i want obama to answer why canada's system can't work in america?  i am for single payer and the gov't paying the tab.  tax more efficiently.  get people eating healthier for both themselves and the environment.  get people walking more for themselves & the environment. 

legalize cannabis to help chronic sufferers such as yourself.  this would bring down the cost of healthcare in so many different facets.   and BIG PHARMA IS GONNA LOSE SOME BENJAMINS, sorry big pharma.  sorry DUPONTS, oil barrons, tree farmers.  the time is upons us to rationally end the war on cannabis & HEMP to help pay for single payer healthcare!

Kelly, I urge you to personally contact President Obama. If he is willing, he will be able to pull the strings to get you the medical care you need.

The "public option," even if it survives the legislative process, will not kick in for many years (2013 for just a few people, 2019 for most).

I predict that any "reform" that passes this year will fail so spectacularly that within 2-5 years single-payer Medicare for All will be instituted as the only solution.

But you, Kelly, and tens of thousands of other critically ill Americans without, or soon to be without, insurance coverage, cannot wait.

Therefore, each of you should individually petition the President for help. And don't give up until you get an answer. 

My heart goes out to you.

Don't give up hope, Kelly! We're all here for you, and we're all trying to make sure that public option is available. This is proof--You are proof, like as Carla said, that uninsured cannot wait. I cannot imagine a single person who would deny healthcare reform after hearing your story. So go tell it, and soon your story will be a message of hope, because I am faithful that you will be one of the first success stories as soon as healthcare reform passes.

Kelly, keep fighting for what you want. I grew up with you, and I know you will not give up. If there is anything I can do to help, let me know. I will sign a petition, call people, what ever you need.... I left my number on your private messages, give me a call; I may have some info on where you can go for your treatment.

Kelly,

I will continue to fight with you for your universal human right to healthcare as, I believe, God intends. IWe must help each other,  provide for each other the gifts of healing, acknowledge that we are God's helping hands. I am ashamed of that woman's response to you. It was wholly un-Christian.

My prayers are with you, as well.

Kelly,

It sounds like you live in NYC. I hope that is the case. Contact Anthony Weiner, Eric Maasa, and Charlie Rangell. Contact Chuck Schumer. Tell them you want them to help you NOW. I have been at health care meetings where people have shared similar stories and the Congressman, Senator indicated they would help.

Contact your local cable access program. Share your story with them and see if they will air it.

I was thinking all day about what to say in my letter to Michelle Obama. Now I know. I will share your story with her.

Kelly, you will be in my prayers and thoughts daily. 

My heart goes out to you Kelly and to the millions of people just like you that even if they have health insurance are forced to go to work taking chemo and fighting cancer. The richest country in the world. So wrong.

Kelly,

Thank you for sharing your story - and I happen to know you are a force in NYC for reform - so thank you for fighting not just for yourself but for other people who are struggling in a terribly broken system.

Kelly,

Thank you for sharing your story. I happen to know you are a fierce advocate for health care reform in NYC. Thank you for fighting not just for yourself but for all people struggling in a broken health care system.

One often hears variations on Krugman's argument-that America lags behind other countries in crude health outcomes. But such outcomes reflect a mosaic of factors, such as diet, lifestyle, drug use, and cultural values. It pains me as a doctor to say this, but health care is just one factor in health. Americans live 75.3 years on average, fewer than Canadians (77.3) or the French (76.6) or the citizens of any Western European nation save Portugal. Health care influences life expectancy, of course. But a life can end because of a murder, a fall, or a car accident. Such factors aren't academic-homicide rates in the United States are much higher than in other countries (eight times higher than in France, for instance). In The Business of Health, Robert Ohsfeldt and John Schneider factor out intentional and unintentional injuries from life-expectancy statistics and find that Americans who don't die in car crashes or homicides outlive people in any other Western country.

Best Doctors in the WORLD!!!!!

Nearly 40 Years After 'War on Cancer' Declared, U.S. Medical Community May Be Gaining Upper Hand

Friday, August 14, 2009

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It's been almost 40 years since President Richard Nixon declared the "War on Cancer" with the signing of the National Cancer Act of 1971 and the allocation of $100 million to fight the disease.

