Need your opinions on best decision for a colon cancer patient

My friend has a big tumor in the rectusigmoid area of the colon that is blocking bowel movement and causing so much pain. Is this an emergency, life threatening situation where immediate surgery to remove the tumor is the only choice?

Now here's the problem. The oncologist decided against surgery because my friend just came out of pneumonia and is too weak to survive surgery. So the oncologist is recommending radiation instead. He advised to do radiation first, then let my friend recover for a month or so, after which surgery would be done. Will radiation really help? Will radiation reduce the size of the tumor to a point that it is no longer immediately life threatening?

On the other hand, if radiation will not really do much to reduce the size of the tumor and alleviate the life threatening condition, it seems that if surgery can be postponed, my friend still has time for alternative treatments to work and shrink the colon safely.

What is the best decision for my friend? Should he go ahead with the radiation and just deal with the side effects later using alternative methods? Or should he skip the radiation and do alternative methods only, but with the risk that the alternative methods might not work fast enough, so his life might be put in danger?

Your valuable opinions would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!
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