‘peve minaret’ bald cypress
I can’t stop thinking about something a naturopathic oncologist told my sister, who was recently diagnosed with endometrial cancer, the same kind of cancer I had. Apparently having blood group A is associated with an increased risk of cancer, and blood group O is associated with a decreased risk of cancer. Both my sister and I have type A blood.
Coincidentally, a few days after learning this, while going through another one of my family history boxes — I’m now on box #6 of the 14 — I found my mother’s blood type A identification card from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where she was receiving treatment for metastasized breast cancer in 1990. She died when she was 59, in spite of four years of surgery, radiation and multiple chemotherapies.
As I was pondering the significance of now knowing her blood type, it hit me that her father, my grandfather, had prostate cancer. (I have no way of discovering what his blood type was.) With some aggressive treatments he survived his cancer and lived to the age of 95.
And then I started wondering about my grandfather’s parents. Locating his father’s death certificate I discovered that he died at age 75 of adenocarcinoma of the transverse colon, metastasis to liver. He had surgery in August of 1948 and died in July of 1949.
Finding these connections for four generations in a row is unsettling, as looking closely at genograms can often be. If I could trace it I wonder how far back the cancer line would go. All my children have type O blood so likely they will be spared from this specific cancer risk factor.
The gene for type A blood is dominant, and the gene for type O is recessive. Which means I have a recessive O gene that I passed on to my children. (They got their other O gene from Tim. One needs two O genes to have type O blood. Tim also has type O blood so that’s the only kind of gene he could give them.) It surprises me that none of them got the dominant A gene from me because the law of averages suggests that half of my children could have received it and had type A blood!
Until my sister consulted one, I never knew that naturopathic oncologists existed. After witnessing the nightmare I’m living through due to radiotherapy aftereffects she is not interested in submitting to the same recommended treatment for her cancer. We both are of the mind that sometimes, for some people, quality of life is more valuable than a prolonged quantity of life. It will be interesting to see what things we will learn about other treatments from this alternative, integrative physician.
Meanwhile, the current administration continues its efforts to cut funding for health care and cancer research. And now this:
If you’re under 65 and don’t have a chronic condition, there’s a very real chance you won’t have access to a Covid-19 vaccine this fall. Much depends on what happens next month. ACIP could defy the FDA and recommend vaccines for broader use, but that would be risky. We’ve never been in this situation before. ….. This isn’t about whether everyone needs a yearly Covid-19 vaccine—that’s a legitimate, ongoing scientific debate, and one ACIP was already tackling in June. This is about how decisions are made—and who gets to make them. FDA political appointees are sidelining expert panels, bypassing transparency, and turning public health into a performance. That might fly in other arenas, but shouldn’t when it comes to people’s health and daily lives. ….. Vaccine decisions must be rooted in evidence, debate, and transparency. ….. If this is the new model, we should all be alarmed.
~ Katelyn Jetelina
(Your Local Epidemiologist, May 21, 2025)
Closer to home, last summer I endured three episodes of seed tick bites on my legs following walks in the botanical garden. I thought I had solved the problem by using recommended permethrin as a repellent but when I took a walk there on Tuesday I was attacked again and now have 9 bites. I’m done! The pictures in this post are not worth the price I’m paying to have gotten them!
Thank you for an extremely interesting and informative post. And I agree that the lovely photos are not worth the bites, though I am glad to have seen them.
Thank you, I’m happy to know you enjoyed the post and pictures, Edith. It’s so frustrating to believe I was well protected from those seed ticks and to find out I wasn’t…
Interesting to learn about genetics, blood types and inherited conditions/disease. It is appalling that the current admin is pulling back support for medical research, god help us. The nightmare continues… 🙁 Wishing you and your family the best quality (and quantity) of life. 🙏🏼
Genetics has always fascinated me — I still have a report I wrote on it when I was in middle school. Thank you so much for your well wishes, Eliza. I hope things are going as well as possible for your brother, too. 🙏🏼 I agree with you about the current admin’s ominous moves. 🙁
Thank you, Barbara. He has started a targeted chemo and it is already working well, shrinking tumors. So hopeful. 🙏🏼
That’s very encouraging news! Many blessings to your family. ♡
🙏🏼 💕
Thanks for the educational interesting read. I’m also blood type A and I also get bitten all the time. I agree its not worth getting all the bites for the pictures (even though we do appreciate them)
You’re welcome, Rosie. When you mentioned blood type and tick bites, a connection I didn’t consider, I did some quick research and discovered that, yes, ticks do prefer people with blood type A. That kind of explains why Tim has never been bothered by them even though we walk in the same places.
