why take chemotherapy?

More alternative treatments to consider:

Here is a free book to download from the internet, called Victory over Cancer http://www.victory-over-cancer.org/ from Dr. Rath's website.

Here is more alternative cancer therapy information from Dr. Rath's site http://www4.dr-rath-foundation.org/pdf-files/cance... Dr. Rath has a new Micronutrient protocol that thousands in Europe are taking to HEAL their cancer. Dr. Rath has suffered over 100 lawsuits in 15 years to shut him up....but none have been successful because science itself has proved his treatments and his methodologies (whereas chemo has nothing like his success rate to brag about).

Here is the facebook page for the Dr. Rath Foundation....lots more information here... https://www.facebook.com/DrRath.Foundation/?ref=hl

Also, Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski MD, PhD, has the Burzynski Clinic in Austin Texas. He has healed, yes HEALED incurable cancers using Antineoplastons...the missing link between proteins and amino acids in cancer patients. He's harrassed constantly by lawyers from the FDA, lawsuit after lawsuit, to shut him up. Another story I saw on Quest for the Cure was how a 4 year old child was told by several allopathic doctors he would die from a rare brain tumor. Dr. Gaston Cornu-Labat MD told the story of how the FDA required an application be made on behalf of this boy so they could treat him at Dr. Burzynski's clinic. But then the FDA proceeded to put the IND application (Investigational New Drug) on 'hold' (when the child was told he had only weeks to live) stating the risks of the treatment outweighed the benefit. The treatment Dr. Burzynski had could have saved his life, as it had already saved the lives of other children with inoperable brain tumors. You puzzle out that one. Other terminal children have been approved to take the new drug, but are legally required to take chemo and radiation first. For another child, this was too much and the autopsy actually stated the child died from intoxication from chemo drugs.

Today, epigenetics play an important role in alternative cancer care. Look into what it's all about.

Dr. Jonathan Wright MD speaks about how medical schools teach doctors nothing about nutrition...only how to prescribe pharmaceutical drugs.

Interestingly enough, when DuPont received it's patent for polyester, the witch hunt began to kill the cannabis plant's AMAZING reputation. All for money - to cut out the competition.

Dr. Boris Grinblat discovered cancer can't take heat as well as normal cells. Saunas, particularly infrared saunas can be very helpful, as another natural treatment to include in your other natural treatments arsenal, to cure cancer.

And the list of other natural therapies goes on and on and on and on and on.

That's why I'm asking you to do your research. Understand chemo is not the only choice. That is simply all I'm asking you to consider. But unless you do the research for yourself, and digest it for yourself, and then understand what you are and aren't willing to put your faith in, you are stuck with chemo.

Dr. Sunil Pai MD also discusses how natural therapies can help make chemo more effective, and protect the rest of your body, the parts that don't have cancer, at the same time.

And yes, in my opinion, no matter what anecdotal stories are told here, chemo causes way more cancer than it cures. Period. My opinion.

ElleD, you are so right....every part of this is very personal, and it is a very hard decision to make. When we are staring our mortality in the eye, it suddenly puts our lives and our values into perspective. But this perspective can be clouded, if we are also suffocated by fear. I long for every woman to have this perspective....without the fear, but this can only happen if she introspects, and is able to face her fears, and let them go, with the understanding that none of us has 'control' in this life, no matter how much we believed otherwise before we were diagnosed with cancer.

I believe a certain amount of introspection occurs naturally as we do our research. During the reading and learning of different treatment modalities, you will be naturally drawn to one thing over another. You will sift through piles of data and statistics, if they're available. And ultimately, you will make the very best decision you can make for you, one that resonates in your heart and mind, as the decision you will live with, regardless of your outcome.

When we make huge decisions in our lives, isn't it necessary to know what all our potential choices are, beforehand? How many of us would decide to buy a house, but only look into a couple of rooms, and leave the rest of the house unnoticed? Not one person has said they personally did all their research, and found chemo to be their best option for them, but thank you Twinkly for caring enough to help other women try to ensure they've considered all their options.

