Tag: Gawler

Grace Gawler’s Story – Grace, Grit and Gratitude – A Memoir

Appreciation –  Olivia Newton John – thank you for allowing me to use such apt and beautiful track for this video.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS1ZYnDGIRI]

Grace, Grit and Gratitude is a story of courage and survival through repeated and horrendous adversity, my own life-threatening condition that required 20 surgical procedures, the effects of separtion/divorce when ill then coping with a teenage family and facing the prospect of imminent demise. I have also recorded in the book an accurate account of my shared time with Ian Gawler – when I was his prime 24/7 caregiver at the age of 21. 
At that time I had little awareness of how life would unfold and that I would become so intimately became involved in a very famous cancer recovery story. 

Caregivers: It is rather unfortunate that Ian has played down the care-givers role in his recovery…A few years ago one Abc radio interviewer Melbourne 774 introduced Ian as the man who single-handedly conquered cancer. I had hoped Ian would correct the statement – but he did not. Little media time is given to caregivers…. honest acknowledgement of the efforts and unseen (and often unspoken challenges) that caregivers experience. We are often invisibilised – but our contributions to humanity and care are essential in a community. When Ian was very ill – at his most critical point  – it was not diet or meditation or lifestyle that pulled him through his darkest night of the soul – but love, compassion, proactivity, faith, hope and belief of his caregiver.

In an article in Woman’s Day in the late 70’s Dr Ainslie Meares praised Grace Gawler for her part in helping her husband to live. He said, “The support he had from her first as his girlfriend and later as his wife, has been very remarkable. She is very sensitive to his needs and feelings and has spent hours and hours massaging him and helping him with his meditation.”
Ian Gawler backs that. “I had to battle against negativity a fair bit, especially early in the piece, when I was so sick. But there was never anything negative about Grace. She would always give me a good old kick in the pants and get me going again. I am very fortunate to have her.”

More than 3 decades have passed since Ian Gawler was told he was clear of cancer. We were together for 23 years –  had 4 children during that time, co founded the Gawler Foundation and created the Yarra Valley Living Centre. In 1997 Ian left the family, we then divorced and he later married Dr Ruth Gawler  – a GP who now works at the Gawler foundation and assists Ian with his private seminar and merchandising company. Ian retired this year.
Our story that led to Ian’s recovery was complex and once it had been made public we carried the extra responsibility of making sure that it was told accurately and truthfully. As Dr Linda Calbresi from The Australian Doctor magazine recently wrote: ‘ we had
Recently the Australian  published an article based on a refute letter that I had written to the Medical Journal of Australia after belatedly coming across a rewrite of Ian’s story in that journal…a version that was full of clinical time-line errors, non factual material and some serious omissions. The MJA published this version December 11 2008 under the banner of “True Stories” and although the patient was not named in the article, it was clearly Ian. It was a  former patient that alerted me to the story after she had seen it reproduced on the Gawler Foundation’s website…she was sure that some of the information was not correct especially the reference to Ian having strictly adhered to a vegan diet. As a recovered patient herself who had attended our earlier programs – she was surprised to read this because she Little did she know that this error was just the tip of the iceberg.

References:

 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/first-wife-disputes-cancer-guru-ian-gawlers-survival-story/story-e6frg8y6-1225935666765

http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/189_11_011208/jel11032Cancer
Authors: Dr Ruth Gawler & Prof George Jelinek

Source: 

 http://www.australiandoctor.com.au/news/50/0c06d750.asp

In an article in Woman’s Day in the late 70’s

Ian Gawler backs that. “I had to battle against negativity a fair bit, especially early in the piece, when I was so sick. But there was never anything negative about Grace. She would always give me a good old kick in the pants and get me going again. I am very fortunate to have her.”

Grace Gawler's Story – Grace, Grit and Gratitude – A Memoir

Appreciation –  Olivia Newton John – thank you for allowing me to use such apt and beautiful track for this video.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS1ZYnDGIRI]

Grace, Grit and Gratitude is a story of courage and survival through repeated and horrendous adversity, my own life-threatening condition that required 20 surgical procedures, the effects of separtion/divorce when ill then coping with a teenage family and facing the prospect of imminent demise. I have also recorded in the book an accurate account of my shared time with Ian Gawler – when I was his prime 24/7 caregiver at the age of 21. 
At that time I had little awareness of how life would unfold and that I would become so intimately became involved in a very famous cancer recovery story. 

