Conventional or Unconventional?: That is the Question…

My aunt died last semester from advanced lung cancer. She didn’t smoke and she had regular check-ups at the Mayo Clinic near her home in Arizona. They didn’t catch the cancer until it was too late. Although alternative medicine was suggested as an option by family members, my aunt chose to treat her cancer totally conventionally and adhere strictly to the advice given to her by the doctors at the Mayo clinic. Unfortunately, these conventional methods failed her.

Today I found out that a young mother whose four children I used to baby-sit is likely going to die from her cancer as well. She had breast cancer, which she chose to treat with natural methods. She passed on chemotherapy and adopted an organic, caner-fighting diet. After keeping the breast cancer at bay for nearly a year, she found out that it has advanced to her liver and brain.

So, all of this has left me wondering who’s right? Those on the conventional side or those on the non-conventional side? I mean, I know there is no cure for cancer, even though some people, like Kevin Trudeau, say that with alternative medicine you can cure it. Having just experienced the scenarios I discussed above, I find myself totally confused.

Recently, Coretta Scott King (widow of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.) died after trying to treat her cancer naturally. Some say natural methods don’t work and some say she should have explored them sooner. Who knows?

Perhaps this whole thing is so confusing to me since I have grown up with parents that don’t even use a microwave because it “kills the cells in the food with radioactive waves”. (Go ahead- say it, “Hippies!”) My point is, I’m used to the whole “natural thing”, but now I question if it really works.

I have no conclusion since all I have seen is failure on both sides. However, it’s one of those: “What would I do if it was me?” questions that everyone thinks about eventually. I have no answer.

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