Laurie Becklund, staff reporter of Los Angeles Times, died on Feb 8 from metastatic breast cancer, which was diagnosed before last Christmas.  She wrote an article for the newspaper to criticize the medical practice.

Becklund said in her article that early detection does not cure breast cancer.  Often times, doctors would say early detection leads to early treatment, which is believed to save lives.   She said she had more than 20 mammograms but none detected the disease.   She also mentioned that mammogram screening can lead to misdiagnosis and unnecessary treatment, and by itself increase the risk of breast cancer.

Her breast cancer was diagnosed after she did a self-examination and found a peanut-size lump.   The disease was found to be a low-grade breast cancer.  She received conventional treatment for the disease and doctors promised her that the disease would never come back.  Then, 13 years after the initial diagnosis, the disease came back and a PET scan indicated that the cancer had spread to the bones, liver, lungs and brain.

Becklund claimed that the medical establishment told me that she had failed a number of therapies.  But she said it is the establishment and its therapies that have failed her.

She also criticized the fund-raising organization Susan G. Komen and claimed that the organization only used a fraction of $2.5 billion dollars raised over the last 20 years for research or operations that help those who have already contracted breast cancer.  And most of the raised fund continues to" go to a breast cancer "awareness" campaign that is now painfully out of date."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says each year about 37,500 women in the United States die from breast cancer.  But Becklund suggested that the number may be higher as the deaths are not accurately counted and reported. (David Liu, PHD)

Read the full artile here.