Prior to his cancer diagnosis in April of 1991, the public knew Michael Landon as the
strong father figure that he portrayed on the classic television series Little House
on the Prairie.
The star announced his diagnosis to the public a month later with a press conference and
attempted to make light of the illness.
According to Michael, he eschewed chemotherapy in order to undergo alternative treatments.
Sadly, the actor passed away within the year.
Join Facts Verse as we explore why Michael Landon refused chemotherapy.
Michael Landon’s Cancer Diagnosis In May of 1991, Little House on the Prairie
fans were petrified when Michael Landon announced during a press conference that he had been
diagnosed with cancer.
The diagnosis had occurred just a month prior, in April.
The star revealed a great many candid things about his battle with the illness, which at
that point had only been going on for a short period of time.
In that short period of time, Michael had allegedly undergone early chemotherapy treatments
before deciding to opt out of chemotherapy altogether.
Michael Landon Was Scared of Chemotherapy According to Michael Landon, the actor underwent
a few small doses of chemotherapy but became averse to the treatment before it came time
to start getting bigger doses.
Because of this, his chemotherapy treatment came to an end completely.
However, that doesn’t mean that the star had given up his battle against cancer.
Instead, Michael was dedicating all of his time to alternative treatments that he thought
might have a better success rate than the oftentimes-unsuccessful chemotherapy.
At the point that Michael’s cancer had progressed to, the doctors claimed that there was only
a 1% chance chemotherapy would work.
Michael Landon claimed during his press conference that his first few doses of chemotherapy treatment
had been akin to him testing the waters with his toe, and he apparently didn’t much like
the temperature!
Although he claimed that he didn’t feel any adverse side effects from the few smalls
doses that he took during the minor amount of time that he was undergoing treatment,
he said that he became afraid of chemotherapy anyways.
Michael also claimed that the bigger chemotherapy doses featured things in them that the smaller
ones didn’t, and those were the things that tore up patients’ bodies.
At the end of the day, the actor decided that the invasive chemotherapy treatments weren’t
worth the 1% increased chance of surviving his cancer diagnosis.
Although Michael Landon didn’t attribute the feelings to the chemotherapy itself, the
actor claimed that the fear of undergoing the treatment began to become so strong that
it was making him more ill than cancer.
Chemotherapy certainly isn’t a walk in the park, but neither is a fight with a terminal
illness!
While Michael made the decision that he was no longer going to undergo chemotherapy treatments,
that didn’t mean that he was going to surrender to the disease that was afflicting him.
At the time that Michael put on his press conference, he seemed incredibly passionate
about the series of alternative treatments that he was undergoing in the wake of giving
up chemotherapy.
Michael Tried Numerous Alternative Therapies Michael Landon claimed that the thought of
injecting himself with deadly chemicals in order to combat his cancer was simply too
much to bear, so he wanted to seek out less dangerous methods of treatment that could
potentially be just as effective.
The actor tried out a great many things in order to fight his cancer, including making
major changes to both his lifestyle habits and his diet.
He began working out and playing tennis more, and also began eating copious amounts of fruits
and vegetables.
In addition to these lifestyle and diet changes, Michael also looked for a solution to his
woes by using alternative therapies such as acupuncture and meditation.
Another treatment that Michael claimed to swear by was the coffee enema, which, he shared
with the reporters at his press conference, is one of the best ways in the world to treat
intestinal irritation.
Michael also added that the coffee he used for his enemas was certified organic.
He Drank 13 Glasses of Juice a Day Before His Death
When it came to eating his fruits and vegetables in the wake of his cancer diagnosis, Michael
Landon wasn’t simply content to consume a mere salad a day.
Instead, the actor arguably took it overboard by consuming what he claimed to be over a
dozen glasses of juice a day.
Michael Landon’s preferred juice allegedly consisted of apples, carrots, and beets.
He joked during the press conference that the massive amounts of carrot juice that he
was ingesting was making him turn orange.
Sadly, it seems that this juice consumption wasn’t enough to make the star’s cancer
go away.
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The Actor Sought Advice from Cancer Survivors In order to get ideas for alternative treatments
and lifestyle changes that might help him overcome his diagnosis of pancreatic and liver
cancer, Michael Landon claims to have tracked down numerous surviving cancer patients that
had managed to overcome the illness using one method or another.
