Whether or not you have cancer and searching for the diet that promises cure or if you are trying to be healthy and avoid cancer; there is one question that needs to be asked: Are You confused?
Whether or not you have cancer and searching for the diet that promises cure or if you are trying to be healthy and avoid cancer; there is one question that needs to be asked: Are You confused?
If you have answered YES – then you may be on the road to discovery by reassessing the loads of misinformation written and spoken about diet and cancer cures. Over 45 years in cancer medicine – I have seen most fads and “cancer cure diets”. Longevity in the field is a wonderful teacher as you have the luxury of seeing repetition over the years. What works and what doesn’t work!
I see “cancer cure diets” recycled each decade to a new group of enthusiasts who promote the very things that did not work back then but, they don’t know that and so they regurgitate the information to a new group of desperate patients seeking a cure. The newbie enthusiasts believe the old and tired hype and try to make it new and sexy. But as they say You can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear!
So, if you are confused, I encourage you to develop your critical thinking skills and question the different ways that are promoted to help you beat cancer and especially to beat cancer naturally with diet and without the help of modern medicine. Most cancer patients believe that with a diet change you can do no harm; but they could not be more wrong!
All things in Balance – So important when dealing with cancer
The list of “healthy diet health issues” is long…but perhaps the most recent destructive dietary change for cancer patients is the Vegan diet. Regularly in my practice I see patients who have lost 10-20 kg plus following a vegan diet because they went to a workshop program, read it in a book or found it on Dr Google. They have applied a one size fits all approach to their diet, not personalized. When we measure their blood – we find severe deficiencies in critical areas including immunity and vitamin B12 to name a few – the complete opposite of their goal- but often we also find dangerous levels of selenium, zinc, Vit D & A as they have tried to use supplements to adjust for dietary lack. Faecal retention and constipation is common on low fibre diets.
The natural therapies movement has convinced patients that their bodies can no longer be trusted to function and that they are toxic and must detox from very pore and orifice. As well they must do the same with their “emotional baggage”if they want to recover from cancer!This is a sad indictment of a supposedly health promoting profession.
Apart from diets where Juicing reigns supreme with 8- 10 juices a day; vegan and raw vegan seem to create the most most destructive side effects for cancer patients. Many patients who have written blogs and books on the subject have sadly died following the wrong dietary advice. Yes – patients die from cancer too….but in my experience those who engage in the fad cancer cure diets do far worse than those who just have medical treatment.
I was in a local Homestyle-Kitchen store recently and on the shelf I discovered several new copies of Jess Ainscough’s (Wellness Warrior’s) book – “Make Peace with your Plate”. It is well documented – Jess and her mother both died by adhering to their singular dietary cure for cancer. The store concerned was not interested to know that Jess had died as a result of her choices.
If patients have delayed treatment or delayed seeking a proper diagnosis – the consequences can be horrendous. SEE Delayed treatment World Journal of Psycho– warning graphic image in this Journal article.
One question to ask yourself is “Do I have time to experiment with this one one precious life?” All that myself and my colleagues can do is keep on educating cancer patients – but sadly by the time some patients visit – there is little than can be achieved.
A recent paper published in the MJA by Professor Ian Haines takes a look at this issue from the perspective of the oncologist. The paper is written to assist oncologists to develop better communication with patients who take the this alt-med-dietary path to cancer recovery.
Giulia Enders has been fascinated with the human digestive system and how its function affects all aspects of our health. In this extract of her newly published book, Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Under-rated Organ,she discusses the surprisingly complex end point of digestion.
Giulia Enders, a young passionate medical PhD student has been fascinated with the human digestive system and how its function affects all aspects of our health. In her newly published book, Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Under-rated Organ, she discusses the surprisingly complex end point of digestion. Did you know that 80% of your immune system is located in your GUT? It is not rocket science to make the link between having a healthy gut and good health and wellbeing! Giulia Enders brings this complex subject to an almost lighthearted but powerful narrative that is engaging, entertaining and incredibly valuable for anyone interested in improving their wellbeing.
Listen to interview on Radio National Giulia Enders with Natasha Mitchell:
Giulia Enders Book
From my personal viewpoint; I have always been fascinated by the gut and it’s workings. I became even more fascinated when I surgically parted with 10 feet of intestine (both small and large intestine) in a series of surgeries over a 13 year period. Re-framing the experience as a learning opportunity; a result of a medical misadventure rather than disease; I was thrown into the fast track of helping to convince my body that less was now going to be more!
How would or could my gut adapt to such huge changes and what did I have to do to help the process. My gut became an intense “in house” study for me so when I heard this terrific interview on Radio National last week – I just had to share it with all of you who want to look after your health -including your inner gut health. Read an edited extract of Giulia Enders book’ ‘Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Under-rated Organ’, published by Scribe. Select the link below to Radio National.
About the author Giulia Enders: When she was seventeen, Giulia developed a sore on her leg that stubbornly refused to disappear.Soon other sores appeared on her body and despite the efforts of a range of doctors and medications, nothing seemed to help them heal. So she did some research. She read about other similar cases that had followed courses of antibiotics. She began to make a link between her skin’s condition and the health of her intestines. Her fascination with the gut and how its function affects all kinds of aspects of our health continued, so she started studying medicine and continued researching for her PhD.
The result is a MUST READ for anyone interested in improving their health. An international best-seller: Gut: the inside story of our body’s most under-rated organ just published in Australia.
Once you read this book, I think you will appreciate your own inside story and, maybe even make some health enhancing “gut-sense” lifestyle changes!
If you had told me 30-40 years ago I would be spending most of my working life shepherding cancer patients back into mainstream medicine; I would have thought it a ludicrous idea. But – this is what I do. The movement that I was a part of from the 1970’s forward was inclusive of conventional medicine. It was about improving lifestyle, good nutrition, stress reduction and how to develop strategies that work whilst you had mainstream medical treatments. The work then was a value add to to the best conventional medicine available.
Part Two: In this Easter edition of The Australian Weekend Magazine, (available online by subscription or in the Magazine) Richard Guilliatt in his article Wellness Inc. takes us on a journey of reality into the current day wellness industry. You can also try the following link to read this story.
Investigative journalist Richard Guilliatt writes for the Australian Weekend Magazine – Wellness Inc
The Wellness Industry is laced with promises and certainty; New Age philosophies and platitudes. Which sounds lovely, but it is not a replacement for conventional medicine. Many young cancer entrepreneurs are following the premise popularized in the last decades–that the mind can change everything. Try focusing on a mole on your body for a day , week month or year and see what influence the mind can have? Let me know if it goes away because you asked it to! You can change anything with your mind is a dangerous premise that has winded its way in the wellness movement. I have had patients who have believed implicitly in the power of the Course in Miracles and studied it intensely as the only treatment for breast cancer. Unfortunately like most patients who neglect medical treatment, they died due to painful, fungating tumours.
Then, there are young women who have had cancer and who claim to have had cancer. One such newsworthy young woman Belle Gibson; who claimed to have had many cancers, when exposed now says she was misdiagnosed. In a strange way Belle has helped to lift the lid on the wellness industry that she desperately wanted to be a part of and is responsible for breaking the bubble of deception that cloaks the wellness movement. All is not as it seems. The Wellness Industry is ill and for our physical and psychological wellbeing – we need to take a long hard look at the remedies.
