So I just finished watching BBC’s Watchdog, with a feature on one Adrian Pengelly. Those of you who haven’t seen the episode, it’s quite a good one so go on and watch it. I’ll wait here for you…
Good wasn’t it? For the benefit of those of you who don’t have time to watch an hour of people whinging about mostly relatively minor qualms with their Playstation 3, I’ll sketch the outline for you.
This guy is an ‘alternative healer’ who claims to be able to heal with his hands: animals - they took a horse with incurable soft tissue damage in his ankle, which was ‘diagnosed’ by this guy as being a problem in the poor sod’s knee; houses (i.e. of malevolent spirits) - they rigged a house with trick haunting signs and this guy actually walks round the house talking to the spirits that aren’t there; and, most worryingly, cancer.
It’s this last bit on which I’m going to focus. This guy not only claims a completely unsubstantiated 60-65% success rate in cancer patients, but was actually caught on camera directly advising a customer to cease chemotherapy and continue only with his (phony) service.
That’s just a whole world of fucked up, isn’t it? I mean, these are people with terminal fucking cancer. If it’s not going to go into remission after extensive chemo- and radio-therapy, it sure as hell isn’t going to be cured by a back rub.
The most worrying thing, though, is that people actually buy this crap. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m sure he does a fine job at improving morale and relieving pain with gentle massaging, and that in combination with good medical treatment could possibly speed recovery. But that isn’t what this guy is saying or doing. I don’t care if he’s fucking Jesus himself, he still has no business advising people to cease treatment.
Do I think he’s deliberately misleading his punters? No. That he actually has magic healing hands? Very unlikely. You see, when he was interviewed he had the face of someone who actually believes he can do these ridiculous things, even when it’s been proven that he can’t.
If that’s the case, this man is mentally ill, pure and simple. To believe that he has a 60-65% success rate with cancer patients, as a result of his being able to channel some amazing mystical force, is surely the very definition of madness.
Through none of this do I intend to put down those who are experiencing cancer, either through a loved one or personal experience. I know how difficult it is - I lost my grandpa to cancer, and my dad has also had it (although thankfully it was caught before it got big enough to become a problem) - and I know that anyone going through that would do anything to make it go away.
I’d certainly not suggest that you not try any option to treat the symptoms, but please, I implore you, don’t place all your hopes in a man who claims to be able to cure the actual cancer (he claims this with terminal cancer!) through the supernatural. He might be able to - who knows - but it’s far more likely he’s either out there to defraud someone who may be in the last months of their life, or clinically insane.
Another thing brought up by the programme - it is illegal to advertise cancer treatment in the UK. If you find anyone doing this, report it to the Police.
Until next time, blogosphere.
~PLUR~
