Mesothelioma is one of the leading causes of lung cancer in the United States. There are many causes of mesothelioma, but the major cause is asbestos that was used in construction and in shipyards. In the United States, there are three main types of Mesothelioma. The first type is Pleural mesothelioma which affects the protective lining of the lungs. Pleural mesothelioma is the most common type of mesothelioma. The second type of mesothelioma is Peritoneal mesothelioma which affects the abdominal cavity. The final type of mesothelioma is Pericardial mesothelioma which affects the cardiac cavity. In 2001, Rhio O'Connor was diagnosed with Pleural mesothelioma and was given only a year to live. Instead of just giving up on life and accepting the prognoses Rhio found his only way to be able to out live the prognoses by five years. Many of the treatments and cures that Rhio used to be able survive the additional five years they were not FDA approved. With Rhio being able to survive with these unorthodox treatments is has brought the question to light, “Should we be able to use methods that are not approved by the FDA to be able to cure or stop the spread of cancer?”
This main question leads to many other questions about the way that we face the development of treatments for cancer. In my own personal opinion I feel that we need to look more into the unorthodox treatments and being able to find the overall cure for cancer. The reason that we need to begin to look at the unorthodox treatments is based on the fact that there has not been a cure found. To find the answer to any question then we need to look in places that have yet to be explored or even the different opinions that are available to those that require the treatments for cancer. Even though many of the treatments that people use to help counter the effects of cancer are not FDA approved they are still using them.
One of the reasons that people are using unorthodox treatments to help prolong their lives once they are diagnosed with cancer is that they don’t want to give up on the live that they are living. When people are faced with hard situations that will continue to do anything in the power to be able to overcome the hardship that is placed in front of them. One of the hardest situation that is placed in front of any individual is a death date placed in front of them. I have known several people that have been faced with a “death sentence”, but they fought until they could no longer fight the fight. For example, my grandfather was diagnosed with COPD which is another form of lung cancer typically caused by smoking cigarettes. The last few years of my grandfather’s life was quite rough. He was attached to an oxygen tank which limited his mobility, but he still lived his life to be able to care and be around for his grand kids. One day he finally lost the fight to the COPD, but he lived his life the best he could doing anything to stay around for his family. Some of the different types of things he tried was drinks and different prescription inhalers to allow him to be able to breath to the best of his ability.
In my overall opinion of treating cancer, I feel that doctors and patients should be able to use whatever treatment to help beat the cancer. The reason that I feel this is because cancer is the number one killer of people under the age of 85 and so with those odds the people diagnosed with cancer should be allowed to do anything that they feel will allow them to be able to live longer or even be able to get rid of the cancer. We are unable to be able learn new treatments if we are afraid to actually use them to see if the treatment would be able to overcome multiple different types of cancer that plagues the human race.
Cancer is hard for everyone involved. Though the medical world has been able to perform new treatments for cancer patients. However, not all the different types of cancer are being cured by the treatments that are available and we need to start taking risks to help the individuals that are affected by cancer to find the cures that are right for the individuals. For each risk that is taken a great reward and that great reward could even be the next cure to cancer.
