McQueen's Legacy of Laetrile
By BARRON H. LERNER
Steve McQueen's death 25 years ago this month ended a bizarre drama in which he surreptitiously traveled to Mexico for an unorthodox cancer treatment.?
McQueen's bad boy persona extended back to his teenage years, when he committed several crimes and was sent to reform school. After a stint in the Marines in the early 1950's, he moved to New York to become an actor. His rugged good looks helped him land roles in several plays and eventually a television show, "Wanted: Dead or Alive."
Soon, he was starring in movies like "The Great Escape," "The Thomas Crown Affair" and "Bullitt," often playing the rebel, "a nonconformist and underdog, battling to survive in a hostile society," as The New York Times put it in his obituary.
McQueen first developed a cough in 1978. By the next year, when he was 49, he was having difficulty breathing. Finally, in December 1979, doctors made the diagnosis: mesothelioma, an incurable cancer of the lining of the lungs usually related to asbestos exposure. McQueen, an avid car racer, may have been exposed by wearing racing suits.
His doctors gave him a gloomy prognosis, but they treated him with radiotherapy and chemotherapy to try to shrink the cancer. He kept the diagnosis a secret from all but his closest friends.
But on March 11, 1980, The National Enquirer published an article titled "Steve McQueen's Heroic Battle Against Terminal Cancer." McQueen continued to deny the rumors.
In July 1980, McQueen secretly traveled to Rosarita Beach, Mexico, to be treated by Mexican and American doctors using Dr. Kelley's regimen. He received not only pancreatic enzymes but 50 daily vitamins and minerals, massages, prayer sessions, psychotherapy, coffee enemas and injections of a cell preparation made from sheep and cattle fetuses. McQueen was also given laetrile, a controversial alternative treatment made from apricot pits.
In October, after being tracked down by The National Enquirer, McQueen issued a statement saying he had mesothelioma and was in treatment in Mexico. A week later, Mexican television played an audio message from McQueen in which he said he was recovering. "Mexico is showing the world a new way of fighting cancer through nonspecific metabolic therapies," he said, adding, "Thank you for helping to save my life."
Cancer organizations were horrified, warning that McQueen's supposed recovery was a hoax. One doctor called the treatment "rank quackery." But others wanted to hear what McQueen and his new doctors had to say. At a press conference, one Mexican physician claimed that 85 to 90 percent of his patients had improved with Dr. Kelley's treatment. Twelve patients who said they were cured by Dr. Kelley attended as well.
McQueen's resurrection was short-lived. On Nov. 6, 1980, doctors operated to remove cancerous masses from his abdomen and neck. He withstood the surgery, but he died the next day.
