Robin Roberts’ surprise announcement provides a shocking reminder

Listen between the lines

You don’t see much reality on TV these days. There are tons of reality shows, but very little reality.

But for just a moment, things got real on Good Morning America recently. Anchor Robin Roberts announced that she has a blood disease called MDS. It’s not cancer, exactly. It’s called pre-leukemia. Untreated, it could turn into cancer.

Of course, Roberts has already begun aggressive treatments. These include an upcoming bone marrow transplant from her sister.

Her sister was present for the announcement. So the moment was very moving. But I’ve got a hunch that most viewers missed the most important detail that Roberts mentioned.

Here’s how she put it, referring to her breast cancer treatments several years ago…

“Sometimes treatment for cancer can lead to other serious medical issues and that’s what I’m facing right now.”

For anyone who was listening carefully, that statement probably came as a shock. It’s chemo’s dirty little secret. Only, it’s not little. It’s huge.

And it’s all too real.

Putting it mildly

After Roberts’ announcement, few reporters focused on this idea that chemo can cause cancer. For those who did, Dr. Otis Brawley stepped up to explain.

Brawley is chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society. He called chemo a “double-edged sword. And he added… “There is a benefit from the drug and there is a harm from the drug.”

“Harm?” I’d say “harm” barely starts to describe it.

A few years ago, when my dad was fighting leukemia, his oncologist suggested a new chemo regimen. These are the very words his doctor used… “There’s a 2 percent chance it will cure you and a 20 percent chance it will kill you.”

If that’s “harm,” then you could describe a tsunami as “damp.”

Nearly every cancer survivor I’ve ever known has eventually developed a secondary cancer. Most of them assume that it’s related to the first cancer. Few would dream that it’s more likely related to treatment for the first cancer.

Dr. Brawley himself made that clear in a CNN interview a few months ago. At that time, he was even more blunt on this topic. He said… “It is ironic but true that many cancer chemotherapies are known to cause cancers.”

Many! And he added… “It is something that the physician must consider when recommending treatment.”

I would hope so! But then, what alternatives do mainstream doctors have? Surgery. Chemo. Radiation. If a doctor dares to stray beyond those treatments – giving intravenous vitamin C, graviola, medicinal mushrooms, etc. – he risks losing his license.

And that brings us back to Robin Roberts. Because it’s disturbing to find that she’s already undergoing further chemotherapy.

I wish her well, of course. Only the best. But I also wish she and her doctors felt completely free to pursue less dangerous options that might break this vicious chemo cycle.

Sources:
“How Robin Roberts’ Breast Cancer Treatment Could Cause More Cancer” Casey Schwartz, The Daily Beast, 6/12/12, dailybeast.com

“Could chemo drugs cause a secondary malignancy?” CNN, 10/6/10, pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com