Navigating the Cancer Maze Australia | New Podcast Grace Gawler Interviews The Australian’s Richard Guilliatt

To Launch our Australian Podcast site today – who better than Award winning Journalist Richard Guilliatt! Richard has been in the news recently for his controversial investigations of events in the cancer “cure” wellness Industry. After tuning in to his interview with Phillip Adams on Radio National’s Late Night I invited Richard as our first guest on the new Navigating the Cancer Maze Australia.

The Grace Gawler Institute is delighted to announce the launch of our own Australian Podcast website dedicated to helping cancer patients navigate the increasingly complex cancer maze:
www.navigatingthecancermazeaustralia.org

Grace Gawler interviews RICHARD GUILLIATT Walkley Award Winning Journalist & Staff Writer for The Australian Weekend Magazine
RICHARD GUILLIATT Walkley Award Winning Journalist & Staff Writer for The Australian Weekend Magazine

To Launch our Australian Podcast site today – who better than Award winning Journalist Richard Guilliatt! Richard has been in the news recently for his controversial investigations of events in the cancer “cure” wellness Industry. After tuning in to his interview with Phillip Adams on Radio National’s Late Night Live I invited Richard as our first guest on the new Navigating the Cancer Maze Australia.

Now with forty years experience in the field of cancer; I have had an opportunity to consult with and get to know thousands of cancer patients via consultations, workshops and residential programs. I get to know their children, families and friends. I attend funerals, hospital and hospice visits as well as weddings and birthdays. I get to hear first-hand about the choices that patient’s made ……….and the choices they wished they had made.

Many of those thousands of patients have shared with me how they made choices based upon unqualified advice given by cancer theorists and idealists; people who never see cancer patients one on one at the coalface. These patients relied on textbook, social media, cancer authors and Dr Google advisers with whom there is no relationship and an absence of duty of care. Some patients risked their lives by delaying appropriate treatments while others spent thousands of dollars on “one size fits all” treatments that simply don’t work.  How does this happen? After all it is unthinkable; who could possibly dupe a cancer patient?

The story that Richard Guilliatt brings to the table from his investigations, parallells my experience over the past 40 years!

About the Story: In 2012 Richard Guilliatt took an interest in the story of the late Jess Ainscough Wellness Warrior–and her mother the late Sharyn Ainscough who both decided to forgo conventional medical treatment in favour of the Gerson diet and meditation/lifestyle change to treat their cancers. Sadly, both are now deceased.

Mother and daughter The late Jess and Sharyn Ainscough Holding out for Miracle 2012 The Australian Weekend Magazine - Richard Guilliattt
Mother and daughter The late Jess and Sharyn Ainscough Holding out for Miracle 2012 The Australian Weekend Magazine – Richard Guilliatt

Both were thoroughly convinced that they would be cured by their radical lifestyle and dietary changes. Since their deaths, much of their history has been removed from the internet.

The Weekend Australian Magazine, 22 September 2012; published an article about the Aincoughs’ titled Holding out for a Miracle. The same article discussed the cancer cure promises of Dr Abdul-Haqq Sartori.

Richard also reviewed the cases of cancer patients TV Astrology personality, the late Athena Starwoman and Gemma Bond. Bond’s daughter, journalist Laura Bond is now a cancer blogger and self-styled “health coach” providing recycled advice to cancer patients. She is the creator of the misleading cancer info blog: “Mum’s not Having Chemo”.

But it was a young woman by the name of Belle Gibson who captured the interest of Richard Guilliatt. That interest was eventually responsible for lifting the lid on the business of wellness, false claims and “cancer cures”. Belle’s story has helped to lift the lid on what is going on in the Alt-Med Biz-World of cancer cures. Our attention is often drawn to “Big Bad Pharma” – but until now, to my knowledge, no journalist has looked at the big biz of “Alt-Med!” . And yes you heard that from someone who is qualified at distinction level in the naturopathic, botanical sciences and who sees cancer patients daily. What we do need is qualified and experienced complementary medicine practitioners who are trained and who work in liaison with the medical profession. Possible you ask? Yes! Take a look at www.drbrucewhelan.com to see an example of the new model of care.

As I have said before on this blog we must not throw the baby out with the bathwater but rather take a baby-bathwatermiddle path – best of both world’s approach when dealing with cancer. Well – the proof of the pudding is always in the eating – After listening to Richard Guilliatt’s interview, the next time someone offers you unqualified cancer advice – how will you react – what will you do? Will you think more critically about your choices?   I hope so!

Richard authored his most recent article Wellness Inc in the Australian Weekend Magazine 4 April 2015 as a continuation of his investigation into cancer fraud.

