Rhio O’Connor had a deadly cancer which was called mesothelioma; it is a cancer that develops in the linings of internal body organs. It is mostly caused by asbestos. Click here for more information about mesothelioma and mesothelioma survivors https://survivingmesothelioma.com There is some valuable information about mesothelioma, and some awesome stories about mesothelioma survivors at this Cancer Monthly website, be sure to check it out.
Rhio O’Connor’s story inspires me because just recently my sister and I were talking about how if we were diagnosed with any serious type of cancer we would not want any of the medical help that is offered today, and we wouldn’t go through chemotherapy and radiation. The reason; once a person is diagnosed with a serious cancer they seem to just give up, they just go from bad to worse; they may have some good days, but it seems like the rest of them are worse. Everyone I have seen who gets chemotherapy and radiation goes from bad to worse.
I have 2 people that were close to me that had cancer. My mother Margaret Lee Crites, she died March 18, 2007 with lung cancer. She was 87 years old. She did not know she had it until the week she died. Up until then, the only complaint she ever had was arthritis in her knees. The week she died she said she wasn’t feeling good; she went to the emergency room; she was told she had about 4 to 6 weeks to live. Her whole right lung was consumed with cancer. She went home with Hospice on Thursday and died Saturday, she was only here 3 days from the time they told her she had only 4 to 6 weeks to live. I don’t know the time frame for lung cancer to develop, but she never knew she had it. She lived a long life of 87 years old. She did not go through the agony of chemotherapy and radiation.
My brother Roger F. Crites was 59 years old when he died. He was diagnosed with throat cancer. He was here only a few years after his diagnosis. He just died this past November 28, 2009. He had taken radiation and chemotherapy, it had made him so sick that he cried, he said his quality of life taking radiation and chemotherapy was not good, so he quit the radiation for awhile and just took the chemotherapy. He eventually quit the chemotherapy as well. He told me taking the chemotherapy made him, a grown man just want to lie in bed and cry, that’s what he said he did. Once he was given the diagnosis of cancer he went down hill. It seems to throw the person spiraling down hill and they never seem to recover, once they are given the diagnosis. It looks like the majority of people diagnosed with a serious type of cancer go from bad to worse.
The above are two examples of two different cancer patients; one didn’t know they had it and the other one did; the one that didn’t know she had it lived to be 87 years old and the other one that did know he had it died at 59. Again, I don’t know the time frames for a serious cancer to develop fully, I think if I had the choice I’d rather not know I had it, because of the simple fact that I would not want my state of mind to go down hill.
I like Rhio O’Connor’s story because he didn’t go with the status quo. He searched for a higher power, and it payed off. He didn’t just lie down and die like most cancer patients. He got up and fought for his life.
If I was given a dire cancer prognosis like Rhio O’Connor I would look for another solution like he did, I would look to god rather than chemotherapy and radiation and what medical sources have to offer today. I’d do a lot of researching through libraries, internet sources, and information coming from cancer patients, cancer researchers, and doctors as well as any other source that came to mind, or I came into contact with. I’d too come up with my own plan of care. It wouldn’t be the status quo though, because I’d want to live until I died and to me; radiation and chemotherapy doesn’t do much for a cancer patient, but make them sicker and weaker than what they already are. In my opinion, medical sources need to come up with a better plan of care for cancer patients than radiation and chemotherapy. A cure for all types of cancer seriously needs to come about and soon.
By: Crites, Charlotte