Michael was apparently able to get in touch with numerous people who had successfully
recovered from the disease, and he used what he learned from them when developing his own
cancer-fighting routines.
However, the actor claimed that the more he found out from these various cancer survivors,
the more he was unsure about any specific cancer treatment working more than another.
According to him, it seemed that the efficacy of the various treatments being espoused by
the survivors was largely situational.
Michael Tried Everything and the Kitchen Sink (Almost)
Perhaps as a result of being unsure which treatments were going to work and which ones
weren’t, Michael Landon seems to have taken the everything-and-the-kitchen-sink approach
in his efforts to ward off his pancreatic and liver cancer during the final months of
his life.
Michael was willing to try out just about any idea that came his way, but there were
apparently some places where he drew the line.
Beyond seeking out the advice of surviving cancer patients, Michael Landon also often
received unsolicited advice from fans in the wake of his revelation to the public that
he had been diagnosed.
However, it seems that the majority of this advice didn’t meet the standards of the
star.
Before his death, Michael made fun of one fan who had written him a letter suggesting
that he go swimming with dolphins in the hopes that their sonar cries would destroy his disease.
While Michael Landon was apparently willing to try out coffee enemas and visualization
sessions where he would simply sit around and imagine his cancer leaving, he wasn’t
willing to try out swimming with the dolphins.
Perhaps swimming with the dolphins could’ve been the one thing that would have managed
to save the beloved television star!
Michael Had Three Wives and Nine Kids In the months following Michael's diagnosis
and leading up to his death, the actor spent the majority of his time on his ranch with
his wife and children.
That ranch was in Malibu, California, and the wife that was by Michael's side at the
time of his death was his third.
The star had nine children over the course of his life and had a propensity for cheating
on his wives.
In fact, both of Michael's subsequent wives following his first were mistresses that whom
he had cheated on the prior one with.
At the time of his death, the iconic actor was just 54.
The Actor Tried to Stay in Good Spirits Besides Little House on the Prairie, the public
had also known Michael Landon for his performances in the television series Bonanza and Highway
to Heaven.
The actor was certainly a beloved star, and he was also a creative force behind the scenes.
Michael had been a producer on Little House on the Prairie, and it had been much more
than his performance as the character of Pa Ingalls that had made the television series
such a massive success.
In addition to the aforementioned press conference wherein Michael Landon personally called a
handful of reporters to his ranch and declared his cancer diagnosis to them, the actor also
announced his diagnosis subsequently on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
During the press conference and the television appearance, Michael was in good spirits and
had a sense of humor about his cancer diagnosis.
The actor had also claimed that much of the pain that he had been experiencing around
the time of his diagnosis had gone away in the wake of him starting his numerous alternative
therapies.
However, things would quickly take a dark turn and he would die shortly afterward.
Michael Had a Miniscule Chance of Surviving Regardless
While the story of Michael Landon refusing chemotherapy and dying almost immediately
afterward looks bad and might make current cancer patients averse to the notion of alternative
therapies, it’s important to remember that Michael’s cancer had progressed a great
deal by the time that the actor was diagnosed and that there was very little chance of him
surviving regardless of what he did.
It’s certainly funny to insinuate that coffee enemas may have been the culprit in the actor
dying so suddenly after his diagnosis, but the fact of the matter is that Michael had
simply fallen victim to a disease that there was very little chance of him ever getting
the upper hand on at that point.
Did Little House on the Prairie Kill Michael Landon?
In the many decades since Michael Landon’s passing from cancer in 1991, some have speculated
that the actor may have gotten cancer as a result of working on the set of Little House
on the Prairie.
The reasoning is that Little House on the Prairie was filmed on a location where there
had been a partial nuclear-reactor meltdown in the late 1950s.
Although it may have seemed foolish for Michael Landon to give up his chemotherapy, there
was only a 1% chance of him surviving his cancer with the treatment and he decided that
chance wasn’t worth the invasive therapy.
Now it’s time to hear from you: did you know that Michael Landon drank 13 glasses
of juice a day in the months leading up to his death and that the actor was a big fan
of coffee enemas?
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