Amy Durfee West

” a National Geographic special about Renee Heidtman, a 32-year old woman who died of breast cancer. If I remember right, after she died Renee’s friends and family took solace in the thought that she “did it her way. The reason she opted for juicing and coffee enemas was she was worried her future fertility might be jeopardized by “toxic” conventional cancer treatment. Some people who are diagnosed and treated for early stage breast cancer later progress to Stage IV, which is incurable.

In mid-July I learned the cancer had spread to my brain, Symptoms included double vision and balance/gait problems. I might have some good quality time left. But I think “hope for the best; expect the worst” is a good approach here. I am naturally upbeat and optimistic, and I’m good at compartmentalizing my worries

The other day there was a thread on one of my groups about an assertion made by an internet “health guru” that folic acid supplementation is ineffective to cure or prevent vitamin B9 deficiency, and the “real” vitamin is folate. The person who posted it lamented that “we” aren’t told about this (apparently there’s supposed to be some connection with cancer) and someone else chimed in that “they” don’t research it. I spent about five minutes on Google Scholar and learned there’s actually quite a bit of research on folate and folic acid, and on the effects of fortifying grain products with folic acid, which began in the US in 1996. I posted a comment about that brief foray into actual facts about science and folic acid supplementation, and someone replied that the reason the number of neural tube defects had gone down in the US is women aren’t getting pregnant (presumably because folic acid causes infertility? ).

We expect safe consumer products, safe roads, safe streets, safe water, clean air, and I’m pretty sure everyone at that conference has all those things. I think of cancer patients in other parts of the world who don’t even have medication for pain as they lay dying. I find it hard to feel much outrage over domestic cancer deaths, frankly, when I see how many people have been killed, harmed, or driven from their homes by my government’s endless wars of choice. I don’t think my life matters more than anyone else’s.