Caregivers: It is rather unfortunate that Ian has played down the care-givers role in his recovery…A few years ago one Abc radio interviewer Melbourne 774 introduced Ian as the man who single-handedly conquered cancer. I had hoped Ian would correct the statement – but he did not. Little media time is given to caregivers…. honest acknowledgement of the efforts and unseen (and often unspoken challenges) that caregivers experience. We are often invisibilised – but our contributions to humanity and care are essential in a community. When Ian was very ill – at his most critical point  – it was not diet or meditation or lifestyle that pulled him through his darkest night of the soul – but love, compassion, proactivity, faith, hope and belief of his caregiver.

In an article in Woman’s Day in the late 70’s Dr Ainslie Meares praised Grace Gawler for her part in helping her husband to live. He said, “The support he had from her first as his girlfriend and later as his wife, has been very remarkable. She is very sensitive to his needs and feelings and has spent hours and hours massaging him and helping him with his meditation.”
Ian Gawler backs that. “I had to battle against negativity a fair bit, especially early in the piece, when I was so sick. But there was never anything negative about Grace. She would always give me a good old kick in the pants and get me going again. I am very fortunate to have her.”

More than 3 decades have passed since Ian Gawler was told he was clear of cancer. We were together for 23 years –  had 4 children during that time, co founded the Gawler Foundation and created the Yarra Valley Living Centre. In 1997 Ian left the family, we then divorced and he later married Dr Ruth Gawler  – a GP who now works at the Gawler foundation and assists Ian with his private seminar and merchandising company. Ian retired this year.
Our story that led to Ian’s recovery was complex and once it had been made public we carried the extra responsibility of making sure that it was told accurately and truthfully. As Dr Linda Calbresi from The Australian Doctor magazine recently wrote: ‘ we had
Recently the Australian  published an article based on a refute letter that I had written to the Medical Journal of Australia after belatedly coming across a rewrite of Ian’s story in that journal…a version that was full of clinical time-line errors, non factual material and some serious omissions. The MJA published this version December 11 2008 under the banner of “True Stories” and although the patient was not named in the article, it was clearly Ian. It was a  former patient that alerted me to the story after she had seen it reproduced on the Gawler Foundation’s website…she was sure that some of the information was not correct especially the reference to Ian having strictly adhered to a vegan diet. As a recovered patient herself who had attended our earlier programs – she was surprised to read this because she Little did she know that this error was just the tip of the iceberg.

References:

 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/first-wife-disputes-cancer-guru-ian-gawlers-survival-story/story-e6frg8y6-1225935666765

http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/189_11_011208/jel11032Cancer
Authors: Dr Ruth Gawler & Prof George Jelinek

Source: 

 http://www.australiandoctor.com.au/news/50/0c06d750.asp

In an article in Woman’s Day in the late 70’s

Ian Gawler backs that. “I had to battle against negativity a fair bit, especially early in the piece, when I was so sick. But there was never anything negative about Grace. She would always give me a good old kick in the pants and get me going again. I am very fortunate to have her.”

Lies That Cost Lives-Anecdotes and False Claims in Cancer Care -Grace Gawler Comments

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/lifematters/cured-cancer-patients-died-court-told-20101119-180z9.html

The Australian reporter Debbie Guest has been doing a great job reporting on the case of Hellfried Sartori and now the deaths of 25 cancer patients – linked to his treatments. Sartori is playing a key role in an ongoing inquest in Western Australia. The controversial case is providing a birds-eye view into the cancer cure conundrum that is facing many chronically ill cancer patients around the world. I believe this is the tip of the iceberg in fraudulent cancer-cure discovery.

This blog serves as a vehicle to discovery and disclosure regarding misreporting, poor research, pseudoscience and truth bending that is causing unnecessary pain, stress and suffering to our most vulnerable people – cancer patients. Desperate cancer patients so easily fall prey to treatments that appear to be bone-fide, especially when statistics and high success rates get bandied about. Almost every day another cancer cure product promo virally invades my email inbox! I appreciate the dilemma of choice for patients – but this is certainly a case for the old adage – all that glitters is not gold! The question begs…How can we help cancer patients to discern?   Continue reading “Lies That Cost Lives-Anecdotes and False Claims in Cancer Care -Grace Gawler Comments”

Gawler and Jelinek – MJA Cancer Patients at Risk with Errors of Consequence

 Visit Grace Gawler’s personal website at www.gracegawler.com

Thankyou Healthyliving.middaily for publishing this MJA report http://healthyliving.middaily.com/the-gawler-foundation-conference-opportunity-to-discuss-flawed-mja-report.html