If you had told me 30-40 years ago I would be spending most of my working life shepherding cancer patients back into mainstream medicine; I would have thought it a ludicrous idea. But – this is what I do. The movement that I was a part of from the 1970’s forward was inclusive of conventional medicine. It was about improving lifestyle, good nutrition, stress reduction and how to develop strategies that work whilst you had mainstream medical treatments. The work then was a value add to to the best conventional medicine available.
Over the years the concept changed; influenced by idealism – not fact. Cancer patients were becoming vegan, raw vegan and juicing and green smoothies became fashionable, positive thinking, meditation, colonics and enemas were all geared at effecting the perfect remission from cancer as well as promises of “awesome wellness”. Just when you think you have heard it all – “people are going bananas – literally!
Yes – you read correctly, people have started eating just one fruit, the return of the mono diet eg Freelee the Banana Girl http://abc.net.au/news/6360232and then the banana runner who claims her diet and lifestyle influenced her cancer : Her book “Raw Can Cure Cancer” is a claim that must be substantiated along with her reported cancer-related medical history. If you feel tempted to try any of the whacky fad internet/book diets – Please take a look at the following site first – testimonials from folk who tried the whacky diets with dire consequences: http://www.beyondveg.com/
Back to Richard Guilliatt’s article where he talks of young “life” coaches, meditation teachers and health and wellness bloggers within the Wellness mix. A harmless business? Far from it.
Keep your Fraud-o-meter active and Alert!
There are many more out there that would fit the bill for inclusion into Guilliatt’s news piece and no doubt there will be more revelations to come. Far from harmless; these sweet faced ill informed young women I’m sure, or at least I hope, have no idea of the influence and impact they are having on the lives of cancer patients. Their blogs tell similar stories; their cancer cure lifestyle changes sound so easy, so right and so non toxic; after all how can vitamins, attitudinal healing or a green smoothie harm anyone?
We live in times when anyone can make themselves famous without having earned their stripes, studied or even had a life long enough to be qualified to advise people what they should do with their lives.
If you are following or encouraging someone else to follow their unqualified information and lifestyle advice you will likely exacerbate illness. Their influence may even contribute to your death or the death of a loved one. If this occurs – will the blogger or author take responsibility for their poor advice? If this were your wife or husband or child or sibling – how would you feel? Cancer is complex. Conventional medicine doesn’t have all the answers either – but early diagnosis and early treatment by conventional medicine clearly leads to life extension across many cancers. This I know having seen tens of thousands of cancer patients in my 40 year career who recovered from cancer following the middle-path approach. Holistic medicine in order to be ‘whole’ must be inclusive of Conventional Medicine.
We are now seeing hundreds of Wellness “Cancer-cure” bloggers who can appear to have knowledge merely because they have had or still have cancer. Walking experiments themselves, they advise with surety gathering followers along the path like in the fairytale – The Pied Piper of Hamelin
Richard Guilliatt poses the question – What do these people have in common – they are young, new age, savvy with the internet and social media and they are a part of dangerous sisterhood peddling unqualified natural living and “cure cancer” philosophies to the online masses.
The message is clear for anyone dealing with cancer – Buyer beware! Be careful from whom you are taking advice. Where cancer is concerned – never compromise on qualified advice.
A more senior element quoted by Gulliatt, an elder of TV fame who has influenced many cancer patients to take the road to healing Cancer with the now illegal Black Salve – Tony Barry is one of those all Australian ‘larger than life’ fellows that has appeared on our TV screens for decades. He promotes the use of black salve and although he continues to have melanomas that he treats with Black salve, he is still singing the praises of it’s success as a cancer cure. The fact that he has had a leg amputated due the advancement of his disease seems to pass by as it was written in to the last TV series screened on ABC TV: The Time of Our Lives. As the character Ray – a car on a wheel jack drops on his leg – and as a part of the show – his leg is damaged and he undergoes an amputation.
As Richard Guilliatt reports, the real story is that a fungating tumour (melanoma) the size of a mandarin, burst through the skin on his leg. Surgeon’s accordingly amputated the leg. At that time in 2013, for 6 years the actor had refused surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Is the melanoma being held at bay by applying Black Salve which apparently he still uses? I don’t know what Tony Barry’s brand of melanoma is – but all cancers are different and by nature – some grow slowly. Superficial spreading melanoma; the most common type can be slow growing.
Superficial spreading melanoma is a form of melanoma in which the malignant cells tend to stay within the tissue of origin, the epidermis, in an ‘in-situ’ phase for a prolonged period (months to decades). At first, superficial spreading melanoma grows horizontally on the skin surface – this is known as the radial growth phase. The lesion presents as a slowly-enlarging flat area of discoloured skin.
An unknown proportion of superficial spreading melanoma become invasive, i.e. the melanoma cells cross the basement membrane of the epidermis and malignant cells enter the dermis. A rapidly-growing nodular melanoma can arise within superficial spreading melanoma and start to proliferate more deeply within the skin. SOURCE: http://www.dermnetnz.org/lesions/ssm.html
Like Jess Ainscough (Wellness Warrior) whose slow growing epitheloid sarcoma progressed at the expected rate – so too melanoma’s follow a similar pattern. I have been to too many “Black Salve” funerals – including naturopathic practitioners, naturopathic teachers and integrative doctors who succumbed to its undelivered promises.
I have always liked Tony Barry as an actor. People with such a public persona have a big influence on society. His position as narrator in the DVD One answer to Cancer has influenced perhaps millions of people to use Black salve on cancers. Some may be benign whilst others have the potential to spread into the lower layers of skin and through the lymphatics. In the public interest questions must be asked about the efficacy of this treatment (developed would you believe out out an early Medical technique – Moh’s chemosurgery!!)
It was disappointing and to me rather obnoxious; that when questioned about Black salve Tony Barry’s response was that his survival shows that the “cancer industry” doesn’t have all the answers. “People need to take control of their lives” he says “Because if you put it in the hands of these buggers ( meaning the medical profession); their model isn’t based on wellness – it’s based on sickness.”
With regard to Tony Barry, Jess Ainscough and others – If people wish to experiment on themselves – well it is their right even if misinformed. But when they peddle their “cures’ to the masses while still a walking experiment themselves – that I have a problem.
When the surgeon who amputated Tony Barry’s leg below the knee read the Weekend Australian Magazine, he must have sat down shaking his head in disgust! Another doctor whom I know who featured in the DVD One Answer to Cancer lost his life to a brain tumour refusing conventional treatment with a belief that natural medicine would cure him. One answer to cancer doesn’t seem to have the answers to cancer.
Resources:
Read about the real origins of Black Salve here on this blog site:
So – where are we at as cancer myth after cancer myth is dismantled and shattered. As Phillip Adams points out in his interview with the Australian newspaper’s Richard Guilliatt last Thursday night on Radio National “Late night Live”; the Wellness industry is well overdue for a makeover. Watch for Richard Guilliatt’s article in today’s weekend Australian newspaper magazine….” Wellness Inc”.
Part ONE: At the beginning of the wellness industry birthed during the 1970’s, one could not have foreseen the journey that lay ahead. Born during the freedom movement alongside the emerging hippie culture; the wellness movement had all the potentials to supersede the medical culture of the time that appeared to be struggling in one particular area – cancer treatment. At that time chemotherapy was crude as was radiation and surgery when compared to today’s medicine.
Me on my wedding day February 1976 when Ian Gawler was given a 6 week prognosis after Gerson diet and intensive meditation failed to impact his illness. TB or Cancer?
