Chasing a Cure, Part I, a PROBLEM

No one wants there to be a cure for cancer more than me. A cure for cancer would mean that instead of knowing that I will leave my boys with a gaping hole in their lives, I might get to see them grow up, dance with them at their weddings, meet my grandchildren. The list of things I’ll miss out on experiencing, that I need to talk to my husband in advance of, that I need to leave notes or letters about, seems to grow daily.

And yet, the number of people touting a unproven and potentially predatory “cure” online and otherwise is also growing daily.

As the admin of various Facebook support groups, these outlandish and unsupportable claims of cures are a consistent thorn in my side. I have to warn people all the time and even remove them from support groups for not adhering to the rules. I tell people all the time that sharing their own personal experiences with whatever complementary meds or activities is totally fine, but when the conversation shifts to claiming that there are cures hidden by the government or whoever, that’s when a line is crossed.

There is a also a lot of confusion with regard to what is a study that “proves” a claim. People often post literature reviews or claims without any scientific support. A true study, that has been peer reviewed, has gone through an amazing amount of hurdles and has been reviewed by a lot of really smart people. It is really rare that something we can’t rely on gets through all of those roadblocks.

Those of us living with an incurable/terminal illness can often be desperate. Desperate for more time with our families, desperate for the claims of a cure to be real. The amount of money that is exchanged in clinics or for medication that can often be extremely dangerous enrages me. I’m all for complimentary and utilizing the benefits of Eastern medicine which doesn’t always have a peer reviewed study attached, so long as it doesn’t interfere with the traditional or Western medicine that is keeping us alive. ALL FOR IT. But when practitioners of complementary medicine claim to be curing or treating cancer without actual proof, that’s when things get really bad really fast.

Charlatans take advantage of our desperation with false claims.

I’ve known people to mortgage their homes, utilize gofundme fundraisers, gather money from every source they can even if it means taking from the legacy they have to pass along to their children, to pursue these false “cures.” Every single one of those people are dead. Many of them didn’t even get the time that traditional treatments would most likely have given them. By chasing these false “cures,” they got even less time with their families.

I get it.

I am pretty freaking desperate for a cure too.

I pursue information on lots of things all the time.

I pursue trials for myself and consulting on said trials for others.

There is a way to be involved in chasing a cure and to support those who are in the chase as well as professionals, as visionaries, as experts. If you want to learn more about how the medical community is seeking a cure for breast cancer, check out the series “Road to a Cure” on the Our MBC Life podcast from Share Cancer Support.

And stay tuned for my next installment in this series.