YB is a 52-year old lady. About three and a half years ago she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a mastectomy in Kuala Lumpur. It was a triple negative tumour. YB went to Singapore for follow up treatments. She received 6 cycles of chemo using FEC. Then she had 12 more cycles of chemo using Taxol and Carboplatin. No radiation was indicated.
When YB started chemo, she also took our herbs and took care of her diet. The side effects she suffered was much less compared to others. She was alright after the chemo treatment.
Unfortunately things did not turn out right. YB took a trip home to Kuala Lumpur (she was staying in Singapore) to visit relatives. She felt dizzy and started to vomit. Her condition deteriorated. Whenever she moved her head, she would feel dizzy or had severe headaches and would start to vomit. She had to lie down. As long as she did not move her head, she was okay.
YB did a CT scan and MRI. There were tumours in her brain.
YB’s daughter wrote: 11 January 2014.
Dear Dr Chris,
My mother has a relapse of her cancer to the brain. MRI shows 3 lesions in her brain. One of them is approximately 3 cm which caused swelling and subsequently dizziness, vomiting and headache. Meanwhile, she’s been given steroid to reduce the swelling. We are planning to see you right after the full report is out.
12 January 2014::
Dear Dr Chris,
CT scan result is out and it seems that the primary tumor is from the left lung. However, my mom has not suffered any symptoms or difficulties with breathing.
What would you do if she was your mother and given the following details?
1. The neurosurgeon suggested surgery to remove the big tumour in her brain. According to him, the two small tumours cannot be removed surgically and YB has to undergo radiotherapy. Surgery would cost SGD6,500 and radiation cost SGD 2,000 to 3,000 (foreigner’s rate. Singapore citizen pay much less).
2. Can surgery cure her brain cancer? The surgeon said, NO, the tumour will recur. Because of that YB has to go for radiation. Whatever it is the family was told that YB will eventually die.
3. Did the doctor indicate how long your mom could survive? The surgeon said this,
a. If patient does nothing and is only on steroid, she has 2 months to live.
b. If patient undergoes chemotherapy and radiotherapy, she has 6 to 7 months to live.
c. If patient undergoes surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, she has 6 to 7 months plus 3 months.
According to the surgeon these are based on statistics and also on the assumption the surgery goes not well without any complications.
What does the family want to do now? Everybody in the family decided to give up further medical treatment. They would rather go on herbs.
Did the doctor give you such information out front? No. We have to ask questions after questions and we get answers bit by bit. Nothing is laid out neatly like the above.
Comments:
Bravo to patient empowerment! For you to make a decision you need honest answers. You do not get honest answers if you dare not ask! So patients, learn how to ask questions. Don’t just be satisfied with just an answer! Ask and ask, dig and dig until you are satisfied. This is because it is your life and you have to bear the consequences of that intervention not your doctors.
After you get the answers, use your common sense to make your decision. Follow what your heart says.
It seems very clear. If doctors give honest answers … about surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy … the chances are high the patients will “run away”!
What would you do if you are told that chemotherapy spreads and makes cancer more aggressive?
What would you do if you are told the following about radiotherapy?
Radiation makes cancer more aggressive.
Radiation reprogrammed less malignant breast cancer cells into Induced Breast Cancer Stem Cells (iBCSCs). This explains radiotherapy actually enriches the tumor population with higher levels of treatment-resistant cells. Researchers UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center said radiation treatment killed half of the tumor cells treated. The surviving cells are resistant to treatment and become iBCSCs. They were up to 30 times more likely to form tumorsthan the non-irradiated breast cancer cells.
Radiation gives a the false appearance that the treatment is working, but actually increases the ratio of highly malignant to benign cells within that tumor, eventually leading to treatment-induced death of the patient.
When an award–winning investigative journalist, Loretta Schwartz-Nobel was assigned to investigate the epidemic surges in autism, birth defects, breast and lung cancers, asthma and clusters of other illnesses in cities and towns in the US, it began a chain of research that opened up to a frightening world of hidden contamination in the US and around the world.
Poisoned Nation links the soaring epidemics of cluster illness to the chemical contamination of water, air, food and everyday products for the profit and power of a reckless few. With irrefutable evidence and moving personal stories of the sick and dying, it shows how the government operates in tandem with America’s most notorious polluters, and how they have deceived the public, buried evidence of spreading disease, and suppressed critical scientific data. Poisoned Nation also traces the relationships between organizations whose products cause diseases and those who profit from diagnosing and treating them, as well as their efforts to avoid research into environmental causes and possible cures
The book exposed the conspiracy of corrupt politicians, negligent regulators and greedy industry leaders covering up the epidemic of poisoned food, water and air that, the author claims, is filling up the hospitals, killing children and spreading cancer, birth defects, autism and leukemia.
One particular area the author explored and exposed was the cluster of cancers (specifically leukemia) at most of the military camps in the US. At Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, she discovered that quite a number of children of the marines stationed there died from acute lymphocytic leukemia, which is known to be caused by either radiation exposure or drinking contaminated water.
Schwartz-Nobel learned that for years the military had dumped highly toxic chemicals into trenches within feet of the base’s drinking-water wells. Elsewhere, crops including apples, potatoes, and spinach, raised on farms downstream from factories, were tested positive for carcinogenic chemicals in toxic amounts. Contaminated ground water just keeps moving and the contamination of ground water means the contamination of water everywhere.
(So, how safe is Malaysia’s Lynas project??).
The initial chapters of the book dealt with the dangers of contaminated ground water which goes on to form toxins in foods with the constant use of pesticides and herbicides that are sprayed on the grass or vegetables. Sometimes, the vegetables even acts as a concentrator to these chemicals.
Scientists had long feared that these chemicals could end up in and perhaps even be concentrated in breast milk. In fact, in July 2005, a renowned non-profit organization known as the Environmental Working Group conducted a study on newborn babies in US hospitals. They found 287 industrial chemicals and pollutants in the umbilical cord blood taken from a sample of ten babies. These chemicals included pesticides, flame-retardants, chemicals from non-stick cooking pans and plastics. On average, each baby has been exposed to 200 chemicals even before they were born.
Successive chapters in the book dealt with mercury as an airborne pollutant, and its role in the association between vaccinations and autism; and breast cancer in US women and the role of toxic compounds in the environment, and mammography-derived radiation, in causing this disease.
Despite a global ban on methyl bromide, an acutely toxic chemical known to cause devastating birth defects, it is still being sprayed on Christmas trees, fruits, and vegetables sold in America. The EPA has refused to reveal the extent of methyl bromide’s use and the country’s stored supply of the product.
The soaring epidemic of autism could not have taken place without the cooperation of drug companies, the government, scientists, and health officials. The worldwide poisoning of children during routine vaccinations continues today, especially in Third World countries.
Many doctors and scientists have proven that the increase in autism is directly linked to the number of scheduled vaccinations babies received. Many of the vaccines contain a mercury additive called thimerosal, a dangerous, highly toxic preservative that stops contamination of vaccines and preserves shelf life at very low cost to drug manufacturers.
(In America, short-term profits are valued over life)
These drug manufacturers knew from the start that its products could cause damage or even death in both animals and humans and that….”mercury in the form of thimerosal was 50 times more toxic to susceptible infants than mercury from the consumption of fish was to young children.”
Injected mercury is more toxic than injested mercury. There is no blood-brain barrier in infants, so mercury accumulates in brain cells and nerves. Finally, infants under 6 months do not produce bile, which is necessary to excrete mercury. Mercury in thimerosal is stored in the gut, liver, and brain and…becomes very tightly bound to the cells
(NB: All mothers with newly born babies or expecting mothers should read more about vaccinations).
In Chapter 6, The Breast Cancer Industry, we learn that:
The FDA allows thousands of cosmetic hair dyes and personal-care products known to contain carcinogens to remain unregulated and to be sold daily to millions of American men, women, and children even as links with cancer have been clearly established.
A wide range of personal care products, including shampoos, hair conditioners, cleansers, lotions, and creams, are dangerously contaminated with intense concentrations of the highly volatile 1,4 dioxane (a solvent), which is classified as a human carcinogen.
The American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute have long known that mammograms used for diagnosis actually increase the risk of breast cancer, especially in younger women, yet they continue to recommend this diagnostic method. As Barbara Brenner, an activist and breast cancer survivor explained….mammograms do not prevent cancer. At best, they find it and at worst, they cause it. Mammography screening is a profit driven technology creating risks that are compounded by unreliability.
…drug companies, in addition to profiting from cancer treatment drugs, sometimes also produce toxic chemicals that may be contributing to the high rates of cancer (in US) and increasing rates throughout the world.