Diagnostic equipment was also basic; in particular those affected by cancer were looking for a new way forward. Others who had no apparent mainstream medical treatment options during the 1970’s, were willing to try whatever might help. As mentioned by Richard Guilliatt in his interview with Phillip Adams; the history of Ian Gawler’s disease and highly likely misdiagnosis of secondary cancer, has been crucial to the birthing of the Wellness Movement both in the 70’s and today in 2015.
Listen now to the interview – live streaming on Radio National:
As we know, history and details often become confused as time goes by. At the end of 1975 Ian Gawler and myself were in a situation where there was no treatment on offer for him. Having had his left leg amputated a year prior in Jan 1974; what was thought to be development of a secondary cancer in November 1975; was not thoroughly investigated. If the new bony lump in his groin was a metastasis of the original osteogenic sarcoma then according to his doctors, medical treatment was futile apart from some radiation therapy. The path and behaviour of this bony lump and other lumps that were to follow; with retrospective knowledge; were atypical of metastatic osteogenic sarcoma. The mere fact of his recovery should have demanded rigorous investigation and research when his “remission” was declared – but it did not! The story grew and morphed and has even been misreported in credible medical Journals.
The story of the man who cured himself of metastatic osteogenic sarcoma became famous worldwide – the story was largely anecdotal, complex and difficult to track over the years – this is how myth and folklore is born and how others are influenced to follow.
Here is what happened on The Gerson Diet & intensive meditation 1975-76:
After 3 months on the Gerson Therapy concurrent with intensive meditation sessions with the late Ainslie Meares; there was massive deterioration in Ian’s condition.
The Gerson Diet caused massive weight loss aided by horrendous night sweats and then immobility due to pain from nerve compression in the spinal column (caused by the rapid weight loss). Clearly, two of the mainstays diet and meditationthat have been promoted as pivotal in “curing” Ian’s cancer; failed at the critical time when a solution was needed the most! Yet somehow, the new breed of young 2015 Cancer Warriors and social media/internet entrepreneurs were under a misapprehension regarding the actual events of Ian Gawler’s recovery that took place between November 1975 and June 1978. Many have since built both lucrative businesses whilst jeopardizing their lives – based on incorrect information. The late Jess Aincough (Wellness Warrior) was quoted as saying at the Gawler Foundation’s Survivors Conference “If Ian Gawler did it – then I can do it too”. DOWNLOADJESS ainscough Gawler healthtalks
Gerson’s therapy appeared to have some scientific Basis – however in later years I read some of the early Gerson Material – A summary is included here: The claims for Cure being quite different that what is commonly thought of Max Gerson’s Diet and Research: pdf link included below
So – where are we at as cancer myth after cancer myth is dismantled and shattered. As Phillip Adams points out in his interview with the Australian newspaper’s Richard Guilliatt last Thursday night on Radio National “Late night Live”; the Wellness industry is well overdue for a makeover. Watch for Richard Guilliatt’s article in today’s weekend Australian newspaper magazine….” Wellness Inc”.
To listen to the interview select the audio file below.
The food we eat, lifestyle and it its impact on health remains controversial and confusing. Recent media exposure of some of the entrepreneurs of dietary approaches for cancer has brought even more confusion. What can you do realistically to improve health through nutrition? Can diet prevent cancer and more importantly can it impact growth of cancer once it has proliferated. I will be exploring these questions over the coming weeks.
The food we eat, lifestyle and it its impact on health remains controversial and confusing. Recent media exposure of some of the entrepreneurs of dietary approaches for cancer has brought even more confusion. What can you realistically do to improve health? Can diet prevent cancer and more importantly can it impact growth of cancer once it has proliferated. I will be exploring these questions over the coming weeks. Through our health promotion not for profit charity; and a series of informative blogs, my internet radio show “Navigating the Cancer Maze” and seminars; over the next few months we will be helping you navigate the complex cancer and nutrition maze.
Fresh Produce from the Sunday Farmer’s Market Gold Coast Racecourse
The aim is to help you make better choices, become more connected with the food you eat and to buy and prepare food wisely. The latest food “wake-up call” for Australian consumers has been initiated by the Hepatitis A Berry debacle.
From the nutritional viewpoint, there is strong scientific evidence that eating blueberries, blackberries, strawberries and other berry fruits has beneficial effects on the brain and may help prevent age-related memory loss and other changes. (ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry)
Phyto-chemicals in berries help increase brain function. Some top brain surgeons are now recommending increasing berries in your diet if you have a brain tumour.
High in antioxidants and pigments beneficial to health; berries have always been a food that increases and value-adds to various functions within the body. During the past few years berries like so many other “what used to be called food that that was good for you”, have been elevated to celebrity status as “Superfoods”! The “Superfood” label has been a very successful marketing ploy that has convinced consumers to eat exotic foods grown in far away lands (Goji berries-Grown in China-imported to Australia, Chia seeds Grown in India/South America – imported to Australia and so on etc).
We need to heed the wake-up call re imported foods and education is pivotal to avoid health problems particular in those who are immune compromised through cancer or other illnesses.
Another recent example of an outbreak of symptomatic hepatitis A virus infections was in May 2013. The virus spread across 10 US states and was associated with imported frozen pomegranate arils imported from Turkey and manufactured in the USA by an organic group. These were identified as the vehicle early in the investigation by combining epidemiology—with data from several sources—genetic analysis of patient samples, and product tracing. There were 165 cases known to have been affected. Hepatitis A is spread when human feces contaminate food or when an infected food handler prepares food without using proper hygiene. Human feces are expected as the cause of the outbreak, according to the Wall Street Journal. http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/2848/20130708/fecal-matter-pomegranate-seeds-linked-hepatitis-outbreak-southwestern.htm
No matter how “Super” a food is – our foods are still subject to spoilage, issues form light exposure, contamination from bacteria, viruses, environmental pesticides and in some countries of the world – even parasites; useful information when traveling, especially in parts of Asia.
Most people believe that home grown or organically farmed food is best and has superior taste – which is true; but it is not only the nutritional value of fresh food; food handling knowledge and storage is still important.
Just as important a question as what is in your food – is the question who has been handling your food before you?
Even though you may purchase beautiful produce from a Farmer’s market which I do – Cleaning, washing and storing your fruit and vegetables appropriate is essential for good health. Proper food handling is a science in itself and by not adhering to basic principles; you can put your health at risk whether you are a cancer patient or not. Here is an example of poor food handling: Note the Farmers Market image top left top of page – THis is produce I bought last Sunday – I washed all the produce – with the exception of potatoes. Note the dirt is still on the potatoes and they have direct contact with the lettuce leaves. Given that the potatoes are grown organically contaminants from the dirt from animal/human faeces or other pathogens can easily migrate to to the lettuce which will be eaten raw. Poor food handling method!
I have a great deal of healthy respect for the microscopic world- these humble little bugs; some which are good and some that are not good can quickly disable us and compromise health. Last year one of my cancer patients who was very pro raw produce had a significant life threatening incident when eggs from a local supplier had been contaminated with Clostridium. Within 10 minutes of ingesting his raw eggnog – he collapsed and within hours he was on life support in hospital. He recovered but the damage to his muscles and neurological system was extensive – he later died as a result of the bacterial onslaught. Another patient was making yoghurt from raw milk, warmed but not pasteurized, and almost lost their life due to bacterial contamination in the milk – a similar incident occurred when someone passed on to my client; a “special” yoghurt culture that had been made with raw milk – they became very ill and their cancer treatment was set back months due to the severity of the infection.
