MELANOMA CANCER BREAKTHROUGH..SHOULD WE BE HAPPY, OR ANGRY?

By Ross. B. Taylor

Twenty-five years ago when I was diagnosed with 'terminal' cancer from a secondary melanoma diagnosis, I was to learn about the magnificence of the human body and its ability to heal itself. Both my wife Katherine and I asked my oncologist in 1994 if it was worth us exploring the opportunity to use meditation, reiki, nutrition, exercise etc., to unlock the body's T-Cells - that are 'frozen' by cancer and unable to defend the patient - to help in my recovery?

The oncologist scoffed at us saying there was only one option: to attack the tumour, usually with chemo and radiotherapy, and the notion of stimulating the body's own immune system to enable it to do what it is designed to do - that is to protect and heal me - was absurd.

Now 25 years later we have new drugs developed only seven years ago that takes exactly the same concept that we asked about all those years ago, so that we now have several new drugs that, rather than attacking the tumours, goes after the T-cells, unlocking them and allowing these cells to 'refresh' and then go looking for the tumours and removing them from the body.

The results have been breathtaking, and today we now see doctors looking at other cancers including breast cancer, prostate cancer etc., saying that this 'new discovery' has transformed the lives of cancer patients and now offers those with melanoma in particular dramatically improved prognosis over the long term. And they have.

Time for celebration and acknowledgement about how this 'new' discovery will save so many lives? Undoubtedly the answer is yes. It is incredible what is now being achieved after almost 20 years of no real progress.

But just quietly, I can't help but ask myself why it has taken so long to get to where melanoma patients find themselves today, and how dogma combined with ego has lead so many in the medical profession to ignore this concept for so long. How many lives will now be saved, OR should we quietly ask "how many lives have been lost because of ego-based 'blinked' vision?"

I just hope from this wonderful 'discovery' that in future the medical profession will acknowledge the ability of the human body to heal itself... with a little help from us, and thus providing those who have been touched by cancer with a brighter and cancer-free future and is one that is vibrant and full of life!