In Chapter 7, The New Lung Cancer Pandemic, we catch a glimpse into how the tobacco industry’s marketing strategies work:
For fifty years, the truth about addiction and disease from smoking was deliberately hidden from the public….smoking is the single largest cause of premature death from chemical contamination in the US (and perhaps the whole world).
Free samples are given to young children (as young as 7 years) and they become addicted to the cigarettes. The expense of giving away free samples to innocent kids all over the world is dwarfed by the long term economic gain through deadly addiction of yet another generation.
About 80,000 to 100,000 young people are drawn in, tricked, then newly addicted to the chemicals in tobacco everyday and 4.9 million people die every year from tobacco-related illnesses. This is the equivalent of approx 35 jumbo jet planes crashing everyday of the year!!
Cigarette manufacturers purposely use special chemical additives to make cigarettes that provide extremely high levels of “free” nicotine, in order to increase the addictive speed…the additives are also used to enhance the taste of tobacco smoke. The addition of flavorings is designed to make cigarettes more appealing to children and other first-time users.
Some of the additives are toxic or addictive in their own right or in combination. When these additives are burned, new products are formed, and these, too, may be toxic or pharmacologically active.
Even people who don’t smoke are placed at much more extreme risk for lung cancer and other illness from contaminated air than we are led to believe, especially children and women. Nonsmoking women increase their lung cancer risk by 24 % when they live with a smoker….their risk is increased by 39 % when they work with people who smoke and an astounding 50 % when they hang out with smokers in such social settings as bars and restaurants.
Dana Reeve was one such case. A singer and actress, she was married to Christopher Reeve aka Superman. In Aug 2005, Dana was diagnosed with lung cancer. Although a non smoker all her life, Dana was exposed to secondhand smoke in the clubs she sang at. Eight months later she was dead despite all the scientifically tested chemotherapy drugs she was treated with after diagnosis.
Hence it is not difficult to understand why lung cancer has reached such pandemic proportions in America and worldwide.
Conclusion:
From the above summary, the title of the book is most apt to describe America….a POISONED NATION. But honestly, we feel Malaysia is not very far away in achieving the poisoned nation status. What do you think?
Further related references:
SILENT SPRING…Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was first published in three serialized excerpts in the New Yorker in June of 1962. The book appeared in September of that year and the outcry that followed its publication forced the banning of DDT and spurred revolutionary changes in the laws affecting our air, land, and water. Carson’s passionate concern for the future of our planet reverberated powerfully throughout the world, and her eloquent book was instrumental in launching the environmental movement.
LIVING DOWNSTREAM by Sandra Steingraber, a biologist, poet, and survivor of cancer in her twenties, brings all three perspectives to bear on the most important health and human rights issue of our time: the growing body of evidence linking cancer to environmental contaminations. Her scrupulously researched scientific analysis ranges from the alarming worldwide patterns of cancer incidence to the sabotage wrought by cancer-promoting substances on the intricate workings of human cells.
POLLUTANTS, HUMAN HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT by Professor Jane Plant is a comprehensive, up-to-date overview of environmental pollutants that are of current concern to human health. Clearly structured throughout, the main body of the book is divided by pollutant type with a chapter devoted to each group of pollutants. Each chapter follows a similar format to facilitate comparison and discussion. For each pollutant, the authors describe the sources, pathways, environmental fate and known toxicological effects.
Why did she write this ebook: Because … “my father was diagnosed with colon cancer, and less than a year later, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.”
So Sonja started to do some reading and researching. And these are what the author wrote:
Let’s face it, cancer is a Billion-Dollar Business. This means that the FDA and pharmaceutical companies that promote and sell cancer drugs have a lot to gain if they can get you to buy what they are selling. Most cancer treatments are temporary at best, with little to offer in the way of actually curing the disease.
Who Can We Rely On?
What we know for sure is that cancer is a man-made disease. It is also a fact that we can get cancer from everyday living conditions. In order to change direction, we must first shift our focus.
Prevention begins with You, so be selective about the information that you choose to rely upon, because some of the current recommendations are not only outdated, but they can be downright deadly — all in the name of financial gain.
In order to achieve progression, we must become proactive.”
Most of the medications that are advertised on television paint a beautiful picture of the drug making it sound as if it will cure whatever is ailing you; but then you hear the laundry list of side effects…..”This drug may cause dizziness, heart problems, seizures, incontinence, blood clots, cancer and death.”
Does it really benefit you to take a medication to cure one problem if the side effects will create even more?
What is the government doing in the war against cancer?
During Richard Nixon’s presidency, he allotted 1.6 billion dollars to wage a war against cancer by creating the National Cancer Act in 1971. This gave birth to the National Cancer Program, and many hoped that this act would lead to a cure for cancer in the near future.
Sadly, most Americans have not and will not benefit from the advancements that resulted from the National Cancer Act, because of the problems in our political system.
Even though 40 years have passed, the war is still going strong but the optimism has faded.
Where Are We Now In The War Against Cancer?
The war on cancer is somewhat like the war on drugs … It will never be won.
Why? Because there is more profit in treating cancer than in curing it.
When the government and pharmaceutical companies evolve enough where people become more important than profits, it is then that we will find a cure. Until that day arrives, we need to seek out ways to prevent it from happening in the first place.
The Conspiracy of Pharmaceutical Companies
The main objective of the American Cancer Society is to provide warm hands of service to people who already have cancer, and to promote the prevention of the disease to those who don’t.
The ACS should be prioritizing the needs of people with cancer, but since their funding comes from the donations given by various organizations and large pharmaceutical companies, their priorities come first.
If “Big Pharma” can continue to push the industry to rely on their treatments, they can continue to make the money that enables them to donate to the “cause.”
Sound familiar? Of course it does…this is exactly what happens in our government –“You scratch my back, and I‘ll scratch yours.”
Why would the ACS be associating with people who are clearly in the business of Cancer? In a word… MONEY.
The ACS is a non-profit organization, and yet the CEO earns $2 million dollars a year? They claim that this is done to have “stable management” within the organization. Imagine what that same $2 million dollars per year could do for 100 patients and their families who are dealing with cancer?
Doctors Pressuring Patients to go for “Standard Care”
As people begin to educate themselves about alternative therapies, they begin to shy away from what is known as “standardized care. “
On the other hand, doctors tend to push for this standard care because it brings them income. This income is not just from their patients; it also comes in the form of kickbacks from the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture the drugs that they prescribe to you and me.
Chemotherapy – Friend or Foe?
It is a known fact that once a patient undergoes chemotherapy, his quality of life decreases. It is definitely not a 100% sure way to fight cancer, and the side effects are usually severe. For some, cancer comes out of remission with a vengeance attacking the healthy cells that are in its path.
Chemotherapy poisons your body in an attempt to kill the cancer cells before the actual “treatment” even begins. And since chemotherapy harms your good cells, it harms your body as a whole. But instead of warning us about the dangers of this treatment, a large portion of the medical community continues to advocate its use.
Despite the many promising but unreliable benefits of chemotherapy, it’s easy to see why most doctors highly recommend this method of treatment instead of alternative methods. As long as doctors and pharmaceutical companies continue to make money from chemotherapy, they will continue to recommend it to us.
Aside from being dangerous, chemotherapy can be very expensive …..
Some of the side effects of chemotherapy include: excruciating pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, bleeding, dizziness, loss of hair, and the inability to sleep or eat.
According to Chemotherapyfacts.com, the following cancer drug is one of the newer cancer treatments that can cost as much as $10,000.
Oxaliplatin – this drug is used in combination with other medications to treat advanced cancer of the colon or rectum.
The mild side effects include: constipation, decreased appetite, diarrhea, dizziness, fatigue, hair loss, gas, hiccups, headache, stomach pain, muscle or joint aches, runny nose, vomiting, heartburn, increased tears, nausea, change in taste, problems sleeping, and weight loss.
Here are just a few of the severe side effects: Vision loss, wheezing, trouble walking, swallowing or speaking, problems performing daily tasks like writing or buttoning a shirt, unusual bruising or bleeding, irregular heartbeat, muscle pain or cramps (symptoms of low potassium levels), blood in the stool, yellowing of the eyes, dark urine and pale stools, nausea and loss of appetite (symptoms of liver problems), blood in urine, slurred speech, confusion, fainting and persistent dizziness.
Wow, if the treatment phase doesn’t kill you, the side effects surely will!