I am blood type A+ and seek quality of my life and not longevity that my doctors’ seem to promote. I never want the path towards pain.
The seed tick episodes do seem to be related to the botanical gardens. But I wonder wouldn’t seed ticks be in the wooded areas where your home is brought in from all the deer and wildlife?
I’m with you on the quantity/quality choices and less painful options. My mother and sister had/have blood type A+, too. I wound up with A-, like my aunt who miscarried several pregnancies after her son was born. By the time I came along I was given RhoGAM after delivering my O+ babies to prevent my body from developing antibodies to that antigen that could harm any following Rh+ pregnancies.
I am wondering about why the seed ticks haven’t found me in the woods, too!
Barbara, your photos are lovely … but I hate that you have to endure so many bites to get them. My late dad was A-positive and ended up dying from cancer. If they’ve proven there’s a connection between blood type and certain diseases, shouldn’t it follow that somebody could come up with a preventative (or a cure) based on that??
Thank you for your sympathy, Debbie! It would seem like scientists might focus more of their research efforts on this risk factor, wouldn’t it? I guess there’s not much we can do about our blood type but if they could figure out the mechanism at play maybe they could intervene somehow. Time will tell. My guess is that some day radiation and chemotherapy will seem like barbaric treatments to our descendants, as much as bloodletting seems to be to us.
Barbara, wow, I didn’t know about Type A blood being associated with an increased risk for cancer. That isn’t good news for me as I’m A+. I used to give blood all the time until a probationary phlebotomist jabbed me multiple times while her superiors chatted about bad boyfriend experiences despite me asking one of them to do the blood draw. I’ve not given blood since. But back to your info – that was disheartening for you to learn.
I have not heard of a naturopathic oncologist before, but thank goodness for this means of combatting cancer, rather than enduring the radiation treatments and paying the price for the radiation regimen the rest of your life. Of late, one of the local hospitals is running radio ads about proton therapy as a gentler, but effective way, to treat cancer, but it is still a form of radiation. Your photos, interspersed with your post, seem delicate, just as our lives are … tender beings trying to make it in this world today. I especially like the photo of the silver dollar eucalyptus.
I am sorry to read about your seed tick bites. I know that REI sells insect-repellent pants, but perhaps they would not help you out because of the seed tick bites after you had on repellent and also long pants. I’m sorry you have to deal with these pesky insects that thwart your walk in the gardens or woods. We have had reports of deer ticks and dog ticks in all the local parks now. I had hoped our brutally cold Winter would keep them at bay, but it did not unfortunately.
It’s amazing the things we haven’t known about, isn’t it? As long as we live we will be discovering new associations and trying to figure out how they might all be connected. It’s kind of mind boggling. I suspect the greater cancer risk for all of us, though, regardless of blood type, is the presence of hundreds of carcinogens in the environment which we can’t avoid ingesting and inhaling.
I never heard of proton therapy before and will mention it to my sister. It will be interesting to see what treatment plan the doctors will come up with and what choices she will make. What I wish more than anything is that I had been given fair warning about the aftereffects of the treatment I got. I specifically asked about side effects and was reassured that most people tolerated the treatment well. The possibility of long term aftereffects never occurred to me. At least my sister will be able to make a decision with more accurate information to weigh the pros and cons.
I loved the look of the silver dollar eucalyptus, too. Made me think of the silvery moon on certain nights. But I’m done with the botanical garden in the late spring and summer. Having to resort to steroids to stop the maddening itching (worse than poison ivy!) from multiple bites is just too much to risk any more. And the enemy is invisible, too! At least you can see deer ticks and dog ticks! I might try to find places to walk with paved paths, maybe they would be a safer bet.
I think the biggest carcinogens that I keep hearing and reading about now is highly processed food and the dangers of plastics.
As a general rule I don’t drink bottled water, but I have a couple of multi-packs on hand for water main breaks, which our city has all the time, not just in Winter from cold weather, but lots in Summer as well as our infrastructure is old. But it may not be the water bottles as to me, but that we have had fast food or deli products in plastic containers, or used microwave containers throughout the years before we knew about harmful “BPA”. That scares me a bit as well.
