To understand the future of something or someone, it is good to
understand their past or their history.
How many of us are aware of the history of chemotherapy?
I was not aware until I became passionately invested in seeing
clients with a cancer diagnosis change their lifestyles and support their
bodies nutritionally, emotionally, and spiritually during their healing journey.
After WWII, some doctors were analyzing tissue samples of men who
died after being exposed to mustard gas, a toxic chemical compound used in
chemical warfare. After analyzing these
tissue samples, they wondered if it would have any impact on tumors in
humans.
Thus, the trial and error, guessing game of what toxic chemotherapy
agents would kill cancer cells the fastest (before destroying the immune system, digestive system, and eventually the entire body), began. It was
birthed out of a war, out of toxic chemical warfare.
In the 1940’s, cancer researchers did not have a good understanding
of what cancer was and how it developed in the body, much less a systematic
approach of studying cancer. However, in
desperation, attention was given to chemotherapy and these toxic chemical warfare agents.
The idea of using mustard gas and other chemotherapy agents was
highly controversial when it was first introduced and many doctors were opposed
to the concept. The minority of doctors
and cancer researchers first pursued this avenue.
The reality is that children were the first to sign up for trials
with chemotherapy. Their parents signed
a waiver, releasing their rights and agreeing to chemotherapy. The first human trial was conducted. After the cancer seemingly disappeared, one
by one, the children came back with the cancer cells spreading to the
brain. In the end, every child involved
in the first human trial died.
After this experience, many doctors walked away entirely from the
idea of using chemotherapy in treating cancer.
However, others persisted. A new
idea of rotating chemotherapy agents was introduced. The idea was that the body would not be as
devastated by one toxic chemotherapy agent as it would be to a rotation of
toxic chemotherapy agents.
This seemed to allow patients to live longer throughout the
treatment and survive long enough to receive their treatments. However, many did not make it through the
human trials.
In the 1980’s, chemotherapy was analyzed statistically by Bailer. With an objective lens and no financial ties
to the chemotherapy industry, Bailer found that since chemotherapy was
introduced in the 1950’s, 4% were saved by chemotherapy. Further, the death toll from cancer had
increased by 9% since the 1950’s.
Something clearly was wrong with the approach.
Some quick facts
about chemotherapy:
·
First chemotherapy agent was mustard gas, a toxic chemical warfare
agent banned from being used in WWII because of it’s toxic affect on the human
body
·
Started being developed in the 1940’s prior to understanding mechanisms
behind cancer and tumor growth
·
Statistics are frequently manipulated and are presented in the
following manner:
o Cure is defined as
a 5-year survival rate, if someone is alive 5 years and 2 weeks after they are
first diagnosed, they are included in the survival rate statistics
o Certain ethnic
groups are frequently not included in survival rates with white only
percentages presented
o If patients die
before full prescribed treatment rounds of chemotherapy are finished, they may
be deleted from the study and eliminated from statistics
o Statistics are
adjusted for “expected mortality outcomes,” for example, if someone dies after
being diagnosed and during treatment, they could have also died from a car
accident
o Many times, the
percentage of tumor shrinkage is presented instead of survival rates even
though tumors shrinking are not necessary linked to survival rates
·
1986: McGill Cancer
Center: Scientists surveyed 118
oncologists who specialize in lung cancer.
Asked if they would take chemo if they developed lung cancer and ¾ of
the oncologists replied no, they would not take chemo. Reclaiming our health by John Robbins 1996
·
5-year survival data from US National Cancer Institute's
Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) registry from 1990 until
January 2004: 2.1% survival rate in the
US and 2.3% survival rate in Australia with using chemotherapy
Some people invested in using chemotherapy lashed out at Bailer and
rejected his findings although they were found to be completely sound and
ethical. Others, seeing the dismal
results of chemotherapy, moved on to study targeted gene therapy and cancer;
the next big thing in cancer research.
Chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery remained the primary approach
of oncologists in the Western Medical world.
Cancer research shifted focus to finding oncogenes involved in cancer
and developing drugs that would target these genes.
However, after much research, millions of dollars, and many years,
targeted gene therapy showed a similar disappointment. The genes involved in cancer showed no
cohesive pattern to follow. Instead, the
genetic components involved in different cases appeared as distinct and unique
as a fingerprint.
Unfortunately, few doctors have taken the approach of starting with
what is cancer and why has it developed in the body before recommending
treatment protocols. However, this is
why I love holistic treatment options for cancer. The whole person is taken into
consideration. Our understanding of the
characteristics of cancer, why it develops in the body, and what are potential
root causes to tumor development are taken into consideration.
In the coming weeks, we will look at some great approaches to cancer
to gain an understanding of options that may be better for some who want to
connect with the root cause of their diagnosis and approach treatment in a less
toxic manner.
