Alexander Pope wrote "Hope springs eternal in the human breast," but cancer isn't far behind. Yet when hope springs, it can lead the sick to the unproven, to more dire disease, and death. On Respectful Insolence, Orac tells the stories of two women—one Kenyan, one American—who avoided modern treatment for their breast cancers. Orac writes, "Neglected tumors like this often bleed or rot—or both. It’s truly horrible to behold, and at this point there is nothing a surgeon can do except to recommend local wound care and hope that the chemotherapy works." Sometimes it's not too late. And sometimes even the earliest cancer is a foregone conclusion. But in between, making an informed decision can save your life. Meanwhile, on ERV, Abbie Smith writes that Gambian president Yahya Jammeh claims to have cured sixty-eight patients of HIV and AIDS with his "secret pot of herbs." Jammeh promises to integrate natural "medicine" into all the nation's hospitals.
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