In the journey of our lives, it is inevitable that we face moments of failure, success, love, joy, happiness, pain, hardships, embarrassment, and sometimes we encounter life changing obstacles. As we grow in age, we grow in knowledge, and by following our ambitions, we begin to understand and pursue our purpose in life. We become who we are through realization, interest, and ambition. We also attempt to establish a connection to one of the most important area of our lives, finance. We work hard in our career to be able to support our family, pay living expenses, entertainment, or plan for retirement. By staying busy at work, our lives can often be engulfed by long, stressful, tiresome days. Some of us might even begin to forget about how important our health is, our physical interior, and the body of life.
Encountering a life changing event is tough, and of the lowest of situations we may have to deal with death. If I was given a dire cancer prognosis, I can only imagine how shocked I would be and I would perhaps enter into the stage of denial. The next thing I would do after I regain my composure is drop to my knees, pray with my family, friends, and my pastor. I am definite that this is a test of faith, I believe God will heal me or give me revelation towards a greater heavenly calling. I would also increase my days in the gym. Doing a lot more cardio exercises, weight training, yoga, and swimming to ensure that my body does not become weak. Keeping my energy strong and my heart rate up, setting goals to push my physical limits to the maximum. I would also pay more attention to choosing my diet by watching my intake of fast food, sodas, and reducing the consumption of alcohol to a minimum. I would have more vegetables, fruits, protein, and healthy carbohydrates. Once I am calmed down and ready, I will visit several hospitals known to specialize in cancer treatments for a confirmation of this prognosis. Do research on well known doctors that could help me. After this process, if the answer is still yes, then I will take action into writing my will, plan out what I need to take care of on Earth, and get ready to enter into the kingdom of God.
I would conduct my in depth researches through search engines, medical university libraries, medicinal plants, and advice from doctors for their perspective on the research. Choosing the treatment that will be the most efficient cure for me is beyond my knowledge. But the smart thing to do would be to retrieve information from cancer patients that are enrolled in special research studies and join them. Ask around to see which treatments are more effective. Doing research on medicinal plants and herbs I believe, could be an unexplored field of medicine for the western culture today. In Asia, these plants and herbs are proven to have great cures for the body along with no side effects and being completely natural. There are few research groups that are in the field of medicinal plant studies, but I believe this section of research should be taken more heavily. For example, a green tea plant contains thermogenic properties that can speed up metabolism which burns calories, break down fat, and then contributing to weight loss naturally. This could be a much more healthy option rather than performing liposuction or taking pills. In the United States, we contribute large investments into technology to enlarge the possibilities for our intelligent cancer research teams to develop new cures that are yet to be discovered. We should definitely take a deeper look into conducting research on medicinal plants because we have not yet identified every plant on earth to see what it provides besides its qualities of being edible. I believe there is definitely a great possibility of cancer cures that could be found in medicinal plants and herbs.
Would you look beyond chemo, radiation, and surgery if they had little to offer? I will definitely look beyond any therapies that has little to offer. But if my only options are little to offer, as much as a cure can offer, I will take the therapy. At this stage, it is all beyond my control. If the doctor at USC suggests the most proficient therapy is chemo, I will indeed take his suggestion into strong consideration.
What resources would you use to make an informed decision? My God, my doctor, my family, myself, and the library are resources I would use to make an informed decision. Through days of thought and evaluating the pros and cons of every single decision. In my point of view, in order for a person to successfully fight a lethal illness, the key to survival is keeping your spirit strong and exercising daily to keep your body in good shape.
By: Tseng, Tony
