Up from the comments: wisdom on chemotherapy in the Cherrix case

The beauty of being here on ScienceBlogs.com is being part of an international discussion with so many folks from diverse backgrounds.

So, on many occasions, commentors have more to say than I, with both broader perspective and greater brevity.

In our recent discussion of the Virginia teenage cancer patient who wishes to refuse conventional cancer chemotherapy, Terra Sig reader, Ruth, weighed in as follows:

My last paying job was doing patient follow-up at a major cancer center. Every year we had to contact former patients to see how they were doing. Some patients from the 1970's are now developing dementia, but still cancer-free. Some hate being reminded how that time in their lives, others are just grateful to have had these years. Many lost some hearing or have peripheral nerve damage from the chemo. Some were able to have kids, some not.

My mom was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer, too late to do anything.

Watching someone die from cancer is worse than any chemo.

Nothing beats the voice of experience. Thank you, Ruth, for your decades of service in fighting the good fight against cancer.