Not so fast.
According to a BBC article, a UK woman was diagnosed with mesothelioma and given months to live. She is now in remission after going to Germany to try a new treatment. Not a cure exactly, but very promising news.
Debbie Brewer, 49, from Plymouth in Devon, was diagnosed in November 2006. She was subsequently awarded compensation because her illness was caused by hugging her father who worked with asbestos. She is known in the UK as the “cancer hug woman.” Her father succumbed to the disease but Mrs. Brewer opted to spend her award money on treatment at The University Clinic in Frankfurt.
The clinic uses a treatment known as chemoembolisation, usually used to fight liver cancer. The process introduces chemotherapy drugs directly to the tumour area through a catheter into the lung.
Mrs. Brewer’s tumor has shrunk by more than half, is in remission and will not come back.
“I haven’t taken it all in yet but at the moment it is my little miracle.”
Mrs. Brewer has started a campaign to have the treatment, which costs £3,500 a session, brought to the UK for trials.
The results for the Germany procedure are about a 60% success rate.
Her website, Mesothelioma and Me, provides information and advice for sufferers and their families. Check it out >>.
The site also includes an online diary of her own experience of learning about and living with the illness.
