Breast Cancer Patients Receiving Chemotherapy Have Increased Cancer Stem Cells

I’m already against chemotherapy in general unless it is a last resort to wage a battle that one is losing by natural means. There is a HUGE cost to taking toxic chemicals to kill cancer cells and that cost is not communicated to patients when they are put onto chemo. In fact, I’d say WAY too many patients are put on chemo as if they are some kind of vitamins.

Now here comes a scientific article that shows yet another cost of chemotherapy – you may end up with cancer stem cells in your bone marrow AS A RESULT OF CHEMO, which of course means, you will probably be battling even MORE cancer even IF you win the present battle.

ScienceDaily (May 14, 2009) — Breast cancer patients who received chemotherapy prior to surgery had heightened levels of cancer-initiating stem cells in their bone marrow, and the level of such cells correlated to a tumor’s lymph node involvement, according to research from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

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It’s estimated that 30-40 percent of locally advanced breast cancer patients who appear disease-free after neoadjuvant treatment actually harbor undetectable, distant micro-metastasis, explained Reuben.

Reuben describes cancer stem cells as tumor cells found in the bone marrow that are capable of self-renewal, thus a potential catalyst for recurrence and metastasis.

I recently lost my 10 year old golden retriever mix dog to a nasty type of cancer – hemangiosarcoma – and I was tempted to give him chemotherapy – the vet even convinced me that “dogs tolerate chemo better than humans” but then decided against it after a single day of treatment for him. He did die but he was not sick, throwing up and miserable at all during the last two months of his life, after the initial football-sized tumor and his spleen were removed.

At this point I would have felt horrible had I sickened him through his last days with some perverted effort to keep him alive for several more months. I think all of us have to consider this for ourselves and our loved ones before submitting to chemotherapy. It is not a “therapy” in any way at all and is like burning down your house to get rid of roaches. MAYBE you can rebuild the house but then again maybe not. Is it really worth it the risk?