BREAST CANCER, An Alternative Treatment SUSIE’S STORY By Carol A. Wilson
A routine mammogram is followed by the words no woman wants to hear: “It’s cancer. It’s malignant. All the surrounding tissue is pre-cancerous. You need a total mastectomy and radiation.” What does a woman do when she hears that?
“But they never take the whole breast anymore,” she thinks to herself. She and Joe, her husband of 48 years, discuss the diagnosis: “Ductal carcinoma in situ, not metastasized, very early stages. Confined to the milk duct, very small.”
Susie has no family history of cancer. “Why take the whole breast?” She’s puzzled. A second opinion brings the same result. What would you do?
If you’re controlled by others, you start signing consent forms and blindly say goodbye to part of your anatomy. (“Oh, well, I’m already in my 60s, what do I need that breast for? Might as well get rid of it and then I’ll know the cancer is gone.” Yessiree, that’s the easy way out, isn’t it? Makes money for the medical people (especially with all the follow-up), raises all our insurance premiums (can they really get much higher?), and gives the patient a false feeling of security (because in no part of this scenario has anybody covered cause or prevention).
On the other hand, if you are one who is healthy in mind and spirit, and in control of your life, you explore other options. Susie is just that sort of in-control person, who has great faith in the Lord and great support from her husband, family, and friends. She fought it–and she’s winning.
When first confronted with the news, Susie’s husband Joe, a trial lawyer, began his investigation. Joe went about it as he would preparing for trial–gathering facts, studying medical journals, interviewing experts, mapping out alternative strategies, analyzing worst-case scenarios, and praying. The most important person in his life was at risk, and he would have all the facts and know them inside out to plan the best strategy to win the case. He doesn’t like to lose–and rarely does.
Susie conversed nightly with a friend whose daughter had been cured of lymphoma in Mexico, and she prayed. They prayed together. Susie and Joe prayed together. Their family and friends prayed for them. And Susie started packing.
Background
Susie had been healthy as an ox all her life. She never smoked or drank, always tried to eat healthy foods (as much as any American does), attended church regularly, and lived a good life– until she put herself in the hands of the medical profession. Two years before, she had had a slight bladder problem and submitted to elective surgery to correct it. Within a year she was diagnosed with colon cancer, found from a routine checkup. Luckily they were able to remove part of the colon without the necessity of a colostomy. They got it all. Home free. Right. For less than a year.
Another regular checkup and routine mammogram in February of ’94 brought this latest diagnosis. Into the hospital for a biopsy. The doctor said it was so small it would be difficult to slice up, but they would have the lab results in 48 hours. He also said they took out all the carcinoma, as well as surrounding tissue samples. The results were that it was malignant and all the surrounding tissue was pre-cancerous.
“Well, everything’s pre-cancerous, isn’t it?” a friend remarked. Seemed so to Susie. If it’s before cancer is there, it’s pre-cancerous, isn’t it? Why is that a reason to take the entire breast? Susie knew she didn’t want to be mutilated. And she didn’t want radiation which, although admittedly would kill cancer cells, would also kill her healthy cells. She needed her healthy cells to fight this invader. And nobody wants chemotherapy.
Joe began his investigation, learning that the Sloan-Kettering Institute in New York is the foremost authority on breast cancer. A doctor from Sloan-Kettering was found right here in Houston and an appointment made to see him. Joe gathered up all of Susie’s medical records and took them to this second doctor. (Joe had learned that he’s a doctor MDs send their wives to.) This breast specialist performed a mammogram and showed Susie and Joe that the cancer was still there in her breast. The first doctor had not gotten it all! Another lumpectomy was scheduled and performed, with faith in the medical profession failing fast.
Even after telling Joe and Susie that “we hardly ever do a total mastectomy anymore,” the second doctor also recommended the radical surgery and radiation, and wanted to start the radiation immediately.
The Mexican Connection
Joe had represented a client four years earlier, in what turned out to be one of the most meaningful cases of his very interesting and colorful career. I will refer to the family as the Sullivans. The Sullivans had an 11-year-old daughter, Sally, who was diagnosed with lymphoma at a world-famous cancer hospital in Houston. Rather than making a decision on the spot, the Sullivans wanted to take Sally to a nutritionist they had heard about, and then maybe to Mexico for laetrile treatment. They wanted a second opinion; they wanted to explore alternatives. But they made the mistake of telling the doctor what they wanted to do.