Dr Ian Gawler, OAM, BVSc, a veterinarian and decathlon athlete before his diagnosis, is Australia’s most “notorious” cancer patient. He is the Founder and Therapeutic Director of The Gawler Foundation. A pioneer in mind/body medicine and long-term cancer survivor, Dr Gawler is an experienced and respected authority on meditation, self-help techniques and a healthy lifestyle. Dr Gawler began Australia’s first active cancer support group in 1981 and is on the Advisory Board of the Australasian Integrative Medicine Association. In 1987, he was awarded the Order of Australia Medal.
At the end of 1974 Dr Ian Gawler, an ambitious young veterinarian and athlete, developed bone cancer (osteogenic sarcoma) in his right leg. In January 1975, the leg was amputated at the hip. While there were no signs of the cancer anywhere else in the body, he was told that only 5% of patients could expect to be alive five years after surgery. In fact, the cancer did reappear, and spread to his pelvis and chest in November 1975.
In December 1975, with widespread bony and pulmonary metastases, Gawler underwent 3 palliative radiotherapy treatments to the lower spine but he found it was ineffective for pain relief. Subsequently, the oncologist suggested a two year course of adriamycin, vincristine, cyclophosphamide and dacarbazine. However, after 10 weeks treatment, the cancer had only slightly diminished in size over the period of treatment. Despite his oncologist’s warning of “rapid rebound if treatment was ceased,” Gawler elected to discontinue further chemotherapy treatment.
By March 1976, Gawler’s cancer specialists thought that he would live only two more weeks. Gawler refused to give up, and began studying meditation and following a strict diet, pursuing an intense regime of research, introspection and personal development. Against all odds and prognosis, he tried all other available treatments. Later, his cancer began to retreat and he was eventually declared clear of cancer in 1978.
Watch his story on YouTube as follows:
1) Interview with Ian Gawler, author of You Can Conquer Cancer
You Can Conquer Cancer was first published in 1984. Since then, it has been reprinted 16 times and translated into 14 languages. It has become one of the most widely-read books on the subject of cancer prevention and cancer management. At the time of publication, Dr Gawler’s ideas and concepts were regarded as innovative and controversial, but have since received substantial scientific recognition and validation both in Australia and internationally.
This new edition (published 2013), is completely updated and enlarged upon what is a truly integrated, holistic approach to cancer; emphasizing diet, the power of the mind, meditation, family and social support and the spiritual dimension of life.
Dr Gawler is a firm believer of meditation, which he believes is the single most powerful self-help tool that assists recovery from disease and leads to a life of maximum health…and it has direct physical effects ranging from relief of physical tension to reactivation of the immune system. This perhaps, explained why the book has 6 chapters devoted to the principles and practice of meditation and mind training.
Likewise, Gawler devoted 4 chapters to explain the principles behind healthy nutrition, the foods that heal and the concepts of his Wellness Diet and the Healing Diet. To emphasize the importance of nutrition, let us share with you the following quotes from his book:
What is so special about the human species, the human body that leaves medical educationalists (what he means is the medical doctors) believing that what it eats is of no importance?
Food builds our body…if you want a junk body, eat junk food. Want a healthy body, eat healthy food. Want a body that just manages to function? Well, feed it whatever.
If you want a body that is capable of remarkable healing, then it makes sense to fill it up with the best fuel possible.
To be long term survivors, cancer patients (he calls them thrivers) must value what they eat as a major factor in their recovery….perhaps, Gawler’s most daring advice for all cancer patients is summed up in the following sentence:
“Diet is not the total answer to cancer, but without a good diet, there is no answer.”
Watch his views on nutrition at the following:
2) Dr. Ian Gawler: Eating Well Being Well at Spiritgrow Josef Kryss
Related to the practice of meditation for a calm mind, Gawler strongly believed that healthy emotions play an important part in healing. Let us give you his advice:
“Put simply, healthy emotions are authentic emotions. When emotions flow easily, comfortably, authentically; health and wellbeing follows. Stifled emotions, repressed emotions, fabricated emotions, all weaken the potential for healing as well as significantly reducing our sense of wellbeing.”
How then to change a deeply ingrained habit? How do we learn to release emotions safely? (Read Chapter 16 and 17 or consult a qualified hypnotherapist).
The author ended the book with a chapter on Death and Dying. Why is there such a chapter on death and dying? Isn’t this all about conquering cancer, about being positive and getting well? Let us share with you his wisdom:
“Many people have enough fear about dying to not only significantly inhibit their chances of recovery, but to adversely affect the very way they live. Learning how to transform the fear of dying leaves us free to heal. When we live a life informed by death, we really appreciate how precious life is, as well as how fragile it can be. So we value life; we value each moment.”
FURTHER RESOURCES ON DR IAN GAWLER:
1) THE GAWLER FOUNDATION: Since 1981 when Ian began one of the world’s first lifestyle-based cancer support groups, his work has expanded in three ways. One aspect is the focus on healing; another involves professional trainings and speaking engagements, while the third focuses on disease prevention, health and wellbeing.
2) Dr Gawler’s personal blog….www.gawlerblog.com….do visit the blog and sign up for his newsletter, OUT ON A LIMB…very informative. Dr Gawlerhas written many other books on meditation and nutrition. You can view them in the above website/blog.
ENDNOTE:
We introduced Dr Ian Gawler as Australia’s most “notorious” cancer patient. Why?
The author, Jane Plant, was formerly the Professor of Geochemistry and Chief Scientist at the British Geological Survey, London with a DSc and seven honorary degrees and many prizes and distinctions for her contribution to science. She was awarded a CBE for her work in relation to human health. In 2005, she was made a Life Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine for her books on cancer and was later appointed to the Prince’s Trust Foundation for Integrated Health.
In 1987, at age 42, and with two young children, she was diagnosed with breast cancer for the first time. Within five years, the cancer returned four times – and, as she explained in her book this was “despite a radical mastectomy, three further operations, 35 radiotherapy treatments, several chemotherapy treatments and irradiation of my ovaries to induce the menopause”. The doctors then gave her three months to live.
The cancer specialists at Charing Cross Hospital where Plant was treated told her that her chemotherapy treatment (methotrexate, fluorouracil and cyclosphosphamide) had been only the same basic type that has been used for breast cancer for the past 20 years. None of her doctors, it appeared, had expected someone with her type and stage of cancer (which had clearly spread to the lymph system) to have survived. The drugs she was given was the cheapest standard preparations available and after her reading several medical textbooks, it was clear to Plant that it was highly unlikely that these drugs would, on their own, have cured her cancer.
When orthodox medicine gave up on her, Plant was determined to use her extensive scientific training and her knowledge of other cultures to find a way to survive. Her husband was also an earth scientist, and both of them have spent a considerable amount of time working in China and Japan. They were both desperately engaged in trying to understand and explain the factor(s) responsible for the significantly lower rates of breast and prostate cancer among the Japanese and Chinese.
At the time she discovered the last cancerous lump in her neck in 1992, her colleagues in China – where she had worked – happened to send her an atlas detailing the different cancers found across that country. Looking at it, she realised that breast cancer (and prostate cancer) were virtually unknown throughout China at that time – one death in 100,000 women, as opposed to one in 10 in some western countries. Why should that be?
It was this startling statistical disparity that led Plant to believe that there had to be a dietary trigger for the disease. As she continued her scientific investigations, Plant became convinced that she had discovered a causal link between consumption of animal and dairy products and breast cancer.
Her job as a scientist gave her the ability to research the components of the food we eat, particularly discovering that milk proteins find their way into a good many products; to analyse the nutrients required to help the body withstand treatment and stay cancer-free; to understand the effects of chemicals used in food processing. Her diet became totally dairy-free but full of food containing cancer protective ingredients; she was careful to reduce her intake of hormones and chemicals from food; and altogether changed her lifestyle.
The large cancerous lump in her neck disappeared within five weeks and no cancerhas ever returned. However, her consultant radiologist (cum oncologist) was concerned that it would return once the chemotherapy treatment was over. It was all too clear from what her doctors had said, and from reading medical, pharmacological and chemical textbooks that chemotherapy treatment alone was unlikely to cure her. For five years, she had done everything her doctors had advised (perhaps including…”eat anything you like?”) and undergone all the treatments that they had prescribed.
Two years after her recovery, Plant was offered a new, advanced form of chemotherapy by the Charing Cross Hospital. The treatment offered was extremely expensive. The doctors were impressed by her positive approach and because she survived much longer than they had expected, they felt that they should help her as much as they could. Plant turned down their offer because she knew that the key to her cure lay elsewhere.
In the first edition published in year 2000, readers were presented for the first time with a compelling body of evidence strongly suggesting that consumption of dairy products may cause breast cancer. It demonstrated the specific changes that women can make in their day-to-day lives to help prevent and treat breast cancer.
