“Shona Holmes, a Canadian who had to travel to the U.S. to get a life-saving and sight-saving diagnosis of a brain tumor”
This is another Joe The pulmber moment for the GOP. Their claims about Shona Holmes are lies.
From the Mayo Clinics website.
“Dr. Naresh Patel, neurosurgeon, diagnosed Holmes as having a Rathke’s cleft cyst (RCC). The rare, fluid-filled sac grows near the pituitary gland at the base of the brain and eventually can cause hormone and vision problems.”
“Rathke’s Cleft Cysts are not true tumors or neoplasms; instead they are benign cysts. Rathke’s pouch forms as part of normal development and eventually forms the anterior lobe, pars intermedia and pars tuberalis, of the pituitary gland. This pouch normally closes in fetal development, but a remnant often persists as a cleft that lies between the anterior and posterior lobes of the pituitary gland. Occasionally, this remnant enlarges to form a cyst. RCCs can cause pituitary failure, headaches and in some instances, vision loss.”
“Mortality associated with RCCs is extremely rare. In a study conducted by Shin and colleagues, the mortality rate was 0%, and the recurrence rate was 19%.2 In the literature, recurrence rates typically are lower, commonly 5-10%; however, Mukherjee co-authors reported a recurrence rate of 33%.3″
“Shin’s study reported the cumulative rates of recurrence-free survival to be 85% at 5 years, 81% at 10 years, and 81% at 20 years.”
So, let’s sum up. Holmes didn’t have a brain tumor She didn’t even have cancer. And her condition wasn’t deadly. The Canadian health system hadn’t given her a death sentence, as she, her American handlers and the GOP are suggesting — which means that Holmes’s story, is, to use the precise term of art, utter nonsense.
