Selma Blair was asked to 'make plans for death' before chemotherapy treatment for multiple sclerosis
Almost a year after Selma Blair discovered that she had multiple sclerosis, she found that she was 'out of options' to relieve the excruciating pain because of the condition. While on a panel at the TIME 100 Health Summit in New York City, the actress shared that she had been encouraged to try a stem cell transplant as well as an "aggressive" course of chemotherapy. She said, "I had no intention of doing it, I was like, I’m not ruining my body, what’s left of it."
"Why would I put this horrible drug, chemotherapy, in me? I don’t have cancer. But I was kind of out of options and I was looking," she continued. Blair had been given a microdose of chemotherapy before the stem cell transplant and experienced "some relief".
That was enough to convince her to go through with the treatment. "I was warned. You kind of make your plans for death, [and] I told my son I was doing this and he said he wanted me cremated. I had more chemo than they usually do for cancer patients because they almost kill you," she shared.
"And it’s the stem cell that allows you to live with that amount of chemo. The chemo is the MS cure, if it does in fact happen," she continued.
Blair is currently recovering but feels like she has not made it to the other side just yet. "I haven’t talked about it much yet because I wanted to show everyone that the proof is in the pudding, but my pudding is still kind of scrambled. I don’t want to scare people away," she shared. She is also waiting for her hair to grow back but says that it is not a big concern.
She added that her dream was to lie next to her son at night and be there as long as she could.