The doctor went into a rage, shouting that they had to treat her right away, immediately, and without chemo she would die in a matter of weeks. His attitude and demeanor bordered on irrational. (American doctors don’t like to be questioned.) The doctor knew that the Sullivans were very religious people who home-schooled Sally. He probably thought they were kooks. (Doctors can be very obtuse about such matters.) He would not permit them to remove her from the hospital. They took Sally out of the hospital, anyway, and the doctor alerted the Children’s Protective Services that the Sullivans were guilty of child abuse. The CPS filed suit against the parents to get custody of Sally and thus have her admitted to the cancer treatment recommended by the rage-filled doctor.
Mrs. Sullivan and Sally got out of Texas before the lawsuit papers were served, but Mr. Sullivan was served and found himself in need of a lawyer and without funds to hire one. Joe was referred by a family friend (another home schooler) and he gladly undertook the representation pro bono. Mrs. Sullivan and Sally conferred with the nutritionist in Indiana and then went to a world- renowned Tijuana hospital for Sally’s three-week treatment.
Sally was cured. The treatment put her in complete remission–and she remains so to this day. The lawsuit was won by Mr. Sullivan and Joe (with the Mexican doctor testifying by long-distance telephone), and both families became the best of friends. (You know, we wonder why certain people come into our lives? Everything really does happen for a reason, and sometimes it’s many years before we learn the reason.)
The Decision to Go to Mexico
“Well,” thought Susie (and she and Joe discussed it at length), “if the laetrile treatment is for only three weeks, what is there to lose by trying it?” She didn’t want to be bullied into a panic-driven decision.
Susie and Joe prayed about it, as they weathered the barrages from well-meaning friends who counseled against it. That was at times very formidable and hard to resist. You know they want only the best for you, but when you have made your decision based on facts and prayer, it’s much better if well-meaning friends support your decision–positively.
Once more, Susie’s medical records were bundled up, and even the labels from her vitamin and herb supplements were packed to be reviewed in Mexico.
The Mexican Treatment
The hospital in Tijuana is owned by a doctor who has been treating cancer patients for thirty years. He has been joined by his two sons, who are also medical doctors. It’s a very nice facility, a total hospital, where radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery are performed–but only when there was no other hope. It’s a holistic program–the whole patient is treated–a course sorely lacking in this great land of America, legislated by lobbyists for special interests.
The three weeks consisted of::
(1) Daily meetings with doctors, nutritionists, and therapists;
(2) A strict diet regimen of fresh fruits, vegetables, and juices (“live” food), no red meat, low fat, no sugar (only honey or sorghum for sweetener), no caffeine, no chemical additives, and no dairy products;
(3) Regular intravenous drips of megadoses of vitamins, enzymes, and laetrile (on a stand with wheels which was taken by Susie wherever she went);
(4) Worship services at the start of each day;
(5) Fellowship with other new patients and patients who were returning for checkups (many were returning years after being told by American doctors that they had only weeks to live);
(6) A daily walk or other exercise activity;
(7) A very restful night’s sleep each night;
(8) A stress-free, loving atmosphere; and
(9) A positive mental attitude with positive reinforcement and faith.
During the three weeks Joe stayed there with Susie (their room was more like a hotel than a hospital and the fees [less than one-fourth of what treatment would have cost here, travel expenses included] included all meals for him as well). Joe was able to do a lot of reading–voraciously at times.
Joe learned that the key to this whole question is the immune system. God gave us an immune system to fight off our attackers. But when we fill our bodies with things that are really bad for us–like fats, sugars, caffeine, drugs, and chemicals–our immune system is overloaded just working to counteract their effects on our bodies. If we delete those items from our food intake, our immune system is free to do battle with unwelcome invaders such as cancers and viruses.
He learned that certain Eskimos eat nothing but red meat and never have cancer. Why? Because they eat only the caribou, and the caribou eats only Johnson grass, which just happens to be rich in laetrile. (By the way, laetrile is not a drug–it is a vitamin, B-17.) So they get their nutrients through the meat.
Joe and Susie learned a lot about juicing. When we eat fresh fruits and vegetables, our bodies immediately begin to extract the juice to grab hold of the nutrients. When we drink fresh juice, our bodies are relieved of that duty and can assimilate the nutrients immediately. Fresh juice must be ingested immediately, as it begins to lose its all-important enzymes upon oxidation (orange juice after five minutes, carrot after twenty). Therefore, we need to juice at home–every day.
