By Yeong Sek Yee & Khadijah Shaari
Recently, we came across an article by Jessica Richards, a specialist in personal transformation and leadership. The title of the article was most intriguing. “I refused drugs and chemo to battle my breast cancer with fresh vegetable.” You can read the article at the following links: –
b) http://www.naturalnews.com/z036830_breast_cancer_dietary_changes_recovery.html
Alternatively, you can just Google the title of the article.
Subsequently, we bought her book “The Topic of Cancer” which is an inspired and practical guide that will help you take control when faced with cancer. Summarised below are Jessica’s main points of her cancer journey this far: –
Why she refused conventional treatment:
- In May 2007, Jessica was diagnosed with breast cancer with a relatively large tumour up to 3.5cm and was advised that it would require 5 months of aggressive chemotherapy, a partial or total mastectomy, removal of lymph nodes and radiotherapy followed by five years of drugs.
- Jessica visited 3 hospitals…..”I was recommended surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and drugs by three consultants at two different hospitals, but I chose an alternative route”.
- At each hospital, “I found I was automatically booked in for chemotherapy. This is mainly the case with cancer treatment and I understand that it works this way because most people don’t question anything; they just assume that it’s the right way and for the best. Personally I felt like I was just being “processed” like everyone else and was no longer an individual. Most people accept treatment in the belief that it’s the only way. It was assumed that I would just allow it all to happen as if I was part of a computerised process, where my details had been entered and the treatment programme spat out and I was duly expected to sleepwalk through the whole thing.
In the following paragraphs, Jessica described how she decided against chemotherapy:
- I was recommended AC accelerated Taxol chemotherapy
- I asked the Oncologist how my treatment would benefit me, how would it increase my chances of survival. He said it would only increase it by up to 7% compared with the survival chances of not having chemotherapy at all.
- The oncologist also told me that they don’t really have the figures to give accurate answers which surprised me, considering that chemotherapy has, to my knowledge, been used for about fifty years! I then asked how they had decided on my treatment programme, and he told me it was a computer programme. Then I asked him what details were fed into the programme and he told me it was my age, whether I was pre or post-menopausal, and the size and grade of my tumour.
(Please read the addendum at the end of this review for comments by another M.D. on how chemo drugs are selected for patients).
- I asked him why chemotherapy was recommended for me, given the only slightly better chance of survival and the appalling risks associated with the ‘therapy’. He answered that at that particular time where they were trailing the effectiveness of using chemotherapy before surgery rather than after it, in order to shrink the tumour and necessitate less extensive surgery. Apparently, they were hoping to find out whether this increased overall survival levels. In fact, I have since found out that shrinking a tumour with chemotherapy prior to surgery has no impact on survival levels. I need to mention here that in medical terms, ‘survival’ is taken to mean still being alive five years after diagnosis. It doesn’t mean, as one would like to think, that survival means you’re cured and will live happily ever after.
- It seemed I was supposed to accept what I considered to be unreasonable risks to my health simply to keep more of my breast, a purely cosmetic issue, as I saw it. These risks included a depleted immune system, possible tissue damage from chemotherapy leaking out of veins, memory and serious blood disorders such as leukaemia and many other shorter term horrors such as tiredness, muscle aches, eye irritation and hair loss. I told the oncologist that although I didn’t relish losing most of or my entire breast, I was 50 years old and not a 19 year old page three girl, or even death in the hope of ending up with a better pair of jugs was hardly my priority.
- He (the oncologist) agreed that I should think about it very carefully. I then asked the ‘six million dollar question’. “If you were in my situation” I said, “would you accept chemotherapy? “No” was his reply.
(To read more Why Doctors Refuse Chemotherapy, visit the following link: http://www.scribd.com/doc/14150181/Why-Doctors-Do-Not-Take-Chemo or just google the title).
- I walked out of the hospital hugely relieved having made the decision that I was in no way going to submit to chemotherapy, and no-one had given me what I would consider a reasonable or rational explanation as to why I should. The numbers simply didn’t add up and I had no interest in being part of that “trial”.
On researching further, Jessica discovered further information on chemotherapy : –
- What are longer term side effects of chemotherapy? This is a very important question, as you can be left with long term health issues. In my case, I was leaving myself open to a small but nonetheless possible risk of leukaemia associated with Taxol chemotherapy.
- Toxic agents like chemotherapy have to be metabolised by the body in order to eliminate them and this means that they have to be processed by either your liver or kidneys or both, depending on the type of chemotherapy used. This can cause permanent damage to those organs.
- Chemotherapy, in most cases, is designed to bring you to the point of death in order to destroy as much of the cancer as possible.
- Chemotherapy is never recorded as a cause of death. Death of cancer patients is always attributed to cancer.
- After refusing chemotherapy before surgery, Jessica started on the metabolic therapy, which meant an alkaline diet. Within 3 weeks, the tumour changed from an impenetrable, hard, calcified lump to a soft, jelly like mass. Later when they (the doctors at one hospital) completely changed their recommendation from a lumpectomy to a mastectomy with lymph nodes dissection (even though there is now new research to which suggests that lymph node removal does not extend life.) Jessica was particularly pissed when the senior surgeon just told her “Oh, why don’t you just have a mastectomy and get it over with.”