External contaminants: About the safety of frozen berries – in particular Raspberries:
Cancer patients often use frozen berries as a tasty key ingredient to make their nourishing and ” bowel-friendly” smoothie drinks. So what the problem with eating frozen berries?
Imported frozen raspberries
It all sounds as rosy as the berry’s colour itself; but for two facts – Hepatitis A contamination recently discovered in frozen raspberriesimported from China; and in addition, high levels of pesticides and fungicides used on these foods.
Download the PDF; “Know what’s in your frozen berries”: Brands under the microscope http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/ http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/list.php
Hepatitis A – How did it get into frozen berries? Hepatitis A is transmitted by the “faecal-oral” route and is the only common food-borne disease preventable by vaccine. It is one of five hepatitis viruses that infect the liver. While hepatitis B and C can turn into chronic hepatitis, hepatitis A generally does not; although it can lead to liver failure and death.
People who have contaminated hands can transmit the virus. Hepatitis A is a contagious disease. It travels in faeces, and can spread from person to person, or can be contracted from food or water. In cases of contaminated food, it is usually the person preparing the food who contaminates it. The food handler will probably not know they have the virus, since the virus is most likely to be passed on in the first two weeks of illness, before a person begins to show symptoms.
So the infection that appears to be linked to Nanna’s Berries could have been spread by someone working at the processing plant, who was infected with hepatitis A and did not wash their hands properly before handling the berries. Alternatively, because the virus is excreted in stool, it could also be that a water supply that’s been contaminated with sewage containing hepatitis A virus has been the problem. Water from that source could have been involved in the processing. Human excrement deposited in a field could also be a source. Freezing and the viability of the Hepatitis A Virus:
While the virus does not grow in the frozen food, but rather it remains suspended state. Even so, it remains infectious and is essentially preserved during transport. When the food starts to thaw, the virus becomes active again. It’s not just viruses, like hepatitis A, but the bacteria we associate with food-borne illnesses, like salmonella, e- coli, listeria, these all can survive freezing temperatures.
Does cooking kill the hepatitis A virus?
While cooking can kill the virus, the food needs to be thoroughly heated to above 85 degrees Celsius. If you heat food for a minute or two at that temperature, you should kill hepatitis A; however if you heat it to a lower temperature than that, then it can still survive.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
1. BERRIES- What can you do apart from discarding or returning any frozen berries? Berries are not the only culprits when it comes to health threats. Make a decision for you and your family’s health – eat local fresh foods in season – buy organic where possible especially the foods that that you consume the most and the ones known for pesticide contamination. Wash in vinegar solution, rinse and dry off before storing. (http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/list.php)
2. Discover the location of your local Farmer’s Market – buy direct from the growers and following handling and storage rules.
3. Avoid consuming imported produce from unknown sources or countries known for using pesticides not permitted here: for example: FROM The Sydney Morning Herald (Feb 21 2015): consumer groupChoice commented:The outbreak has highlighted concerns about country-of-origin labelling on food. Choice has tested 55 packs of frozen mixed fruits and mixed vegetables and found nearly half the labels on the packs had “vague” or “unhelpful” information. Choice said some of the worst claims included “Packed in New Zealand”, “Packed in Chile from imported and local ingredients” and “Processed in Belgium”. (GG added – But grown where?)
4. The case against raw food for cancer patients:
As per my example re raw eggs and raw milk – Consuming your vegetables raw can cause you to ingest bacteria or food borne illnesses that can actually be detrimental to your health. Understanding the risks associated with consuming raw vegetables will help you learn the importance of cooking your food thoroughly – yes “cooking foods” so you can avoid coming in contact with substances that may be toxic. Washing well may not always rid the produce of contaminants. For a healthy person – this might not be a problem – but for the immune compromised – it can be really serious.
You may be able to impact bacterial and pesticide/fungicide residues and viral contaminants by using good old fashioned vinegar. Professor Peter Collignon, infectious disease physician at the Australian National University’s Medical School, was asked about the value of vinegar for cleaning. I use it on all vegetables and fruits that I buy from the Market. http://www.abc.net.au/health/talkinghealth/factbuster/stories/2012/02/02/3407024.htm
I shop each week at the Farmers Market – as soon as I unpack the produce at home, I soak all my produce in a vinegar solution – then rinse and dry and place if fridge. I keep soil contaminated produce away from other foods.
Please let me know if you have found this information helpful – Feedback helps me to know what you want to Know. If you have a question or topic you would like addressed on this blog or on my radio show from an expert in the field – please write to me via the contact page on this blog.
According to Jean Connors, MD and medical director of Anticoagulation Management Services at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Cancer patients are at a higher risk than the general population of developing serious blood clots, including deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in the legs or pulmonary emboli in the lungs, which can be fatal.
Navigating the Vascular Maze in Cancer Medicine– Interview with vascular surgeon (now retired) Dr John Singe. To further this conversation I have added a number of resources and what I believe is very helpful information for anyone interested in health and wellbeing and disease prevention.
According to Jean Connors, MD and medical director of Anticoagulation Management Services at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Cancer patients are at a higher risk than the general population of developing serious blood clots, including deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in the legs or pulmonary emboli in the lungs, which can be fatal.
“Of all the blood clots detected, 20 percent of them are detected in people who have cancer,” She says. Individuals over the age of 60 are at the highest risk of developing blood clots.
“There is a balance in the body between pro-clotting and anti-clotting activity,” says Connors. ”Cancer skews the balance in terms of pro-clotting, increases inflammation, and compresses blood vessels, all risk factors for developing clots.”
As well as a tendency to coagulate or clot; treatments for cancer or blood disorders can also affect the balance of pro and anti-clotting factors.
Immobility and increased bed rest during treatment also enhances a patient’s risk of developing a hyper coagulant state this is why many hospital patients are treated with heparin or some form of anti-coagulant medicine. When seated in a car or aeroplane for long periods of time, it is important to change position, take short walks when possible to keep your blood flowing and practice the simple exercise talked about in today’s interview on Navigating the Cancer Maze Select the title to be redirected to my internet radio show on Voice America’s Health and Wellness Channel. (Free to listen live streaming or to download on itunes.) http://www.voiceamerica.com/episode/84200/special-encore-presentation-navigating-the-vascular-maze-in-cancer-medicine-clotting-risks-for
Patient risk of DVT and embolisms increases enormously with air travel to overseas cancer clinics and in my experience; the issue is often not addressed with diagnostic measures or treatment at these clinics. Unfortunately I have seen this scenario many times including when cancer patients are informed of the risks but are dedicated to a “natural cancer therapies” approach. These patients left their Clexane injections in their luggage to be considered for use at a later date. Cancer did not take their lives. Too many died as a result of DVT and resultant embolisms.
Of course if you have had DVT, embolisms or blood coagulation issues in the past it is essential to inform your treating doctor or oncologist. This is also a trap for patients being treated overseas where their complete medical history is not made available or where there are language and translation issues.
Formation of vascular blood clots is also a leading cause of death in cancer patients because cancer cells create conditions that favour clotting. We know that patients diagnosed with pancreatic, lung cancer, multiple myeloma, or hematologic malignancies are more likely to develop blood clots than other cancer patients due to cancer-specific factors, including their treatment regimens. These patients should receive particular attention in terms of preventative anti-coagulation therapy to decrease risk of events that could be fatal.
