A fast-track to choosing alternative cancer treatments, October 22,
2005
| Reviewer: Robin Daly of www.yestolife.org.uk |
The Kellys have honed down a selected group of therapies and laid them out in three sections:
• Supportive, immune boosting,
detoxifying, self-administered treatments
• Anticancer therapies that can be self-administered with professional
guidance
• Anticancer therapies given by professionals (possibly requiring
self-administered follow-up)
They recommend all patients to do all, or certainly most, of the treatments in the first group, to do as many as possible from the second group, and to choose one of the major anticancer treatments from the third group. In this way, patients are directed towards what has emerged as the 'best practise' of a broad, multi-pronged attack on their condition.
The carefully selected major therapies are well described and backed up with a personal interview with the key practitioner or developer of that treatment. This 'from the horse's mouth' view is very helpful in making what can be a tough, and possibly life-saving choice between treatments. The Kellys have been criticised for the omission of key treatments such as the Gerson, Contreras or Gonzalez protocols, and there could be grounds for this. Whilst Gerson was both genius and pioneer in laying the foundations for much of the current alternative and complementary approaches to health - the regeneration of the whole body system as opposed to the treatment of disease or symptoms - recent developments have moved away from the more 'one treatment fits all' Gerson approach. Today's pioneers are leaning toward individually tailored programmes developed to address the lack of consistency of response to Gerson, despite its undoubted successes. The best of current 'metabolic' programmes, such as Gonzalez's, are sophisticated developments that are having notable successes - hence the case for their inclusion in section three of this book.
All the necessary information to pursue any of the treatments is included. Budgetary considerations are a major factor for most people, and detailed information on treatment costs is included, along with an appendix of useful contacts and resources. The chapter entitled 'Perspectives on Chemotherapy' provides a head-on look at the facts, not from a point of knocking orthodox treatment but one of being realistic about its potential to help the reader.
Despite the reservation regarding possible omissions, this book is highly recommended to anyone serious about maximising their chances of surviving cancer, and for its succinct clarity in easing the burden of choices and research for the reader.
Review by Sarida Brown (founder editor of Caduceus Journal)
- Feb 2005
This ground-breaking book is likely to change the lives of people around you, maybe your own, and will probably contribute to saving many lives. It is a clearly written, highly informative and reader-friendly investigation of leading-edge holistic cancer treatments and the research on which they are based. It includes interviews with seven of the leading researchers in the field and sheds light on current biomedical cancer treatment methods – to enable people to make informed decisions about the kind and combination of treatments that will serve them best.
I have loved reading this book. It stretches from research and theory to careful descriptions of individual therapies and the practical information you need to carry them through - how to find a medical doctor with the experience to guide you, how to do procedures at home, sources of supplies, their cost, identifying which options are more affordable, how to budget and how to address the fear of exceeding one’s financial means – with the intended effect of empowering and building confidence at one of the most challenging times in anyone’s life.
Holistic cancer treatment has made huge strides over the past 20 or so years. Research into the nature and ecology of cancer, technical developments in diagnosis, production of nutritional and medicinal supplements, and technologies such as oxygen-ozone therapy have created an advanced science capable of targeting the character of the specific form of cancer and – of greatest importance – re-balancing the biochemistry and re-building the overall health of the person: advances which complement the work of successful and courageous pioneers like Dr Gerson. But this information needs to be broadcast.
In Healing Cancer the authors establish the credentials of holistic methods of cancer treatment, quoting researchers and their publications at established universities, clinicians with long experience and recorded results, and evaluations by orthodox scientists. John Boik, a research scientist at MD Anderson Research Center at the University of Texas, one of the world’s leading cancer research institutions, says that ‘crude, forceful approaches…(ie cytotoxic chemotherapy) have failed and our lessons of the last few decades have been humbling’.
By understanding why a cancer cell is produced, how it lives and interacts with its environment, John Boik says, ‘we can begin to find eloquent treatments that harm the cancer and spare the patient. Natural compounds…promise to synergistically inhibit cancer by attacking from many angles at once, improve the health of normal tissues, and all the while be non-toxic to the patient. They could be affordable and available on a worldwide scale.’ (It is relevant to mention here that this very availability is currently under attack from EU Directives and the Codex Alimentarius – see www.alliance-natural-health.org ). [also News this issue]
People inclined toward holistic medicine who are faced with a diagnosis of cancer often feel more bewildered and frightened because of having to make a choice between orthodox and holistic treatment. Anxiety is exacerbated by the prevailing simplistic image of holistic cancer treatment as a one-fits-all, raw or semi-raw diet with some carrot juice, counselling, relaxation, healing and some other add-on therapies, and by the plethora of therapies on offer but without reliable information and guidance to select an appropriate healing programme. People just don’t know where to start. Healing Cancer sets out to fill this great need – and succeeds excellently.
Throughout, Simon and Enrida Kelly emphasise the need to tailor treatment to the specific nature of one’s cancer and to one’s constitution, and to be ‘under the supervision of a medical doctor with an interest in emerging unconventional therapies’. First, therefore, is the need to obtain an individualized cancer report, through one’s own holistic doctor or from American cancer expert Dr Ralph Moss.
Then the Kellys list a range of the most important therapies in three groups. First, the foundation therapies constituting ‘naturopathic best practice’ to support the body in smooth functioning – including diet, liver and intestinal cleansing, nutritional support, mind-body approaches, and ozone therapy. The second and third groups are specific anti-cancer therapies. In Group Two are those therapies that can be carried out at home with professional guidance – including Natural Anti-Cancer Compounds, Metabolic Typing and pancreatic enzyme supplements. Group Three contains therapies like Dr Lechin’s Neuroimmunomodulation, Dr Burzinski’s Antineoplaston Therapy, and Dr Lawrence Burton’s Immuno-Augmentive Therapy – requiring in-clinic treatment.
