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Comment by anon1m0us | Hacker News Reader

I knew two people who both got cancer about the same time. One said no to chemo. The other said yes to chemo.

The differences in quality of life until death were dramatic. Neither had a longer life than was expected had they not taken the chemo, but the one who did lost hair, physical dexterity, then life. Suffered greatly.

The other one suffered much less, but still died.

The doctors all said take the drugs. You don't have to take the drugs. Do the research. Chemo isn't always beneficial.

Sometimes... it's just hope.

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Same experience with me, except that the one who said no to chemo died, and the other who said yes is still alive and has recovered (yes, after hair loss and other side effects).

"Do the research" - research is what scientists do, not what is achieved by Googling. No medical treatment is 100% perfect, unfortunately, but I and others I know prefer to play the odds rather than not.

Statistically speaking, the doctors were probably right. The guy taking the chemo effectively traded a better chance of survival for worse short-term quality of life. (And lost the bet.) But yes, it’s good to know the chances, so that you can choose to die in relative peace as opposed to making the rest of your life very difficult for a marginal increase in your survival chance.

I know someone who smoked a pack her day her whole life, and died at 90 while remaining in good health for the age the decade before.

I know someone who never smoked in his life and got lung cancer at 52.

Does that mean anything? Should we now conclude that smoking prevents lung cancer?

Quality of life, health, remaining lifetime, sickness progressions are all very complex interactions. All you can do is what happens on average, and play the odds based on that.

Dr. Gabor Maté theorizes that one's emotional state influences the expression of cancer in people who smoke. A smoker who is constantly in a state of emotional stress is much more likely to develop lung cancer than a smoker who is not.

See: https://drgabormate.com/preview/when-the-body-says-no-chapte...

My three parents all got cancer. The one that refused chemo was laughed at and insulted by her doctor. She had to make a courageous speach to be treated with respect.

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