I respect every woman's decision, whatever she's chosen to do. But you hit the nail on the head, when you said you are feeling social pressure to take the toxins. I too felt those pressures, and although I thought at the time I was willing to consider natural options, I really wasn't because I was too afraid to deal with my family's reactions. Along with trying to absorb and deal with with my diagnosis, I was having to be strong for my family, who were falling apart around me. Not one of my family members who live in my city actually came to see me in the hospital after my mastectomies...they still couldn't deal with the thought of losing me. This was a horrible position to be in. I felt no support. And so I posted 'diary of a bilateral mastectomy' to try and support/help women who may be in my position, to help them navigate through what I'd gone through, highlighting those things I wished I had thought of, or had been different, to better help them through the journey. I talked of how chemo burned me from the inside out. That I couldn't go to the bathroom unless I was in the shower running clear water over my skin, because my pee was so toxic, it was burning my outsides too. How I was awake in my chair for over 100 hours, sipping aloe vera juice every 15 minutes or so, whenever the burning would become so great I could barely stand it, and catching a little sleep in between those sips, if possible. I actually halted my chemo after two sessions. I just knew in my heart it would kill me, if I continued.

Therefore, when I was moving to the Stage 4 boards, I was able to look back on my journey thus far....nothing they had given me had helped. My cancer was now back, I was pronounced 'incurable' and would likely die in 22 - 26 months from my diagnosis (of course, everyone is different, this was just 'the average' story).

And for the first time, I felt the freedom from the pressure to 'do everything I could do to give myself another month or three'. This pressure always included taking more toxic medicines, that hadn't done anything for me.

I didn't believe I had a lot of life left to live after my stage 4 diagnosis. But whatever time I did have, I wanted the best quality of life I could possibly have, so I turned my back on conventional medicine, and decided to honor my body with as much respect as I could, naturally, because this is what resonated in my heart. I decided to eat right (I changed to a paleo diet), to take my dog for walks (I've lost 80 pounds since my diagnosis), and to pray/meditate each day. In fact, doing those three things were all I could accomplish in a day, I was in so much pain. Everything is attached to your sternum, which is where my cancer was concentrated....breathing, sitting, standing, walking...everything....and I knew dying this way was going to be very painful.

My choice to take medical marijuana was simply to try and help my liver, because it ached with such intensity, I couldn't roll over on my right side without waking up in pain.

And lo and behold, when I accidentally began to heal my immune system, and I truly mean accidentally, because I was resigned to my upcoming death, I started feeling better....for the first time in ever so long. To choose natural methods to help our immune systems to heal, we need to do things differently than we've ever done before....pointedly differently, with intention and purpose and new knowledge we gain from qualified sources. Little did I know how powerfully healing the medical marijuana would be.

Today, I'm now the 'anomaly' for my doctors, because my story is not typical at all. And this is what saddens me the most, because I don't feel I'm much different from all my sisters on these boards. I truly believe with all my heart that chemo doesn't help enough of us to make it the 'standard' of care it is today. So many are saying their cancer can never be healed, etc. etc. which is just what big pharma would like us to believe....what they've actually taught us, to support continuing to use poison that has no more than a 5% chance to keep us alive after five years....

So, I've reached out to all with this post.....again, using my own personal experience as the impetus to try and help those who are in exactly the position you are in right now ElleD.

If you choose to take chemo, I will support you with all my heart. All I've been asking, is you make your choice knowing all your options, without listening to the pressures from outside. You will ultimately walk this road alone, because no once can actually walk in your shoes...no one has every single one of your life experiences, nor can they experience all the emotions you will experience on this journey, nor will they die with you when you die, whether that is in 5 or 85 years from now.

There are many ways to try natural therapies. If you are truly drawn to them in your heart, you may feel comfortable trying them initially for a certain time frame and see what happens. If you aren't responding, then you can try something else, that may or may not be chemo. The thing is, there are a plethora of combinations/options/roads you can decide on for yourself, but if you don't have a map, you'll never know how many roads there actually are, and which one feels best for You to travel on. That map is only accomplished if we do our research.

If you are comfortable doing so, take the time to make the best decision for you. For many of us, cancer was a part of our story for months/years before we were diagnosed/aware of it. Rushing to take chemo within days/weeks of our diagnosis may not be the best answer.

Unfortunately, the Stage 4 boards continue to be filled with women chemo didn't help. But that doesn't mean it won't help You. Ultimately it doesn't matter what anyone else does....this choice is solely and absolutely yours to make for yourself.

So, please, do your research, which will lead to introspection, which will lead to understanding in your heart and mind which road is the one You choose to travel on. And consult your map often, because you will come to many crossroads, and you may want to change your mind at some point. It's allowed.