In April 2007, I was diagnosed with follicular lymphoma, a non-Hodgkin’s, large B-cell cancer. As a committed practitioner of wholistic health for 35 years prior to my diagnosis, you can imagine how opposed I was to the standard medical approach of cancer treatment: cutting (surgery), burning (radiation), and poisoning (chemotherapy).
Fortunately, my cancer was slow-growing. Unfortunately, it was also considered incurable.
I met with three oncologists and finally chose a cancer specialist who was born and raised in Europe. We reached a mutual agreement to focus on known alternative solutions in the healing process related to cancer. For me, there was no other choice. My mantra has always been that the human body knows how to integrate not disintegrate.
However, I did make one concession to the traditional medical approach. Because I was not willing to use chemotherapy, radiation, or surgery in my treatment plan, my oncologist recommended that I incorporate an experimental drug called Rituxan, which was being used at the time for the reduction of B-cell cancer replication. Originally formulated to reduce the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, today Rituxan is a common oncological treatment for some cancers.
Two years later, I was cancer-free—cured and no longer in remission. I have enclosed below my before and after PET scans for your review. Even now in 2021, there are no indications of its return.
Cancer is a metabolic false reality and is not to be feared. Instead, we need to understand that it is not a natural part of the human life cycle, nor is it related to aging. Cancer is the aberrant result of faulty gene expression brought on by current and generational malnutrition, inflammation, and disease, all of which are brought to bear by devitalized “death foods” and environmental toxins, ultimately leading to disharmony throughout the various body systems
Any approach to cancer, whether it be medical, wholistic, or a hybrid of the two, must include four fundamental principles that cannot be ignored. I will discuss each of these below.
1. Reduce systemic glucose.
Eliminate all sugar from the diet, especially high fructose corn syrup. In other words, no grains, no starches, and no fruits. Glucose expedites the fast replication of cancer cells and acts as the primary fuel for tumor growth. This is shown in PET scan technology that uses a sugar molecule attached to a radioactive isotope to reveal cancer tumors. Once this combination of chemicals enters the bloodstream, they are immediately absorbed by the cancer cells. You can see a dramatic example of how glucose lights up in tumors on this PET/CT scan.
D.T. Quigley, MD, a renowned cancer surgeon in Omaha, Nebraska, operated on cancer victims for over 40 years. He specified a strictly non-glucose, organic diet for his patients. In 1943, Dr. Quigley published The National Malnutrition through the Lee Foundation for Nutritional Research. In his book, he unequivocally states that if you expect to get anywhere with a cancer patient, the one thing you must do is get glucose out of their diet. Otherwise, you cannot expect to make any progress in treating the disease.
Throughout the forty years of his practice, Dr. Quigley successfully assisted many of his patients in ridding or reducing their abnormal growth levels of cancer simply by removing refined sugars and carbohydrates from their diet. In following this same approach, the best guidance I know of for helping patients reduce glucose levels in the body is by adhering to the Paleo diet.
2. Increase levels of pancreatic enzymes, particularly trypsin and chymotrypsin.
Since the early 1900s, pancreatic enzyme deficiency has been observed in individuals who develop cancer. In such cases, they did not produce any, or enough of, two specific enzymes—trypsin and chymotrypsin—that target inflammation and abnormal tissue growth. In The Enzyme Treatment of Cancer and Its Scientific Basis, published in 1911, Scottish embryologist John Beard hypothesizes that these enzymes secreted by the pancreas inhibit and destroy the growth of cells made up of rogue proteins. Today we know that these abnormal cells, namely cysts, fibroid lesions, and benign and cancerous tumors, indicate inflammation throughout the body.
3. Balance excessive hormones.
Elevated hormones, primarily estrogen in women and testosterone in men, are known to accelerate normal and abnormal cell replication, division, and mutation.
The action of excessive hormone production originates in the anterior pituitary gland and can lead to the proliferation of increased cancer cells. For hormone clearance and detoxification, look at the Hormone Blend in my book Adjuvant Protocols for Healing (p. 397). It is formulated with herbs that help control and regulate hormone production and that assist the liver with eliminating hormones out of the body through the intestinal tract with the aid of bile.
4. Strengthen your immune alliance.
Medical science and a variety of wholistic modalities agree that the only cure for cancer rests in a strong, healthy immune system. The immune alliance throughout the human body functions through cooperation between the thymus, spleen, liver, bone marrow, stomach, and intestinal biome. These organs and glands herald the great protectors that stand watch over every breath in the cellular life cycle.
Look to the following outstanding products from Standard Process and MediHerb to help support immunity:
Standard Process
- Calcium Lactate Powder (½ tbs, twice daily) or Calcium Lactate tablets (3 tablets, three times daily): engages phagocytosis.
- Cataplex F Tablets (3 tablets, twice daily): reduces fibrotic lesions.
- Immuplex (3 capsules, twice daily): elevates immune constitution.
- Lactic Acid Yeast (3 wafers, twice daily): balances gut biome, which makes up 70–90 percent of the immune alliance.
- Cataplex C (3 tablets, twice daily): empowers innate immunity.
MediHerb
—Dose: 2 tablets each, twice daily
Alternatively, you may take Winter Blend, a liquid herbal formulation.
Winter Blend
—Combine 5 ml (1 teaspoon) of each of the following. Take ½ tablespoon, twice daily.
Herbal information:
- Andrographis: immune enhancing choleretic, hepatoprotective, anthelmintic,
- Astragalus: immune enhancing, tonic, adaptogen, cardiotonic, hypotensive, diuretic
- Burdock: depurative, diuretic depurative
- Echinacea: immune enhancing, immune modulating, depurative, lymphatic, anti-inflammatory, vulnerary, sialagogue
Embarking on a cancer journey is a personal experience that will manifest in many dark nights of the soul. Much advice and assistance will come your way, but ultimately all of the decisions you make must be yours and yours alone.what it means to run this gauntlet. But having reached the other side, I can tell you that the experience changed me forever and deepened my compassion for others who have faced similar challenges with long-term illness.
From a spiritual perspective, I have rested in this wise counsel from Wayne Dyer: “If we knew who was standing next to us, we would never fear.”
We can always find a way to understand and improve health challenges, whether simple or complex. There are no impossible obstacles in the healing process, only the answers awaiting us as we discover Nature’s solutions.
Images from iStock/Vadzim Kushniarou (main), nito100 (post). Pet scan images from Joseph Antell.
