Healthcare > Medicine

Trying to find the right answer to cancer in a misleading world

Our medical system is so geared toward pharmaceuticals that it’s impossible to find reliable information on alternative primary or secondary treatments.

Terry Paulding | April 27, 2026

Editor’s note: I’ve been corresponding regularly with Terry since her ordeal began. When the glioblastoma manifested itself, but before it was diagnosed, she sent me emails that were a mess of words, but that clearly relayed her awareness of what was happening and her fear.

That Terry should be back in the saddle fighting again in less than two months is extraordinary. It’s a testament to her strength and, in so many ways, a promise that she will, as the saying goes, “kick cancer’s ass.”

Nearly 2 months ago, I had heel surgery to fix a chronic pain problem. I prepared, strengthened, and was ready to stop walking for 2 - 3 months. Alas, it turned out to be only one of the issues.

After the 4-hour surgery, I started having problems — terrifying visual and linguistic issues. This sent me to the ER a week later, then rapidly to UCSF hospital, for brain surgery. Eight hours later, I had a peach-sized cancer, glioblastoma, removed. I’ve been recovering from that since March.

Glioblastoma kills. I’ve known two people who’ve had it, each living for only months. It grows rapidly, a cancer that is conventionally impossible to defeat. My life was saved by getting it excised. My surgeon said that if I didn’t quickly treat it (radiation and chemo), it would re-grow “like peach fuzz,” and I might only live 6 months, even though it had been removed. I believed him.

I chose treatment. It gives me a year, maybe 2 years, or possibly more.

I tried to seek alternatives.  Alas, until recently, I could neither think straight, see clearly, nor even hear clearly post-surgery. Not a good recipe for doing research.

I’ve never trusted Western medicine. I wrote articles here, about my COVID “vaccine” distrust, for example. I’ve watched modern medicine kill friends and family with cancer.  It seemed to cause great agony.  So, I was torn about the decision to follow my surgeon’s recommendation.

I’ve begun to think, see, and write more coherently; now, I’ve started researching. My eyes aren’t the best, but I persist.  I’ve found that one can’t easily find trustworthy information on valid alternatives online. I look for what might cure this cancer.  All roads lead only to conventional remedies, so it’s hard to evaluate the efficacy of other ways to treat it.

There’s a jumble of incomplete information online. One can access suggestions, like eating large quantities of broccoli sprouts (which may indeed help). There’s advice to regularly fast (or instead, eat a lot), or follow a keto diet (or, avoid it like the plague), and so on. It’s not that there aren’t suggestions, but there are few real facts.  The one thing I never found was actual oncology physicians who experiment with trying or even allowed to use, real alternatives to (extremely toxic, expensive) chemotherapy. It’s so forbidden, I’ve heard patients who want to try alternatives, who have been fired by oncologists.  In a proper world, those of us interested in information should be able to see whether it has helped others.

Those of us with lethal cancers need to see possibilities. We have nothing to lose; our doctors tell us our cancer can’t be cured completely, even if we follow all medical protocols.  If I want to evaluate effective solutions out of the mainstream, why not? I read that many people try Ivermectin and Mebendazole, for instance, with success. That information isn’t available, never evaluated, and there’s no real comparison with chemo.

Why can’t we have this information? The only answer is that pharmaceutical companies don’t want alternatives known. Both (yes, Ivermectin was maligned back in COVID days as “horse paste”) are relatively inexpensive and can’t be patented.  Drug companies cannot profit from them. Compared to the astronomical cost of chemo, this would be a game changer — if one can trust that it works consistently. Therefore, we are not allowed to know.

My radiation oncologist mentioned one possible help. He said a glioblastoma patient, an inventor, developed it, was laughed at, but it has proven to help. They stopped laughing. It’s called Optune. It looks wonky, but it prevents the cancer from replicating for a time, allowing people to live for several more years. So, that’s one door opened.

All non-mainstream Information needs to be shared more easily. We need clear help, not thwarted in finding information. I suspect that facts are purposely obscured by pharmaceutical companies.

I started radiation, despite being terrified.  I had no viable choice.  I like my oncologist; I want to trust him. I’m still afraid, but here I am, starting the second week of treatment, and so far, I’ve found my own route to get through it.  I have developed personal, powerful visualizations that seem to help me control and use rather than fight the radiation (so far). I notice increased strength and clarity, and I believe I am helping myself.

Radiation can degrade function.  I will learn this week, since symptoms accumulate over time, usually after 7 days. When radiation is all over, I will find out what’s next. A break, then a long slog through the chemo journey promises to come. Will I comply? I don’t know. But you can bet I will talk with my chemo oncologist about this, talk with my children and husband, and make that decision. The ideal? If the oncologist would allow me, I’d try alternatives, if she tracks my progress, and then, I can wait a month or two, make the chemo decision down the road. Why not?

Image created using AI.

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