Your Life In Your Hands contained detailed suggestions for ways to alter your diet by eliminating or reducing consumption of many suspected cancer-causing agents, especially dairy products, and replacing them with healthful alternatives. She offers well detailed menus and recipes to help you make the transition and enjoy it. She called this The Plant Programme which was later expanded into a book of the same name.
The second edition of Your Life In Your Hands was published in 2007 with extensive updates to each Chapters 1-7 and with additional information on ovarian cancer. Relevant scientific studies are attached to each Chapter. This is definitely the work of a real scientist.
The thrust of Professor Plant’s arguments outlining the links between dairy products and breast cancer are wide-ranging and deserve serious consideration and further research. Some of the health risks of consuming dairy products include:
Babies fed on cow’s milk are at risk of developing iron deficiency; the link between insulin-dependent diabetes and dairy products;
Milk is one of the most common causes of food allergies;
Milk can harbour many pathogenic microorganisms including Mycobacterium paratuberculosis (possibly associated with irritable bowel syndrome);
Milk often contains toxic and hormone-disrupting chemicals, including antibiotics, growth promoters, most notably insulin-like growth factors (IGFs), anti-parasitic drugs, environmental toxins such as PCBs and dioxins.
Research is also cited demonstrating the relationship between IGF-1 and breast cancer.
If you are a breast cancer patient, we strongly urge you to change your diet just like Jane Plant did and not to “eat anything you like” as usually advised by your doctor/oncologist. Take some time off and watch the following YouTube videos and read further. Some suggested readings are attached.
SOME YOUTUBE VIDEOS: (there are many more)
1) Professor Jane Plant…Her views on Dairy Products.
2) THE CHINA STUDY by Dr T. Colin Campbell….read the most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted on the link between nutrition and cancer
3) NATURAL STRATEGIES FOR CANCER PATIENTS by Dr Russell Blaylock, MD and a former neurosurgeon (Read why he does not recommend cancer patients to consume animal protein and dairy products).
4) THE ENZYME FACTOR by Dr Hiromi Shinya, MD and a gastrointestinal specialist. (Find out why animal meat and dairy products are toxic).
5) WAKING THE WARRIOR GODDESS by Dr Christine Horner, MD and breast surgeon (Read about Dr Christine’s program to protect and fight breast cancer).
This book is an autobiography of Dr Anthony Sattilaro, MD as told to Tom Monte. Dr Sattilaro graduated from Rutgers University and the Harford Hospital and also a graduate from the Harvard Business School and School of Public Health. He was an anesthesiologist for 20 years until his appointment as the President of the Methodist Hospital in Philadelphia in December 1977.
In June 1978, at the age of 47, Dr Sattilaro was told by his physicians that he had prostatic cancer (stage 4) which had metastasized to other parts of his body, including the skull, shoulder, spine, sternum, and ribs.
Within weeks of the diagnosis, Dr Sattilaro underwent surgery and began estrogen treatment to combat the spread of the disease. As a last resort, he even removed his two testicles. It soon became apparent, however, that this would not halt the malignancy.
His doctors informed him that he had perhaps “a few” years to live (Later, he was told “less than 18 months”) and that those years would be spent in a torturous slide towards death. He was already suffering from acute back pain, for which large doses of painkillers provided only periodic relief. His highly professional colleagues have left little doubt that he had terminal cancer, and he resigned himself to a painful future, a regimen of drugs, and only a slim hope that he would live to see fifty.
Driving back to Philadelphia after the burial of his father, who had died of lung cancer, Sattilaro was deeply depressed and uncharacteristically picked up two young hitchhikers. At a loss for small talk, Sattilaro confessed that he was living on borrowed time, and to his surprise he was told that his illness is curable if he would go on a strange vegetarian diet. Though highly skeptical, he was intrigued by the young stranger’s sincerity, and with nothing to lose, he followed up the lead.
Dr Sattilaro had been a doctor for more than 20 years by then, and it was with no small trepidation that he went looking for answers outside the profession to which he had dedicated his life. This search put him on an extraordinary journey—one that has led him not only to a restoration of his health, but also to the roots of his being.
While still continuing his duties at the hospital, he rearranged his life to take his meals at a commune where only such foods as brown rice, whole grains, beans, fresh vegetables, fish and seaweed are served, and where a positive, spiritual approach to life was pervasive. In just a few weeks, the back pain that had plagued him for years subsided, and in a matter of several months the course of his cancer had been reversed and his body was actually on the mend.
On August 6 1981, Dr Sattilaro underwent another bone scan at the Methodist Hospital, the sixth test he had undergone in the past 3 years. That bone scan revealed absolutely no sign of cancer in his body. The news of his X-rays hit the macrobiotic and medical community in Philadelphia as if Dr Sattilaro had been raised from the dead. He had not resumed the estrogen therapy, even for a short period, since he quit the hormones in June 1979. However, doctors in the Methodist Hospital insisted that Dr Sattilaro’s improved health was due to his previous surgeries and the estrogen therapy and had nothing to do with the macrobiotic diet.
Dr. Sattilaro admitted that he could find no medically acceptable explanation for his cure; he knew only that it had happened. He continued to support established methods and procedures of modern technological medicine, but his experience suggested that there are complementary approaches to health, and especially to cancer, that may also be beneficial. He began and ultimately found not only a cure but a sense of wholeness and spiritual fulfillment that he shared with the reader in this account of his remarkable experience. Dr. Sattilaro celebrated his 50th birthday in 1981.
The diet Dr Sattilaro followed is called “macrobiotics” which is drawn from the best elements of a traditional Asian diet, including generous amounts of rice and vegetables. (There are a lot of books/literature written on macrobiotics and cancer—just Google for more information).
As he recovered, he became perhaps the most famous advocate for the use of diet against cancer and this raised the question as to whether diet can turn the tide on cancer, and the fact that there was simply not enough information yet available to speak with assurance. There were no double-blind studies, no control patients, or anything else that would suggest that what happened to Dr. Sattilaro will happen for anyone else, although there is a large cadre of people who report similar results.
Dr Sattilaro’s story of his prostate cancer being healed by a change in diet created a big storm. This led to some serious debates. Dr Neal Barnard, MD and nutrition researcher became interested in Sattilaro’s story. So he went in search of him in 1986. Dr Sattilaro had resigned his job as head of Methodist Hospital and had moved to Florida. He was not only alive, but youthful and vigorous. He had adhered to the macrobiotic diet and adopted a specific exercise program. He went swimming every day. His cancer seemed to be gone, and he kept X-ray films in a file for when he needed to remind himself of his remission. Sattilaro had been deluged with letters from other cancer patients, but always answered that he did not know if what had happened to him could also happen for them.
Dr Sattilaro’s greatest food misadventure
Eventually, he began to deviate from the diet, adding fish and chicken, as if to test whether he was cured or simply in remission. If it was a test, he failed. In July 1989, Dr Barnard called Dr. Sattilaro and found him to be gravely ill. His cancer had recurred—”viciously,” he said. He was in good spirits, but harbored no illusions about the grim situation he was in. He knew that the end was very near. He had resumed the use of painkillers, which at times made him quite groggy.
Dr Sattilaro died shortly after. However, he survived 11 years despite being told he had only 18 painful months to live. If he had not been too adventurous with his food after his 10th year, would he have survived longer? We will never know.
Below are some quotes by Dr Sattilaro on the subject of nutrition and cancer:
a) Dr Sattilaro’s normal diet (in his own words):
The food that I had lived on for the previous 47 years was rich and usually heavily seasoned.
I lived the perfect formula for cancer—a high fat diet, plenty of refined flour products, an insatiable sweet tooth and a generally sedentary lifestyle.
b) Dr Sattilario’s personal reaction to the macrobiotic diet:
When the hitch hikers told him that cancer is the natural result of a bad diet, Dr Sattilaro wondered how a 25 year old knows about cancer. He then dismissed the hitchhiker’s statement as foolishness of youth.
After 25 years of practicing medicine, he had heard all kinds of quack claims and treated them with the same kind of dignified disinterest.
When he went to the Macrobiotic center, he was told that he has to abstain from…all meat, dairy products, refined grains, including white bread and flour products, all sugar, all oils, nuts, fruits and carbonated drinks and foods containing synthetic chemicals and preservatives….which was Dr Sattilario’s standard fare to the letter.
He left the Macrobiotic centre feeling a deep sense of confusion and despair. He felt as if he had just walked out of another world.
Going there and being given an examination by a thirty-year-old kid who hadn’t been to medical school was surely reaching the bottom of the barrel.
Despite his deep skepticism, Dr Sattilaro nevertheless opted to give the macrobiotic food system a try. He had nothing to lose as his life was declared terminal and he was living on borrowed time.
