Breast Cancer Genes: Preventative Chemotherapy – Is It Really A Game-Changing Breakthrough?

The British media has seen a flurry of excitement since the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published guidelines on 25th June 2013, announcing that “Women with a family history of the disease will be able to get tamoxifen and raloxifene on the NHS” (Independent newspaper, UK, 25 June 2013)

My heart dropped like a stone when I heard that a ‘daily pill’ is being labelled a ” ‘game-changing’ breakthrough in preventive care” (Independent) by campaigners and breast cancer experts in the field. I am not a medical practitioner or researcher. I am a woman who’s life has been changed by a breast cancer diagnosis and subsequent genetics testing at a young age. Pro-choice for every person affected by cancer, I applaud any new treatment or research which may help people to avoid a diagnosis of cancer – or in this case, breast cancer. However, the idea that a daily pill could be lauded as clinical excellence fills me with unease. For in the cold light of day, these guidelines are promoting a daily dispensation of hormone therapy, which to all intents and purposes is a form of chemo-therapy, that is unable to offer more than a 50% possibility that it may protect the patient from a breast cancer diagnosis.

Judith Potts wrote a very interesting article for the Telegraph in April 2013 (Telegraph, UK – Tamoxifen: it is staggering how much research into this drug is taking place), where she shared her personal experiences of using Tamoxifen as part of her breast cancer treatment protocol and about research undertaken in the US, on which NICE’s guidelines appear to have been based upon, according to media reports.

Life is all about making choices. However, what happens when it is difficult to gather up all the information we need to make fully-informed choices? Most critically, at a time when our emotions and sense of reasoning may be in tatters?

On 26th June I was invited to be interviewed live on a prominent news show. The show’s researcher seemed taken aback that I was not cheering loudly from the sidelines. Instead, I was invited to share my point of view that – just as genetics testing is not an easy option – neither should we look to a form of hormone (chemical) therapy to be the great bringer of hope to those who are sadly affected by the BRAC1/BRAC2 genetic anomalies. Just as prophylactic mastectomies may not be the overall answer, neither should prophylactic chemo-therapy be seen as an ‘hallelujah’ option. People with these life-changing results really need – and deserve – to be informed of every option available to them. Natural and alternative therapies, as well as orthodox treatments. They should then be given as much time as is practically possible to research their options, perhaps also speaking to people who have walked on the same path before them, and make a decision based on what ‘feels’ the right course of action as an individual.

As Audre Lorde wisely said: ‘Our feelings are our most genuine paths to knowledge’.

Time after time, I feel infuriated and saddened that the ‘breast cancer’ tag is bandied about rather carelessly by the mainstream media, inducing fear into the population. For the sad reality is, therecannot be many people who’s lives have not been touched by the spectre of breast cancer over the years. Angelina Jolie’s brave decision – which I believe was the perfect option for her, as an individual – a few weeks ago saw a rush of terrified women beseeching their medical practitioners to send them for genetics testing, which is a long, drawn-out process and which can be emotional torture. I certainly felt under immense emotional strain whilst awaiting my results.

No longer am I fervently opposed to orthodox medicine, a ‘New-Age’ type who believes cancer must be treated with – and ONLY with – natural methods and emotional healing. Being diagnosed with Triple Negative breast cancer just two short years ago – which Tamoxifen would have been utterly useless in stopping, as it targets oestrogen-receptive breast cancer tumours only – saw me signing up for the whole orthodox medical treatment protocol, supplemented by natural and alternative therapies. My life was undeniably saved by these invasive treatments and I choose to see the daily side-effects I am left with as a daily reminder to give blessings, for I owe my life to modern-day medicine.

There are always underlying reasons for any illness which presents in us, such as environmental toxins, stressors, poor diet, ‘buried’ emotions – which, if addressed and treated sympathetically, will bring our bodies back to balance and natural harmony. We could all do with am emotional spring clean every year, thereby lessening the opportunity for awry-cells to start buddying-up and cause chaos by evolving into illnesses or tumours, for example.

My dearest wish would be for a fully-integrated resource to be set-up, bringing together the very best of clinical practices and protocols by world leaders, supplemented and supported by tools and wisdom from pioneers such as the Penny Brohn Cancer Centre and CancerActive. A “one-stop educational resource centre” where we could unravel the medical jargon and humanise all the options available to us, where we can listen to our inner wisdom and choose the best options available for us as individuals.

Another key aspect of the educational process, I feel, is for charities in the UK such as BosomBuddiesUK and CoppaFeel to work with schools and women under the age of 25 to promote the importance of knowing their bodies and checking their breasts regularly, also reaching out to males as part of preventative measures. We must ensure our younger generations take a proactive role in health care, not the default ‘reactive’ role we seem to muddle along with here in the UK, with an evident lack of self-responsibility in taking good care of ourselves. Yes, I have been just as guilty of that, too!

If the researchers are still not clear about exactly how tamoxifen blocks tumours from growing, then what else are we not aware of with respect to this type of hormone therapy and it’s side-effects. Six years of research form the basis of the NICE guidelines, yet they predict the drug may only offer protection for only ten years… ah, it’s not enough for me. I will stick with the blend of orthodox, alternative and natural methods that seem to be (I pray) working – give me frankincense and lemon essential oils, along with joyful healthy living any day of the week.

Can hormone treatment subsidised by the NHS provide a game-changing breakthrough in Breast Cancer preventative care? If only it were. Research and clinical excellence must continue to work together and work together with natural and alternative therapies to provide an integrated preventative health plan which will focus more upon living harmoniously with ourselves.

Stay safe, stay aware and be open to all options – but most of all, I invite you to tune in to your body and follow the courage of your own convictions.



Source by Callie Carling



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