Ambrosini: My bid to cure my cancer

Following my recent hospitalization and my temporary absence from Parliament, I have received many inquiries from the media, colleagues, friends and opponents about my state of health. My immediate reaction was that the matter was of no concern of theirs. However, upon reflection, I realize that if I am to be a true servant of the people, my state of health is no longer a private matter and the people, as my masters, are entitled to know.

My condition is serious, but I am committed to cure it and be fit and well to return to the duties of my office by no later than September 1.

Suddenly and without significant prior symptoms, two days before the Secrecy Bill debate, on April 23 I received a diagnosis of stage four lung cancer, which has extensively metastasized throughout my pleura. The condition is terminal and not operable, and, if left untreated, will cause me to be removed from all lists for Christmas functions or gifts.

Chemotherapy, the only available conventional treatment, can only buy me a few more months of life with severe side effects. This diagnosis has been confirmed by university medical centers in the United States and Italy, which re-ran the pathology tests. The medical-pharmaceutical establishment cannot identify the cause of my cancer nor propose an effective cure. None of this is acceptable to me.

I believe that the present scientific paradigm on cancer is fundamentally wrong. After 120 years of worldwide scientific research conducted under immense social pressure with unlimited funding and patients, there is still no real understanding of the root cause of cancer, nor is there a cure for it. More often than not, when this has happened in the history of science, it has been because science has been looking in the wrong direction, building Ptolemaic complexities on top of Ptolemaic complexities which, no matter how advanced, sophisticated or refined, await a simplifying Copernican paradigm shift.

I have chosen to pursue a course of treatment based on different science, not on an alternative to science. I have now been receiving this treatment for a while. At this point, I shall not speak or vouch for such a treatment, nor discredit it. My death or survival will do so.

I count on achieving a cure in three months and will then return to my parliamentary work. If my gamble is successful, I plan to dedicate a great portion of my future political and professional life on the fight to eradicate cancer as a cause of death. If I fail, I hope that what I tried to do for democracy in South Africa and elsewhere will be appreciated.

Having fulfilled my duty to disclose the facts of the matter to the public, I shall not comment further on any of this until I am in the position of reporting progress or failure and would appreciate if people will respect my family's privacy at this time. At this point my strength is limited and I am not in the position to entertain correspondence, even well-wishing messages.

Mario GR Oriani-Ambrosini, MP

Issued by the IFP, May 22 2013

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