
having said that, unmodifiable risk factors is hard to avoid. some people get hypertension becuase it arises idiopathically. so what the doctors do, are mainly just to bring it down with medication. but more often than not, the medication will cause long term effects, and patients ended up having some other diseases. can't blame anyone really. we can't let the patient untreated. but we if we give treatment, it'll partly help in managing the condition, but it doesn't entirely help as well.
same goes to most of the other genetic disease, esp autoimmune diseases. perhaps cancer as well.
there's no perfect treatment thus far. and it's not a perfect world either. so if you're looking at things from another point of view, medical is a very very grim proffesion. less than half of the patients seeking treatments are fully cured.
and death is well, simply put, inevitable.
so... live well and healthy. going organic is great. but making sure organic is balanced diet as well. you don't wanna have too much of this and too little of that you end up having deficiencies. ;)
I am happy you all recognize the futility of medical mafia treatments.
But you all also need to factor in the reason why there's no incentive to cure cancer.
Because cancer is big money, big business for the pharmaceuticals. They make more money bilking you for 'treatments' than an actual 'cure'.
You must also not forget, about believe of Nazi eugenics in the global elites to control and depopulate the world to 500,000,000 and below.
The proof is in the pudding in the georgia guidestones.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/25/Georgia_Guidestones_English_Full.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJxCOfTxQEE
dat poster of hers sells millions around the world, u know kan?
bout cancer treatment, i know nuts bout it.. so.. just hope that things will get better in medical.
nice blog!!! do you exchange link?
cancer always scare me to death.
even doc can detect early on themselves!
cancer is the disease which mutates your cells into dangerous one...
Conventional methods:
1)Cut=the mutations just slow down, but will continue later.
2)Burn=It will reduce the cancer cells and the infections slower. But, the side effect of this treatment lead to the another mutations...
3)Chemotherapy=It will throw away the cancer, but... The person who has been treated with chemo will face the very miserably life.... (even death is good enough for them)
there were only few percentage of cancer patient survive...
Hopefully it works for those patient... But nothing is ideal...
I think of all the cancer post you did, this is the most 'eye-opening' one for me. With both side of my families having cancer history, I must take extra care. Been lazy... aiyoo Tomorrow I will start drinking my organic lacto fiber again. And start exercise..really really start exercising.
Btw I tried your fruit only breakfast yesterday. Just ate an apple. I can survive until maybe 9pm plus. So next time I'll eat more fruits! Thanks :)
It seems more people are dying of cancer. Just this month, I have attended 3 funerals of 3 cancer patients. :(
... and I know quite a few friends who have cancer.
I have to watch my diet.
Agree with the side effects foong... it's really hard to say how can you be cured of something really unknown to the medical field. They still need to discover more things and explore before they find answers.
It's sad abt Farrah, she was an icon in her own way too. RIP Farrah. :(
Farrah's death proved again that the rich is also helpless and powerless towards the cancer. I mean cancer is not a disease anymore. It's a deadly curse that will seep away the soul and life of the bearer little by little... DAMM! I hate cancer!
Yeah! We all know that prevention is better than cure...but sometimes...cancer just happened. People who don't smoke and live an active lifestyle could get cancer for no reason at all. It's easier to get cancer than hitting the lottery. Cancer is becoming too lethal and the way it picks its victim is becoming more obscure although there is a guide.
So does cancer treatment works? I believe my answer is both YES and NO! Sometimes...it could cure a person...other times it is the treatment that accelerate the cancer patient...
I know this... =(
You really sound like a professional doctor in this post, Foong! Anyway, one point I always agree on is "Prevention is Better than Cure".
Quote "One thing's certain. The best way to cure cancer is to prevent it from occurring in the first place. "
LOL.. this statement is not right. Should be "Prevention is better than cure" Prevention is not a cure.
*Still high from waking up too early"
Interesting, my verification word is "drugga"
Very interesting I must say! Cancer terrifies me!!!
oh ya... i remember i've written about lemon grass before :)
check it out.
this is an interesting viewpoint. i believe when cancer settles in a body, it is difficult for it to be removed. that's the saddest part.
pete, you are right. Eat healthily and exercise is the best prevention method, but not many are doing it.
happysurfer, yes genes play a big part, so those unlucky enough enough to have such genes will have to be even more careful on their lifestyle and diet.
Thanks! ; )
medie007, wow another long comment! Thanks!
Yes I agree most people are not serious about prevention. I guess when it comes to food, most people just eat what they like, and when it comes to exercise, most are just too lazy to do it!
I understand doctors have to treat the patients who go to them, even if the drugs cause side effects. It all boils down to the patients themselves to take care of their own health. They really have to take responsibility and not leave it all to the doctors!