As her father had been a radiographer in a nuclear power station, Jessica learned from an early age of the dangers of radiation, the main one being that “radiation causes cancer” besides : –
- radiation can kill cancer cells but will also cause damage to healthy tissue,
- radiotherapy could cause heart damage, lymphedema (a build-up of lymphatic fluid which is painful, compromises the immune system, and makes one susceptible to infections should that area be scratched in some way) in that arm.
On the subject of Diet and Nutrition, the writer is equally vocal as well. In her opinion and experience, diet and nutrition play the biggest part in recovery from most illnesses.
- When she visited the 3 hospitals…she was told that they didn’t know anything about nutritional advice. One hospital told her that “it made no difference what you ate or drank”
- How can diet be recognised as having an impact on some disease and not others? If you have diabetes, you must address your diet, if you have a heart condition, you will be given dietary advice….but if you have cancer, no such thing happens.” WHY??
- The idea of a specialist cancer diet is to support the immune system and at the same time create a hostile environment to the cancer within the body.
- If you make your decision to use diet as part of your treatment, then take full responsibility and stick to it wholeheartedly. Don’t mess around with it, there are no half measures.
Jessica recommends Ten Things Not to Eat & Why
- Sugar-cancer cells are anaerobic and glucose-receptive which basically means that cancer cells are dependent on sugar rather than oxygen for growth.
- Alcohol--it is actually toxic to the body and is a highly refined form of sugar and may cause DNA damage, which in turn can cause cancer.
- Tea-black tea has an acidic effect on the body
- Yeast cause fermentation in the gut, which in turn creates an acidic environment in the body. Cancer cells as well as yeasts love an acidic environment.
- Fizzy
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- drinks and squashes–these are basically sugar and chemicals. These drinks are often recommended to cancer patients who, because of chemotherapy and other treatments have a much compromised immune system, because there is nothing live contained in them. The thinking behind it is that with such a compromised immune system, a microbe from fresh food or drink could prove life threatening so patients are advised to eat and drink only dead substances.
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- Dairy products create acidity. Not only do milk and cheese create acidity but cheese is also full of microbes which add to the gut problems and acidity. It’s especially not a good idea to ingest dairy products if you have hormonally driven cancer, such as breast or prostate, as dairy products are full of hormones including growth hormones which all milk has in order for the baby animal to grow.
- Jessica recommends Ten Things to Begin Eating and Drinking
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- Water dehydration can have long term devastating effects on health. During some forms of chemotherapy, it’s very important to drink plenty of fluid as the chemotherapy agent is metabolised through the kidneys and therefore the kidneys need to be flushed out with fluid throughout the treatment.
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- Vegetable juice is alkalising, releases and eliminates toxins and provides antioxidants and nutrients directly into the body system.
- Green leafy vegetables–they are alkalising and full of chlorophyll as well as other nutrients and enzymes. Chlorophyll acts as an oxygen carrier of your blood and therefore your red blood cells.
- Whole fruits – which still contain all the fibre. Some are acidic or very high in sugar. Stick to fresh pears, pineapples, papaya and banana.
- Short grain brown rice
- Nuts & seeds, apricot kernels – choose fresh, raw nuts. Avoid roasted, salted or any other kind of processed nuts such as dry roasted. Steer clear of peanuts as they contain microbes which are something to be avoided on a cancer recovery program.
- Lentils & pulses such as beans and chickpeas.
- Green, white & herbal teas.
- Onion and garlic, herbs & spices are packed with powerful antioxidants.
- Fish & meat – choose any fish except farmed fish.
ADDENDUM…. How chemo drugs are decided for cancer patients:
a) In another book, DEFEAT CANCER edited by Connie Strasheim, a medical doctor, Dr Juergen Winkler, MD who practises integrative oncology, has this to say:
“There’s a strong fraternal order among doctors and it’s especially strong among oncologists. Most oncologists are very ‘cookbook like’ in their treatments of patients. They have a regimented way of doing things, with no in-betweens. They have a book that they use to look up chemotherapy treatments for their patients, called the “ Guide to Chemotherapeutic Regimens.” When prescribing a regimen, they just calculate their patients’ weight and body surface area, and from those, determine what their treatments should be. That’s how conventional medicine treats patients” (page 153)
b) In the same book, Dr Martin Dayton, MD, DO licensed and Board Certified osteopathic physician and surgeon in Florida, has this to comment: “Chemotherapy drugs selected empirically and based on the results of clinical trials, using limited patient specific data (tumour size, site, and metastasis) induce positive responses (in patients) only 30 percent of the time” (page 206)”
NB: Dr Dayton quoted the above from the book PHARMACOGENICS by Dr Kalow Werner published in 2001.
In summary, Jessica Richards (diagnosed in 2007) did not submit herself to surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy or hormonal therapy at all. Is she still alive? Yes, very much so. Would you have done the same thing? We would like to hear from you.
