Saturday, May 23, 2015

A Source of Money

People aren't lives.  They are a source of money.

I've lost two dear friends to cancer in the last fifteen months.  Each passed away about six months after diagnosis.  While I still can't wrap my head around the passing of such wonderful and young women, I feel intense rage at the machine that continues to rake in money through costly treatments that, for the most part, don't result in cures.

With all the money donated over so many years, ostensibly to fund the research to find a cure for this goddamn disease, there hasn't been the breakthrough I, and millions of others, expected..... a full cure for all of the different types of cancer.  This horrible malady should have been eradicated years ago.

What goes into "so-called" treatment?  Weeks, months and sometimes years of ingesting chemical cocktails, all in the hopes of "going into remission".  Even being in remission for a certain number of years is no guarantee that this dreaded disease won't come back in some form or another.

And the money for all this "hope"?  It all goes to the pharmaceuticals who reap in HUGE profits on the drugs they hawk, the researchers who find bits and pieces to the puzzle but never really come up with enough significant results to wipe it out completely, the cancer charities (some of whom are bogus like the few just shut down here in Arizona).

We are lulled into thinking pink ribbons mean something.  They don't.  "Running for a cure" is an admirable thing to do but that money raised goes partly into someone's pocket (sometimes a lot of it) or pays for the outlandishly expensive drugs (because profits, you know) or pays for telemarketing calls begging for more money, and, yes to research where finding A CURE FOR ALL CANCER still seems to be very elusive.

There are cures out there.  There has to be but Big Pharma would lose an enormous amount of money (profits) if they became widely known.  To them, people aren't lives.  They're a source of money (PROFITS).  And so I lose friends. I feel rage. And I cry because that's all I can do.

2 comments:

  1. I am, and have been living proof that the drugs and treatments work. Midway through my treatment, in 1999 there was some research that showed that for women with my type of cancer, a new treatment was proving easier for them and giving better results.
    Please don't damn cancer treatments....there have been tremendous strides made in the past 20 years. I hope you never have to experience any first hand.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't condemn all cancer treatments. My rage is pouring out of my broken heart. I so much want all of it, all of it gone. After so much time, money and research, I just feel there hasn't been enough progress. The first time I had knowledge of cancer was over 55 years ago. I think that's more than enough years to have kicked it out of existence. I thank you for your heartfelt response and I wish you continuing healing and good health.

    ReplyDelete