Following are some initial contemptuous comments:
Each day, Dr Sattilaro carried to work the little Japanese lunch box containing brown rice and vegetables. People at the hospital looked at him with a combination of curiosity and pity.
There was also a strange disappointment in their eyes, as if he had gone over to the other side already.
“He’s turned himself over to the quacks” many of them must have thought. He said he would have thought the same thing, had a colleague of his resorted to macrobiotics in his dying days.
How Dr Sattilaro reacted to Macrobiotics.
About 2 weeks after he started macrobiotics, he developed symptoms of a cold or flu with heavy mucus discharge and a mild fever. He was told that this healing reaction is “sickness of adjustment” which is the body’s way of getting rid of excess on a periodic basis….this bewildered him further and heightened his skepticism.
His perception changed when on September 26 1978, he discovered that his back pain was gone. He had suffered 2 years of enormous back pain that only heavy doses of narcotics could put down.
Within a few weeks after he began the macrobiotic diet, his digestive problems disappeared. On top of that he had great reserves of energy and his mind seemed clearer than usual.
Eventually, as he recovered progressively, Dr Sattilaro admitted that….”there is no doubt in my mind that the diet was instrumental in my own recovery…and in some way triggered my immune system, which enabled my body to fight off the disease….there is also no doubt in my mind that had I relied solely on just the orchiectomy and the estrogens, I would have been dead long ago”
2) MACROBIOTIC DIET by Michio and Aveline Kushi (a general introduction to macrobiotics)
3) THE MACROBIOTIC PATH TO TOTAL HEALTH by Michio Kushi and Alex Jack (A complete guide to naturally preventing and relieving chronic conditions and disorders).
4) THE CANCER PREVENTION DIET by Michio Kushi and Alex Jack (The macrobiotic approach to prevention and relieving cancer)
5) COOKING THE WHOLE FOODS WAY by Christina Pirello (Everyday guide to healthy, delicious eating featuring 500 vegan dishes).
Dr Barnard is a nutrition researcher and founder of The Cancer Project and The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) which promotes preventive medicine, especially good nutrition, and addresses controversies in modern medicine, including ethical issues in research.
Dr Barnard is an adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine at George Washington University and is the author of the best seller “THE CANCER SURVIVOR’S GUIDE” featuring foods to fight back cancer—with special emphasis on Prostate and Breast Cancers.
How are you? I hope you still remember me. Last November 2012, I went to meet you at your center with my family.
Last month on 25 January 2013, I went for another surgery to close my colostomy. Currently I face quite a number of problems like stomach pain, can’t eat (weight loss 5 kg in a month) and diarrhea. These few days the stools came out with blood clots. I went to see a few doctors in the government hospital but they can’t solve my problems.
Dr. Chris, I am seeking your advice and please tell me what to do as its really hurt. Awaiting your prompt reply.
Reply: Yes, sure I remember you. Let me ask you some questions first:
1) Before this surgery, did you have such problems, like pains, etc.?
2) When did your problems start? If after surgery, how many days after surgery?
3) Are the problems getting worse or getting better.
Let me know and we shall go from there.
1 March 2013: Dear Dr. Chris,
Thanks for your prompt reply.
1) No, I don’t have these problems — pains and etc., before my surgery.
2) After surgery, on the 3rd day, initially I thought it was my gastric problem as I didn’t take any food at that time. But it’s not coz the pain in my abdomen still continued. It is so painful that I can’t sleep at night. The doctors only gave me Tramadol and also Morphine to ease my pain.
3) It’s getting worse especially theses two days. Thick and sticky blood came out. I am very afraid and don’t know what to do.
Reply: Thanks for your reply.
a) It looks like the problem is due to the surgery. And we don’t know what they did wrong there. Did you go back to the surgeon and ask? It looks like they only give you painkiller and morphine.
b) Coming out with thick and sticky blood is something not right, especially if this happen so long after the surgery. I wonder if they leave anything behind / inside when they close you.
My advice: We need to know the reason why and what went wrong. Why not go back to the surgeon again. Well, he can’t know unless he takes another CT scan. Okay for this time, you need to do the scan to know what really happen so that he can fix the problem for you.
Please let me know what happen if you do this. I am not sure what I can do or give you to correct this because I too don’t know what has gone wrong. Take care.
13 March 2013: Dear Dr. Chris,
I’ve just been discharged from the hospital. My condition is not good. I will meet you in your Center this coming Friday (15 March 2013) at 10:30am. I will bring my latest CT scan report. I hope you can help me.
Patient came to Penang again on 15 March 2013. While of this visit, we put patient on the e-therapy . The following is the recording of our conversation that day.
17 March 2013: Dear Dr. Chris,
I’ve just come back and arrived KL last night. Thanks very much for helping me and me. My family and I are very grateful and appreciate for all your kind assistance. Yesterday I started to take Cap A, B, C, D. I shall take the other herbs today when I go back to my home in JB. Last night the whole night I couldn’t sleep coz I had to move my bowels.
There are a lot of bowel movements and the stools are dark in colour and very smelly. My stomach feels much tender. I feel very, very weak after going to toilet so many times. I think more than 10 times till morning. I can hardly walk. I had also started on my diet according to your advice.
Dr. Chris, l will arrange to meet you again next week after my one week on herbs and continue to do the e-therapy as what you have said. By the way, can I take morphine 10mg x 2 if I feel pain in my tummy? Till now my tummy is painful maybe becoz of too many times moving my bowels. Another thing is that I can hardly pass urine and it’s so painful during urination. Please advice.
Reply: 17 March 2013: Thank you for your feedback.
a) I am glad that you started to move your bowels, meaning it is not blocked.
b) For this one week you will suffer from all the cleansing process. Take it easy.
c) Yes, you can take pain killer if you cannot bear the pain BUT did I not give you Pain Tea to take? Take Pain Tea 6 times a day and see if it helps.
d) Travelling is bad and staying in a new place is also bad for you. So I suggest you don’t come to Penang yet. Take the herbs for 2 to 3 weeks first. The first week you will suffer healing crisis. Second week I hope you get better and by the third week I hope you get much better. Even if you come now there is nothing much I can do because we need to allow the body to heal itself and this takes time. There is NO magic bullet. So you should think of coming here only in about 3 weeks from now to allow the herbs to work first. As it is it, it is too SOON. Write again after one week and let me know your progress and then again after two weeks.
23 March 2013: Dear Dr. Chris,
It’s the first week after I took your herbs and also had strictly kept to my diet i.e. no sugar, salt, oil and meat. I only took fruits and vegetables. Here’s the outcome after taking the herbs and Cap A, B, C, D.
1) Tummy still bloated but these two days felt more tender.
2) Both legs are still swollen.
3) Difficult to urinate and is painful.
4) Bowel movement is difficult and a lot of blood comes out.
5) Good appetite.
6) Fever on and off.
7) My Pain tea had finished and seems to work as I took 6 times a day like what you have said. Dr.,
Last two days I went back to hospital to see the surgeon as I wanted to know how he would explain my condition in detail. During conversation, I made notes for your reference as follow:
Leo: Dr. what actually had happened to me? Can you explain in more detail? I thought this was only a minor surgery to close my colostomy (in January 2013). You said everything was fine. The only thing is in the future I would have a little bit of difficulty moving my bowels because my rectum is narrow.
Dr. X: Your cancer tumors spread too fast after surgery although we have checked it before surgery.
L: Why these few days I passed out stools with a lot of blood (50% stools and 50% blood) and the anus burnt and so was painful?
Dr. X: Oh, your anus is painful every time you pass stools is because it’s too narrow to pass through. There’s blood in your stools because your cancer tumors had spread and its messy inside your colon. This I can’t help you as you had stage 4 CA Rectum although it has been removed in 2012. It had recurred.
L: Can you do another surgery to open the colostomy like I had previously? I don’t want to suffer like this.
Dr. X: The risk is too high. Maybe only 30 percent chance of survival if I do the surgery again because your intestine had burst and moreover the tumors are everywhere in your colon. You will die on the table due to severe bleeding.
L: That means I would have to leave it like this, everyday suffering from tummy bloatedness and waiting to die one of these days? Do you think how long can I can survive?
Dr. X: I’m sorry we really can’t do anything. Go home and spend your precious time with your family while you are still able to now. Maybe you have less than three months to live or even shorter.
L: I am really disappointed with what you have said as I had full confidence in you. But after all these, you say you can’t do anything. Since last year my CEA till January this year it never exceeded 6 ng/mL. The lowest was 2.5 ng/mL. One last question: why is it now there are stools coming out from the wound that you closed the colostomy.