As stated in “healthyliving.middaily” – I too believe a public enquiry needs to be held into the 11 Dec 2008 MJA errors authored by Ruth Gawler and George Jelinek – not my preference but if my diligent attempts to discuss, mediate and secure a public statement have failed, then it must be achieved through other channels. As I have said before, patients usually don’t read medical journals and they are the ones who need to be informed.
The waters of communication and transparency have become very muddied indeed. I emailed detailed proof to the authors of the MJA 2008 article hoping they would make a public statement – but, no reply. Ruth Gawler and George Jelinek work for the Gawler Foundation – however the Gawler Foundation believes that the MJA article has nothing to do with them?  This is even more amazing because the Foundation uploaded the MJA 2008 link to their website on 10 December and it has been there since.  http://gawlerfoundationmedia.com.au/2008/12/ Note – The day before their article in MJA was officially published.
The new-look Gawler Foundation bases their programs on the content of the 2008 article in question – the article that is incorrect! So they all need to get the story right because it is told around the world via the internet, at their national support groups, conferences, in books, workshops and most importantly now – in medical journals. See blogspot thesecondsight
http://thesecondsight.blogspot.com/2010/11/when-facts-meet-merchandising.html

I have spent time emailing and faxing my irrefutable proof to the CEO of the Gawler Foundation. In response she posted a letter on the gawlerfoundationmedia site. It fails to address the issues but of great concern is her last sentence.  “These articles are in no way helpful to the important work of the Foundation nor to those people suffering from cancer.”
Well, if letting cancer patients and doctors know that incorrect material has been published in a reputable medical journal when it comes to this issue of a high profile cancer remission such as Ian Gawler’s, I would think it to be very helpful indeed!   
Despite the challenges I remain undaunted in my duty to get this medical maze sorted out. I am hopeful that A Current Affair who filmed an interview with me in early October will eventually go to air…it is currently deferred until they can interview Ian and Ruth Gawler and or George jelinek. This week video footage relevant to the clinical timelines ( taken in the Philippines between March 1976 – May 1979)  has been subject to complaint and removed from you tube – seemingly with no recourse from me as the owner and with permission from all to be filmed including Ian. As well my email has been corrupted and still in process of restoration. And now the Gawler Foundation is threatening defamation via a legal letter requesting that I immediately cease publishing material defamatory of the Foundation. I ask – Is the truth defamatory?
The Yarra Valley Living Centre was my vision for cancer patients & I devoted years of my life to establishing it.  As Gawler Foundation co founder, ex director, therapist and the person who was there 24/7 for years for Ian Gawler as dedicated caregiver, I could never have imagined that my own Foundation would threaten to sue me for being involved with misreporting a part of my own story that, of necessity ran parallel with Ian’s.  Now that takes some inner processing!
The following is reported on Healthyliving.middaily
“Cancer patients are amongst our most vulnerable community members. Fear driven by horror stories of chemo suffering and words for alt/med like ‘ cut, burn and poison they put faith in alternative cancer cure stories.

So when significant errors about a high profile alternative cancer cure story are found in the prestigious Medical Journal of Australia (MJA) article by Dr Ruth Gawler and Prof George Jelinek from the Gawler Foundation about the cancer healing history of Australia’s most famous cancer patient, Ian Gawler (IG) it is cause for a public enquiry…”  Read more at
http://healthyliving.middaily.com/the-gawler-foundation-conference-opportunity-to-discuss-flawed-mja-report.html

 visit my personal website www.gracegawler.com

Ian Gawler – Is Bemusement the Appropriate Response for Cancer Patients and Caregivers?

More at www.gracegawler.com

For more than 3 decades, Australia’s most famous recovered cancer patient has travelled under the medical radar without his medical history being questioned – that is until now.

Health, wellbeing and aspiring to assist people with life challenging illness has been a life-long passion. My interest in healing was I believe genetic – a product of my mother’s Irish side of the family. Going back some 52 years to my first day at primary school, I was the only child with wholemeal salad sandwiches, I was vegetarian and had to manage a lot of teasing. My Irish genes served me well and I developed a doggedness for standing up for myself, for what I knew was right and what I knew was right for me. I was also heavily influenced by my health and lifestyle conscious uncle Leo White – alias Kid Young, an Australian champion boxer who was terrific bloke as well as a mentor. I knew that I had a vocation early in life. This manifested initially through healing and veterinary work – I worked as a part time nurse when I was at high school and met Ian Gawler when he came as a locum vet. He offered me a job at his clinic and eventually a relationship blossomed – but within a few months he was diagnosed with bone cancer and had a leg amputated. The rest is history or should I say now, ‘his-story’.
The ‘her – story’  – my important role in his recovery, seems to have been relegated to the ‘his-story’ books. Continue reading “Ian Gawler – Is Bemusement the Appropriate Response for Cancer Patients and Caregivers?”

