Cancer: The Untold Stories

Issue 14- The ‘Truth’ About Cancer

Shortly after the publication in Issue 12 of Terry Railton’s story about how he cured himself of bowel cancer through a combination of dietary change, prayer and Essiac teas, Michael and Pat Johnson from Beckside contacted me to say that they had known for a long time about the benefits of the tea. They had kept an article from many years ago telling of its origins. A Canadian nurse called Rene Caisse (Essiac in reverse) had allegedly learnt a herbal remedy from a native American Indian medicine man and refined it over the years to help cure, free of charge, hundreds of cancer patients during the 1920s and 30s. She was continuously harassed and threatened with arrest (despite a petition signed by 50,000 of her supporters) and eventually had to give up her practice along with her fight to have her tea officially recognised. Michael and Pat also showed me a delightful book written in 1959 by Cyrill Scott entitled – ‘Simple and Safer Remedies for Grievous Ills.’ He recommended black-strap molasses as being an excellent aid to overcoming cancer and other serious illnesses. The Johnsons themselves are big fans of homeopathic biochemic tissue salts for a range of conditions, which they are convinced have helped them to stay fit and healthy whilst many of their peers have succumbed to illness. An explosive documentary series entitled ‘The Truth about Cancer’ has recently been released from the US by Ty Bollinger. In it he travels the globe to interview many doctors and their patients who have developed and benefitted from alternative treatments for cancer. The reasoning behind their methods is based on the premise that we all have ‘rogue’ cancer cells in our bodies but that these only manifest themselves when our immune systems have become too weak to deal with them effectively. Most of the ‘cures’, therefore, involve providing the body with a major boost to the immune system in an attempt to restore its capacity to control and eliminate these rogue cells. There are, of course, a whole host of conditions which can weaken our immune systems. We know that negative thoughts and emotions can place our body under huge stress as can an unsuitable diet or exposure to environmental toxins, for example. It is considered vital, therefore, that any treatment takes into account the whole person and attempts to give their body a lift in all ways possible. In the case of a remedy such as Essiac tea, for example, which contains a combination of herbs known, not only to boost the immune system, but also to attack cancer cells and eliminate the resulting toxic waste. Its effectiveness will depend on to what extent the patient has been able to overcome mental and emotional problems, adopted a favourable diet, found a healthy environment in which to live etc. The documentaries also make a strong case against the use of conventional treatments such as chemotherapy. They argue that although it may have the initial effect of destroying cancer cells, it also destroys many of the healthy cells in our body and severely weakens our immune systems, thereby possibly even hindering our long term prospects of survival. As we have said, the documentaries are ‘explosive’ and highly controversial but certainly provide food for thought and are perhaps a great source of hope for anyone with cancer or with loved ones suffering this scourge of our times.

Issue 13-What the Hell is Cancer anyway?

Last month we published Terry Railton’s story of how he cured himself of cancer through natural means. This month it is the turn of Karina Clappison from Beverley: What the hell is Cancer anyway? That is the question I wanted to find out – why me, and how was I going to turn this around? Most people’s worst nightmare is to hear, “I’m sorry it’s Cancer.” Most react naturally – “How long have I got?” then plead – “just get rid of it!” I decided that my cervical cancer diagnosis was an opportunity – an opportunity to find out. What is going on in my body to make cells turn ‘rogue’ and what is the root cause of my cells turning cancerous? I never even considered that I would have any treatment operations. I believed I knew enough to know that there had to be a reason, a cause. Much to my oncologist’s surprise after he had told me “Karina, if you don’t undergo treatment now you may well be dead in a year!” I disagreed politely and believed otherwise. I knew a lot about nutrition, so felt confident in healing foods having trained as a nutritional councillor. However I also knew through my studies in Naturopathic Nutrition that the physical is not all a human is. Scientists confirm that our body’s chemistry responds to stimuli such as the thoughts you think, the emotions you feel (or do not feel) and the beliefs you hold. Genetics do play a part. However, a controversial comment here, genetics does not wholly dictate whether you manifest cancer – check out the book ‘The Genie in your Genes’ by Dawson Church. My decision was to concentrate for at least 6 months on a variety of health promoting daily lifestyle habits before seeing my oncologist again. My food intake consisted of raw fruits and vegetables, drinking fresh fruit and vegetable juices daily, mainly from ingredients that were grown organically and some from my recently acquired allotment. Juicing extracts more vital nutrients into one cup than food you can munch on in a day. I also took a range of specific supplements to aid my immune system to detox. A charity called Cancer Action leant me an infra red sauna which comfortably heats up the body to sweat out toxins. The twenty minutes per day helped by sweating a deeper sweat compared with a conventional sauna, enabling the body to excrete a higher percentage of toxins together with daily exercise at the gym and walking in nature. I had a range of specific supplements to aid my immune system to detox too. That day of my diagnosis an email appeared in my inbox – it was about emotional health! It’s true that when we are ready the right situations appear. It took courage to walk through that door that day, to invest in an area of my health that in my heart was an invitation from a higher source. I immediately invested in more study with a teacher, to learn more about the power of mind consciousness, emotional freedom and spiritual connection. Faith had the power to release the pain and patterning which was still running my body. Growing up I was an exceptionally shy individual and riddled with self doubt but I was brought up to just ‘get on with it’, so I conformed! My low self esteem, fear, shame and guilt were common feelings. As an innocent child a protective response is to rebel, but I complied. Until the day I was diagnosed I was still carrying a huge burden of emotional stress and unconsciously pushing those difficult emotions down. Progressive stress triggers the body to produce a stress hormone, cortisol. Too much cortisol has many consequences, slowing down the body’s ability to maintain normal cellular functions as well as creating havoc specifically with hormonal health. So when I was diagnosed with cervical cancer it didn’t come as a surprise understanding that fear and negative emotions obstruct normal functioning of cells. In our busy society meditation and silence is an important ritual in order to access inner peace. We all have stress in our lives of some sort and finding time to feel good, feel at peace and to bathe in self-love is one of the most important lessons I have learnt in my own cancer journey, mostly that of forgiveness of self and others. Getting to the heart of the matter, “Pain can be an awakening,” says Karina, “but it is not a pleasant way to be awakened. The body has a canny way of letting you know there is a problem”. Now Karina’s work revolves around treating each person as unique. She designs an individual programme dependent on current lifestyle, past history and what specifically is ailing the client. Interestingly, she has found that for many the physical pains/issues have their roots in emotional blocks. Visit her website at www.eatyourwaybacktohealth.co.uk or email [email protected] and she will take it from there in the strictest confidence. Are there any others out there with healing stories to tell? In the last issue we publicised a series of talks in Hornsea about healthy eating. In the talks I explain why I believe diet has played an important role in overcoming my leukemia. At the end of the first talk Terry Railton, the Treasurer at St Nicholas Church, told me his amazing story which you can read below. In 2002, following a referral by my doctor, a specialist declared I had Bowel Cancer and needed an operation for its removal. This was quite ‘out of the blue’ and scary! Quite soon afterwards I found myself at Castle Hill and had the operation, which was successful. However, it appeared that the cancer had spread to my liver and I would need another operation, one which could not be done at Castle Hill. It had to be done at St James’ Hospital (Jimmy’s) in Leeds. Appointments were made and my wife and I were driven there. I could not drive as I still had the clamps on from my first operation. The Consultant confirmed that 1/3 to 1/2 of liver would have to be removed, and he needed me in hospital the next week. As I still had clamps on my stomach wound, and the prognosis given to my wife by my doctor in Hornsea was less than optimistic, we had decided we should have a holiday, as it may be our last – ever! The consultant said this was OK; he was to go on two weeks holiday to Euro Disney with his family, so he would book me in for an MRI scan and operation for when he returned. Meanwhile:-

