How I Coaxed a Western Medicine Skeptic to Get a Biopsy
Although I have lived the majority of my life in New Jersey, Utah has always felt like home. Three of my grandparents were multigenerational Utahns, of pioneer stock, and the other grandparent grew up in nearby Idaho. Our family disrupted this pattern when my father pursued a position as a materials science professor that eventually led him to Rutgers University. I had only two sisters, but our extended family, like most Mormon families, is substantial. I have 32 first cousins, and my wife (also from Idaho) has more than 50. Being the only oncologist our family knows, I have become aware of most relatives, relatives of relatives, or friends of relatives with cancer. Although I practice on the East Coast, I have a large virtual consulting service as a result of this extensive Utah and Idaho network. A random call or text message from a relative almost invariably means somebody they know has cancer.
One such text was received last summer on a sweltering night in Alexandria, Virginia, where I now live. The text message was from a relative in Utah who asked, “any chance that somebody treating a melanoma with herbs will be OK”? I thought back to a patient I had just seen in my practice during the month before this
