The Dangers of misplaced Optimism
It has long been clear to me why so many people accept chemotherapy when they are diagnosed with cancer: desperate for anything that might help them, they convince themselves that chemo will be their salvation. But is this a reasonable conclusion?
Let’s have a look at what Dr. Peter Wise writes on this topic, in an article published in the BMJ (British Medical Journal):
“Patients overestimate potential drug benefits. In an important multi-centre study, almost 75% of 1200 patients with metastatic colorectal and lung cancers considered it likely that their cancers would be cured by chemotherapy.34 Yet a cure in these situations is virtually unknown.”
(Highlights in the above quote are those of Dr. Wise, not my own. The full article can be found here.)
This is pitiful, is it not? Almost 75% of patients with certain types of cancer think they will be cured by chemotherapy, whereas in fact, it cures practically no-one.
Should you yourself ever be in such a situation, please ask the physician who recommends chemotherapy to show you evidence for the cure rates of chemo for your type of cancer. I’ll bet he tries to evade the question! For the fact is, chemo contributes very little even to five-year survival rates, and almost never can be said to “cure”. True, perhaps in some cases the cancer does disappear, and this could be seen as a cure. But in how many of those cases does it then return after a number of months, either in the original location, or somewhere else in the body? This is a sure sign that the patient was not cured at all. It is also strong evidence that the factors that originally contributed to the development of cancer are still present within the person’s body, and life. This is why it is of supreme importance to do anything and everything possible to strengthen the immune system, as emphasized so often in this book. By taking the concrete steps outlined in this chapter , there is a good chance that you will not just be alive next year, but that you truly will be cured.
Therefore, don’t let fear of death lull you into complacence; into believing that an extremely invasive “therapy” such as chemo is your “only hope”. Instead, follow the path of reason: strengthen your immune system, and develop an optimally healthy mindset. Know that others have been cured doing exactly that, and that for this reason, there is a good chance that you can as well!