The important nutrients in citrus fruits are found in the white outer covering inside the colored, oily skin (skin not to be eaten but white stuff, yes!). Most of the nutrients in melons are found in the outer skin (which we usually throw away, but which are easily put to work for us when we “juice”). Carrot juice is full of so many important nutrients and enzymes, we should drink it every day (it’s great mixed with apple, celery, cucumbers, almost anything).
When we buy canned or even frozen juice, it has been processed (that means treated with heat). In the processing it loses all of its wonderful disease-fighting enzymes and most of its other healing properties. In effect, it’s dead food, flavored water.
And what about water? The importance of water in our diet was learned in (of all places) Mexico as well. For instance, we need to drink a gallon and a half of water to replace what our bodies lose on drinking one carbonated beverage. And we must drink purified water–whether it’s bottled or filtered. (Susie believes–and I believe her–that if you drink water that contains chlorine or fluoride, you will get cancer, period.)
The fats, the sugar, the caffeine–we all know the dangers of those additions to our diets. If you want to prevent cancer, stay away from them.
The Miracle
Susie now shows no signs of the cancer, and no “pre-cancerous” condition, either. Through certain indicators in the blood, the doctors in Mexico can determine its presence or absence. (Remember–they’ve been doing it for over thirty years.) She has had a colonoscopy which the doctor describes as “clean as a whistle.” She has regular blood work done here and the results sent to Mexico for monitoring by her Mexican doctors. The results sho absolutely no sign of even a pre-cancerous condition. She will return in six months, and will then inspire others, as other cured patients inspired her.
The Message
It’s not hard to figure out the message of all this, is it? The message to me, and I hope to each reader of this article, is that we already have all the answers, and they really are quite simple. If we don’t feel that we have the answers, we can do our own investigating. We don’t have to be controlled by someone else; we can control our own lives. At least we can take charge and assume responsibility for our own lives.
The information is readily available. I began my own investigation for results of medical research which would buttress all that I had learned from Susie. I didn’t have to go very far and found a great deal of information on CompuServe®. But you can go to any bookstore, read medical journals in the library, search encyclopedias, or call up information on computer services and networks. No matter where you look, you will find a wealth of information about cancer, health, and prevention. We become more educated on wellness daily–if we listen.
Here are just a very few of the facts I learned:
- Dr. Steven A. Rosenberg, Chief of Surgery at the National Cancer Institute, a leading expert in immunotherapy, says the recent findings concerning Interleukin-2 support arguments for trying to use the body’s immune system to fight some cancers.
- Dr. Margaret Hanausek of the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Smithville, Texas, has recently presented research on a blood test which measures a protein called p65, which may prove useful in early detection of breast and prostate cancers.
- The American Medical Association has finally admitted that stress plays a role in the body’s ability to fight illness. (Author’s note: The most effective stress reducer, according to 30 years’ research, is TM [transcendental mediation].)
- Nutrition is finally recognized by experts in every field to be the key ingredient to wellness and disease prevention.
- Our immune system must be able to fight free radicals, the real culprit in creating disease and aging. A product called Amrit Kalash is 1,000 times more potent, weight for weight, than vitamins C or E in combating free radicals. (Order from 800-255-8332.) The research was published in Vol. 43 of the journal ofPharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, 1992. For an excellent discussion of free radicals, readFreedom from Disease, by K. V. Sharma, M.D.
And we can learn from others. I have learned from Susie. Juicing is now a part of my life. It is the third time I’ve tried it (the other two times I convinced myself I didn’t have time, or didn’t have enough room in the refrigerator for all those fresh foods, or it meant too many trips to the store–ever hear [or use] those excuses?).
I got rid of caffeine and nicotine several years ago. I’m trying to eliminate fat from my diet, but we must have some fats to process vitamins and for our healthy skin and hair. Lastly, I always think positive thoughts and have great faith God. I admit, I’ve got to do better about exercise. But God has given my body what it needs to be healthy and live the long, happy life I plan for myself. You have the same sources and reserves.
Thank You
Thank you, Susie, for this life-changing effect you have had on my life. You have probably saved my life–I know it will be extended now. I just hope that “Susie’s Story” will change some other lives, too.
Carol Wilson, Houston, Texas; (281) 847-9754; 600-6000
UPDATE: September 2000
Now six years later, Susie Reynolds is still free from cancer, she still has both breasts, and she has all her good cells to fight any invaders!
Also, the little “Sullivan” girl is now quite a fantastic young lady, also free of cancer, and recently attended an event honoring the judge from her case!
To contact Susie Reynolds: Houston, Texas (713) 468-3053