ISBN NO: 978-0-9570644-0-9
Website: www.jessicarichards.co.uk
Email: jessica@jessicarichards.co.uk
FURTHER REFERENCES:
Jessica Richards obviously did a lot of reading and research before she decided against chemotherapy, radiotherapy or hormonal therapy. For further reading on breast cancer and its treatment, we recommend the following books:-
1) Breast Cancer: The Herbal Option by Dr Chris Teo (ISBN NO. 978-983259-0231)
2) Breast Cancer: What You Should Know (But May Not Be Told) About Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment by Steve Austin, N.D. and Cathy Hitchcock (ISBN NO: 1-55858-362-2)
3) What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Breast Cancer by Dr John Lee, M.D.
(ISBN NO: 0-446-67980)
4) The Truth About Breast Health, Breast Cancer by Dr Charles B. Simone, M.D.
(ISBN No. 0-9714574-0-9)
5) The Complete Natural Medicine Guide to Breast Cancer by Dr Dharam Kaur, N.D.
(ISBN No. 0-7788-0083-0)
6) Waking The Warrior Goddess by Dr Christine Horner, M.D. (ISBN No. 1-59120-155-1)
7) My Healing From Breast Cancer by Dr Barbara Joseph, MD
(ISBN 0-87983-711-x)
8) Your Life in Your Hands by Professor Jane Plant (ISBN 1-85227-809-9)
9) Choosing to Heal by Janet Edwards (ISBN 978-1-905857-00-5)
10) A Cancer Battle Plan by Anne Frahm and David Frahm (ISBN: 0-87477-893-x)
11) Knockout – Interviews with Doctors who are Curing Cancer by Suzanne Somers
(ISBN NO: -978-0-307-58746-6)
12) The Breast Cancer Wars by Dr Barron H. Lerner, MD (ISBN No: 0-19-516106-8)
13) Enough Already – The Overtreatment of Early Breast Cancer by George Goldberg
(ISBN No: 0-9651453-3-8)
14) You Did What? Saying No to Conventional Cancer Treatment by Hollie and Patrick Quinn
(ISBN No: 978-0-692-00904-8)
15) A Lighter Side to Cancer by Sandra Miniere (ISBN NO : 978-0615642710)
WHEN YOU ARE ONLINE, YOU MAY WISH TO READ THE FOLLOWING:
1) www.drday.com (This is the website of Dr Lorraine Day, MD….read why she refuse chemotherapy and radiotherapy after the removal of her cancerous breast tumour).
2) Does Chemo for Breast Cancer cause more harm than good?
3) Chemotherapy can make cancers more resistant to treatment and even encourage them to grow. Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2184277/Chemotherapy-
encourage-cancer-growth.html
4) Taxol can cause Tumour Cell Release Link : http://forums.imaginis.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=459
5) Taxol Doesn’t Treat Common Breast Cancer http://her2support.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=30492
NB: THERE ARE A LOT MORE OF SUCH INFORMATION ON THE INTERNET….BE MORE CREATIVE IN YOUR GOOGLING LIKE:
a) Chemotherapy Spreads the Cancer.
b) Anti-Cancer Drugs make Tumours More Deadly.
c) Why Chemo Kills.
d) How effective is Chemotherapy/Radiotherapy.
e) How toxic is Chemotherapy/Radiotherapy.
OF COURSE, YOUR ONCOLOGIST/DOCTOR WILL ADVISE YOU NOT TO TRUST THE INTERNET…. (ONLY THEIR ADVICE/INFO CAN BE TRUSTED). HOWEVER THERE ARE A LOT OF OTHER BOOKS WRITTEN BY DOCTORS/ONCOLOGISTS….SOME OF THESE ARE:
1) THE COMPASSIONATE ONCOLOGIST by Dr James W. Forsythe, MD, HMD…..read what cancer specialists don’t want you to know.
2) MONEY DRIVEN MEDICINE by Dr David K Cundiff, MD…..read about the effectiveness of chemotherapy for Non-responsive cancers
3) NATURAL STRATEGIES FOR CANCER PATIENTS by Dr Russell Blaylock, MD…..Chapter 3 is entitled Chemotherapy: Poisoning Cancer (and You).
4) WHAT YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CANCER by Dr. Robert Buckman in collaboration with specialists at The MD Anderson Cancer Centre, Texas. (read Chapter 9–With So Many Breakthroughs, Why is There No Progress?) .
5) THE END OF ILLNESS by Dr David B Agus, MD…..read about the effectiveness of chemotherapy by this prominent oncologist.
6) THE ENZYME FACTOR by Dr Hiromi Shinya, MD….read why anti- cancer drugs do not cure cancer
7) FIGHTING CANCER WITH KNOWLEDGE AND HOPE by Dr Richard Frank, MD….read an oncologist’s explanation on why chemotherapy and targeted therapies may not work.
8) A WORLD WITHOUT CANCER by Dr Margaret L Cuomo,MD…..read her expose on Poisons: The Limits of Anti-Cancer Drugs.
CANCER STORY 
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