Stage IV Cancer: Doctor-Priest Urges Hope, Faith, Palliative Care, Warns Against Miracle Cure Fraud

 

By Abdulahi Musa 

A physician and priest, Rev. Dr. Adefolurin Orekoya, has urged patients and families dealing with Stage IV cancer to balance medical treatment with faith, hope and compassionate care, warning against exploitation by individuals who offer unproven “miracle cures.”

Orekoya, in a reflection on the realities of advanced cancer, said a Stage IV diagnosis was among the most difficult pieces of information a patient and family could receive, stressing that the diagnosis should not automatically be interpreted as an immediate death sentence.

According to him, Stage IV cancer generally means that the disease has spread from its original site to distant parts of the body, but treatment options may still be available depending on the type of cancer, the patient's condition and other clinical factors.

He noted that treatment could include chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, hormonal treatment, radiotherapy, surgery in selected cases and clinical trials.

“Not curable does not mean not treatable,” he said, stressing that when anti-cancer treatment was no longer beneficial, it did not mean that medical care had ended.

He explained that the goal of treatment could shift from attempting to eliminate the disease to managing symptoms, improving quality of life and preserving the patient's dignity.

Orekoya, who spoke from the perspectives of both medicine and the Christian faith, said the delivery of a cancer diagnosis should be handled with honesty, compassion and sensitivity.

He noted that behind every medical diagnosis was a human being who could be a parent, spouse, grandparent, sibling, community leader, employer or friend.

The physician-priest also highlighted the emotional and social impact of cancer on Nigerian families, noting that a diagnosis often mobilised relatives, friends, religious communities and other well-wishers.

He, however, cautioned families against allowing desperation to expose them to fraudulent medical claims.

“There is nothing wrong with seeking a second medical opinion,” he said, adding that another specialist could identify additional treatment options, while pathology reviews or molecular testing could sometimes provide further information.

He warned that the danger arose when legitimate hope became an endless search for people willing to offer comforting assurances without scientific evidence.

According to him, desperate families could be persuaded to abandon conventional treatment, purchase unproven substances or pay large sums of money for supposed secret cures.

Orekoya stressed that faith should not be presented as an alternative to responsible medical care, arguing that prayer and medicine could coexist.

“A person can have extraordinary faith and still die. A person can pray fervently and still require chemotherapy. A person can believe in divine healing and still need medication to control severe cancer pain,” he said.

He further warned religious leaders against using their positions to manipulate vulnerable patients and families.

“A religious title does not make a medical claim true. A testimony is not a clinical trial. A dramatic story is not scientific evidence,” he said.

The cleric also challenged the notion that a patient's failure to recover or eventual death was evidence of inadequate faith.

He argued that Christians could believe in divine healing while accepting medical treatment and acknowledging the limits of medical science.

“Medicine tells us what we can reasonably know. Faith allows us to entrust to God what we cannot know,” he said.

Hope Beyond Cure

Orekoya also called for a broader understanding of hope among patients with advanced cancer, saying hope should not be restricted to the possibility of a cure.

He said hope could include effective pain management, helping a patient return home, spending meaningful time with loved ones, reconciliation, prayer, dignity and freedom from unnecessary suffering.

He equally emphasised the importance of palliative care when curative treatment was no longer beneficial.

According to him, palliative care should not be viewed as abandonment or an indication that doctors have stopped caring.

“Sometimes, caring has become the principal form of treatment,” he said.

He explained that patients could still receive treatment for pain, breathlessness and nausea, as well as psychological, spiritual and family support, even when further anti-cancer treatment was no longer appropriate.

Church Has Role to Play

The physician-priest also urged churches and religious institutions to become sources of truth, compassion and responsible support for families dealing with cancer.

He warned against turning people's desperation into a source of financial or spiritual exploitation.

“The Church must be a sanctuary of truth, compassion and hope — not a marketplace of promises,” he said.

Orekoya urged religious leaders to pray for patients while encouraging them to remain connected to appropriate medical care.

He said the Church should also remain present when prayers did not produce the medical outcome families expected.

“Sometimes the greatest ministry is not preventing death but helping someone discover that they are not alone while walking through the valley of the shadow of death,” he said.

‘When Cure Ends, Care Must Continue’

Orekoya said society must also change its understanding of death, arguing that death should not automatically be regarded as a failure of medicine.

He stressed the importance of ensuring that dying patients were not abandoned, unnecessarily subjected to pain or deprived of dignity.

According to him, families and healthcare professionals should support patients through the final stages of life, allowing opportunities for reconciliation, forgiveness, love, prayer and meaningful companionship.

He concluded that Stage IV cancer should remind society that patients were more than their diagnoses.

“We are not merely bodies fighting disease. We are human beings — fragile, finite, spiritual and profoundly loved,” he said.

He added that while medicine should continue to do what medicine could do and science should illuminate what science could establish, families should be allowed to love, churches to accompany and society to protect vulnerable patients from exploitation.

“Therefore, when medicine reaches its limits, faith does not have to collapse. When treatment ends, love does not end. When cure is no longer possible, care does not end. And when death comes, for the believer, hope does not end,” Orekoya said.

He dedicated the reflection to people living with cancer, families who had lost loved ones to the disease and healthcare professionals who continue to care for cancer patients while delivering difficult truths with compassion.