Thomas
Navarro will be operated on this week to have the brain tumor removed.
The hospital expenses are now estimated to be $41,500 (including
anesthesiologists, etc) - as we stated before the neurosurgeon is not
charging
a fee for the surgery. For more information please go to
http://www.cancerbusters.com
SUBJECT: Thomas Navarro
Congressman Burton introduced HR 3677 the Thomas
Navarro FDA Patients Rights Act earlier this year. A Picture from the
press conference is at the Committee web site at http://www.house.gov/reform
Thomas' father testified at the Committee's June 7-8 hearing on
Integrative Oncology. That testimony is available at http://www.house.gov/reform/hearings/healthcare/00.06.07/index.htm
Thomas' story appeared in People Magazine and his story has been
featured on the TV show CNN & Time and on CBN. 35 members of
Congress so far are supporting this legislation and the Commerce
Committee has agreed to move it through as soon as possible.
Thomas' information is available in detail at
http://www.cancerbusters.com
Arizona family caught in grips of a cancer drama that highlights
issues of medical freedom, patient choice, and the role of
complementary and alternative medicine.
Thomas Navarro was diagnosed with medulloblastoma - a brain cancer
last summer at the age of four years. The tumor was successfully
removed. Unfortunately, with this type of cancer, it almost always
recurs. Thomas' parents, Jim and Donna Navarro, conscientious and
responsible parents, looked at all of their options for treating
Thomas. Their oncologist in Arizona insisted that Thomas' only course
of action was chemotherapy and radiation. However, when the family
looked at the published peer-reviewed research on their son's type of
cancer, the success rate at his age and size, and the side effects,
they were uncomfortable with this treatment course. They learned that
chemotherapy and radiation could leave Thomas deaf, blind, sterile,
with hormone deficiencies, he would immediately loose substantial IQ
and continue to loose 4-6 points of IQ a year, and that Thomas could
get other forms of cancers as a result - this all on top of the well
known and "accepted" side effects of hair loss, fatigue,
diarrhea, and vomiting.
The family learned of an FDA approved clinical trial in Houston, Texas
- antineoplastons (Dr.Burzynski). This treatment, which is non-toxic
and which has been successful in treating this same type of cancer in
children. However, the FDA refused to allow Thomas access to this
treatment unless he first went through and failed chemotherapy and
radiation. Additionally the FDA put Dr. Burzynski's BT-29 protocol on
hold, not because it wasn't safe and not because it wouldn't be
effective, but because they felt the "standard" treatment of
chemotherapy and radiation was so effective that no other treatment
option was needed. The family spent 8 months living in a hotel in
Houston, Texas fighting the FDA and waiting to have their son treated.
Thomas and his family, a family who have lost their home, their
business, their health insurance, and everything, have been living in
Mexico receiving another alternative therapy. Thomas is going to need
another surgery very soon to remove another tumor in his brain. Dr.
Epstein, a leading pediatric neurosurgeon has agreed to do the surgery
without charging, but Beth Israel Hospital in New York City requires
$36,000 up front before they will admit him.
Citizens for Health (http://www.citizens.org/)
is a grass-roots organization that has been key in many alternative
medicine issues, including the passage of the Dietary Supplement
Health and Education Act of 1994 which opened up access to dietary
supplements in this country. They have been raising money to help pay
for Thomas' medical care.
Citizens for Health
PO Box 2260
Boulder, CO 80306
1-800-357-2211
HR 3677 would help Thomas and many others by allowing patients and not
a Federal agency to make the final decision - to allow basically for
an informed declination of the FDA's preference to try a clinical
trial - that is already deemed safe - first. It also says that the FDA
cannot put a clinical trial on hold when safety is not the concern but
when the FDA prefers another treatment. This Bill fixes the
opportunity for subjective bias to stand in the way of access to safer
and potentially more effective treatments.
What do we need to accomplish?
1. Gather support for HR 3677 - we need to get citizens asking their
Congressman to support the Bill and to get a Senate co-sponsor.
2. Raise awareness of Thomas' plight
and raise the money needed to get Thomas and his family to New York
and provide for Thomas' care.