Reply #90: So did I. She found out she had breast cancer and elected to "treat" it with alternative therapies

[Hekate]

I think she died about a year later, in her 40s. This was close to 20 years ago...

My mom was 75 when she got breast cancer, went the "Western medicine" route, which was horribly unpleasant, but she survived another 7 years to die of something else entirely.

We need to do several things in this country regarding cancer treatments. Aside from universal health care so tests and treatment don't bankrupt families, the biggest thing we need to do, imo, is have much much much better comfort measures to deal with the awful side effects of chemotherapy. Often people with a diagnosis of cancer fear the treatment as much or more than the disease, which I suspect was one motive for my late friend's decision.

Herbal remedies, a positive outlook, healthy diet, personal rituals like meditation and prayer, emotional support -- all these have a role in "healing." But if a patient shows up with a broken leg or a cancerous lump, those things won't do the job all by themselves.

Hekate