Ashia King, the little boy taken by his JW parents from a UK hospital to Spain

by nonjwspouse 7 Replies latest social current

  • nonjwspouse
    nonjwspouse

    The first thought b many was that this JW family was taking their son out of the UK hospital in order to avoid the almost guaranteed need for a blood transfusion.

    It was later recognized it was about the refusal of the UK health system to allow them any questions or choices in the care of their son. They wanted proton beam therapy for the brain tumor which is much less devastating on his little body, and much more accurate.

    A later interview the father admitted he was a father first, and if his son needed a blood transfusion he would get one.( YAY to hear this reality of REAL life decisions)

    Here is a recent article about this little boy. A nice one :-)

    http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/04/ashya-king-goes-back-to-school-full-time

  • konceptual99
    konceptual99

    It's a great article and it's good to see that the young lad is doing well atm. It's also interesting to see how his father frames the comments about blood.

    There are two sides to this story and whilst I don't for one minute question the actions of the Kings in seeking what they felt was the best treatment for their son I really hope that they have not been premature in their assessment of his long term prognosis.

    For his type of cancer he is very likely to have several years of remission and it's where his health is in 4 or 5 years time that remains a clinical question. Let's hope the hope and expectations of his parents are fulfilled and he remains free of this evil illness.

  • steve2
    steve2

    I really hope that they have not been premature in their assessment of his long term prognosis.

    I think it unlikely that the parents will be naive about the prospects of long term prognosis, given the father's capacity for research on the condition.

    In fact, the orginal hospital offered his son no treatment, so convinced were the specialists at that hosptial there was nothing that could be done.

    I see the so-called "controversial" treatment (Proton) the specialists had questioned will be more widely available in the UK this year.

  • Diogenesister
    Diogenesister

    Yes I ' m afraid I was one who judged initially...only to realize I couldn' t have been more wrong about this family.

    The attitude of some NHS staff is appalling..as if you are a charity case that needs to be grateful, shutup and make no decisions about your own body.

    My husband pointed out this great article to me..so glad.

  • cofty
    cofty

    I wish the family and the parents well for the future but I am very sympathetic to the NHS.

    If you didn't see the documentary that presented it from the doctor's point of view you should be careful about criticising.

  • cofty
    cofty
    In fact, the orginal hospital offered his son no treatment - Steve

    Nothing could be further from the facts.

    Steve where did you get that idea from?

  • konceptual99
    konceptual99
    I think it unlikely that the parents will be naive about the prospects of long term prognosis, given the father's capacity for research on the condition.

    The statements from the Kings are that there is no cancer showing on scans any more and the lad is cured. If you read up on the type of cancer he had there is no possible way of knowing that is really the case for several years yet. The type of radio therapy does not affect this.

    In fact, the orginal hospital offered his son no treatment, so convinced were the specialists at that hosptial there was nothing that could be done.

    Not true at all. The hospital followed their standard protocol of surgery (which he had in Southampton) to be followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The surgery saved his life - left untreated it would have killed him. In simple terms the other treatments are designed to remove any other cancerous cells left and help prevent the cancer returning. What Mr. King was concerned about was the effect of the conventional radio therapy. The specialists did not think that using proton beam would make a difference to the likely outcomes.

    I have seen what radio and chemo does to people so I do not question the Kings' desire to find a viable alternative but to suggest the hospital were a bunch of heartless bastards is a gross misrepresentation.

    I see the so-called "controversial" treatment (Proton) the specialists had questioned will be more widely available in the UK this year.

    Proton beam is safer way of delivering radio therapy and has been used in the UK for some time. The NHS does refer patients it feels the treatment can work for. There are new centres opening up. There was also some research published in the past couple of days that provide more empirical data supporting it's use in a wider range of cases. Oncologists do not question proton beam in the same way they question things like special diets for the treatment of cancer. It's not "controversial" in the sense they think it's some kind of quackery. It is a relatively new technology that they have only had limited data with which to form clinical decisions. Basically, it is not suitable for all patients but perhaps it is more suitable for more people than they previously had evidence for.

    The more it is used and the more results they have then I am sure that it will be more useful for more and more people. If it has worked for Aysha King then no doubt it has minimised the potential damage to healthy cells that conventional RT risks. That's a great result however it is no more likely to cure (by which we mean long term remission of over 5 years) than anything else.

  • cofty
    cofty

    I agree with everything Konceptual99 said above.

    The debate was regarding adjunctive treatment post-surgery. This is to try to kill any cancer cells that cannot be detected and reduce the risk of recurrence. The doctor's position was that Proton Beam was good for pre-surgical treatment to target the tumour accurately with minimum damage to surrounding tissue, but in adjunctive therapy you are delivering radiation to the area around where the tumour was.

    Their advice was that even if they had a machine in the next room it was not the tool they would choose.

    Aysha is alive because of the extreme skill and dedication of NHS surgeons, oncologists and radiotherapists.

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