Pierce Brosnan’s daughter recently died after a three-year struggle fighting ovarian cancer. I am writing this particular blog to make people aware that this is an example of a tragedy that might have been preventable.
His daughter was 41 years old at the time of her death, the same age her mother was when she also died of ovarian cancer. As many people are aware, there is a blood test called a CA125 test which can be used as a screening test for ovarian cancer. Although this cancer is unusual in young women, it is definitely not unheard of. Certainly, with a family history of ovarian cancer, it would be a strongly advisable test to perform.
The thing about ovarian cancer, it is almost 100% curable when caught early, and almost 100% fatal if allowed to spread (except perhaps if treated with alternative approaches rather than traditional approaches). Perhaps, a CA125 test done in her early thirties showing a slight rise might have prompted a prophylactic bilateral oophorectomy and might have saved her life. For some reason, gynecologists have not insisted that insurance companies pay for this as a screening test. The gynecologists’ objection is that it is not diagnostic since other conditions can cause an elevated test, such as endometriosis. However, an abnormal test at least gets the doctor to keep an eye on the ovaries. PSA tests for men are covered as a screening test, and they are certainly not diagnostic of cancer.
In light of the recent Angeline Jolie episode that highlighted doing genetic testing for BRCA mutations, I find it interesting that the medical system failed to take advantage of this unfortunate episode to inform women about having a CA125 test done. I strongly suspect that if Pierce Brosnan’s daughter had been on bio-identical progesterone and/or vitamin D in a dose high enough to prevent cancer (at least 10,000 IU per day), she may never have developed ovarian cancer.
As I have said, we live in a world that does not allow preventive medicine. If those people who are reading my blogs are truly interested in changing the healthcare system where they live, they should encourage their practitioners to read my book, The Miracle of Bio-identical Hormones and my manual The Platt Protocol for Hormone Balancing. They are both available at my website. Nothing in healthcare will change until doctors learn how to treat disease from the causation, rather than just giving out Band-aids in the form of drugs.
First, it was Angelina Jolie “over-reacting” to her BRCA gene. Now, it’s Pierce Brosnan’s daughter, who should have taken the CA125 test. With all due respect, as someone who has stage 4 breast cancer and wanted to take the boobs off 40 years ago, I think Dr. Platt might see this issue differently, if he actually had those dangerous appendages on his chest and knew, because of the advances made in the field, that those breasts were likely to try to kill him. As to the CA125 test, it’s notoriously unreliable. It is not the gold standard in ovarian cancer diagnosis. There is no such thing, when it comes to ovarian cancer. The problem with the CA 125 is that you can’t count on it. That leaves both doctors and patients in more doubt as to how to proceed.