By the way – let us not forget the story of Penelope Dingle “Desperate Remedies” as seen on ABC’s Australian Story back in 2011. Despite the National showcase of this very sad story – It seems that little has been learned or much has been forgotten, or both are true. But stories like Penelope Dingle’s often  fade into the background and eventually disappear from the Internet. Penelope Dingle has in fact left us a powerful teaching story about the importance of the choices made in cancer treatments. Unlike many of the entrepreneurial cancer social media biz folk promoting the latest fad cancer diets – Penelope Dingle travelled her road as an individual although heavily influenced by the ideals of her husband and her homeopath. She did not take her personal choice to the world saying “This is how you cure cancer- Follow me”! But – like many before her, when she realised she was on the wrong path and natural therapies had failed her – it was too late to turn back!

Individuals have a right to choose their cancer treatments – but they need to do this in light of sound information and not influence others to join in their personal experimentation.

The video Desperate Remedies makes for compelling viewing for anyone considering taking the solo alt-med path to curing cancer.

When you select the following URL www.navigatingthecancermazeaustralia.org – here is what you will see in the image below: Interviews are live streaming – download for free and send to a friend. You will also be able to listen to some of our most popular and informative interviews from our previous Voice America Recordings. Please share via social media using the Share button. By selecting Read more you will learn more about the episode on my guest.
Navigating the Cancer Maze Australia podcasts for cancer patients

Each week we will feature a new interview. The show is designed to help you make informed choices and to give you access to world experts in oncology, cancer immunology and cancer research that you may never had heard about. As well you will hear interviews from cancer treatment innovators, patients and caregivers, nutritionists, complementary cancer medicine practitioners and researchers, cancer imaging experts and a few celebrities. These pod-casts represent the Australian version of my Voice America weekly show Navigating the Cancer Maze which has successfully been on the airwaves for 2.75 years. Stay tuned – Vodcasts will be coming soon…….

There will be some crossover with guests – but the American version of the show will also continue in its own right with different guests and with sponsorship. To produce and broadcast our Voice America internet radio show in total costs our charity around $30,000 USD per year including the 10+ hours each week involved in time and some travel. To put the show to air we fundraise via the Grace Gawler Institute (a registered not for profit Health Promotion Charity). We see this radio show as a special service and a significant part of our Cancer Awareness and Education Programs.

We believe that cancer patients deserve to know about the innovations in cancer medicine and the potentially life-saving information that we provide at no cost. Feedback on how the show has helped patients find techniques and surgeries that have saved their lives is both heart-warming and uplifting and has inspired this latest Australian podcast site .

We believe that this form of media is imperative for cancer patients who are seeking second opinions, guidance or maybe just simply knowledge about cancer. If you or someone you know would like to consider sponsoring our USA based version of Navigating the Cancer Maze – please contact me via the contact page  or or go the website

http://www.gracegawlerinstitute.com/move-the-world-with-grace/

Please remember to visit our new podcast website and spread the knowledge and uplifting news about Navigating  the Cancer Maze Australia.

Until next time……

Grace

Grace Gawler Learning the Art of Survivorship | How to Navigate the Cancer Maze

The cancer journey begins with one step – diagnosis. Learn how to walk the path to Survivorship. Remember that there is no substitute for early diagnosis and intervention in Survivorship. The aim of today’s Navigating the Cancer Maze internet radio show is to help you find a path through the cancer maze by learning how to become an exceptional patient with the possibility of living through and beyond cancer.

The cancer journey begins with one step – diagnosis. Learn how to walk the path to Survivorship. Remember that there is no substitute for early diagnosis and intervention in Survivorship. The aim of today’s Navigating the Cancer Maze internet radio show is to help you find a path through the cancer maze by learning how to become an exceptional patient with the possibility of living through and beyond cancer. Like many of life’s major crisis events; cancer is a daunting prosjourney of a thousand miles begins with one small steppect. In order to survive and thrive; a cancer diagnosis requires you to learn & develop a new skill set; a new way of prioritizing self, time to deal with the trauma of diagnosis and what it might mean for you in terms of accepting change, being adaptable and flexible. Decisions can feel overwhelming because your life depends upon those decisions & the consequences of making them.
There is an immediate need to focus, plan, question, set goals, prepare for setbacks etc.

Whether or not you are first time cancer patient or dealing with a second or third recurrence, if you have been battling on your own – there can still be much to learn.

Find an experienced cancer navigator to help you along the way.

Be effectively  case managed and take the extra stress out of cancer.

FREE chapter download: As mentioned on today Navigating the Cancer Maze.
The Three Essential Stages of healing:  Select URL below for PDF
Insights of a Survivor who has known Survivors as mentioned on today Navigating the Cancer Maze internet radio.

Defining Survivorship
Surviving cancer or “survivorship” can be defined in different ways. Two common definitions include:
• Being disease-free after the completion of treatment,
• Living with, through, and beyond cancer includes people who continue to have treatments to either reduce risk of recurrence or to manage chronic disease. By this definition, cancer Survivorship begins at diagnosis and survivorship is a state that continues throughout your life.
• Bernie Siegel described this group as EXCEPTIONAL Cancer Patients.

