Last updated on 2018.04.20
Crazy Horse shouted the battle cry, "Hoka hey!" meaning "It's a good day to die!" (Crazy Horse stole that from the Klingons.) Oglala Sioux activist Russell Means need not shout that today... but he can shout whatever he wants, in Lakota, English, or Klingon, now that his throat cancer has disappeared:
In a Dec. 8 telephone interview from his seasonal home in Scottsdale, Means spoke in a clear, robust voice — a stark contrast to his last Native Sun News interview in August, when his tones were made fragile and husky by the disease.
"I won the battle, man &ndash I'm cancer-free," he declared victoriously. "The doctor told me the day before yesterday that "˜Mr. Means, you will not die of cancer'."
The triumph in Means' voice was unmistakable.
Means, an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, partially attributes his amazing recovery to the outpouring of support &ndash in the form of supplication — from all of the multifaceted corners of the globe.
"I beat it with prayer — prayer from all over the world from all the different disciplines," he said.
"And Indian prayer," Means added. "Indian prayer and Indian medicine," he said, in referencing his primary spiritual and cultural connection to his Lakota brethren [Jesse Abernathy, "Russell Means: 'I Won the Battle, Man'," Native Sun News via Buffalo Post, 2011.12.14].
No word yet on whether Means has sent his prescription to former adversary and fellow cancer patient Bill Janklow.
Old news. Here's the MDR story from October:
http://www.republicoflakotah.com/2011/russell-means-says-he%E2%80%99s-beating-throat-cancer/
And Means and Janklow met in the 1960s, when Bill was a bartender and Russell danced for tips outside a West River bar/restaurant owned by future senator Jim Abourezk. Amazing, huh?
Means and Janklow were close friends once and still have a high regard for each other, as both have told me. Janklow also pardoned Means back in the 1990s.
Life is complex.
Heap big humbug.
Means also has said he used an advanced radiation system (TomoTherapy) to attack the cancer.
TomoTherapy is a Madison, WI, based company in which I invested and lost a few thousand dollars. I don't think the company has ever been profitable, yet it's saved countless lives. I guess prayer is cheaper.