Dr. X: Stools do come out sometimes because you can’t move your bowels at the down part. Once you can move it, there won’t be any more stools coming out again. It will close by itself if everything is fine one of these days.
Dr. Chris, I won’t give up just like this. I will continue to take your herbs for every time you said CA Care is the last stop for people like us. I know your herbs are not a magic bullet but I believe if I continue to take them and stick to your diet, my life will be prolonged. I didn’t ask for much and I have prepared myself. It’s all God’s will.
Reply:Thanks so much Leo for giving me the update of your conditions. Okay, after taking the herbs for a while now, has your condition improved or not?
27 March 2013: Dear Dr. Chris,
Dr. Chris, I’m planning to visit you this coming Sunday to do the e-therapy. I feel better after I did it that day in your center. Regarding the video taken, it is not necessary to cover my face because I want to share with others …. After all, these are true.
Note; The last e-mail I received from Leo was 20 April 2013. I was later informed that Leo died.
Stop and Think
When I talked to Leo, I asked him many times, “Before the surgery, were you okay?” The answer: Yes, very well and no problem. After the surgery Leo suffered complication and he died soon afterwards.
Many people could not and would not accept that at times it is better to do nothing than to do something. I am sure Leo would not have suffered if he did not go for the operation. Leave thing the way it was. And I am sure that he would have lived longer if he “did nothing.”
Another story come to mind. Terry (not real name) had recurrence of his lymphoma. His red blood counts were low. According to the doctor it was very dangerous and he must come to the hospital and do something. Talking to Terry, I also knew that he bought up this idea wholesale. But when he was talking to me, me he looked pale but was okay … could walk, talk, no pain, etc. So my advice was to take it easy. If there is no emergency, don’t fix it! Take the herbs and papaya leaf tea and see what happen in the next few weeks. But people generally want quick fix. He went off, landed in a hospital and a week later was dead.
IS DOING NOTHING NOT BETTER THAN DOING SOMETHING? The choice is yours, it is your life.
Leo is a 51-year-old man. He was diagnosed with cancer of the rectum. But his cancer had spread to his liver. He underwent 6 cycles of chemotherapy and 25 sessions of radiotherapy. After the treatment he had a surgery to remove the tumour in his rectum. CT scan showed he was not cured, the tumour in his liver was still there. Leo was asked to undergo more chemotherapy. He declined. He was prescribed Xeloda instead. He took Xeloda for 3 cycles and gave it up. He turned to herbs.
Listen to what he said:
Why he declined the second round of chemotherapy – FOLFOX + Avastin
Leo was asked to undergo chemotherapy using FOLFOX plus Avastin. The treatment is going to cost him RM 5,200 per cycle and he was to receive a total of 9 to 12 cycles. In total, that means spending around RM 50,000 to RM 60,000 for another round of chemo. To some patients, the response to such proposition is plain and simple. They cannot afford it! Period.
I remember Pak Jam who got his wife into a private hospital and had to spend RM 2,000 per day. After 15 days he was reduced to be a bankrupt! He came to see us appearing like a “mad man.” His wife had leukemia. Perhaps today he still has to keep working to repay the borrowings from friends and relatives.
CPW was diagnosed with GIST and was asked to take Glivec for her condition. One tablet per day would cost RM 293.00. That is to say the family will have to fork out RM 8,790 per month for the medication. How long does she need to go on this medication? No one can tell.
HS from Indonesia came to see me. He was diagnosed with advanced kidney cancer that had spread extensively to his lungs. Since nothing much could be done, he was asked to take Sutent (sunitineb). According to his wife, a month of Sutent would cost him 100 million rupiahs. I asked the wife, How much does an ordinary man get paid per month doing a normal job. She replied, Average earning per month in her home town (in Indonesia) is one and a half million rupiahs.
I have a lot more to say about the cost of chemo drugs nowadays. But suffice to say that the price of certain chemo drugs have gone crazy!
Why he stopped taking Xeloda after three cycles
Leo was not convinced that Xeloda would do him any good. He had fevers and diarrhea. In addition he vomit and had pains around the colostomy stoma after taking Xeloda.
Comments
I wonder what Leo would do if he has the money to pay for his FOLFOX + Avastin treatment – would he go ahead with it?
There are three important issues which patients need to bear in mind when deciding whether to undergo treatment or not.
One, don’t ever believe that money can buy your cure! Leo told us of what he saw. A man had spent more than a million ringgit trying to find a cure for his cancer. He went to Singapore for his treatment but found none. He ended up in a Johor government hospital – bed ridden and debt-ridden. He told his son that he had had enough and told his son not to go around and borrow any more money trying to cure him. One night, this frustrated man jumped out of the window of the 6th floor. This is not the first time I hear such a story. Some time back, I received a similar e-mail from a lady in Singapore telling me that her father just jumped off the flat after failing to cure his cancer.
Two, ask these question: What is the aim of the treatment? Can this treatment cure me? Or is it just to prolong my life for a while more – if so, is it worth it? You should get these answers straight from your doctor. After getting your doctor’s answers, check them out with other experts as well.
Three, ask your doctor about the side effects of the treatment that he is going to give you. List them down. There is no argument about his – all poisonous drugs have side effects! And you know that chemo-drugs are poisonous. . So ask yourself, are you game with that? Some patients can tolerate the side effects but some patients prefer to die than go through it. Only you can decide. But at the same time, educate yourself about the side effects of these drugs.
Unfortunately some doctors are not forthcoming with such information. They would say, Oh, it is nothing. It is just like ant-bite! I remember one funny episode. A patient from India came to our center for help. She underwent chemotherapy and suffered side effects. She went to her oncologist complaining about a certain problem and was told, That is expected because of your chemo. When another problem cropped up, she was again told, That is expect because you had chemotherapy. This woman was clueless about the possible side effects of chemotherapy. Unfortunately for such patients they have to learn the hard way.
Let me end with one final question. What do you think are the benefits of Avastin?
Do you expect Avastin to cure you – after spending a good sum of your life’s saving? Read what the medical literature has got to say. Be ready for a rude shock! Are you told of this – or do you ever ask your doctor?
The Phase III study involved 820 patients with metastatic, inoperable colorectal cancer who had been treated with standard first-line chemotherapy and Avastin. The results showed that:
In advanced colorectal cancer, continuing bevacizumab (Avastin) without interruption after tumor progression improves survival modestly.
Clinical trial results showed that Avastin improved the odds of overall survival by 19% (Note: how the statistics is massaged to make it look “sweeter”). But in reality Avastin only prolongs life by only 1.4 months. http://www.medpagetoday.com/HematologyOncology/ColonCancer/33045
In another report, it says – patients who received chemotherapy and Avastin did better than patients who received chemotherapy alone.
The patients receiving Avastin were likely to have longer tumor control and live longer than patients who did not receive Avastin. On average, they lived about five months longer (Note: this is probably a mistake found in this posting. It is not five months! Five weeks is probably the right number!). http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=54679
Avastin (bevacizumab) can help patients with advanced bowel cancer which has spread to other organs, usually the liver and lungs.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) said it had considered the drug …, but still considered the price too high for the extra benefit it gives patients.
Avastin costs almost £21,000 per patient (Note: This is equivalent to RM 102,302.73).
Clinical data submitted by Roche to the watchdog shows it can typically offer patients an extra six weeks of life when added to the chemotherapy drugs capecitabine and oxaliplatin.
The expected benefit (or you call that benefit at all?) is surely miserable compared to the cost that an ordinary patient in Malaysia or Indonesia has got to pay. But that is not all. What about the side effects of Avastin? Click this link, http://www.avastin.com/patient/overview/side-effects/index.html
The most serious side effects (not common, but sometimes fatal) are: gastrointestinal perforation, i.e. developing a HOLE in your stomach or intestine; wound would not heal, serious bleeding including vomiting or coughing up blood; bleeding in the stomach, brain, or spinal cord; and vaginal bleeding, stroke or heart problems, severe high blood pressure, nervous system and vision problems such as high blood pressure, headache, seizure, sluggishness, confusion, and blindness; kidney problems, etc.
The most common side effects are: nosebleeds, headache, high blood pressure, inflammation of the nose and skin, too much protein in the urine, taste change, dry skin, rectal bleeding and back pain.
Leo is a 51-year-old man. He was diagnosed with cancer of the rectum. He had chemotherapy and radiotherapy. After the treatment his rectal tumour was resected. CT scan confirmed metastasis to his liver and Leo was asked to undergo more chemotherapy. He declined. He came to us for herbs. After being on our therapy for more than a month, Leo did another CT scan. He then wrote this email below.