The Gawler Foundation Conference Opportunity to Discuss Flawed MJA Report

Visit www.gracegawler.com or http://gracegawler.com/Institute/
The Gawler Foundation Conference An opportunity to explain MJA errors

The Gawler Foundation’s annual conference will be held at the Hilton Hotel Melbourne this weekend November 12 and 13.  I trust that this could be an opportunity for speakers such as Professor Ian Olver from the Cancer Council and the MJA article’s authors, to discuss and disclose to the public, health professionals and the cancer community, why such significant errors in the timelines and photographs relating to Ian Gawler’s cancer recovery were altered and published in Australia’s most prestigious journals – the Medical Journal of Australia. Read more at…http://gracegawlermedia.wordpress.com/

The Gawler Foundation Conference An opportunity to explain MJA errors

Visit www.gracegawler.com or http://gracegawler.com/Institute/
The Gawler Foundation’s annual conference will be held at the Hilton Hotel Melbourne this weekend November 12 and 13.  I trust that this could be an opportunity for speakers such as Professor Ian Olver from the Cancer Council and the MJA article’s authors, to discuss and disclose to the public, health professionals and the cancer community, why such significant errors in the timelines and photographs relating to Ian Gawler’s cancer recovery were altered and published in Australia’s most prestigious journals – the Medical Journal of Australia. The MJA took a total of one year to deliberate on the facts I had provided before publishing my refute article.  Fortunately I had kept original photos and documents that prove my case.  You can view my refute letter by selecting the link below:
‘Patients at Risk from Inaccurate Clinical Reporting in a High-Profile Story: Comment and Corrections’ 20 September 2010 MJA Volume 193 Number 6 20 September 2010- pp371-372 http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/193_06_200910/letters_200910_fm-1.html
Recently I met with Gold Coast Mayor Ron Clarke whose daughter Monique tragically died last year from advanced secondary breast cancer. A believer in natural therapies approaches to cancer, she avidly read self-help books and used natural therapies to alleviate her cancer symptoms for some time. She did not believe in mammograms. By the time she reached hospital – it was too late. Devastating for loving parents to endure.
The Satori case from Perth reported in the Australian newspaper last Saturday is another chilling report and a tip of the iceberg in alternative cures for cancer that are flooding the community! 
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/cancer-patient-smelled-of-spices/story-e6frg6nf-1225948551756
Over the past few years I have seen an alarming increase in emaciated and debilitated cancer patients on vegan diets – some while on chemotherapy and others who have been following the natural therapies path. I have seen in my practice some shocking tumour masses befitting 3rd world countries where treatments are not available. The Cancer Council reported the following in an article by Jill Stark March 2010 the Melbourne AGE: Continue reading “The Gawler Foundation Conference An opportunity to explain MJA errors”

The Gawler Story – Why Correcting a Misreported Case of Cancer Remission is in the Public Interest

My recently published letter in The Medical Journal of Australia highlights the need for a makeover of the alternative and complementary cancer movements not only in Australia but worldwide.  In recent years there has been a groundswell of  cancer entrepreneurs – some who claim to have recovered from it by natural means and others that have never had cancer but espouse they know how to treat it. I believe that everyone who places themselves in the public area of cancer cures, must come under scrutiny regarding accuracy/legitimacy of their claims.
For those who know me – I am eternal optimist and possibility thinker and I am well aware of all the facets of the intangibles and unknown that can surround unexpected recoveries and remissions. However, where possible we must all do our due diligence on gathering as much information – medical and otherwise to support any claims. Why? Because people’s lives depend on it! 

With our case being so unbelievably misreported in an article in the Medical Journal of Australia – It shows that as well as the CAM movement, that all systems of medicine should be on alert for people misreporting medical events.

“Patients at Risk from Inaccurate Clinical Reporting in a High-Profile Story: Comment and Corrections’ 20 September 2010 MJA Volume 193 Number 6 20 September 2010- pp 371-372
http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/193_06_200910/letters_200910_fm-1.html

Furthermore, if you look at the sales figures for the myriad of cancer-cure books, CDs and products – we are looking at a billion dollar industry. Many of these people do not work at the coalface of cancer and do not see the results of misinformation. As I have matured in my self and work, and as my experience has increased – I now see the truth in what some oncologists, considered cynics at the time: were saying 20-30 years ago when the tsunami of CAM was on the rise.