I have personally known people engage with such processes of healing cancer. I have seen the successes that come from the dedication of some stretch of their life to transformation and healing through relationship with a medical doctor who specializes in holistic cancer treatment (there are some remarkable and dedicated people in our midst), with therapists supporting their path, and with their own rigorous application to life changes and therapeutic procedures – Caduceus Journal has recently honoured Tony Jackson for his achievement in healing cancer in this way. I have also seen too many people who lacked information, or were misinformed (‘quackbusters’ and a sceptical media have a lot to answer for).
I do, however, have one serious caution about this book. After reading it, I was concerned that it does not mention the great pioneers, like Dr Max Gerson, Dr Josef Issels and Dr Ernesto Contreras, whose work laid the foundations for the new stage of cancer therapy - and whose methods are continuing to reverse and heal many cancer conditions, some at such advanced stages that they have been given up by biomedical doctors. Nor does it give contact information for these centres.
Unfortunately, in at least one case the book also gives misleading instructions about a therapeutic practice. The coffee enema is well known as a core part of the detoxification treatment devised by Dr Gerson. With good research evidence supporting Dr Gerson's claims, the exact procedure has to be carefully followed. However, while devoting three pages to an apparently authoritative appendix on 'How to Carry Out A Coffee Enema', the Kellys give incomplete and misleading instructions. They omit to give any, let alone the exact, proportions and strength of coffee to water; write 'eight spoons of coffee' without specifying what size spoon; write that the coffee fluid should be passed through a sieve, when it should be passed through a sieve or tea strainer lined with a layer of cloth; and advocate using a cafetiere and letting the water and grounds sit for an hour, when Gerson emphasised that simmering for 12 to 15 minutes is important to release the volatile oils.
So, my recommendation is to read the book for its breadth of information, but check on specific procedures: do your own research - for example, the website for Gerson therapy is (UK) www.gersonsupportgroup.org or (worldwide) www.gerson.org .
This warning apart, I recommend Healing Cancer very highly indeed. Buy it for your own information, to give copies to friends, and to pass around so as to build a new consensus and culture of 'eloquent treatments', effective and humane holistic methods of transforming cancer.
Healing Cancer Reviewed by: Suzannah Olivier of Positive Health Magazine
Any person diagnosed with cancer is entering into a journey of discovery, and needs to be prepared for a particularly steep and fast learning curve. For most people this voyage starts and ends at the hospital with the advice and treatment given by their medical team. However, increasingly patients are taking an active part in their treatment plan. This is acknowledged by many specialists when they give their patients treatment options to discuss and to make decisions about. But in truth, the treatment options are still mostly limited to surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and hormone therapy. It now turns out, from a recent survey of patients at the Royal Marsden Hospital that around 50 per cent of patients are self-medicating with supplements and by changing diet, and not discussing this with their doctors. Clinicians are waking up to the fact that they need to discuss these issues with their patients because, as is also known, dietary and supplementation can affect treatment progress, both positively and negatively depending on how it is implemented. Some more far-sighted, and better funded, institutions also have complementary centres operating alongside them offering a mind-body approach to healing, but these are few and far between.
But despite all these apparent changes there is still a number of other treatment possibilities that hang around, it has to be said on the fringe of cancer treatment. Treatments such as Dr Stanislaw Burzinski's Antioneoplaston Therapy and Dr Fuad Lechin's Neuroimmunomodulation Therapy have been around for ages and despite numerous published papers have remained on the fringes practising in out-of-the-way clinics. Usually funding has been an issue, sometimes personality issues have come into it (refusing to tow the main-stream line) and often it might have been the right therapy promoted at the wrong time politically speaking (the large pharmaceutical companies hold sway in the US where most research is done and work quite hard lobbying to crowd out any competition). Home-based therapies such as pancreatic enzyme supplementation and colonic cleansing have been practised for an age. Other dietary approaches, such as reducing dairy products and eating organic food, are almost being embraced by the mainstream (I use the term 'almost' advisedly!).
But if someone is diagnosed with cancer and wants to find out about these treatment possibilities and therapies there is only a hotch-potch patchwork of information available. People who want to make intelligent decisions have to scour the internet to find information. Now this book puts together a good deal of the information in a single place.
The book combines descriptions of the treatments, explaining technical terms, going into approximate costings and giving transcripts of conversations with the individuals whose therapy protocols are discussed. This makes it quite understandable for the lay person. The list of therapies run from the easy-to-do-at-home, such as simply drinking more water and choosing organic produce, to therapies that will take more time, effort and money.
Will this book enable you to cure cancer? Who knows? But then who knows when you enter into a treatment programme at hospital if it will work? Yes, there are survival statistics but that doesn't help those who don't make it. At least with this information people can educate themselves about additional choices they can make if they wish to.
My only concern about this book is that it doesn't do enough to steer people back to their medical support team. It definitely states that many of these treatment protocols can run concurrently with orthodox treatment, but this is slightly underplayed. To get medical orthodoxy on board their main fear has to be addressed: this is that people will go off and self-treat and come back for hospital treatment when the cancer has already progressed too far. On the other hand, as the authors point out, no-one has a monopoly or has all the answers regarding cancer treatment and a patient interested in this information has the right to know about these approaches.