Chemotherapy: The Evolving Cure For Cancer?

Many things boggle us. We attempt to figure out the unexplainable mishaps and mysteries that surround us all but only because of fear do we dredge on. Sickness, debilitation is our fear because when we are weak is when vulnerability erases the thought of invincibility from our minds. The reality of this all is; life is short and we are not immortal.

Medicine has evolved throughout countless efforts out of scientists and research studies on the human anatomy as well as the setting, nature and it’s helping hand have facilitated this very dramatic and ideal movement towards a better understanding for a cure. The Cure. There are many things that have become something common and over the counter, today that we find ourselves taking for granted-like the use of cough medicine, band aids, rubbing alcohol and many other ailment easing products. It’s hard to believe that those very things were once a work in progress to cure small ailments that could’ve grown infectious and therefore claimed human life. Today however we live in a fast paced world quickly changing and bringing with it a medical revolution of sorts, not only for small lacerations but more serious health hazards.

Many things have happened in history that have shaped our outlook on things today, however this peculiar discovery holds my attention in a tight grip. Mustard gas was first used during world war one as a chemical weapon against opposing parties to be studied more in depth during world war two. An accidental exposure to this toxic fume during world war one led to more extensive research on this chemical which turned out astounding results when the affected were examined to later have a very low white blood cell count. As a hypothesis it was suggested that a chemical which damaged the rapidly growing white blood cells might have the same effect on cancer. With this new information more research concerning this new discovery led to patients with a high count of blood cancer being directly injected with this substance. The alteration within these patient’s health although short lived was astounding. These results led to a fast paced change in medicine which now has a multi-billion dollar worth of significance in science and health departments. These changes however still follow some of the same limitations as they did with the first discovery.

There is no known cure for cancer although research shows some if any improvement in some patients who agree to chemo therapy there is still much to learn of both the disease and an ideal medicine to treat it. Even now as we drive home, or drink our morning coffee someone will make a decision whether to live out the last few months estimated of their life with their families or spend it on a fading hope with a debilitating treatment that often possesses these nameless lives. We can choose everyday to ignore the fact that we are not invincible but the fact of the matter is that when it comes to having no control over time and breath there is nothing left to do but to open our eyes to the truth; no life however small or old lasts forever. This is cancer, this is chemotherapy the inability to choose how long you will stay, it isn’t some term in a book its life.