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In aother article pointed by the Guardian, I read : >> Schmid said: “Immune therapy on top of standard chemotherapy prolonged survival by ten months Since, I

• chrisweekly 8y ago
  In my experience as a cancer survivor, it's all about "staying in the game". Medicine doesn't change as fast as software, but extra months means a chance to access new treatment options as they emerge.
  • Ntrails 8y ago
    But for all those who "stay in the game", only a proportion get to survive, and some of those who do not give up meaningful quality of life for 2-3 months more time. Situations are complex and outcomes are highly varied. One size does not fit all.
  • resource0x 8y ago
    I'm another cancer survivor. My understanding is that you don't take this treatment with the goal of surviving extra 10 month. You take in in the hope to be cured, because they say there is a chance, however slim. So the rational choice for me would be: take the treatment, and if in a couple of months it proves ineffective, take euthanasia (if it's legally possible, which is the case where I live - though probably there are still some unfortunate legal caveats), Just hanging around longer would serve no purpose except increasing the pain for my family. (That's my personal view only, not intended as a template for anybody else)
• JacobDotVI 8y ago
  Sometimes an extra 10 months means seeing your child graduate college / get married / have your first grandchild.
  • ams6110 8y ago
    Which is really more for them than for you. When you're dead, it won't matter to you that you saw those things, but it might matter to your child for the rest of his/her life.
    • selectodude 8y ago
      Most people don’t want to die, surprisingly.
    • nine_k 8y ago
      Remember: "today is the first day of the rest of your life". The fact that the rest of one's life is "short" compared to someone else's does not mean that it's less subjectively meaningful.
    • vaylian 8y ago
      It is not about seeing these things as an uninvolved observer. It is about receiving a share of an important moment that is meaningful on a personal level. And these are some of the things that make life worth living. We do not know if there is a meaning to life. But on a human level we are connected through social connections and these people who are connected to us can give life a meaning on some level. I also disagree that death makes you no longer care. Yes, you as a person supported by a mortal body will no longer feel anything. But the concepts that made up your personality and the actions you took while being alive will still influence the events in the world. You cannot react any more, but most people at least define a written will for the time after they are dead. Just take the nobel prize. It is based on a will that wants to shape the world for the better long after the body of Alfred Nobel has died. The nobel prize is still going strong.
    • knodi123 8y ago
      Yeah, but when your child dies, it won't matter to them anymore either. You can't bet just 50% on nihilism. Either go all in or acknowledge that people want to have as many positive experiences as they can, no matter how much time they have left.
• pulse7 8y ago
  Since the final solution for cancer doesn't exists (yet), every improvement is better than nothing. We will all die. So the question is: how long will a person live. Prolonged life means some "extra days" for cancer patients...
• JoeAltmaier 8y ago
  Life is all about how we spend the moments before death? Those 10 months are more opportunity. They needn't be a 'situation' response; they can be just more living.
• modzu 8y ago
  quality vs quantity is a very real qualification you need to think about. typically doctors are more concerned with quantity -- ie they have to "do something" if they can