1 November 2012: Dear Dr. Chris,
I’ve just taken my CT scan report. The latest report show that both my lungs cancer cells are under control, no further metastasis. But for liver, it had grown bigger from 0.7cm (CT Scan on 18 May 12) to 2.2 cm. Full report will be shown to you. Please advise should I continue to take the required herbs or need to change your prescription. I’ve started to take your herbs on 16 September 12. I want to continue taking your herbs as I am confident that your herbs do help me. By the way, the doctor is going to close my colostomy next month as they are arranging the surgery. May God bless you.
Reply: Thanks for your email. Let me suggest two things here:
a) You have done all the medical treatments and you have taken the herbs for a month. Ask this question — does our therapy help you in any way. If it does NOT, there is no reason why you should hang on to what we ask you to do. Go and find someone else who can help you better. If it does, continue with what you are doing now. Don’t expect “magic” result.
b) If you wish to continue, I think it is wiser and more sensible to come and see me with all the reports and scans. Come and tell me what is actually happening and we shall see what else we can do to help you.
To me, writing emails and expecting the best, is not the way at all. Regards, Chris
Leo came to Penang on 8 November 2012. Below is what I told him that day.
The following are the gist of what I told Leo. Reflect on these points seriously if you want to be a winner.
1. Learn how to live with the cancer.
Cancer is not an easy disease to overcome. So far I don’t know of anybody who can assure you a cure. In this world nobody can cure cancer.
So we have to learn how to live with the cancer! Tell your cancer that you can stay with me but don’t disturb me. We both live together – and when I die, we die together. This is the kind of attitude I am trying to impart.
If you fight and fight like in a war, your body is going to suffer a lot more. The kiasu patients always want to fight and fight. If you fight may die sooner! Tell me, where in the world – when there is a war going on, that the people don’t suffer and the country is not damaged?
2. Yes, I am still alive and not dead yet!
Leo: I was told by the doctor that I only have 6 months to live. Some months later, I met the same doctor again and she recognized me and said, “Uncle, you are still alive?” I replied, “Yes, I am still alive and not dead yet.
In your case, looking at the scan, you are not bad compared to others that I have seen. I have seen people with 15 cm tumour in the liver. Leo: Mine is only 2.2 cm.
Let me tell you of a lady with liver cancer. She went to see her doctor and was told that there would be no treatment for her. Just go home. She has only two months to live. Now she has survived more than two years without any problem. She is able to sleep well, her appetite is good and there is no pain. Life has been good all the while. What more can she ask for? http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=29RVgT9CF1U#!
3. If you can eat, can sleep and have no pain – what else do you want?
Do not ask for more. This is the reality that I am telling you. Don’t be a kiasu wanting to get rid of the cancer because nobody can really do that.
You don’t have to die because of your cancer. Many people die because of other reasons. Walk by the roadside, a car comes along and bang you! You die. Take a bus, and the bus plunge into a river and you die.
4, Make a visit to the Chemo Treatment room in the hospital – what do you see there? Go, see and ask. Learn!
5. Don’t give up yet even if chemo had failed you.
The problem is you are being taught the wrong thing. Eat what you like, they say. And this makes the cancer come back again. Change your diet.
The herbs cannot cure you, but the herbs can help you and make you well.
In your case, don’t expect that after taking the herbs for about one and half months, the cancer is going to go away. No way – that’s absurd.
The herbs we give you are specific for your problems. You take Lung Tea for your lung, Liver Tea for your liver, etc. These herbs have helped many people but that does not mean that they will help you. It all depends on you – the individual. Healing takes more than just drinking herbs!
Many people come to me expecting to get the same success but they want healing on their own terms. That’s ridiculous!
You need to play your part too – take care of your diet!
7. You Need to Face Reality.
If you come here expecting me to cure you – then this is the wrong place. But if you come here to learn how to live with your cancer so that you can live a bit longer, then this is the right place to come to.
That is the reason why I told you to come and see me and we discuss your problem.
If you really value your life, coming to Penang is no big deal. But if you think travelling for an hour or two is already too far then forget about it.
I am generous with those who are really interested to help themselves and want to know how to go about it. But if you want an easy free ride, then there is no reason for me to waste my time.
My final words. Your life is your responsibility. So take care of yourself.
After his trip to Penang, Leo returned home and wrote this email on 12 November 2012.
Hi Dr. Chris,
I’m back here in Johor. It has been a pleasure to meet you and gain a lot of knowledge from you. I totally agree with what you’ve said and will continue to take the herbs to overcome my cancer problems.
I’ve just received a mail from my FB friend stating that finally the US Doctors do admit that surgery, chemo and radiotherapy do great harm to cancer patients instead of “curing” them. All the work done previously by the doctors only INCREASE the spread of cancer tumors to other parts of the body and also make them more aggressive than the initial tumors. This article is written in Mandarin. They also agree that certain “herbs'” do better job. These will increase our body immune system. I will keep in touch from time to time. Thanks and best regards.
Comments
I am well aware that some may agree while others may totally disagree with what I have said. You are welcome to disagree! The privilege is yours. Over the years I have read numerous books written by experts and my worldview of cancer and its treatment are shaped by I what I have read, together with the experiences of my patients.
Cure: Cure means total elimination of the disease and it will not recur. In medical literature no one talks about cure for cancer. They only talk about remission. According to Dr. Theodore Karrison, patients need to survive for 20 to 25 years before we can say they are cured. In other word, only time will tell if you are cured – no human being can! Prolong survival is not a cure. Being alive for FIVE years does not mean cure. The five years used by most doctors as a measure of cure is an arbitrary figure. There is no scientific basis of choosing this number.
I’ve rectal cancer at stage 4. Have done my surgery (in Jan, 2012), 11 cycles of chemotherapy (2011) and 25 times of radiotherapy (2011). But the tumors recur and spread to both of my lungs and liver. Now the oncologist suggested to go for another 9 to 12 cycles of Avastin and 5-FU chemo. I’ve refused. Once again, thanks a lot for your unique info for cancer. I’ve learned a lot by reading from your website. Hope to see you soon. God Bless you.
This is his story. Let’s call him Leo.
Sometime in 2010 Leo had problems moving his bowels. He took laxative but this did not work. On 11 December 2010 he went for a colonoscopy in a private hospital in his hometown. The doctor found a stenosing growth in his lower rectum. It was an adenocarcinoma. Since Leo did not have health insurance coverage, he was asked to seek treatment in the government hospital.
A CT scan was performed on 7 January 2011 and the results showed:
An irregular constricting mass measuring 4.1 x 3.3 x 4.4 cm in the distal rectum.
A heterogenous enhancing lesion in segment 5 of liver measuring 2.2 x 2.1 cm. Complementary USG showed ill defined heterogenous solid lesion in the segment 4 and segment 7 measuring 2.4 x 1.6 cm and 0.8 x 0.8 cm respectively. Lesion in segment 5 of liver may represent liver metastasis.
Multiple cortical renal cysts bilaterally.
In view of the above, Leo was told by his doctor that it was a Stage 4 cancer and he has only six months to live! He was given two options:
Do nothing (and wait to die).
Undergo chemotherapy and radiotherapy but these may not be effective.
Leo’s life was turned upside down upon hearing this prognosis. He was in a mad rush wanting to do something but did not know exactly what to do. A week later, on 15 January 2011, he went to Kuala Lumpur for a second opinion. A CT scan was again performed. This procedure cost him RM 1,000. The results of this repeat CT indicated:
A 4 cm mass in the lower rectum.
A 5 mm cyst is seen in the right lobe of the liver. The liver is otherwise normal.
Three days later, 18 January 2011, Leo did a PET/CT scan at another medical centre. This procedure cost him RM3,000. The results indicated the following:
A FDG-avid lymph node seen in the right neck, submandibular region.
The lower rectum has a 4.5 cm FDG-avid focus.
The liver appears normal. No FDG-avid focal liver nodule.
No FDG-avid metastases seen.
The adventure in Kuala Lumpur left Leo more confused. The earlier examination said he had metastatic liver cancer. But according to the PET scan there was not cancer in his liver!
Leo was referred back to the government hospital in his hometown again. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy were recommended but this local hospital do not provide such treatments. Leo was referred to a government hospital in Johor Baru.
Leo received a total of 6 cycles of chemotherapy – Mayo’s Regime, and 25 radiation treatments over a period of 8 months.
In early January 2012, Leo underwent a surgery to remove the tumour in his rectum. He was then fitted with a colostomy bag.
