December 31, 2011 – Chris Johnston senior writer and Julia Medew Health Editor have written a well considered article about Ian Gawler’s cancer ‘remission’ in today’s Age newspaper. Having been Ian’s 24-7 carer and then his wife who saw him through his entire illness, I can only agree with the findings of the two professors quoted in the Age story. Retrospective views in combination with current knowledge must lead to a view that considers scientific knowledge and clinical facts in the absence of hard data. It is important not become focused on an ideology & be open to accepting new evidence and critique…Carl Sagan quote: “Exceptional claims call for exceptional evidence.” is very appropriate. Professors Haines and Lowenthal have indeed presented exceptional evidence in this case.
- Grace Gawler – First wife disputes….The Australian Oct 2008
The article is gaining media momentum around the country. For those of you who are regular subscribers to this blog; you are no doubt aware that the Medical Journal of Australia published a refute letter authored by me in 2010 as a response to an inaccurate review of Ian Gawler’s remission story titled “True Stories” MJA Dec 11 2008. The authors of the published manuscript, Dr Ruth Gawler and Professor George Jelinek had reported a previously incorrect clinical timeline, with incorrect dates along with serious errors and omissions. The famous photograph of Ian’s chest wall was incorrectly dated – I have the originals. After many attempts to open a dialogue, the authors failed to respond…there was a ‘cocoon of silence’! Unfortunately, my refute letter was smoke-screened and deemed by media as “quarrels between ex wives” in The Australian newspaper (Oct 2008) while the Australian Doctor reported the published letter quoting the “Duelling Mrs Gawlers”. These were the only 2 follow up articles at the time. A surprise for a subject so important in the public interest and given Ian Gawler later admitted in the Australian Doctor that he knew Ainslie Meares had the timeline of his story wrong – an error of 19 months! Later on his personal blog – Ian Gawler cleverly worded that he had never followed a vegan diet. However, cancer patients in the public domain were never privy to the disclosures.
The real true story therefore did not get to the most important group of people; cancer patients who should know the facts before making informed decisions about what treatments to take on board. Fortunately, my letter alerted two prominent oncologists who took my refute letter seriously and followed their investigations through to today’s exclusive press release to the Melbourne Age which reads:
“AN EXPLOSIVE new medical report has cast doubt on whether Melbourne alternative therapies guru Dr Ian Gawler ever suffered the secondary cancer from which he has claimed for 30 years to have cured himself.
The online report in the Royal Australian College of Physicians’ Internal Medicine Journal says Dr Gawler, Australia’s most famous cancer survivor and founder of the Gawler Foundation, had advanced tuberculosis rather than the secondary bone cancer he was told he had in the late 1970s….Read more by selecting the link to the Melbourne Age:
http://www.theage.com.au/national/cancer-experts-challenge-gawlers-cure-20111230-1pfns.html
To read more about this intriguing story select the following link. http://gracegawler.com/Institute/?page_id=3454
My Memoirs – ‘Grace, Grit and Gratitude’ – was published (self published) October 1st 2008 after Curtain University’s Black Swan Publishing lost funding for the project. They had listed it for their Blockbuster Christmas release a couple of years prior. The book had been in process for about 8 years and unlike The Dragon’s Blessing, Ian Gawler’s Biography authored by Guy Allenby; Grace , Grit & Gratitude covers areas Allenby omitted and gives a open and frank discussion about the role that TB had likely played in Ian’ Gawler’s recovery. Anomalies and the atypical pathway of his metastases was always a question for me – I knew that his TB diagnosis had something to do with this extraordinary remission – but there was non one willing to entertain or discuss the issue. At last – entering 2012, there are some answers for this atypical medical case in which I was so intimately involved. Grace, Grit and Gratitude is available in soft cover or as a downloadable eBook.
- A book that inspires the best in us – whatever the circumstances.