Dr Connors states that 10 percent of people diagnosed with DVT who do not have a known cancer will be diagnosed with cancer as part of the clot evaluation or in the next year to two years! PREVENTION AND AWARENESS:
Having seen so many patients with blood coagulation, DVT and embolisms; it serves as a warning sign that blood should be checked for coagulation problems as a part of wellness and disease prevention program. Did you know that egardless of cancer, if you are over 50; the greatest threat to your continued existence is the formation of abnormal blood clots in your arteries and veins. Even athletes and those who are physically fit can be at high risk.
Dietary management and adjustments can help reduce risk – as well as some plant-based phyto-chemicals that have been proven to decrease blood viscosity. However – self diagnosing blood coagulation problems and taking supplements for “blood-thinning” or even taking excessive amounts of foods known to help “thin the blood” is not recommended.
Could you possibly eat all this in one sitting if it wasn’t juiced? Imagine this amount 6 or more times daily!
Recently I had a patient who experienced massive bleeding during a biopsy procedure. Her surgeon had told her to avoid aspirin and fish oil for 5 days before her procedure – which she dutifully did. However she was juicing large amounts of fresh ginger daily as well as turmeric root and she was making a juice from cabbage, mustard greens and turnip greens broccoli, asparagus an apple.
She almost bled out on the operating table and has had a long recovery due to excessive blood loss. It is not hard to see why specialists say to cancer patients when asked if they can have certain foods and supplements – “TAKE NOTHING – AVOID SUPPLEMENTS AND DON’T CHANGE YOUR DIET TOO MUCH”.
When the famous Hippocrates said “Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food” he did not mean juicing a wheelbarrow load of fruit and veges every day!!!
It is useful to know that several herbal preparations ( natural and supplemental) interfere with the anti-clotting activity of blood thinners and can increase bleeding time or your risk of bleeding. Garlic, ginger, celery seed, ginseng, curcumin and aniseed all carry coumarin effects (meaning that they can prevent your blood from clotting…. the opposite coagulation focussed on in this article.). (NOTE: Avoid combining tumeric (active ingredient curcumin) with anticoagulant and/or antiplatelet drugs. If you take blood thinning medication
Due to “blood thinning” side effects of turmeric; cease to take it at least two weeks before any surgical procedure.
Two other helpful suggestions about taking Tumeric ( cucumin)
Caution with Diabetes. Turmeric may lower blood sugar. Avoid turmeric if you take diabetes medications, since turmeric could cause your blood sugar to fall even further. This could result in hypoglycemia.
Caution with Gallbladder. The NIH recommends avoiding turmeric if you currently have problems with your gallbladder. If you have gallstones or a bile duct obstruction, turmeric may cause your condition to worsen.
Foods rich in vitamin E are also natural blood thinners.
Botanical Science and nutritional science knowledge tend to be little adhered to by the current fad that more is better whether in juice, smoothie or supplement. People are flocking to buy machines that will pulverise 10 carrots and 4 blocks of tofu along with bunches of kale and spinach etc in the pursuit of “health and wellbeing”!
In fact these approaches can really have a negative impact of health and wellbeing which I am already seeing in my Practice.
Case managing patients who wish to use complementary medicines and nutritional approaches alongside conventional medicine – presents a challenging management situation to health practitioners.
In our practice I do my best alongside my colleague Dr Whelan to gain patient’s trust in advising on what to take as supplements and foods. With 87 years experience between us – we try to educate and advise simplicity as a targeted approach – rather than trying to “hit a mosquito with a shotgun” – the one size fits all approach. We know they will be tempted and influenced by fellow patients and incorrect information in books and approaches generated by faddist cancer entrepreneurs as well as Dr Google. Experience tells us that our educated patients do very well indeed.
As another example of the importance of botanical science knowledge and how a simple food might heal or hinder. While research suggests that tangeretin in mandarin oranges may help prevent cancer, people who already have cancer may not reap any benefits. In fact, a diet rich in mandarin oranges may provide counteractive results in these people as tangeretin appears to interfere with metabolism of some drugs, including the anti-cancer drug tamoxifen. Mandarins and grapefruit are just two of many foods that should be avoided due to interactions with life-saving pharmaceutical treatments.
ASK A HEALTH PROFESSIONAL WHO IS QUALIFIED AND EXPERIENCED IN CANCER AND HERB/NUTRITIONAL DRUG INTERACTIONS TO DESIGN A PERSONALIZED HEALTH RESTORATION PROGRAM FOR YOU.
Realise that your situation will change as response and treatments change. This is why regular communication and case management is imperative for every cancer patient.
For those cancer patients who live in Queensland – you might like to visit our Gold Coast based consulting rooms where Blood tests and other checks can be organised to increase your wellbeing and lower risks of blood disorders and assist with your cancer management program. More information? Email me via the contact page on this blog or visit www.gracegawlerinstitute.com or www.drwhelan.com
Recommendation – Ongoing Management:
If you are diagnosed with a blood clot, be sure to complete all age-appropriate cancer screenings, including mammograms, Pap smears, and colonoscopies, among others, to evaluate your cancer risk. If all tests are negative, implying no cancer is detected, then it has been recommended that the basic clinical evaluation is repeated every 6 months in the 2 years after the clot occurred. In this way, it is likely that most cancers, if they occur, will be promptly detected. If you know someone who has had DVT without a known cause – please direct them to the following video. We all know that early detection of cancer means better outcomes.
Good news on cancer: There is a definite change in the wind! The face of oncology is changing. Both cancer patients and oncologists are undergoing a cancer metamorphosis. Treatments are moving – albeit slowly from a killing cancer focus to a focus on retraining the body’s own immune system to seek and destroy cancer cells.
Good news on cancer: There is a definite change in the wind! The face of oncology is changing. Both cancer patients and oncologists are undergoing a cancer metamorphosis. Treatments are moving – albeit slowly from a killing cancer focus to a focus on retraining the body’s own immune system to seek and destroy cancer cells.
Riding the wave of new immune therapies. Pic: ABC News
Last week on Navigating the Cancer Maze internet radio Prof Brendon Coventry spoke about cancer vaccines and in particular about his success treating advanced melanoma.
He also spoke about the importance of measuring a patient’s immune cycle as a new approach to that value-adds to the “New Wave” of immunotherapy treatments against cancer.
Click hereto listen to that interview if you missed it – (live streaming or download on itunes to listen later at no cost).
Questions from cancer patients clearly demonstrate a thirst for knowledge about immune therapies.
Therefore – today – I have replayed my interview from mid last year(2014) with Cancer Research Institute’s CEO Jill O’Donnell-Tormey PhD. Click Jill’s name to be redirected to the interview on Voice America internet radio. In this interview Jill provided a clear picture of where immune therapies are headed and what they actually do and where you can find trials and treatments. VISIT: http://www.theanswertocancer.org/
Jill talks about the new immunotherapy pharmaceuticals – an innovative class of drugs that block PD-1. (Stands for programmed cell death protein 1). PD-1 inhibitors, activate the immune system to attack tumors and are therefore used to treat cancer. These drugs have complex names such as nivolumab successfully used in non-small-cell lung cancer, melanoma, and renal-cell cancer; Pembrolizumab; intended for use in treating metastatic melanoma; to name but a few. Then there are CTLA-4 antibodies such as Ipilimumab; a fully human, monoclonal antibody that overcomes CTLA-4–mediated T-cell suppression to enhance the immune response against tumors.
