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In war against disease, the first martyr is innocence.<br />
≈<br />
<strong>Buddhas</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Bikinis</strong> 46<br />
During Spring 2001, long after Hiroshi’s fight with cancer, Novartis released<br />
Gleevec, a drug to cure acute myelogenous leukaemia. Hailed as a new ‛magic bullet’, it<br />
promised to save over 60,000 lives a year through its ability to specifically target<br />
neoplastic cells without damaging healthy tissue. It was motivated by a promise of $3<br />
billion in profits for share holders. In that same year, a Russian spring, the spin-stabilised<br />
supersonic missile was unveiled by the Moscow military. Hailed as a new ‛smart bomb’, it<br />
predicted an enhanced range of fire, reliability <strong>and</strong> combat efficiency that could easily kill<br />
over 100,000 enemy combatants with a single strike. It was motivated by the KGB’s fears<br />
of Kazakhstan.<br />
In the war against death, the first martyr is hope.<br />
I felt hope slipping through my fingers as I listened to the doctor explaining that<br />
Hiroshi had acute myelogenous leukaemia. He explained that chemotherapy was essential<br />
to survival but Hiroshi refused. She said she wasn’t putting her unborn child at risk, that<br />
chemotherapy was an act akin to Mabiki, the Japanese term for infanticide. I explained to<br />
her she was overreacting, but her face showed her resolve.<br />
‛I refuse,’ she growled. ‛You may as well kill me now!’<br />
After she calmed down, the doctor spoke calmly.<br />
‛You will not survive six months,’ he warned.<br />
‛I don’t care.’<br />
She finally agreed to sign a document to say she agreed on her own undertaking to<br />
refuse any medical treatment.<br />
technique.’<br />
‛This can be managed,’ Hiroshi assured me. ‛Rinpoche will find a meditation
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