Clinical Reasoning Under Pressure
An email response written during the acute phase of my wife's AML treatment: explaining why a well-intentioned alternative treatment recommendation was medically contraindicated, to a lay audience, without condescension or dismissiveness.
The following is an email response written during the acute phase of my wife Amy’s AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia) treatment. A friend-of-a-friend (well-intentioned, with firsthand exposure to alternative cancer programs) had made a specific treatment recommendation. This reply explains, in detail, why that recommendation was medically contraindicated for Amy’s specific disease and treatment protocol.
Context
Acute Myeloid Leukemia is frequently conflated in public understanding with the more common lymphocyte-based leukemias (ALL and CLL), which are rooted in immune system dysfunction and respond to immune-boosting interventions. AML operates on an entirely different mechanism (a genetic chromosomal abnormality affecting the myeloid line) and its treatment requires a correspondingly different approach.
The Hippocrates Health Institute (HHI) program recommended by Matt here is designed around raw food, chlorophyll, and immune system support, precisely the variables that would accelerate AML’s progression in Amy’s case. The email below makes this case without condescension, without dismissiveness, and with genuine gratitude for the offer.
Matt,
I did not get into all of the details in my last email as I figured my response was adequate in covering the basic reasons for the lack of interest in pursuing treatment at HHI, while still trying to completely convey our thanks at your willingness to help and your generosity. We have had several offers from people of many different medical and nutritional backgrounds and have worked very closely in selecting a nutritional program that meets Amy’s particular disease head on.
AML is not like most leukemias and is not just a result of a weakened immune system. The weakened immune system is a symptom of AML, not the root problem. ALL and CLL (Acute or Chronic Lymphocyte Leukemia — Lymphocytes refer to the white blood cells, specifically the T-Cells and/or Neutrophils, or in other words, the immune system) are the two most common types of leukemia and are a result of a weakened immune system, while AML and CML (Acute or Chronic Myeloid or Myelogenous Leukemia) refer to specific genetic chromosomes that have inherited or acquired specific functions, or lost specific functions causing the body’s blood system to fail.
Furthermore, a strict raw food diet is more harmful to an AML patient as the leukemia feeds on the iron in the blood stream and most of the foods that one consumes in a raw food diet contain either high amounts of iron, chlorophyll, or both — which only serves to feed the cancer, not improve her health. So we have Amy on an organic vegan diet that also allows for cooked and processed foods that offers more variety in food selections to help keep her immune system strong against her disease, without feeding the disease itself. She is also taking pretty much the full spectrum of vitamins, drinking Goji juice, SeaSilver, Mangosteen, and on a special vitamin supplement program that consists of high quantities of vitamin C, D, Resveratol (Red Wine Molecule), Flaxseed Oil, Quercetin, IP6 (Rice Bran extract), Garlic, and drinking specific water in specified amounts. Even more so, one of the largest risks for Amy is consuming raw foods as her body, as a result from the disease, can’t fight off bacteria, parasites, or infection and most, if not all, raw foods contain bacteria and parasites, which could be deathly to Amy at this time.
Amy and I are not just following the doctors blindly, but have taken a very active and complete control of her treatment. As an example, her current round of chemo is using a drug (decitabine — extracted from a plant in India) that is considered experimental for treatment of AML as it has not been approved for use for AML patients by the FDA. We hand selected this drug based on the way that it works in trying to actually fix the root problem of the genetic abnormality in the DNA rather than trying to kill all the bad cells like most chemo does. As I mentioned in my last email, we have also consulted with doctors from several different areas of expertise (oncology, hematology, nutrition, immunology, etc.) and have specifically designed this treatment to try to fix the root problem while supporting her immune system in the meantime (Much like one would take Tylenol to reduce a fever while knowing that the fever is a symptom, not a cause, and you would also try to treat the cause of the fever (infection) at the same time).
I don’t doubt that HHI can help with certain tumor cancers or with types of ALL or CLL as their diet strategically effects the causes of those diseases and builds up what they weaken while doing so, but in Amy’s case they would build up her disease within her blood system, which would likely kill her faster. So once again, I appreciate the offer, but we aren’t interested in pursuing this treatment and don’t feel it is prudent of our, yours, or their time to pursue this, and also don’t feel it would be a good steward of your money to throw it away on a consultation that will not change any outcome.
Brandon Wilhoite