I give this article the title: the best fought battle in the world… Why? This is because the man involved in this battle against colon cancer, Tony Snow, used to walk the “corridor of power” in the most powerful political office in the world. For many of us in Malaysia, what happens in the United States of America is always the best and the best. What the United States says we agree with or have to agree with and what the United States says we follow or eventually have to follow. I imagine that the most powerful man on earth would be able to do something great to help his personal love and companion who was in great distress. I think Snow would have gotten the best, the best advice, the best doctor, the best drugs and the best hospital, for him to fight his war against cancer. So for me, this battle against cancer is probably the best battle ever fought in America, the most powerful nation in the world.

The facts:

1. Tony Snow was the press secretary for President George Bush, the current (2008) president of the United States of America.

2. He was married and had three children who went to school. His mother also had colon cancer and died when Snow was 17 years old.

3. Snow was first diagnosed with stage three colon cancer in 2005.

4. After surgery he underwent six months of chemotherapy.

5. He was said to be cancer free after medical treatments. He was named press secretary to President Bush in May 2006.

6. In late March 2007, Snow’s cancer recurred in his abdomen and also in his liver.

7. He underwent surgery in April 2007 followed by more chemotherapy.

8. A little over a year later, Snow died at Georgetown University Hospital on a Saturday morning in July 2008. He was 53 years old.

Press quotes about his battle with metastatic colon cancer:

The Associated Press. March 27, 2007 ~ I had recently reached the two-year mark of being cancer free. The White House deputy press secretary said: “He told me he beat this before and he intends to beat it again.”

Dr. Allyson Ocean, a gastrointestinal oncologist at Weill Cornell Medical College, said: “This is a very treatable condition. Anyone who sees this as a death sentence is wrong.”

USA Today March 27, 2007 ~ Robert Mayer, former president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology…”suggests that surgeons won’t be able to cure it with surgery, but they can control it with chemotherapy. When cancer comes back in multiple organs, the target It’s not a cure, but maybe to control them for a long time, which can now be measured in years instead of months.”

Daniel Laheru, a colorectal cancer specialist and assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University Kimmel Cancer Center in Baltimore, said, “Patients who had widely spread tumors a decade ago were surviving an average of 12 months. Now, newer chemotherapies have doubled that figure to about 24 months. .”

The Cheerful Oncologist. On March 28, 2007 he wrote ~ “Chemotherapy plus targeted therapy, however, has the potential to prolong the lives of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. The average survival of patients who do not receive anticancer therapy… 4 to 6 months, while those with treatment for 20 to 21 months and hopefully longer. This is an example of why medical oncologists give treatments designed to kill, deactivate and humiliate cancer cells.”

The Washington Post – March 28, 2007. reported ~ “Snow, who beat cancer two years ago, suffered from colitis for 28 years and was diagnosed with colon cancer in February 2005. Snow said: Seventeen days after diagnosis, we went in and remove the entire colon and throw it in a garbage bag. After the treatments, Snow obtained “a clean bill of health from a physician” and took the White House job.

Snow called Bush around 7 am to tell him about the recurrence. Bush later told reporters: “He’s not going to let this hit him and he’s optimistic.” Blood work and other scans came back negative for cancer. Regardless, Snow decided to have the tumor removed for chemotherapy to follow.

People May 14, 2007 In an article: “The fight of his life,” Sandra Westfall wrote ~ “The cocktail of drugs he is taking to keep his cancer in check includes one he took when he was first treated for breast cancer stage III colon. Snow said, “I’d be exhausted for two or three days. The pace of innovation is staggering. Anyone who can survive a few years has automatic hope.”

The Associated Press. April 30, 2007 ~ “Tony Snow returned to work on Monday, five weeks after doctors discovered a recurrence of his cancer. He said he would soon undergo chemotherapy just to make sure we eliminated it.”

Slate September 4, 2007 ~ Snow said: “I finished chemo two weeks ago today. We did CT and MRI scans in the last week and it indicates that the chemo did exactly what we hoped it would do, which is maintain service. The tumors that we’ve been tracking haven’t grown… We’ll do what’s called a maintenance dose of chemotherapy just to keep hitting this thing.” He also noted that he would have scans every three months, “just to stay on top of everything.”

Snow admitted: “I’ve been lucky to work in the White House.” Snow noted that oncologists and patients have made heroic strides in making “cancer a chronic disease rather than a deadly disease.”

Washington Post. Jul 12, 2008 ~ After the relapse, Snow said he “would go through an aggressive chemotherapy regimen followed by additional treatment, and hopefully go into remission and turn it into a chronic disease. If cancer is just a nuisance, during a long period of time, that’s fine with me.” She had lost a considerable amount of weight and her thinning hair had turned white during several months of chemotherapy and other cancer treatments.

Comments:

I write this article with deep respect for the deceased and also for the living. I do not want to add more injury or damage to anyone. I respect what the patient and his family had done and I do not wish to comment on this case, except to say that everyone did their best to help Snow, but the inevitable happened: the battle was lost.

Even if the battle is lost, it would be a great tragedy if we don’t take this opportunity to learn something from this episode.

Let me ask a few questions about the media hype and spin regarding this case. You can use your own common sense to answer these questions.

1. “This is a very treatable condition. Anyone who sees this as a death sentence is wrong.”

What does the reality of life tell us? A little over a year after the second battle, Snow died – totally wrong or totally right?

2. What do you think is the real cause of his death?

3. The recurrent tumor in the abdomen has been removed. Only some cancer could have remained in his liver. Could this kill Snow? Or was it the treatments used to treat the cancer that killed him?

4. “This is a treatable disease.” What do you think of such a statement? Surely any disease is treatable, but can it ever be cured? Treatable does not mean curable at all.

5. Cancer patients should take note of this medical statement: “A decade ago, patients with widely disseminated tumors survived an average of 12 months. Now, newer chemotherapies have doubled that figure to about 24 months.” Is two-year survival with new chemotherapies sufficient or sufficient for cancer patients? Most patients undergoing chemotherapy have the misconception that the treatment will cure them.

6. “The CT scans and MRIs…indicate that the chemotherapy did exactly what we expected it to do…The tumors we’ve been tracking haven’t grown.” If that is the good news and the result, why was the battle lost? Is the temporary shrinking or stopping of tumor growth just meaningless false security?

7. Oncologists and patients have made heroic strides in making cancer a chronic disease rather than a deadly disease. How true is the statement still? Death after a year of chemotherapy is not fatal?

8. Snow “got a clean bill of health from a doctor” and his first surgery and chemotherapy. What is the value of such a statement? Sounds a lot like “The operation is successful but the patient died!” Of what use is such a statement?

9. Snow “had lost a considerable amount of weight and his thinning hair had turned white during several months of chemotherapy and other cancer treatments.” What do you say about this? Isn’t this what most cancer patients go through before they die?

10. “Medical oncologists provide treatments designed to kill, deactivate, and humiliate cancer cells.” Is that so? The reality is: who is humiliated? Were the cancer cells or the patient killed?