The desire to live

A common phenomenon is that when half of a couple who have been together for a long time dies, the other also dies soon after.

The usual, romantic explanation is that they loved each other so much that they couldn’t live without each other.

He or she died of a ‘broken heart’, ‘could not live alone’, ‘depended on their spouse’.

Is there a correlation between the death of one spouse and the subsequent death of the other shortly after?

The hypothesis is that the desire to live may have some effect on the immune system. The brain that is in control of our body may have a shutdown mechanism, which is activated in certain cases. Those cases are similar to fatal accidents or certain diseases, where the brain knows that it will not be able to cope. This mechanism can control “suicide cells”.

In recent years, suicide cells or what scientists define as programmed cell death (PCD) have formed the basis of ongoing biogenetic research. PCD is the death of a cell mediated by an intracellular program.

There are three main types of PCD. Type I cell death is called apoptosis. Type II is autophagic and type III is necrotic cell death.

Cells can die from harmful agents or be instructed to commit suicide. If there is a threat to the integrity of an organism by certain cells, PCD is needed to destroy those cells.

Typical examples of such cases are: virus-infected cells, DNA damage, immune system cells, and cancer cells.

In certain types of cancer cells, apoptosis is triggered by radiation or the chemicals used for therapy.

What makes a cell decide to commit suicide?

The author believes that it is the imbalance between the positive and negative signals that the brain sends.

If there is a lack of the positive signals (no desire to live) necessary for survival and / or negative signals are sent meaning ‘no desire to continue living’, the shutdown mechanism can be activated.

There have been numerous case reports where patients miraculously recovered after being clearly diagnosed with cancer. This phenomenon can be explained by the activation of the PCD mechanism by positive signals of the ‘desire to live’.

In some cases, viruses that are associated with cancers can use tricks, such as making a protein that inactivates the apoptosis signal. In such cases, the cancer cells will not only continue to live and proliferate, they will become more resistant to apoptosis. A greater understanding of those tricks and decoy molecules generated to protect cancer cells would allow researchers to reactivate and overcome those protective tricks to destroy dangerous cancer cells.

The author also believes that future research on the destruction and elimination of cancer cells could be implemented in two phases. The first phase would be to distinguish, mark and identify cancer cells. In phase two, the goal would be to activate suicide cells in the selected area or group of cells and avoid the existing protection of cancer cells.

Strong psychological and family support is essential for such recovery. In addition, the patient must believe and hope for a healthy and bright future.