Re: Swaysee Interview Depressing

[Guest guest]

I did see the interview.....He did say ( reference to smoking ) you can only

do so much at one time, dealing with so much. He had it sounding like maybe

he would try and quit......

The interview is on again tonight at 10 PM EST time.

From: dorrnancy

[] I was all excited about waiting to see 's interview with

Barbara Walters last Wednesday night. I couldn't wait to hear about all the

alternative things he was doing. Hadn't I heard he was juicing and cleansing and

trying radical things?

Imagine my shock when I heard poo-poo alternative medicine as

basically unproven. To paraphrase what he said (from memory), I quote,

" If someone already had a cure for cancer, they would have made millions of

dollars. "

AND HE IS STILL SMOKING CIGARETTES even though he replied to Barbara

that smoking was implicated in pancreatic cancer. I couldn't believe

it!

I was absolutely appalled at his interview......

[Guest guest]

I did not watch it. I saw a clip on the view and decided to skip it.

He was so angry. Yes I was too but you have to let go you can't heal

that way. I don't watch anything about cancer. My husband does and is

appalled when people say don't trust the internet and blah blah blah.

My kids just laugh

Cheri

>

> [] I was all excited about waiting to see 's interview with

> Barbara Walters last Wednesday night. I couldn't wait to hear about all

> the alternative things he was doing. Hadn't I heard he was juicing and

> cleansing and trying radical things?

>

> Imagine my shock when I heard poo-poo alternative medicine as

> basically unproven. To paraphrase what he said (from memory), I quote,

> " If someone already had a cure for cancer, they would have made millions

> of dollars. "

>

> AND HE IS STILL SMOKING CIGARETTES even though he replied to Barbara

> that smoking was implicated in pancreatic cancer. I couldn't believe

> it!

>

> I was absolutely appalled at his interview. I knew when he got thru with

> it and saw it on t.v. that he would forever regret doing it. Barbara was

> her usual self, so you can't blame her for exploiting the poor guy.

>

> But I just can't believe that a guy with his millions wouldn't have a

> team of folks researching the hell out of the internet and coming up

> one hell-u-va Cancer Cure Protocol.

>

> Let's see what 1 MILLION could do for me:

>

> I would hire on my ranch:

>

> A raw foods/vegan chef and crew to take care of the organic garden and

> the sprouting, wheatgrass, etc.

> An assistant to put me on a 30 - 60 day cleanse

> I would have an ozone station set up and have I.V. ozone twice a day, as

> well as ozononated water, olive oil

> I would hire a contruction crew to build a home colonic machine,

> infrared lamp sauna and ozone steam sauna.

>

> Oh, but wait, I don't have a million dollars, but I have everything

> above already save for the organic garden, but I can step right over to

> the health food store or even Wal-Mart for gosh's sakes. Do folks know

> that Wal-Mart is now selling Organic Living Lettuce, which is a

> hydroponic form of lettuce, with the roots still attached?

>

> I realize has every right to believe or do what he wants. It is

> an incredibly horrible thing to wake up one morning and be told you have

> pancreatic cancer. Even his wife, who waited two days to tell him said

> to Barbara, " always would say that anyone diagnosed with

> pancreatic cancer dies quickly. " Hey, I had a couple of bad days earlier

> this week, but I worked my way out of it and I am back on board. I know

> that I don't want to act holier-then-thou about knowing something he

> might have closed his mind to or simply never explored, but I have to

> say I lost respect for his journey. He stubbornly, and I believe

> foolishly, closed his mind to the one path that might have at least

> given extension to his life--alternative medicine. Perhaps he's been

> brainwashed? I don't know. Any thoughts out there?

>

> Here's the link to the interview if you haven't seen it. I personally

> wouldn't watch it if you haven't seen it. It is depressing. []

>

>

>

> Sincerely,

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

-Farrah Fawcett is an actress who has anal cancer. at first she

did conventional treatment but her cancer recurred quickly,

according to R. Moss she opted for CAM treatment in Germany,

but she was so criticized, read Barry Cassileth's words

It sound like it needs courage for a celebrity to opt for CAM...

karla

(i am living in europe and I do not know anything about cancer care

in the US, but I am sure CAM can be pursued in the US, too..)

AN OPEN LETTER TO FARRAH FAWCETT

On my own behalf, as well as that of my coworkers, and the readers of

our weekly online newsletter, I want to wish you success in pursuing

innovative cancer treatments in Germany. I applaud your courage in

seeking an approach that hopefully will be less toxic and more

effective than the treatments you have so far been offered in the US.

