BLOCHLETTER

Dear Fellow Cancer Patient:
No one likes to read a lengthy letter, but maybe this will help you have a better
chance of conquering your cancer and improving the quality of your life. I'm Dick
Bloch. In March, 1978 I was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and given 3
months to live by an outstanding doctor. I am now healthy, cancer free, and
devoting myself along with my wife, Annette, to helping the next person with
cancer have the best chance of beating it. I'm not saying you can have the same
success I did, but if you try, you have a chance.

The biggest and the hardest single thing that you will be required to do in the
entire battle is to make up your mind to really fight it. You must, on your own,
make the commitment that you will do everything in your power to fight your
disease. No exceptions. Nothing halfway. Nothing for the sake of ease or
convenience. Everything! Nothing short of it. When you have done this, you have
accomplished the most difficult thing you will have to accomplish throughout your
entire treatment. And I don't care how serious or how minor you are lead to
believe your cancer is.

If it is minor, great. Your commitment should not be difficult to abide by. If you
are told you are going to die in 3 months or 3 years or whatever, then it makes that
commitment that much more vital. There are a lot of "terminal" people alive,
healthy and cancer free. There is no type of cancer from which some people have
not been cured. There is no type of cancer for which there is no treatment.
To give up requires no commitment. You can stay in the comfort of your own
lifestyle. Fighting means a complete change of lifestyle, absolutely leaving your
comfort zone. There will be doctors doing things you might not like. There will be
lots of work for you to do. There might even be some pain and suffering and
certainly, lots of new and unexpected experiences. You must decide that the end is
worth the means because you are the only one who can do it. No one else can do
it for you. There is no half way. It's all the way. But when it is all said and done,
no matter what the results, I've never met anyone who felt it was not the best way.
Go for it with no second thoughts or regrets.
Remember, once you have made the commitment, everything else is relatively
easy. There will be pleasant experiences. There will be unpleasant experiences.
But I can promise you it is not as difficult as making the decision to make the
commitment.

The next step you must take is acquiring knowledge. You, personally, must find
out all you can about your disease. When you try, you will be amazed how simple
and interesting it is, and I assume you have no medical background. First and
foremost, talk to your personal doctor who diagnosed you. Be certain to tape
record or write down all his answers. You are not a professional and you will be
confused and forget. After a while, you will be amazed at what you understand.
And remember, this is your life. It isn't your doctor's, it isn't anyone else's. If you
want help, you had better help yourself first. Later you can count on others to help
you.

Find out what kind of cancer you are supposed to have. This would include type,
stage, grade, location, size, spread, receptors, differentiation, virulence, type of
treatments it is receptive to, type of treatments your doctor believes it is not
receptive to, and anything else your doctor can tell you. Telephone
1-800-4-CANCER. This is the U.S. Government's Cancer Information Service.
Everything is free. Ask for a PDQ state-of-the-art cancer treatment printout for
your type and stage of cancer. This will show you the recognized standard therapy
for your specific disease. Next ask for a PDQ printout of clinical trials for your
specific type and stage of cancer from the entire U.S. This will tell you briefly
about every experimental therapy currently available for your disease. Get
accustomed to calling 1-800-4-CANCER for most things you want to know and
be very specific in what you request. The wonderful people there are trying to
help you but they can't guess what you're thinking.

Call the Cancer Hot Line at 800-433-0464 to request a copy of Fighting Cancer
and to ask for a list of institutions that provide a multidisciplinary second
opinion.. All of this and much more is yours for the asking.

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