Cancer may be defined as tissues composed of cells that have become independent of the normal growth-controlling forces of the host. Cancer cells are less affected by their environment, including neighboring cells, and can secrete their own masking hormones and other substances which can sometimes fool the immune system into not recognizing them. Metastasis, or spreading of cancer cells may occur by direct invasion to tissues immediately adjacent to the primary tumor, or through blood and lymphatic vessels. The immune system has a vast array of specialized cells to combat abnormally growing cells. Some are: B-cells, white cells which produce anti-bodies; T-cells, lymphocytes that mature in the thymus gland and are involved in cellular mediated immunity and communicate with or "turn on" other disease fighting cells; monocytes and macrophages, which produce immunity to certain bacteria and viruses and play and important role in immunity by "presenting" them to T-cells; null cells, which mediate natural killer cells, which kill invading organisms by direct contact or by producing a cytotoxin, or cell poison; helper and supressor T-cells, which stimulate and suppress B-cells respectively, and killer T-cells, which can destroy cancer cells and other cells bearing recognizable structures. The immune system is incredibly complex, and its optimal functioning is dependent on factors such as normal activity of hormones, enzymes and nutrients in the body. In treating cancer, the main goal should be to enhance the function of the immune system, since it is within this system that the battle is fought.

Conventional Therapies Do Harm

One very serious problem with most current conventional allopathic treatment of cancer in the United States is the disregard for the necessity of strengthening and boosting the immune system of the patient. The main focus is on removing, shrinking or killing the cancerous tumor(s) with surgery, radiation and/or toxic chemicals. There is substantial trauma to the body and psyche associated with all three of the main approaches, but an additional risk factor for surgery is the potential for spreading disease-causing cells, through the vascular and lymph spaces, if the tumor ruptures.

My medical dictionary defines "chemotherapy" as follows: "In the treatment of disease, the application of chemical reagents which are not harmful to the patient but which have a specific and toxic effect upon the disease-causing micro-organism." The key words here are "not harmful to the patient." Side effects of chemotherapy are, loss of hair, strength and energy, immune system functioning, appetite and ability to eat; severe bone marrow suppression; aplastic anemia; fungal and bacterial infections; inflammation of the mucous membranes and ulcerations of the mouth. Not harmful? Are patients to believe their doctors who insist that chemo is the treatment of choice? (I have great resistance to using the term "chemotherapy," because I have seen it do harm to cancer patients, and I agree with the original definition that a therapy should not only, "do no harm," but should, in fact, make a patient feel better and stronger.)

Empower and Educate Yourself Before Making Treatment Choices

In this series of articles, rather than focus on the state of conventional cancer treatments in our country today, I wish to share with you stories of long term survivors of cancer and the therapy choices they made. Their choices allowed them to be a living testament that cancer is not a death sentence, but a systemic disease, that needs to be addressed systemically for total cure. Too often, patients resign themselves to what the doctors think is best for them and suffer dire consequences, or earlier death as a result.

To be a survivor, a cancer patient today needs to become educated about his or her dis-ease and the treatment options available. (The hyphen is intentional to indicate that any disease represents a departure from living with ease.) Taking the time to find out where the imbalance and disharmony is and changing it, for many has had very positive effects. One thing is for sure, change does need to occur, whether it be a change in diet, taking specific supplements, detoxifying the body, getting counseling or psychotherapy, or finding God again. There are many excellent books on alternative therapies for cancer, and the Internet also can be of help. Doing what feels right for the individual is of paramount importance. Ultimately it is the patient who must decide for him- or herself which path is the right one to follow, and that decision should be respected, even if we may not agree.

Every long term survivor I interviewed has certain characteristics. Among them are taking responsibility, abandoning self-pity, feeding the body super-nutrition, becoming a student, facing reality, connecting with a Higher Power, and acquiring hope. Hope is an integral part of wellness, especially if one is subjected to the doomsday attitudes of the doctors who insist that patients undergo therapies that do more harm than good.

Non-Toxic Gerson Therapy Produces Long Term Survivors

The Gerson therapy was developed by Dr. Max Gerson, a German physician, born in 1881, who cured his own migraine headaches with diet, and in the latter stage of his career, applied a dietary regime to cancer and published a book, A Cancer Therapy: Results of Fifty Cases. Gerson therapy has been reported in peer reviewed scientific literature to cure many diverse conditions. The Gerson Institute resides in Bonita, California, and the therapy center is in Mexico. A new therapy center has recently opened in Tucson, Arizona. Most patients attend the therapy centers and afterwards remain on a modified dietary plan for life. The basic premise of the therapy is that when cancer is present, there is an aberrant functioning on the cellular level. The sodium/potassium balance of the cells changes causing edema of the cells. Sodium enters and potassium is depleted, and the cellular edema is believed to be the inciting factor which causes cancer to grow. Patients who have undergone toxic therapies are not accepted for treatment to the centers. Gerson therapy boasts a 50% cure rate for terminally ill patients, when cancer is considered incurable by "orthodox methods", when metastsis has occurred to liver, pancreas or elsewhere in the body, and 70 to 80% cure rate for earlier cancers. These numbers are considerably better than what conventional therapies offer.