With this open letter, I also hope to counter some of the negative

comments that have been made in the media about your treatment

choices. Some of the derogatory comments about " the murky world of

overseas clinics " have come from the tabloids - no surprise there. As

your spokesperson told People magazine, " It is now clear that the

tabloids are as invasive and malignant as cancer. " I wish there were

some way to shield you from their abusive attacks.

Far more surprising have been highly critical comments from

individuals associated with major US cancer institutions. Isn't it

ironic that before your diagnosis you served as a celebrity

spokesperson for the American Cancer Society? Now, some people

associated with ACS and similar organizations have forgotten this

former service and, in effect, have washed their hands of you.

Interviewed by the Associated Press about your case, Barrie Cassileth,

PhD, is quoted as saying, " I would [tell a patient considering

alternative treatment] that they are signing their own death

certificate. I would say they are wasting time they could otherwise

spend happier and with their families. " Dr. Cassileth is chief of the

Integrative Medicine Department at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer

Center, New York and has been prominently associated with your former

organization, the ACS.

I find such statements both highly inappropriate and contradictory.

Saying that people are " signing their own death certificate " by

pursuing innovative cancer treatments outside the US implies that they

would not be signing their death certificate had they only stayed in

the US for treatment. While I do not presume to know the details of

your case, I assume that you were fully informed by your American

oncologists of the treatment options for your cancer, and found them

unacceptable.

I am sure you did not make the decision to seek treatment in Germany

on a whim, but after due deliberation of all your options. Dr.

Cassileth's melodramatic statement implies that you are wasting your

time by doing so and that you could instead spend " happier " time with

your family. Not everyone will choose to, as it were, wait out the

clock. I thoroughly understand your desire to seek more effective

treatments, including those available abroad. This is of course a very

personal choice, which is determined in part by one's resources and

fighting spirit. But the fact that some people choose to seek out

other possibilities abroad rather than give up hope at home is not a

sign of irrationality.

Medicine develops unevenly and is still partly determined by national

characteristics. (For confirmation, see Lynne Payer's classic Medicine

and Culture.) Consequently, there are treatments available in Europe

that are not yet available here, and vice versa. Dr. Cassileth seems

to think that all German cancer clinics are a monolith and that all

their techniques are the same and equally ineffective. But the topic

of German innovative medical treatments is a huge one. According to

one German Web site (www.klinik.de) there are presently 2,200 private

clinics in Germany, containing 500,000 beds and treating 17.5 million

patients annually. Many of these are cancer patients. These clinics

were not set up to treat Americans, but primarily to serve the

interests of the indigenous population. Germans in general (including

many of their doctors) have a more positive attitude towards natural

medicine than do their counterparts in America. In my experience, the

German clinics are generally well run and are in full compliance with

both local laws and international standards of ethical patient care.

Germany has long been a world leader in cancer research and treatment.

German biologists pioneered almost every step in understanding the

nature of this disease. Despite the terrible setbacks of World Wars I

and II, German doctors continue to be well trained and well informed

on all aspects of cancer care. In the use of complementary medicine

they are without peer in the West. German doctors have either

pioneered or expanded the use of mistletoe, enzymes, thymic peptides,

immunotherapy, hyperthermia, and a host of other innovative

techniques. These methods are sometimes employed alongside surgery,

radiation and chemotherapy, when these are deemed necessary.

A glance at this year's program of the 41st Medizinische Woche

(Medicine Week), held October 27-November 1, in Baden-Baden, reveals a

panoply of treatment options that are unknown by most American

oncologists. Recently I had the honor of co-editing a medical textbook

on the German approach to integrative cancer therapy with f Beuth,

MD, professor of complementary medicine at the University of Cologne.

Our volume, Complementary Oncology (Thieme) gives some idea of the

range of these treatments and the depth of their scientific evaluation

including, in some instances, through the use of randomized controlled

trials.

In conclusion, Ms Fawcett, I hardly think you are wasting your time,

much less signing your own death certificate, by going abroad for

treatment. You have made a rational decision under extremely difficult

circumstances, and that decision deserves the utmost respect, not a

flippant dismissal of your survival prospects. All people of good will

wish you the best of luck in your search for effective treatments.

[Guest guest]

I would have been more surprised if he'd carried on with alternative

treatment. Can you imagine the kind of pressure the medical cartel

will have put on the poor fella to tow the line and accept orthodox

treatment? Imagine what would have happened if someone as famous as he

had managed to cure himself of cancer using the methods so well known

to us!

-

[Guest guest]

I agree with you .  I was eagerly awaiting the interview, but was also

disappointed.  He seems to think that he can fight it with sheer will.