Devine Intervention vs. Cancer Treatment?
My brother has battled cancer for 2 years. After reading a Christian book on cancer, my mother thinks that God will cure him through prayer and eating well. From this they have decided to cancel all other cancer treatments. I think that faith is fine and eating better is great, but that the treatments should continue. I think that my mother is clinging to hope and my brother is depressed and tired of treatments. What is a concerned family member to do?
Cancer - 6 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
I, personally, think that God put the doctors and treatments there for a reason and they should be utilized as such. Who's to say the treatment isn't God's way of curing him?
2 :
Faith, eating better and treatments are an excellent combination. Which book was it by the way?.
3 :
It is my opinion that Doctors and modern medicine are God's tools in the fight against cancer.
4 :
A 2-year battle with cancer sounds as if it was lost from the beginning. Was he diagnosed at Stage 4, or did he suffer metastases during/after the first round of treatments? Has he been offered participation in support groups? His emotional needs are as important as his physical need for treatment. Has he gotten any professional counseling? If he is a minor, your mother may run afoul of the law in the USA if she denies him treatment. Many court cases have ruled that prayer is not an acceptable treatment for life-threatening disease. She may make such a choice for herself, but making it for a dependent child is tantamount to parental negligence. I don't believe in gods or other magic. I believe in chemo, surgery, and radiation therapy.
5 :
God helps those who help themselves. I agree with what you have said. However, it has been my experience that once people get in the frame of mind that your mother is in, not much can be done to change their belief system since this undermines their core beliefs. Talk to your brother. Everyone gets depressed by intensive cancer treatments. If he says he is depressed make sure this depression is getting treated properly. Also make sure he is not in chronic pain. People who believe God will heal cancer also tend to ignore the fact that people with cancer pain is real and really needs to be treated with pain killers and not by God. God does not want a person to suffer, especially needlessly. So make sure his pain is being treated adequately. Last, ask him what he really wants to do. The choice to continue treatment or not is really his and not your mother's. If you are not able to make any sense of this situation then make sure hospice is fully involved so that your brother's passing is as painless as possible. Good luck with this. It is not going to be an easy situation to resolve. Do the best you can and realize this situation was not of your making and that you should not feel guilty afterward.
6 :
OMG finally someone going through what I'm going through. My mom has cancer and ever since the doctor told her it was cancer she has never been back to the doctor. She refuses to believe its cancer and only wants to use Alternative medicine and faith. My brother and I have asked repeatedly for her to see a doctor but my mom and dad are on the same page and will not take that route. I'm so sad watching my mom go through this, I can't stop her pain and she is so frail and little now. It didn't have to be this way. She is only 58 I know how you feel and if there is any advice i can give it would be to try your best to change their mind. I wish we could have changed hers. For us i believe its to late now. Although i dont know for sure because of my lack of knowledge for her type of cancer. I just see how fast she has deteriorated. She has oral cancer which started under the tongue i believe. Her chin is now numb and her jaw on both sides up to her ears are in pain, her ears hurt too. She can barely talk, she only drinks liquid and looks so bad. If any one reading this knows anything about this cancer and give me a heads up and where she is in what stages that would be great. As for you keep trying to convince your brother to go back to the treatments. I wish you the best.
Read more discussions :
Title : Devine Intervention vs. Cancer Treatment
Description : Devine Intervention vs. Cancer Treatment? My brother has battled cancer for 2 years. After reading a Christian book on cancer, my mother...