We have several big hospitals here, (including the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute affiliated with the Detroit Medical Center) and I’ve never heard of proton therapy until just recently. The people in the commercial describe it as such an easier regimen compared to the rigors of chemo and radiation. Maybe it is an alternative for your sister as she weighs treatment options … yes, she is lucky she has more info than ever at her fingertips thanks to researching on the internet. You had a disservice done to you by not having all the facts and complete side effects presented properly
I don’t blame you for giving up the botanical garden walks until Fall. The spider bites were one thing you dealt with – this is even worse, though I researched and their bites, while itchy and annoying, don’t pack as big a punch, disease-wise, as the adults. But still …. So that’s a ray of hope for you. I think the last two-week siege of ants is finally over – what a joy not to have papertowels and Kleenex drap
I agree with you 100% about the carcinogens in processed food! And things will be getting worse as the current administration keeps working to eliminate the few safety regulations we still have. My sister forwarded me the diet recommendations that the naturopathic oncologist gave her. It’s so interesting to learn what foods feed cancer cells and should be avoided. And which foods will help the body fight it better. It’s good information to have and the doctor referenced a lot of studies to support the recommendations. When I got radiation no one advised me about any type of food that would help or hurt. If only we could integrate the wisdom of conventional treatments with alternative therapies and nutrition, instead of having to choose one or the other.
I’ll bet that list of forbidden foods contains the ultra-those processed foods. I can’t remember the last time I had bacon or sausage.
My mom read an article about restricting sodium in your diet and she made changes immediately and I remember bacon and sausage was on the list. No more salting French fries either.
However, my great grandfather was a farmer all his life. My grandmother said her father had a big farmer’s breakfast seven days a week, then went out in the fields to work. His mid-day meal was all the leftovers from breakfast that his wife used to take out to him in the fields (before she couldn’t walk after the horse stomped on her foot). But he ate all that salt, fried food, lots of eggs – didn’t affect him. All the preservatives they put in food now, nitrate and such, is what is so bad too – they raised their own livestock, chickens for eggs. It is too bad you did not have any of this knowledge at hand when you needed it most.
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Hi Barbara. I’m so sorry to learn about your sister’s cancer. And the biologic/scientific info on blood types is informative and interesting. I understand about the difficult decision on treatment. Chemo? Radiation? Surgery? When my guy was diagnosed with lung cancer three years ago the surgeon wanted to cut it out immediately. We decided instead on radiation, and for him, that was the right choice. So far, it’s kept him healthy, at least in his lungs.
The beauty of Nature is dangerous too, ie the tick bites. No, not worth the photos unfortunately, although they are gorgeous.
Thank you, Pam. 🙏 That’s wonderful that you and your guy felt you had a choice and had a positive outcome from it! I wish I could hear about more experiences like that. You’ve got me wondering if radiation in the lung area has fewer aftereffects than radiation in the pelvis. I wound up with radiation proctitis, osteoporosis in my pelvic bones, chronic pelvic pain, and lumbar plexopathy. It’s hard for me to focus on any benefit the treatment gave me. You’re right, these decisions are so difficult.
Oh. God. I think it depends on the type of cancer as well as the radiation, as well as location. My guy did have scarring (inside) but the techs did an amazing job of focusing the beams right on the cancer. They had to be so careful to not affect his heart. I hate hearing what you’ve gone through.
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I’m sorry to read about your sister. Genetics is interesting in general, but more so when it comes to personal information. I didn’t know about the blood type connections to cancer. I sigh, of course. I don’t know much about any of my relatives medical histories, let alone blood types. Such things were not discussed back in the day.
Thank you, Ally. 🙏 Interesting that your family didn’t discuss medical histories — maybe they were blessed with good health and didn’t have much to discuss. My maternal relatives were pretty silent sufferers but they couldn’t hide the cancer, on the other hand, my paternal relatives talked about their illnesses in great detail, all the time.
So much about the current administration is so frustrating! All it cares about is keeping the rich rich. Ugh.
I share your abhorrence of ticks. I suffered through a scary case of a tick borne disease called anaplasmosis in 2020 at the height of the Covid shutdown and had a lot of trouble getting seen by doctors and finally diagnosed after days and days of 104 fever. As much as I dislike harsh chemicals, I don’t go for walks anywhere but the sidewalk without DEET. I’ve found it to be the only thing to keep the ticks away.
Sorry to hear about your family history of cancer. I never know that about type A blood. My mom is A and I’m O so it must be a similar situation to your children.
Your photos are gorgeous as always.
Thank you, Karma! Wow, I’ve not heard of anaplasmosis before — it sounds terrible! I’m glad you finally got treated, hopefully in time not to have any complications. I wonder how many people who were spending more time outside during the pandemic got attacked by ticks. Going for walks in the woods then kept us sane. It must have been a nightmare for you trying to find a doctor to see you.
My brother-in-law and my husband’s aunt suffer from chronic Lyme disease, and a friend I made down here has alpha-gal syndrome, a severe food allergy (anaphylactic shock) to red meat, triggered by a tick bite. If I ever decide to go outside in the summer again I will try the DEET, in spite of my reservations about the chemical. I was assured the permethrin would be effective, but apparently not. Sigh.