You say medical is a very grim profession, but you still want to be a doctor? : )
Death is inevitable, everyone dies eventually, but it's a matter of how we live and how we die that matters, right? I'm sure everyone wants to be healthy all the way till death and die peacefully in their sleep.
anonymous, I have never heard about the Nazi eugenics' plan to depopulate the world! Interesting! Thanks for the URL : )
merryn, she was really famous back then. Pity she had to go like this.
laikepo, sure : )
brian kinney, yeah it's scary mainly because there is no cure.
zamspotte, totally agree with you. Conventional treatment is a horrible way to treat cancer. Sometimes the treatment can be worse than the cancer itself!
bluedreamer27, yes very small percentage. And those who survived mostly have the combination of holistic treatment, lifestyle changes, positive thinking, strong faith in God and support from family members to make it.
little prince's mummy, I guess all treatments have its pros and cons. Cancer patients just need to weigh the pros and cons and choose the lesser evil.
che-cheh, really? This post eye opening for you? Glad you learn something new : )
Eat an apple only for breakfast? Can survive until 9am you mean? You wrote there 9pm!
If I eat one apple, can only survive for 2 hours at most. Haha! Usually I take a combination of fruits for my breakfast. And I sometimes eat two breakfasts, maybe one at 8am the other at 10am.
My combination of fruits can be 1 apple + 1 kiwifruit + 2 bananas or half papaya + some nangka + 2 bananas. Something like that. Usually I must have bananas cos they keep you fuller longer.
Most fruits will be digested within 20-30 mins but bananas take approx. 45 mins to be digested and leave your stomach.
eastcoastlife, I feel cancer is so widespread nowadays it's like an epidemic! You attended 3 funerals of 3 cancer patients in one month? That's horrible!
Yes, have to take care. It's mainly what we eat that is causing cancer. There are other factors too, but I believe it's the chemicals and processed food we put into our mouth that is causing cancer.
ayie, yes only problem is the medical community and scientists are only interested to find a cure. They should concentrate on prevention, but of course the pharmaceutical companies will protest!
mariuca, yeah although I was too young to watch her in Charlie's Angels last time. She's definitely an icon in her younger days. Pity she had to go like that.
Ahh sorry 9am I mean. Just testing out. Will eat more fruits later.
tekkaus, cancer also strike the rich and famous and they are as helpless as anyone. Lots of money also no use but maybe can get better treatments, that's all.
Yes, there is no guarantee in life. You can be fit and healthy and health conscious, a non smoker, watch what you eat etc.etc. but cancer can still strike you. But I would say you will have a lower risk than those who don't care for their health.
There are other factors involved eg. your genes and your environment and your lifestyle. Are you living in polluted areas? Are you under stress all the time? Do you stay up late all the time?
Besides, there are unproven but suspected causes. Like drinking milk, living in areas with wifi connections, sleeping with the lights on etc.etc.
Also, there is this thing called karma. What you did in your past life and so on.
Yes, you are right about the cancer treatments. They can work or they may accelerate the disease. I'm sure you know about this since someone close to you had this experience.
The thought of getting cancer is horrifying. the tests and treatments are certainly scary.
jam, haha! I simply read a lot and have interest in health, but I'm no doctor.
Prevention is always better than cure : )
jonzz, haha! I think you are right. That's an interesting WV! : )
health nut wannabee mom, it's one of the most terrifying disease. That's why I'm trying to create an awareness of it so people will start learning how to prevent it : )
brian kinney, yes I've read about your lemon grass post before. Thanks! : )
levian,we have cancer cells in the body all the time but our immune system destroys these cancer cells and keep us healthy. The problem starts when our immune system is not strong and alert enough to destroy these cancer cells. Or there are just too much toxins in our body that are driving the normal cells crazy turning them into cancer cells.
life ramblings, yes it's scary, so do your best to keep yourself healthy : )
Thanks! Yep I am glad so is free of cancer up to now. I am glad to share the herb because if it can save my mom or even say prolonged her life, I wish everyone can share the same too. :)
lemongrass has antioxidants, i drink it every now and then. I even buy the fresh one and boils it to make tea.
The kidney is the other detoxifying organ in the body.
In Chinese medicine theory, it is said that sleeping early will help the liver to rest. Its not how long you sleep, but how early you sleep.
Too much emphasis has been made on cures for cancer on the papers, rather than prevention (notably diet), which kind of disturbs me a little. As the saying goes, prevention is better (cheaper and safer) than cure.
btw, nice article. ^_^
This is the very useful post. prevention is better than cure. After reading, I realise that treatments are painful indeed.
Have the nice day.
I have nothing much to say about the "medical industry". I think much of the ado about cancer is due to the processed stuff that people eat on a daily basis. Sometimes mental states like being stressed or always in a bad temper also aggravates the situation. I'm sure prevention always works and it's in our hands to do so. XD
i think cancer treatments are just to prolong a patient's life.. cant really cure the illness.. =(
oh..
RIP FF too..