Because we are talking about the precious lives of cancer patients – as a part of today’s subject, I hasten to add here that it is important for those interested in surviving cancer that I discuss where NOT to put your energy if you want to be a survivor. Yes modern medicine is not perfect – but it is the best we have and it it is improving all the time.

If you are seeking Survivorship through and beyond cancer – please use every means possible from the best that conventional medicine has to offer in combination with the best of scientific complementary medicine and complementary therapies.

baby-bathwaterPlease “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater”! Conventional medicine is a gift. Cancer is tricky – you can’t outsmart it with juices, meditation and positive thinking. How “you be” with a cancer diagnosis – i.e. – your attitude, strategies, will to live and will to heal – contribute tremendously – but you need to partner with the best that conventional medicine has to offer. If cancer patients understood the scientific basis of cancer – how it behaves and operates for it’s own survival; different choices might be made- conquering cancer is not that simple!

 I must mention Jess Ainscough here because of the influence she has had on cancer patients young and old in terms of promoting one type of Survivorship approach. Surviving through and beyond cancer is not the simple 123 steps that entrepreneurs such as Jess promoted.

Cancer entrepreneurs like Jessica Ainscough AKA The Wellness Warrior has influenced thousands, maybe millions to take the alternative path to cancer healing. Sadly it all went wrong for her mother who had breast cancer. She died last year. Jess remained struggling with advancing fungating cancer until this week when she died from her epitheloid sarcoma. Sadly I see patients like Jess every week. I conduct an Alt med cancer rescue practice with my Specialist GP colleague Dr Whelan. We see so many scales-of-justicepatients influenced to take the natural path to cancer recovery – influenced by Dr Google and the plethora of misleading books by cancer entrepreneurs.

Jess became a crusader for the Gerson diet and might I add, was also influenced by my ex-husbands ‘cancer recovery’ story. During the past few years his story has been challenged by myself and more recently; by two Melbourne oncologists who published their findings in the internal Medicine Journal. Once they discovered there was no biopsy performed for Ian’s condition at the time which was thought to be secondary bone cancer they began an independent investigation into why he recovered. In 1978, here was no other explanation offered and to all and sundry it appeared as though the impossible had been achieved – a full remission from metastatic osteogenic sarcoma. However with a thorough review and missing pieces of the Gawler healing puzzle put in place – a new diagnosis was suggested.  IMJ HAINES AND LOWENTHAL

Jess Ainscough’s approach to her cancer was clearly influenced by Ian Gawler’s recovery, the diagnosis which was highly likely to have been advanced TB with calcified abscesses – not metastatic bone cancer as had been reported over the decades. (see the menu for more on this subject).

The late Jess Ainscough wellness warrior gawler gerson
The late Jess Ainscough wellness warrior

 Importantly –  If that is so – then the basic premise and promise upon which Jess Aincough based her recovery from cancer plan was false. Jess was quoted as saying: ” Ian Gawler was diagnosed with bone cancer and had his right leg was amputated in 1975. However, the disease recurred later that year and began ravaging his body. Ian’s story of recovery, employing an integrated approach driven predominantly by dedicated meditation, is truly remarkable. It was my anchor to a future the doctors had pretty much ruled me out of having. I thought, If Ian can do it, so can I. His book, You Can Conquer Cancer, was my Bible”. Source:  JESS ainscough Gawler healthtalks;

Clearly patients like Jess are looking for options and they will often choose the seemingly softer options that the one size fits all alternative approach offers. Cancer education is imperative and sadly lacking in the patient world. Cancer is not a generic disease that can be simplistically tackled with food and copious juices. I think this is a very sad indictment of what true Survivorship is really all about. Like many of the patients I see in my practice, Jess Ainscough only embraced conventional medicine when the path she had followed failed her.
It is my hope that Jess Ainscough’s story and life serves as a teaching story for all who want to walk the path to cancer Survivorship – please use critical thinking to assess information on the internet and consider a best of both worlds approach for best outcome.

More on Wellness Warrior: ORAC ( Oncology surgeon) – Science based Medicine Below:
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2014/12/16/jess-ainscough-finally-admits-her-condition-is-deteriorating/

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2013/10/17/sharyn-ainscough-dies-tragically-because-she-followed-the-example-of-her-daughter-the-wellness-warrior/#comment-297256

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2015/02/27/the-wellness-warrior-jess-ainscough-has-passed-away/

The following Survivorship links will be helpful:

 http://www.cancerbridges.ca/

http://www.amazon.com/Survivorship-Living-During-After-Cancer/dp/1938170350

SURVIVOR TRAINING COURSE: Queensland

http://www.gracegawlerinstitute.com/survivor-training/

Listen to Navigating the Cancer Maze – Today’s show.
http://www.voiceamerica.com/episode/83721/learning-the-art-of-survivorship-how-to-navigate-the-cancer-maze

Until next time – Be safe in your choices – cancer is a tough opponent- choose your course wisely!

Grace