The government now spends almost $5 billion a year to battle cancer and it appears that 38 years after the war was declared, the U.S. medical community is finally gaining the upper hand on some of the most common types of cancer.

Improvements in cancer screening and better treatments have resulted in steady declines in cancer death rates over the past three decades, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.

Slideshow: Surviving Cancer

Younger adults - those aged 35 to 45 years old - have experienced the steepest declines in cancer death rates, but all age groups have shown some improvement.

"Essentially, the younger you are, the faster your rates are declining," said Dr. Eric Kort of the Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan, whose study appears in the journal Cancer Research.

U.S. government estimates suggest there had been little improvement in cancer death rates throughout the 20th century, with rates only beginning to improve in the mid-1990s, Kort said. But that does not tell the whole story, he added.

"The way that these statistics are traditionally reported is they have averaged all of the age groups together to get a composite rate," Kort said in a telephone interview with Reuters.

"The problem with that is because most cancer deaths occur in older Americans, the average heavily emphasizes the experiences of older people. It's like watching the caboose of the train to tell when the train is changing direction," he said.

The average survival rate for all cancers combined increased almost 20 percentage points from 1975 to 2000 from 49.84 percent to 67.16 percent, according to the National Cancer Institute.

But for many of the most common cancers, the survival rates are much higher.

In childhood cancers, advances in treatments for leukemia and lymphoma mean many more people can survive cancers that were once considered a death sentence.

The 5-year survival rates for all childhood cancers combined increased from 58.1 percent in 1975-77 to almost 80 percent 1996-2003. This improvement in survival rates is due to significant advances in treatment, resulting in a cure or long-term remission for a substantial proportion of children with cancer.

And better screening for cancers that occur in older age, such as mammography for breast cancer and colonoscopy for colon cancer are spotting cancers at an earlier stage, when they are easier to treat.

Survival rates for breast cancer, for example, increased from 75.33 percent in 1975 to 90.55 percent in 2000, according to the National Cancer Institute. Survival rates for colon cancer increased from 49.43 percent in 1975 to 66.03 in 2000, while prostate cancer survival rates increased more than 30 percent - from 66.95 percent in 1975 to 99.21 percent in 2000.

Lung and bronchus cancer remain the hardest to treat, however, and survival rates for those cancers are still relatively low - increasing from 11.90 percent in 1975 to just 16.19 in 2000.

Kort's team looked at improvements in cancer deaths among groups of individuals born in five-year intervals starting in 1925.

Using that method, Kort said, "Everyone born since the 1930s has enjoyed a decreased risk of cancer death, at every age."

People in the youngest age group - those aged 35 to 45 - had a greater than 25 percent decline per decade in cancer deaths, he said.

Kort said cancer prevention - including smoking cessation efforts - have played an important role in these trends.

"We're also benefiting in profound ways from progress we're making in early detection and better treatments. Some of these advances benefit younger people first," he said.

Cancer remains the No. 2 killer of Americans, with about 560,000 deaths annually, topped only by heart disease, according to the American Cancer Society.

After being diagnosed with incurable and untreatable widespread cancer 4 years ago, then given a 99.9% chance of death within 6 months by multiple hospitals, all that was left was a trip to an Amish 'healer' as the last straw for my friend. The cancer case was so bad that no hospital would even undertake chemo or radiation treatments, though at least 5 big ones were consulted.

The Amish 'healer' told my friend that his body would heal itself if he would nourish it the right way.  The 'right way' was this: a 100% organic vegan diet, consisting of only raw vegetables (the more dark green the better), a few raw fruits (cancer loves sugar of any kind), drink only purified water, and have organic juice twice a day made from fresh beets and celery.  No poultry, no fish, no meat of any kind, no eggs, no dairy, no sugar, no refined wheat, and nothing cooked.  Zilcho.  And, begin a daily exercise regimen that included at least 30 minutes of increasingly strenuous aerobics.

At the 6 month checkup the cancer was completely gone.  Today, four years later, my friend is the picture of health.  He is still a vegan, wouldn't go back to the 'other' way of eating for anything, and says he feels better than at any other time in his life.

Perhaps the lesson from my friend is this: The best invesmnent is a better diet and exercise.   And especially if you have nothing else, what harm to go 'the Amish way?'