Embracing Each Other's Choices

I received quite a few emails regarding an article written by Natural news less than 24 hours after Steve Jobs death, which cited it’s beliefs about his cancer treatments. My intent here is not to go point by point and dissect what I believe or don’t believe in the article but more importantly to address a larger concern I have which is about the judging of ones choice of treatment modalities. Having a cancer diagnosis is overwhelming, confusing, complicated and filled with fear. Add to that the information overload one can get by researching their particular illness on the Internet. The research process can be daunting and maddening. There is a plethora of conflicting information out on the web and navigating your way around it can be overwhelming. Facing the fight of your life demands compassion and support not harsh critical judgment. Anxiety runs high when traversing the landscape of illness, which we know doesn’t create a “friendly” environment for our immune system to do it’s job.

In a perfect world wouldn’t it be great if natural medicine and orthodox medicine could work together to strike a balance rather than be so polarized.

More importantly, in a time where one seeks healing and comfort and families struggle to know how to best guide and support, can we step out with compassion, open mindedness and sensitivity?

Can we come together and turn our energies toward finding cures and better ways to work together to treat the WHOLE person?

Lastly, can we be respectful of one another even when we may disagree and agree on one thing CANCER SUCKS!

We must ban together to find cures and respect the choices people make on their extremely stressful, painful journeys.