Anti-PD-1 and Anti-PD-L1 Antibodies – Unlike CTLA-4 antibodies, the PD-1/PD-L1 antibodies aim to potentiate the antitumor T-cell response at a tumor-specific level, by impairing the interaction of the inhibitory receptor PD-1 on T cells with PD-L1 expressed on tumor cells
Cancer patients as well as doctors and oncologists are having to learn a new language and a new way of thinking about cancer. The process is slow – but the most important people in cancer medicine – patients; need to know the basics and what to ask of their oncologists because these new immune drugs, cancer vaccines and immune timing of treatments, appears to hold the key to curing cancers.
As I see it – the only caution right now is that patients may be rushing to overseas alternative clinics who promote the new elaborate cocktails of immune therapies. Skill and experience is required in using these new immune treatments- best to ask an expert.
Now – back to Prof Coventry and Martin Ashdown’s work for some additional information….
There are many studies that demonstrate that conclusions made by Prof Brendon Coventry and Martin Ashdown that propose that our immune system has a rhythm that can be measured especially when a patient has advancing cancer.
T lymphocytes (orange colour) assembling to kill cancer
It is known that Cytokines (cell signalling molecules that aid cell to cell communication in immune responses and stimulate the movement of cells towards sites of inflammation, infection and trauma), are crucial mediators for shaping immune responses. Cytokines are important regulators of both the innate and adaptive immune response.
The following from the Journal of Immunology Research 2014 – states that Several parameters of the immune system exhibit oscillations with a period of approximately 24 hours that refers to “circadian rhythms.” Such daily variations in host immune system status might evolve to maximize immune reactions at times when encounters with pathogens are most likely to occur. However, the mechanisms behind circadian immunity have not been fully understood. Recent studies reveal that the internal time keeping system “circadian clock” plays a key role in driving the daily rhythms evident in the immune system. Importantly, several studies unveil molecular mechanisms of how certain clock proteins (e.g., BMAL1 and CLOCK) temporally regulate expression of cytokines. Since cytokines are crucial mediators for shaping immune responses, this review mainly summarizes the new knowledge that highlights an emerging role of the circadian clock as a novel regulator of cytokines. Continue reading “Review Article Temporal Regulation of Cytokines by the Circadian Clock” at:http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jir/2014/614529/
Research such as the above; should encourage us to support the important work on immune synchronization and timing of cancer treatments recently pioneered by Prof Brendon Coventry (and Martin Ashdown) as featured on my internet radio show: Navigating the Cancer Maze 23 January 2015; please see interviews and links below.
Professor Coventry’s first interview listed on the Science show with Robin Williams was broadcast : Saturday 17 April 2010 !! At last there is an intervention that can positively impact outcomes of treatments and that is relatively non invasive (apart from a series of blood tests over a 2 week period).
The information graphed from results can tell you when your window of opportunity for optimum response from your cancer treatments will be. It is my hope that patients will take the time to read and understand the research on both the immune system and immune synchronization of cancer treatments and its exciting implications and begin to ask for their immune systems rhythm to be measured and evaluated.
Prof Brendon Coventry Adelaide, South Australia
Prof Brendon Coventry says immune system rhythm, may be a fundamental discovery. Implications are better health and reduced costs for the health system. A survey showed that tumours disappear completely in just 7% of patients when treated with chemotherapy. Did the time of administering chemotherapy have an effect? Daily blood measurements show fluctuation in inflammatory markers in the blood. A cycle emerged. It’s now thought the immune system is being regulated, being switched on and off against the tumour. The periodicity is roughly 7 days. This matters, as hitting the immune system with chemicals when it isn’t receptive might be ineffective.
Today on Navigating the Cancer Maze I speak with Prof Brendon Coventry about melanoma and in particular, vaccines against melanoma. But more than a melanoma treatment, Cancer Vaccines are showing up as not only as a part of innovative and integrated oncology approaches; but as likely treatments for other types of cancers that have failed conventional treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy protocols.
Today on Navigating the Cancer Maze I speak with Prof Brendon Coventry about melanoma and in particular, vaccines against melanoma. But more than a only a melanoma treatment, Cancer Vaccines are showing up as not only as a part of innovative and integrated oncology approaches; but as likely treatments for other types of cancers that have failed conventional treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy protocols. For example Jeffrey Deslandes,who after 4 recurrences of NH lymphoma – found his success with cancer vaccines. He is 9 years clear of the disease.
Prof Brendon Coventry with Grace Gawler
The combination of Surgical Oncologist in combination with a PhD in Immunology – is rare; but this is what Prof Coventry brings to the cancer “treatment table”. He has many years experience in cancer research, vaccine therapies and the role of the immune system in cancer control.
To Listen to audio of show – 4 sessions – select each link below
Listen to Navigating the Cancer Maze-with Prof Brendon Coventry
Sessions oneto four with
Remember the show is for you and sponsored by our charity – The Grace Gawler Institute. It is free to air and free to listen live streaming within an hour of live broadcast. It is archived indefinitely on my Voice America Page. Crucial to the shows intention – to educate patients and families about the availability of scientifically valid cancer treatments and safe and effective complementary medicine; we ask that you forward the ecard (available on the website) or URL to those you know who are trying to navigate the increasingly complex cancer maze.
Every week, some 160,000 people die of advanced cancer around the world, despite our best attempts at cancer treatment globally. Some $32 billion is being spent on oncology drugs and the USA National Cancer Institute/ NIH spends about $5.2 billion on cancer research, per annum. Sadly, cancer has remained a tremendously costly public health problem of major proportions for over 5 decades, and our progress has been puzzling slow towards solving this using standard methods.
On today’s show, Navigating the Cancer Maze, my guest Professor Brendon Coventry, an Adelaide-based oncology surgeon suggests there may be another way to approach the problem and shows that the immune system my hold the answer. With a special interest in Melanoma Surgery, he is a clinical researcher whose interests include anti-tumour immune response in human malignancies, tumour Immunology and cancer vaccine treatments.
His group’s research paper, published in 2014, entitled “Vaccinia Melanoma Cell Lysate Vaccine (VMCL) Trial for treatment of advanced Stage IV Melanoma with and without Chemotherapy”, captured the attention of medical and scientific community. Trial conclusions reported high complete response rates (where all cancer disappears) of 17%, with useful clinical responses occurring in nearly 80% of patients overall (slowing the disease), and over 15% of patients experiencing survivals past 5-years, with essentially no toxicity. The longest survivor now remains alive for over 14 years. These response rates and survivals are unusual for advanced melanoma. The researchers reason that the repetitive and prolonged delivery of the vaccine therapy might hold part of the clue, because this was a strikingly different approach to that used in other trials.
At this weeks Meeting of Minds in Brisbane (LtoR) Martin Ashdown with Grace Gawler and Prof Coventry
Prof Coventry with colleague Martin Ashdown, have now developed a remarkable understanding of how the human immune system continuously oscillates in a dynamic fashion. The timing of ‘when’ the therapy dose is precisely delivered in synchrony with each individual patient’s own immune system waveform or cycle might hold the very key to improving cancer treatment, thus leading to better survival.
Martin Ashdown says: …..”The concept of immune monitoring and accurately synchronizing therapy (immune synchronization), brings a new level of science to oncology. The published mouse experiments and human clinical trials, together with our knowledge of physiology tells us this is the way forward, particularly with the new cancer immunotherapies. This approach potentially has the triple benefit of increasing efficacy, lowering toxicity and substantially reducing the cost of treatment”
Professor Brendon Coventry is well crendentialled
Professor Brendon Coventry BMBS, PhD, FRACS, FACS, FRSM is an Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Adelaide and Senior Consultant Surgeon (General, Breast-Endocrine, Surgical Oncology & Trauma Surgery) at the Royal Adelaide Hospital since 1993.