Since my original diagnosis of bowel cancer, my sister, a herbalist, been searching for cancer cures or help in fighting cancer, and had found a treatment from America called Essiac. An all-herbal treatment available from a couple of places in the UK, one of which was Argyll Herbs in Bristol. My sister made contact with a lady called Ute Brookman (only available on Tuesdays as she was working at Cancer Research in Bristol). She told my sister I had to phone her and talk it through.

She said she could help but needed at least a month; we only had 3 weeks. She asked if I had been advise about diet, I had not (which surprised her), so she put me on a diet to ease the load on my liver.

We went away on a week’s holiday. I was taking Essiac whilst away and keeping to the diet.
A work colleague and his wife called to see me whilst I waited for the MRI scan on my return from holiday. He brought me a message from an acquaintance I had met some months before I was found to have cancer. It was a South African I had met very briefly in New Zealand whilst on a job there. He sent a message on a card, “I have heard of your trouble, I don’t know if you know that I am a Christian, we are praying for you.” Whilst Arthur was with me he said he would take me to Leeds for the MRI scan as my company had said it would be OK.
So I went for the scan, driven by Arthur. The scan took ages, far, far longer than any scan I had previously had. When it was finished, I went out to where Arthur was still waiting and I remember saying, “Sorry it took so long, they have either found something really horrible, or they can’t find anything at all.”
That was on the Thursday before I was due to go to Leeds for the operation the following Tuesday.
On the next Monday I was sitting in the garden, everything was ready for going into hospital the next day. The phone rang, my wife Jean answered it, then called me as it was for me, “It’s the hospital,” she said.
It was the consultant, “Don’t bother to come tomorrow, I have cancelled the operation.” The first thought that races into the mind is that the situation is too bad to even try. Then he said “The scans show no sign of cancer on your liver.” I am not ashamed to admit – I cried, in fact my wife and I both cried; and laughed.
I then phoned Argyll Herbs and reported that I was clear. The person I told shouted it across the office – there was huge cheering.

Since then I have told a few others suffering from cancer about Essiac, and prayer. So far they are all still here. Essiac is named after Rene Caisse, a Canadian nurse, who found out about it from an Indian in the 1920s and used it successfully for many years. There is an interesting story behind how she was encouraged to treat ‘incurable’ patients but then, following interest by the medical establishment, and usual lobbying, it was regarded as having unproven benefits so needed extensive research, etc. There is plenty of information about Rene Caisse and the Essiac Story on the internet. http://www.healthfreedom.info/cancer%20essiac.htm http://www.healthfreedom.info/Calling_of_an_Angel.htm Some years later, (about five I think,) I had to go to Jimmy’s at Leeds for an MRI scan as confirmation that I was still clear of cancer. As I went into the MRI room, one of the operators said, “Mr Railton, you’re the one we gave the good news for aren’t you?” Coincidentally, I recently met another person who has cured herself from cervical cancer through diet and hope to publish her story in the next issue. This has made me wonder how many other people there are in our area who may have similar stories to tell. If you know of any please send them in. Ed