oasis of hope tiajuana, mexico and laetrile

martam said:

Hello: I am assuming you are in Tijuana, do you speak spanish by any chance? My brother who is in Costa Rica, was diagnosticated with lung cancer and I want to find contacts in spanish for him. Thanks, Marta

soccerfreaks said:

Didn't do Steve McQueen much good
The ACS has gone on record as describing laetrile as quackery, studies by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and others have performed studies and come away concluding that laetrile had no positive effect on cancer tumors, the U. S. Food and Drug Administration has called it highly toxic and ineffective in treatment of cancer, and the National Institute of Health has also concluded that it is ineffective.

Still, the stuff has its proponents and since it is illegal to sell it in the U.S., people go to other countries as they grasp for what they consider easier roads to recovery (and, admittedly and regrettably in some cases, last straws).

You and your brother's wife are right, in my opinion, to be skeptical and concerned.

Take care,

Joe

soccerfreaks said:

off my soapbox after this one, i promise
It would be unfair to say "I would suggest he talk to Steve McQueen but he can't, can he?", so I won't.

Since he has clearly long since reached the age of consent, it is indeed a personal decision and has been from the time he reached that age. Some of us choose to listen to others, of course, before coming to a decision regarding something the consequences which are of enormous magnitude to a lot of people beside ourselves, among those we would discuss it with including our loved ones and those 'authorities' we trust, if we have any of either.

It is just about useless to argue with someone whose mind is made up, especially when they counter any reasonable argument with paranoia about the very 'authorities' that have done the research that refutes what one wants to hear.

Beyond that, there does come a time (and I do not know exactly where your brother is in his treatment) when we are apt to reach for alternatives as a last resort, as I indicated in a prior post.

But there is this to say about your brother's contentions, nonetheless, in the hope that others do not just buy in:

1) Having a beef with authority is one thing; calling doctors pushers is problematic: it stereotypes and it conveniently ignores the fact that the people who provide laetrile are pushers themselves, albeit pushers recognized by 'authority' as pushers specifically of toxic quackery. I am fairly certain that if I did not trust my doctors to provide care based on my best interests rather than those of "Giant Pharma" I could find others that I could trust. If bro doesn't trust his current set of 'authorities', perhaps he should look for another set?

2) Your brother says that laetrile is safe and brings up a couple of other 'facts' that are convenient to his purposes. I have to wonder about his credentials to make such statements, which defy the combined scholarship and research of a host of certifiably qualified individuals and institutions.

3) The Pharma conspiracy deal is weak. If these folks can make good money tempting people like your brother to bootscoot down to Tijuana for the purported cure, why couldn't Pharma make money selling it here as well? Are the FDA and NIH conspiring with Giant Pharma to keep the country, the world, cancerous?

4, 5) It's his choice, as you said. I sincerely hope he has three weeks to play with. Honestly, it has been my experience that some of us do.

Finally, there is this, and then I will get off of my soapbox :

I was already a survivor of head/neck cancer when my Oncologist told me in June of 2007 that I had lung cancer and that I had as little as 10 months to live. My neighbor found out, came by, and told me that she, too, had lung cancer. Because she had watched her brother die of cancer despite chemotherapy (she attributed his rapid demise TO the chemo), she was refusing to go that route, instead drinking green tea and taking some herbal 'remedies', all of which she offered to me as well.

I opted not to go that route. Ultimately, my death sentence turned out to be a mistaken read of my scan: I had a massive lung infection and just a tad bit of cancer in my lung that was subsequently removed. I am alive. She is dead. That is a fact.

But it is his choice. I wish him well.

Take care,

Joe