Conrad Roland, Hawaiian member self-treating melanoma

[Saul]

Hi ALL!

I was just curious about Conrad Roland, a Hawaiian member, who used to post prolifically to the former email lists, and continued, mostly as a lurker, on the forums.

He was self-treating a case of melanoma, a skin cancer.

Does anyone have any information about him?

  --  Saul

[TomBAvoider]

I remember him - I recall him being a bit ornery :)

"self-treating" - oh boy. I think it's fine to engage in healthy behaviors and cancer suppression tactics like low cal no sugar diet and exercise. But melanoma can be a deadly cancer. IMHO, in that case I would look to conventional medial treatment (in addition to the healthful behaviors I mentioned above). 

Lighter skinned folks in very sunny climates have to watch for skin cancer - I've had a bout myself, a single BCC in 2011, fortunately, it was very small. I didn't fool around with self-treamtment, I had it surgically removed. Since then I have had regular full skin checkups, because if you've had one, odds rise dramatically you'll have more down the line and even more aggressive things like melanoma are a higher risk. Fortunately for me, thus far I have not had any recurrence of any skin cancer since 2011, but the second something is found I'm having it treated pronto. YMMV. 

I hope he's OK. Odds of skin cancer diagnosis rise the older you get - as I seem to remember he was in his 70's back when he was active. I wish him the best.

[Dean Pomerleau]

6 hours ago, Saul said:

Does anyone have any information about him?

The last time I communicated with Conrad was in 2016 when I invited him to the Costa Rica retreat we were organizing. He wasn't doing great then (at age 80), dealing with intestinal issues (he suspected ulcerative colitis) and respiratory problems which he attributed to 40+ years of smoking and living too close to an active volcano. He didn't mention skin cancer then. I haven't heard from him since. I too hope he's hanging in there. I'm going to email him at the address I have and I'll post if I hear back from him. Saul you can email me if you want his address.

--Dean

[gombo2]

38 minutes ago, Dean Pomerleau said:

The last time I communicated with Conrad was in 2016 when I invited him to the Costa Rica retreat we were organizing. He wasn't doing great then (at age 80), dealing with intestinal issues (he suspected ulcerative colitis) and respiratory problems which he attributed to 40+ years of smoking and living too close to an active volcano. He didn't mention skin cancer then. I haven't heard from him since. I too hope he's hanging in there. I'm going to email him at the address I have and I'll post if I hear back from him. Saul you can email me if you want his address.

--Dean

Since what age did he have CR?

[Dean Pomerleau]

My email to Conrad bounced. 🙁

--Dean 

[Dean Pomerleau]

Sadly, Conrad apparently died in September at age 86.

https://www.dodomortuary.com/obituary/conrad-roland

RIP.

--Dean 

[Gordo]

Don't know what he died from, but hope it wasn't the cancer he was self treating. Didn't Steve Jobs do something similar? 

[Capitao Nascimento]

Steve Jobs died at a very young age 56 years and less than 90 for a CRONIE I think little but if you start after 70 you will have a good chance of dying before that about 40-50%.

[mccoy]

7 hours ago, Gordo said:

Didn't Steve Jobs do something similar? 

AFAIK Steve Jobs tried a fruitarian diet to cure his cancer. There is a vid of Dr. McDougall explaining in detail the probable causes of Jobs' death.

 

 

 

[Dean Pomerleau]

15 minutes ago, mccoy said:

AFAIK Steve Jobs tried a fruitarian diet to cure his cancer. There is a vid of Dr. McDougall explaining in detail the probable causes of Jobs' death.

I'm not sure a video by Dr. McDougall is the best source for insights about Steve Jobs' cancer and cause of death. This paper discusses his case and its implications:

Many journalists mentioned and even focused on Jobs’ initial decision to forego conventional treatments and instead use complementary and alternative medical (CAM) therapies, including acupuncture, botanicals, and dietary changes (Grady, 2011). This was chronicled in his biography and corroborated via interviews with his friends and colleagues (Isaacson, 2011). However, what many journalists failed to note is that the evidence supporting any specific conventional treatment approach (surgery, chemotherapy, for [Jobs' type of pancreatic cancer] comprises a slim literature, and the evidence base for use of CAM therapeutic approaches for [Jobs' type of pancreatic cancer] is virtually non-existent. After a delay of nine months after diagnosis, in 2004, Jobs opted for surgery. He died 7 years later.

...

It is unknown whether Jobs’ outcomes would have been different if he had pursued surgery at the time of his diagnosis, or if had followed a specific chemotherapy protocol. And it is unknown how effective any of his acupuncture, botanical and dietary approaches may have been before or after his surgery.

--Dean

[TomBAvoider]

Here's a bit more info about Conrad Roland:

https://peoplepill.com/people/conrad-roland/

[Saul]

Nice biography.

[Gordo]

That's awesome that he devoted so much time and energy to making kids happy (playground equipment).

[keithsct]

Sad to hear of his passing.  I remember him telling of how he used to run around the outside of his place in HI (pineapple farm?) for exercise about 8 years ago and his desire to reverse the effects of his smoking and other prior lifestyle habits.  RIP

[Mechanism]

Sad to hear the news. While death is inevitable, our daily choices do much to impact the quality of our lives while we are here.