He holds a PhD in cancer immunology.
Positions:
• Immediate Past Chairman, Surgical Oncology Section, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons;
• Research Director, Australian Melanoma Research Foundation & Board Member;
• Past Chairman, Melanoma and Skin Cancer Group, Clinical Oncological Society of Australia;
• Foundation Chairman, Multidisciplinary Melanoma Management Group, Royal Adelaide Hospital
• Senior Examiner, Australian Medical Council
• Board Member of Cancer Care Centre, Unley
Fellowships:
• Royal Australasian College of Surgeons,
• American College of Surgeons
• Royal Society of Medicine.
Research:
• Over 85 journal publications; including New England Journal of Medicine, British Journal of Cancer, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lancet Oncology; widely published topics including surgical treatment for melanoma and breast cancer, sentinel node surgery, sarcoma surgery, adjuvant radiation therapy, melanoma vaccine therapies,laparoscopic spleen surgery techniques, neuroscience, microscopic methods, high-sensitivity tissue immunochemistry, public health,
medical education, internet learning.
• NIH Principal Investigator: Multicenter Selective Lymphadenectomy Trial (MSLT-I) surgical sentinel node; C-Vax melanoma vaccine studies (x2).
• Editor-in-Chief, 7-Volume international textbook series “Surgery: Complications, Risks and Consequences” published by Springer; general adult, paediatric and cardio-vascular surgery. Current Research:
• Surgical Complications, Safety and Quality improvement
• Vaccine Therapies for Advanced Melanoma, novel findings from repetitive dosing where 5-year survival and Complete Response rates have been significantly improved
• Timing of Therapies is novel collaborative work with Martin Ashdown concerning serial blood biomarker monitoring for advanced cancer patients for more accurate timing to improve therapy dose delivery and clinical efficacy further, which is gaining recognition
More on Vaccine successes – listen to Jeffrey Deslandes interviewed on Juice radio – Gold Coast yesterday 16 January 2015. https://soundcloud.com/juice-107-3/cancer-survivor-jeffrey-deslandes
Sometimes we can’t make financial donations for a cause – but we can use the internet, emails social media and word of mouth to help bring about change. Patient demand through critical need will make a difference- but voices are required! Please spread the wordabout this interview and the show and make your contribution to change the paradigm of treating cancer for the benefit of humanity.
I encored a recent interview with Jeffery Deslandes on my Voice America Internet radio show today for the Christmas period for a special reason. Because his story is both true and inspirational.
I encored a recent interview with Jeffery Deslandes on my Voice America Internet radio show today for the Christmas period for a special reason. Because his story is both true and inspirational. As Jeffrey quotes in his recently released ; book;“From Cancer Good Things Grow”; there are about 4,000 new cases of NHL each year in Australia. 1600 Australian die from NHL each year. If this were our road toll and there was an effective way of preventing deaths of even half of that number – there would be campaigns and lots of public and political interest. Why is there such little interest in cancer immunotherapies? Jeffrey Deslandes is just one of many who have had success with vaccine treatments.
The questions begs – Have we become so conditioned to believing that cancer is a one-way ticket and there’s nothing we can do apart from try alternative medicine and throw out the “conventional medicine” baby with the bathwater? Have we been convinced that conventional cancer medicine doesn’t work and that all big pharma wants you to do is stay sick to garnish the pockets of doctors? Have we bought into the rumour that the war on cancer is lost? These are common statements from the Google cancer entrepreneurs whose aim is to convince patients to follow them, buy their “one size fits all” cancer products and……… take no responsibility for patient outcomes.
I know of far too many patients who are not here to be with their families this Christmas because they used “faceless” advice from books, CDs or the internet – leaving aside treatable and potentially curable treatments for their cancer until it became obvious that their attempts to replicate the “cures” they have read about; ultimately failed them. This year I have experienced a new phenomenon, receiving many emails from parents who have taken the natural cancer “healing” path with their children using bizarre nutritional regimens, GcMAF, Budwig and Gerson Diets to name a few – most read about these treatments on blogs. Some of these children have been 3 and 5 years of age. I try my best to influence them towards excellent sources of conventional medicine – but after a few emails – I never hear from them again. This is truly exasperating!!
Genuine, well documented stories of cancer treatment successes are much needed. Such is the story of how Melbournian Jeffery Deslandes recovered from Stage 4 recurrent lymphoma that had grown resistant to conventional treatment found his remission – now eight and a half years clear. Jeffery did not seek Alternative medicine treatments when his lymphoma recurred again and again; rather he looked outside the conventional box to see what else science-based medicine could offer.
By purchasing Jeffrey Deslandes book (soft Cover /eBook) – you can help to promote the immune therapy he had right here in Australia. All proceeds go toward making this treatment more available for those in our region. PLEASE spread the good news. Vaccine therapies as immunotherapies go wider than just lymphoma. Successes are appearing from many cancer types including melanoma, prostate cancer and many more. If these therapies can be investigated alongside immune cycle research; we may indeed have a two incredibly power non invasive cancer treatment allies. Scroll to end of blog to see the effect of melanoma vaccine.**
Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is a bit like buffalo grass; it is hard to get out all of the roots and it tends to grow back. I had been informed that my cancer was incurable. It was a real shock at the time.
Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) is Australia’s fifth most common cancer, yet has a very low profile, compared to more publicised cancers such as breast, ovarian, bowel, melanoma and leukaemia. There are about 4,000 new cases of NHL each year in Australia, with about 1,600 deaths each year. That’s about the same as the National Road Toll in this country. Each year we spend billions trying to stop idiots killing each other on the road, yet comparatively little on a disease which is poorly understood. While Australia’s economy is soon to be taxed with the introduction of a Carbon Tax to combat Climate Change. Funny that, I have never known anyone who has died from Climate Change, but I have known scores and scores of people who have succumbed to cancer. We need Governments to spend serious money on cancer research.
After my cancer had returned for the fourth time in 2006, the next mainstream cancer treatment outlined by my specialist, was an autologous stem cell transplant. An autologous stem cell transplant, refers to your own body’s stem cells being first harvested, you are then given high-dose chemotherapy to hopefully kill all cancer in your body, and your stem cells
Jeffrey Deslandes
are then re-infused to build up your white cells, which have been decimated by the chemotherapy. The other option was an allogeneic stem cell transplant; the same procedure but the stem cells are used from a matched donor who is obviously free from cancer. However, for this we would need to find a matched donor, since my brother Ron was not a match, and other brother David was no longer with us. I decided not to take the recommendation of my highly trained lymphoma specialist. I decided that I would need to take charge of my treatment, and find something with a different mode of attack. If something is not working, you don’t keep hitting it with the same old stick! Read on,,,,,,,,
Chapter 8 – Vaccine Therapy–The New Beginning
Through my association with Lymphoma Australia, a fine not-for-profit organisation dedicated to raising awareness and supporting lymphoma patients, I became aware of work being done on vaccines for cancer treatment. This work was still experimental or being proven in clinical trials, but it was not quackery, it was being carried out by highly qualified haematologists and scientists.
