Q is for Quack

When you have cancer, it is guaranteed that you will have many people offering up advice on home remedies, specialized diets, or miracle cures that will cure your cancer.  Most of these people are well meaning and I always accept their advice with a smile and an appreciative thank you but people do need to realize that many of the cures are also scams.

Cancer patients are just another group of people that can be caught up in scams because they have a desire to know they tried everything.  I know there are cures out there that have not been found by science and some of these are just 'normal' herbal cures but the likelihood of finding these is becoming smaller and smaller.

Here is a great link to 10 myths about cancer and I have been told about two thirds of these myths over the past 13 years.  I didn't get cancer because I ate too much sugar nor did I get cancer because I did not eat enough acidic foods.  I got cancer because my neuroendocrine cells mutated in just the right fashion to allow uncontrolled growth along with not enough mutation to be detected by my immune system.  It was chance and I just drew the short straw.

Science now knows that cancer is not a single disease like polio or even aids.  Cancer is a general term that simply describes some sort of uncontrolled growth inside your body.  Breast cancer is as similar to carcinoid cancer, pancreatic cancer, or lung cancer as the common cold is to the flu.  Cures for one almost never lead to cures for the other.  In fact, not even all breast cancers are the same.  There are cures that work well or certain variations and are completely useless for other variations.

My own carcinoid cancer is different from other carcinoid cancers.  My tumors don't respond to Temodar and Xeloda but other people get a dramatic (although somewhat short term) response to those drugs.  Some carcinoids grow exceptionally slowly, others grow extremely rapidly.  Some folks with carcinoid experience severe and frequent flushing while others enjoy spectacular diarrhea.

There is not ever going to be a general cure for cancer and anyone who tells you so is trying to scam you.  There are going to be cures for some specific cancers and there even may be some cures that address many cancers but nothing is going to cure all of them.

This does not mean research is in vain.  There have been some amazing instances of complete cures lately using programed aids viruses and there have been great advances in simply extending life and reducing pain and suffering.  People are living longer and many cancers are indeed completely cured and I continue to contribute to research for research into cancer cures.

Will my cancer be cured?  Maybe, but not in time to help me.  50 years from now?  Perhaps they will have new techniques that will be able to eradicate the disease in many carcinoids.  I believe the techniques using programmed aids viruses really have potential and, with enough time, it will cure many more cancers than we can cure today.  I have been fortunate to have a slow progressing cancer and just hope to live long enough to see some of these new techniques succeed more than they fail.