McCarthy wrong choice for cancer fundraiser

Re: Cancer fundraiser defends headliner choice, Jan. 30.

With Jenny McCarthy no longer hosting the Bust A Move charity fundraiser, I think the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation should have replaced her with comedian Tom Green.

McCarthy’s misguided views on autism and vaccinations are shameful and detrimental to the good health that the Bust A Move event promotes. Tom Green is an Ottawa native and cancer survivor who has never spoken out against the medical community and does not own a hyperbaric oxygen chamber. I also think Tom leading a workout would have been fun and hilarious.

This native son would have been a far better role model than the initial choice of McCarthy and her vaccination quackery.

TRISTAN MAACK, Ottawa

Organizers misguided

The organizers of Bust a Move Ottawa were misguided in initially selecting Jenny McCarthy for their event in support of the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation. This amazing group of volunteers is poised to raise almost half a million dollars at this event. They can do better.

Though McCarthy is pretty, her views on science, including immunization, do not align with those of the cancer care and research community. I feel McCarthy does not resonate with smart, young women.

Perhaps the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation should have initially considered that the word “research” appears several times in their mission statement. I am certain this refers to scientific research and not research at “the University of Google” from which McCarthy seems to boast she has a degree. The OCRF can now show respect to all the researchers who work so diligently for its cause instead of aligning with a pseudo-science peddler who actively campaigns against the most effective known preventive measure against cervical cancer (the HPV vaccine) and immunization in general, which is so important to protect patients undergoing radiation and chemotherapy.

Whether or not she was to speak about her views directly at the event, I believe hiring her spoke volumes. I’m glad it was not too late for the foundation to switch gears with a different celebrity headliner.

LIISA VEXLER, Ottawa

Defend yourselves Re: Reconsider host choice, Jan. 31.

Letter-writer Halden Johnson is a cancer survivor, and has good feelings about vaccinations. I had two friends who were cancer survivors, but due to circumstances, both have died.

The first was advised to have another course of chemo to make sure that all of the cancer was gone. He was never as good as he had been then, and went steadily downhill. The other, was advised to take Celebrex for arthritis that was bothering him terribly. He was free of arthritis pain, but died of heart failure within 10 days.

I was to have dental surgery in October. I had given a list of my allergies to the office, and was given a prescription for a drug that was one of the ones I was allergic to. My wife caught it, and I didn’t use antibiotics.

The message here is the same as Jenny McCarthy gives in her book. There is so much information around these days that we should do like the referee tells the boxers to do, “Defend yourselves at all times.”

MIKE NEWTON, Ottawa