I’ve heard of man named James Rhio O’Connor (“Rhio”), who didn’t fight people, he fought cancer. He was diagnosed with mesothelioma and only given a year to live. Rhio was one of reported 2,000 people diagnosed in the US every year.[1] After finding out about his cancer, Rhio took a proactive approach to fight his cancer. He intensely researched mesothelioma; he spoke with numerous doctors, researchers, and other patients with mesothelioma. He found various nontraditional method for fighting cancer and all the nuances attached. As a result, he worked with doctors he self selected and implemented practices that he had researched and thought would do him the most good. Rhio was able to outlive his cancer more than 6 years because he was proactive and an advocate for himself.
Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer that attacks a part of your body called the mesothelium. This part of your body surround the majority of you internal organs (heart, lungs, reproductive organs, etc.) and is made of two layers. The two layers produce a fluid and lubricate so that different organs can slide next to each other without getting damaged. To explain, consider this:
Take your heart, wrap it in saran wrap, and then place that in a sandwich bag filled with water. The saran wrap and bag are the 2 linings. These are the parts that become cancerous.Traditionally, mesothelioma is treated with surgery, Radiation therapy, and/or Chemotherapy. Rhio was told that surgery wasn’t an option and that having chemo would decrease his quality of life, not get rid of the cancer. According to http://www.survivingmesothelioma.com, Rhio “worked with professional clinicians, he formulated a regimen of over 100 supplements a day, changed his diet, practiced mind-body medicine, and relied on his own discipline to see him through the difficult times ahead.”
After reading how Rhio fought cancer, it made me think if I could fight like him. I am the daughter of a nurse; medicine and hospitals are the only way that I was taught to fight illness. If I was in his situation, my first instinct would be to let the doctors work their magic. I am a Community Health Science major, learning about traditional practices in health and medicine. Are all the traditional practices absolute? Are there other options? After reading Rhio’s story, I think there are other options to curing illness. His story has inspired me to consider more natural, holistic, and researched-based techniques as a valid option of recovery.
If I faced the same challenge, I would take a holistic, proactive approach to my illness. First of all, I believe that God, or whomever you believe, put all this wholesome food on the earth for us to enjoy. I would stop eating preservative, chemically-enriched food and get back to the basics. Real, unaltered food is a natural way of giving your body the good stuff it needs.
The next step would to keep up with exercise. I currently am employed at Curves, a women’s fitness facility, where I see the power of exercise every day: women who have had strokes; who are very old and frail; and those who are overweight, wanting lose weight to feel comfortable in their own skin. I can fight my illness with exercise. It would give my mind something to focus on rather than my illness. The exercise would help build my stamina, keep me going, and feel good about myself.
Thirdly, I think traveling does the body and soul good. Hey, if I’m going to die, I’m blowing a chunk of my hard-earned money and seeing the world. If I have only a short amount of time left, I am going with my love and travel to all the continents, besides Antarctica. If I want to see glaciers I’ll go to Alaska, it warmer there! It has been my dream to travel to London, Egypt, Scotland, Ghana, Thailand, and everywhere in between.
After I have seen the world I think that I would let myself become a test subject. If there was some kind of treatment that might work for my illness, I would gladly volunteer myself. If my life could spare another person from going through the same ordeal, my life would have been worth it. I saw a television news program that talked about hormones in the heart and links to cancer. I have also heard of ‘mind conditioning’ studies that psychologists are researching to fight cancer. Providing research to find a cure is the most invaluable gift I could offer this world.
Rhio had the right idea, fight disease your way. I commend him for working with professional to set up his own plan for treatment. It takes a strong-willed person to work with doctors and make suggestions, not just take marching orders. I feel that in my case I would return to a more holistic diets and exercise routine, similar to Rhio’s. I would live out my dream traveling with the one I loved and make the most of the time I had. With a more holistic approach to disease, I too feel that it would increase my life expectancy. I differ from Rhio in one important aspect: I feel that if I donated myself to science, a life could be spared. In a way it is selfish to “give up” living and become a test subject. Think of it though, could my sacrifice save someone you know in the future? I know that Rhio’s brave and diligent research made an impact on the way people can choose to fight cancer. He optimizes the “can do” attitude in the face of adversity, and should be remembered as a fighter and revolutionary with regards to taking a proactive approach to curing cancer.
Readers can learn more about this particular cancer, its diagnosis, treatment, and read survivor stories at http://www.survivingmesothelioma.com.
[1] http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Sites-Types/mesothelioma
Written by Bonnie Elliott.
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