In June 2012, Leo was asked to undergo more chemotherapy, this time using FOLFOX + Avastin (see report below). He was asked to undergo 9 to 12 cycles and each cycle would cost him RM 5,200.
Leo could not afford to pay for this expensive treatment. The doctor offered him the oral drug, Xeloda. He took Xeloda for three cycles and decided to stop it due to the following side effects:
High fevers.
Diarrhea.
Vomiting.
Pain around the colostomy bag.
Leo said he did not suffer all these side effects before taking Xeloda.
Leo decided to seek our help and was started on the CA Care Therapy in August 2012.
On 8 November 2012 Leo and his wife came to Penang for further consultation. He related his experience in the hospital’s cancer ward.
Some excerpts of our conversation.
Leo: I made a lot of friends in the hospital.
Chris: Did they ever get cured? Did they suffer?
L: (Shake head). No and most of them suffer.
C: This is the way it is. But human beings are such. They always think only other people suffer, other people die but they never think that this can happen to them … they never die! “I am the exceptional, I want to try.” You try you suffer.
L: I stayed in the hospital for about 2 months.
C: What did you see?
L: So many people. Young and old. The youngest I saw was 6 years old.
C: Did they get better?
L: (shake head) No, all die. I stayed in a room with 4 beds, A, B, C, D. Within one night, 2 patients, C and D, passed away. I was left with B. We both looked at each other. I also saw a patient committed suicide. He could not stand it anymore. No, cure, no money – all money spent. He went to Singapore for treatment. One million plus gone.
C: I got people who came and told me they spent about RM 600,000. So you have people who spent more than a million and still could not get the cure and eventually committed suicide.
L: I was in the hospital. He jumped down from the 6th floor. His son was sleeping by his bed in the ward. I heard him telling his son that night. “We don’t have money already. Don’t go around and borrow any more money from people. I cannot be cure already.”
Comments
This is indeed a very sad experience. Treatment means spending money. A lot of money! But do patients ever get cured? Do we want to leave this world with piles of debts for our children to settle? That is the way it is today with “scientifically proven” cancer treatment.
I am not going to play god with patients who come and see me. I am not going to tell them when they will die or how long they can live because this is not my job. To live or die is God’s prerogative. Giving prognosis like “You have 6 months to live” is most counter-productive and damaging.
J.D. Frank wrote, The insensitivity of scientific medicine to the bad effects of wrong emotions is probably responsible for many failures.
I also tell everyone who come to me that I cannot guarantee that you can be cured. I don’t want to give you false hope. But if you still believe in what we do here at CA Care, then together — I emphasize together, we shall do our best. Remember you are not the only one going through this “battle”. There are many others before you who have travelled the same road. They too had colorectal cancer that had spread to the liver. I am happy to say that some are doing extremely well, but some had failed miserably. But to say to cancer patients that “You only has six months to live” is mere text book knowledge! My experience in CA Care showed otherwise. If medical science cannot provide hope to patients, let me say that herbs and change of diet and lifestyle can! And this done at minimal cost!
Let me ask you to listen to those who have succeeded.
Koh was a 75-year-old lady with colon-liver cancer. Medically nothing could be done because of her age. The daughter decided to give her herbs. According to our record she had been on CA Care’s herbs for 14 years without facing any health problem. I never remember seeing this lady but I know her daughter came in regularly to buy herbs for her mother. https://cancercaremalaysia.com/2011/04/03/liver-metastasis-no-chemotherapy-%E2%80%93-fourteen-years-still-on-herbs/
Goh was a 73-year old man from Sarawak. He was in the hospital ward. The doctors on their round, deliberately skipped him because they believed his liver was not functioning anymore. No need to waste time on him. Goh bounced back to life after taking our herbs. Listen to this interview. https://cancercaremalaysia.com/2010/12/10/the-story-of-goh/
Hanafi is my buddy – my classmate in college. He had colon-liver cancer. He had undergone surgery, chemotherapy and RFA. Then the doctor wanted to resect his liver. He declined. He took herbs and bounced back to life. Today Hanafi plays golf every week – for 7 years now, the 2 tumours in his liver remain “dormant.” Listen to him. https://cancercaremalaysia.com/2010/12/10/the-story-of-my-buddy-colon-liver-cancer/
While ALL patients who come to see us want to be winners, unfortunately some failed miserably in their quest for recovery. I often tell patients – after talking to you for a few minutes or reading your emails, I could probably “sense” if you can make it or not. Unfortunately some people are not “cut” or made to be winners. I always say, kiasus don’t win! Here are three examples.
Mr. Nut came to seek our help after surgery and chemotherapy could not cure him. His CEA due to colon-liver cancer was on the rise. Used to being a “king” in his “rubber-estate-kingdom” he proved to be too smart, too educated and too demanding for us to handle. He tried taking herbs for some weeks but these did not help him.
If there was one thing I ever remember clearly about this man was what he said when he first came to see me. He repeatedly said, I am a friend of your good friend. There is nothing wrong with this remark, except to remember that in CA Care, we play no politics! You don’t need to “pull strings” to get our best attention. Everyone who comes to us are treated equally.
There was an interesting man from Indonesia. He came to seek our help after doctors in Singapore and China gave up on him. He had liver cancer. He had no option left but to take our herbs but he would not keep to our recommended diet. His son said, “My father did take the herb from CA Care regularly, until he went in coma a few weeks before he passed away.” With the herbs he survived almost one year and half years. But he would eat anything he liked because he said after his death he did not want to end up being a hungry ghost. https://cancercaremalaysia.com/2011/12/24/liver-cancer-better-to-become-a-full-stomach-ghost-than-a-hungry-ghost/
VIP was a well known man in society. He had colon-liver cancer. He took herbs, refusing to undergo any medical treatment. He was well for more than 6 months. Since he enjoyed eating, it was hard for him to keep up to our recommended diet. In a party he attended, VIP took “the forbidden food” and his stomach was bloated soon afterwards. He was miserable for some weeks before he died.
My message to all cancer patients, You have a choice! It is up to you to decide.
One night, while browsing the Internet, we came across an article (dated August 2013) that really threw us off the chair. The article that stunned us, but which has not been reported in the mainstream media, can be viewed at the following link:
Cancer doctor gives needless chemo in US 35 m fraud....says prosecutors.
As we search further, we came across a more detailed article of the same subject published in MEDPAGE, a medical news portal which can be read at the following link:
Physician Gave Chemo to Patients without Cancer, Feds say
Briefly, in August 2013 Oncologist Dr Farid Fata was arrested for allegedly having scammed US$35 million from Medicare over a two-year period. The following are the main points in the allegations against Dr Farid:
Deliberately misdiagnosed patients as having cancer to justify unnecessary cancer treatment,
Deliberately misdiagnosed patients without cancer to justify expensive testing
Administered chemotherapy unnecessarily to patients who were in remission,
Administered chemotherapy to end-of-life patients who will not benefit from the treatment,
Fabricated other diagnoses such as anemia and fatigue to justify unnecessary hematology treatments,
Unnecessarily distributed controlled substances to patients,
Administered chemotherapy to patients who had other serious medical conditions that required immediate treatment before being permitted to go to the hospital.
You can read more of Dr Farid Fata’s case (or verify the authenticity of this article) when you google CHEMOTHERAPY FRAUD or just DR FARID FATA or watch the following videos on YouTube:
1) Michigan Oncologist Accused of Giving “Unnecessary Chemotherapy to cancer patients”
In this case, this is how oncologist Dr Meera Sachdeva defrauded cancer patients at her cancer center –The Rose Cancer Center in Summit, Jordan, USA:
· Syringes were re-used and different patients’ chemotherapy drugs were drawn from the same bag.
· Chemotherapy drugs were diluted,
· Use chemotherapy drugtreatments after their expiration date,
Submitted claims for chemotherapy services that were supposedly given while she was out of the country,
Dr Meera has been sentenced to a 20–year jail term. You can read more of Dr Meera Sachdeva by just googling her name or watch the following YouTube videos:
Are these the only “isolated” cases or are these just the “tip” of the iceberg? To be diagnosed with cancer is traumatizing enough…but to be cheated by your oncologist/doctor is like rubbing a ton of salt into a big wound. Don’t you think so?
If you have undergone chemotherapy treatment, you may have some comments/experience to share with the rest of the world. Your comments may help to save some fellow cancer patients.
SOME FURTHER RELATED REFERENCES:
If you would like to blow your brains further, read the following:
1) How We Do Harm…this book is written by oncologist Dr Otis Webb Brawley (also chief Medical and scientific officer and Executive Vice President of the American Cancer Society)…the book gives a detail description how cancer patients are mislead and defrauded into unnecessary treatments.
CANCER STORY 
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