Watch the introduction to HBO’s award-winning series VICE Special Report: Killing Cancer below. It summarizes an hour-long in-depth documentary that focuses on therapies that go far, far beyond chemo. See how doctors use HIV, measles, and genetically-engineered cold viruses to strengthen patients’ immune systems and wipe out cancer cells without damaging their bodies the way chemo normally does.
I have seen this report and it is some of the most encouraging and enlightening news I have ever seen.
While experimental, these techniques are already saving lives, like that of Emily Whitehead, who was dying of aggressive leukemia before doctors used re-engineered HIV cells to seemingly destroy the cancer eating her body.
Cancer has been such a scourge of humanity for so long that the very word inspires a deep fear in anyone who hears it. Similarly, a “cure for cancer” has been a holy grail of modern medical research. So far, the world has spent decades and billions of dollars trying to cure cancer, or cure some kinds of it, or simply make some of them less awful and deadly—and now you have an inside look at the most cutting-edge cancer treatments in the world.
“My life, like most people’s, has been negatively affected by cancer, and the thought of my young children living in an age where this is no longer humanity’s number-one health fear was simply overpowering,” said VICE executive producer Shane Smith in a statement. “My first thought was, ‘How soon? How soon can we get these types of therapies to market and helping people?'”
To find out more visit killingcancer.vice.com.
Shane Smith has also started a gift-matching campaign to help the Mayo Clinic continue their amazing work. You can donate here.