Recently I had a another “cancer-cure-all” blurb arrive in my email inbox – now almost a daily event. The advertisement said Amazing Non-Toxic Liquid Kills Cancer Cells. Its cancer-killing ability was also confirmed by researchers at the National Cancer Institute.  As I am prone to do with every “cure” promotion, I checked out the quotes and did the research, finding it to be very flaky indeed. The new wave or 2010 style of alternative cancer-cure promo is far more sophisticated than in the past and attempts to blind the recipient with psuedoscience disguised as science. 

Next time something like this arrives on your email. Look at the quotes from reputable sources then use your internet to check it out. Another recent email blurb advertised ” Try this product – 90 day risk free”. Risk-free? Is it?
It is difficult because most people aren’t trained to disssect many of the articles & books that appear in  the popular media. Yes we need free speech and free choice – but with cancer on the rise – we need some guildelines and criteria by which people can assess fact from fiction and myth from reality. I intend to develop such a book/ebook of guildelines and make it available at no cost. The great thing about having a health promotion charity again is that I will have access to resources that will enable me to work in the way that I originally thought when I pioneered this supportive care work in the early eighties.

In the meantime, my best advice based on 35+ years in the cancer healing arena, follows…. Think carefully, do your own research, be treated as an individual (not a one size fits all approach) and go by your gut feeling. Dont’ throw out mainstream medicine and use the best of complementary approaches – especially the safe tactile therapies eg massage, Reiki for example; methods that don’t cost the earth, bring relief and help to de-stress. Important in healing is the element of one-to-one human contact, listening, understanding and compassion are all therapeutic! Avoid buckets of costly supplements & fancy hi tech machines that diagnose & treat and take away the human element. More on this again soon.
Go Well…Grace

Cancer Patients at Risk from Inaccurate Clinical Reporting in a High-Profile Alternative Treatment Story – Australian Medical Journal

By Pip Cornall

It’s rare for a naturopath/herbalist to be published in a prestigious Australian medical journal and even rarer that that she would take the opportunity to correct a famous alternative cancer healing myth that she was intimately involved with.

With stubborn persistence, including a decade when seriously ill, Grace Gawler has never stopped trying to correct the spread of errors regarding ex-husband, Ian Gawler’s famous cancer remission—a story she was intimately involved with for 22 years.

Now, The Australian Medical Journal, (MJA), has published her revealing letter, supporting proof and photographs. Grace Gawler is widely known as the sole care giver and researcher for Ian Gawler when he had bone cancer (1975) and given just weeks to live (1976).

Grace, respected for 35 years of contributions to cancer support medicine, highlights serious errors in an MJA article published about Ian Gawler in 2008.

Called  ‘True Stories’ the article in question was written by Dr Ruth Gawler and Professor Jelinek, both employees of the Gawler Foundation, a  foundation for  cancer support that Grace inspired and co-founded.

The MJA article chronicles the 30 year cancer healing history of Ian Gawler. But is the ‘True Stories’ article actually true?

Here is the link to the MJA letter

Gawler Diet – Vegan, Raw, the Gerson Diet? Grace Gawler Comments

Last Saturday I was asked to give an impromptu talk and join a panel Q&A session at a health & wellness seminar on the Gold Coast. It was an excellent information afternoon and clearly demonstrated both the general public’s interest and confusion around natural therapies, supplements and self-help methods. Inevitably, at these functions, questions about raw food and vegan diets for cancer patients along with questions about the Gerson Diet are asked. Participants at these days are often surprised when I answer that in the majority of cases, I have not seen cancer patients respond well to raw food diets – especially vegan raw food diets. As well, although cases of remission have been reported; personally, I have not seen remissions brought about by the Gerson Therapy or raw food regimens. Because my name is Gawler, people always ask me about raw foods and the many dietary approaches used to ‘cure’ cancer. 
Many ask me about Ian Gawler’s recovery from cancer often having been told by a health professional that his remission was due to meditation, positive thinking and adhering to a vegan diet. These stories are not accurate, and when taken out of context and without the whole story; they can be dangerously misleading.

February 1976

Ian’s recovery involved so much more; however like a ‘Chinese whisper game’, this amazing recovery story which occupied more than 23 years of my life has been so often misreported, even by the Gawler Foundation itself – that it is no wonder so many cancer patients are confused.   Continue reading “Gawler Diet – Vegan, Raw, the Gerson Diet? Grace Gawler Comments”

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