My diseased lymph node, and my immature dendritic cells, were processed in the laboratory to manufacture a dendritic cell idiotype vaccine to fight the cancer. It is termed idiotype, because the vaccine is grown from my own cancer cells, and is thus specifically tailored to the idiosyncrasies of my cancer. It is worth noting that there are over 30 sub-types of lymphoma alone, and it is my understanding that each and every lymphoma is going to be somewhat different in its individual characteristics. By using my own lymphoma, we got a perfect match, the exact antibody to my cancer. The laboratory grew the vaccine formulation to make 33 doses of vaccine, which were stored at minus 196 °C in liquid nitrogen, and could be kept for perpetuity. Each dose of vaccine is about 1 ml, about a fifth of a teaspoon, but it contains about five million cells. Yes, that’s five million cells, each with a message for my immune system. The message was “this is what the cancer looks like, now do your job like you are supposed to, and go seek and destroy”. Excerpt:“From Cancer Good Things Grow”
Help save a life ……… Readers of this blog – please help us to help others through cancer education. By passing on this blog or an episode from Voice America – you could also help cancer patients to re-frame their cancer experience and learn about the nature of cancer and how to outsmart it with science-based medicine.
May your Christmas season be filled with joy, love, passion and compassion….
Until next time….
Grace
**Warning: Below – graphic image melanoma – positive results from repeated vaccine cancer treatments.
Conclusions: Prolonged, repetitive VMCL vaccination immunotherapy appears to be a clinically effective means
of generating relatively high CR rates, useful clinical responses and long-term survivals, with little toxicity, but
remains notably under-explored. Successive immunomodulation might explain the results. Closer analysis of
repetitive dosing is required.
Successful application of repeated dosing with Melanoma vaccines. Research- Brendon Coventry
Navigating the Cancer Maze represents the culmination of my 40 years experience working at the coalface of cancer in what I call cancer supportive care medicine. As a young girl of about 8 years of age – I had two ambitions in life; to research cancer or become a veterinary surgeon. The universe works in mysterious ways. In 1976 I married a veterinarian who had cancer.
Click headphones to listen to today’s show at Voice America
Today’s Navigating the Cancer Maze, covers several areas important to Cancer patients.
In addition to this blog – gracegawlermedia – on Sunday 21st December 2014 – I will be launching a new blockbuster or should I say myth-buster blog – Grace Gawler Blog: The Thinking Person’s Guide to the Truth behind Common Cancer Mythology.
Navigating the Cancer Maze represents the culmination of my 40 years experience working at the coalface of cancer in what I call cancer supportive care medicine. As a young girl of about 8 years of age – I had two ambitions in life; to research cancer or become a veterinary surgeon. The universe works in mysterious ways. In 1976 I married a veterinarian who had cancer.
It happened just a few days before Christmas in 1974 – 40 years ago when I had just turned 21. Suddenly I became a carer of a cancer patient who was my boyfriend and employer.
My wedding day 28 Feb 1976 – 21 years and full-time carer
Like many today I had no experience in how to cope personally or how to help the patient who was my charge. I had to improvise and learn along the way. Added to this, my boyfriend, who later became my husband when he was given a prognosis 6 weeks to live; was an amputee. He had lost his leg to bone cancer just after Christmas, January 1975. He survived, we had 4 children and now 4 grandchildren. I learned a lot during that “hands-on period” that added to later qualifications. My story of those times is recorded in my Memoirs: Grace Grit and Gratitude. (2008 – eBook available)
See You tube:Grace Grit and Gratitude Also visit on the menu of this blog – “Ian Gawler Cancer?”
Moving forward to 2012 I realised that consulting with patients and public speaking was not enough. With cancer incidence rising, what I had learned needed a Global voice; an opportunity to take what I had learned so far and add medical expertise in current cancer treatments and research combined with patients’ experiences.
Available eBook – buy soft cover Australia only
Patient’s need reliable and genuine information when they are in the fight for their lives! 2014 marks 2 years on air with Voice America’s Health and Wellness Channel hosting ‘Navigating the Cancer Maze’. We want as many people as possible to know about Navigating the Cancer Maze internet radio because my Charity The Grace Gawler Institute sponsors this show to provide education and information free to all in need. Please visit the Website for our Christmas Fundraiser to support the show for 2015: “Move the World with Grace”
On this week’s pre-Christmas show I discuss key issues for cancer patients that have been highlighted by our guests on Navigating the Cancer Maze throughout 2014; a year of challenges and excitements in the Global Cancer Community. We will take a look at the impact of some of cancer’s entrepreneurs Including Wellness Warrior-Jess Ainscough, who has influenced many patients to follow the natural path to cancer healing, albeit encouraged by the Ian Gawler recovery story, which as you know, was highly likely to have been a misdiagnosis.
Unfortunately, but as expected; Jess’s Epithelioid sarcoma, a cancer that moves slowly has now progressed to a serious degree. Her mum recently died from breast cancer doing the same regimen. Entrepreneurial patients like Jess Ainscough have a huge influence on cancer patient’s treatment decisions. I truly despair at these stories. I hear from cancer patients like Jess daily and see them in my practice with the most horrendous fungating cancers that one would would expect to see in a third world country. I am passionate to educate cancer patients about the dangers of taking the 100% natural therapies approach. As a trained naturopath and herbalist-I am horrified by what I see hear and read about natural cancer cures!
More on this visit-Science -based Medicine Blog and See Jessica Ainscough Wellness Warrior
Finally….Cancer Doesn’t Stop at Christmas:While for some this is a happy time of year – for others Christmas and New Year celebrations can be very a difficult & emotional time for those currently dealing with life challenging illness, including patients’ families. Also challenging is the person who may be missing from this year’s Christmas table. Please see helpful resources below – also listen to today’s show for helpful tips
Many of my Guests on Navigating the Cancer Maze have authored some fine books. I have listed them below. These are books of substance that contain valid and useful information for patients and families. Recommended for Christmas gifts or personal reading
Resources/Books mentioned on today’s show from my 2014 Guests: BOOKS
From Cancer Good Things Grow Jeffrey Deslandes – 8.5 year survivor of stage 4 lymphoma after failed treatments – 4 recurrences. Success with Dendritic cell vaccines. Pub Balboa Press – all proceeds go to R& D Of DC Vaccines.
“Three Months: A Caregiving Journey from Heartbreak to Healing” by Dietrich Stroeh Buy at Amazon
Debbie Franke Ogg had a Hollywood Movie made about her life and recovery from Stage 4 Lymphoma. It starred Sam Neil and Anne Archer. First titled “A Leap of Faith” – the movie was later titled a “Question of Faith”. Debby is perhaps one of the few of millions who had a spontaneous remission from her cancer without medical treatment. The movie can be found online by typing the title into Google. Now a therapist in NY USA – Watch Movie online Contact Debby.
Cancer Doesn’t Stop at Christmas: Help for those who may have lost a loved one this year. Resources provided by Beth O’Brien: a guest on this year’s Navigating the Cancer Maze.
http://seasonsofgrief.com.au/about-beth/
www.australiancelebrations.com.au
http://deathcafe.com/
https://www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au
http://www.livingisforeveryone.com.au
http://suicidepreventionaust.org/resources/ BOOK recommended by Beth:
Dying to be Free: A healing guide for families after a suicide (Beverly Cobain, Jean Larch) buy at Amazon
The Grief Recovery Handbook: The action program for moving beyond Death, Divorce and other losses by John W James and Russell Friedman Buy at Amazon