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It may surprise you to know that cancer cells are produced in your body each and every day, to the point where they even form tumors. That’s because each of us is constantly being exposed to carcinogens in our food, air and water supply. Fortunately, your body has a powerful weapon that is constantly on the alert for such abnormal cells and is quick to destroy them once they are found. What is this powerful weapon?
Your immune system!
When you are healthy, the cancer cells and tumors mentioned above never make it past the microscopic stage. Instead, they disappear before you even have a chance to know they exist. According to conventional oncologists, this disappearing act is known as “spontaneous regression.” But in reality it’s all due to the ability of the immune system to identify cancer cells early, before they can multiply, and quickly eliminate them as part of the overall protective role that the immune system performs as it helps to maintain your overall health.
Based on these facts, three things are very clear with regard to cancer:
1) The health of immune system is one of the most important factors that determine cancer patients’ survival.
2) The presence of cancer cells in the body is far less important than the immune system’s ability to properly identify and eliminate such cells, even when they are few in number.
3) Cancer takes hold in the body largely as a result of a functional breakdown or imbalance in the immune system, which can occur as a result of many factors, including poor diet, nutritional deficiencies, chronic exposure to toxins that over time overwhelm the immune system, unhealthy lifestyle choices (smoking, alcohol or drug abuse, etc), chronic stress, and unresolved emotional issues, to name just a few.
How Your Immune System Fights Cancer
When functioning properly your immune system protects against cancer in a number of important ways. First, it assesses whether normal cells have been transformed into cancer cells. This task is performed by specialized white blood cells known as T lymphocytes, or T cells. T cells are produced by the thymus glad and travel throughout the body where they seek out abnormal cells and foreign proteins known as tumor-associated antigens that are released by tumor cells.
If cancer cells are present, certain types of T cells signal other types of white blood cells to spring into action. These include B cells that produce antibodies that neutralize foreign matter in both blood and tissues, as well as other lymphocytes that produce anticancer chemicals known as cytokines. Cytokines act like a natural form of chemotherapy and include tumor necrosis factor, interleukin, and interferon. Unlike chemotherapy drugs, cytokines do their work without harming healthy cells.
Other cancer fighters in your immune system’s arsenal include natural killer (NK) cells and macrophages. NK cells are one of your body’s most immediate and powerful agents for protecting against cancer. A specialized class of lymphocytes, NK cells lock onto cancer cell sites and destroy malignant cells before they can multiply and spread. NK cells are especially important in the early stages of cancer, when they descend directly upon tiny tumors to devour them or cause them to disintegrate before the tumors can grow and start to harm the body. NK cells have little effect against large tumors, however.
Like NK cells, macrophages also destroy cancer cells by ingesting them. They also support your body’s detoxification system by scavenging for waste and debris, and help to regulate cell reproduction as well as the activity of other immune cells. Research has shown a direct correlation between increased macrophage activity and a decreased incidence of tumors and tumor growth. For this reason, macrophage function by itself can often accurately determine whether tumors will thrive or die.
Recognizing the Immune System’s Role in Fighting Cancer
Unlike conventional most conventional oncologists, alternative and integrative cancer doctors have long recognized the importance of the immune system when it comes to treating cancer effectively. For this reason, alternative and integrative doctors emphasize immune-boosting therapies as part of their overall strategy for addressing cancer. By contrast, most oncologists ignore immune function, focusing instead on simply killing cancer cells and tumors through the use of chemotherapy and/or radiation, both of which wreck havoc on cancer and healthy cells alike, especially immune cells. This difference in approach helps to explain why alternative and integrative approaches for cancer are often far more effective than conventional cancer treatments, both in the short-term and in the long-term.
What many people do not realize is that many cancer patients who are treated with chemotherapy or radiation actually do not die from their cancer, but from secondary infections such as pneumonia that are able to take hold in the body after conventional treatments have weakened and ravaged the immune system. That’s why helping to improve and maintain immune function is so vitally important when treating most cancers.
Alternative and integrative physicians accomplish this in a variety of ways, starting with improving their patients’ diet so that the foods they eat enhance all of the body’s functions, rather than impede them, which is what happens when you eat the nutritionally deficient standard American diet (SAD). Other therapies that may be employed to bolster the immune system are nutritional and orthomolecular medicine, herbal medicine, detoxification therapies, hyperthermia (heat-based therapies), and mind/body medicine (for stress relief and to heal painful emotions), to name just a few.
In addition, alternative cancer specialists, should they deem that chemotherapy or radiation is necessary, will use lab tests to help them determine the most appropriate chemo drugs to use that are most specific to each patient’s needs. By tailor-making chemotherapy treatments to match each individual’s unique needs, the chemo drugs that are employed are usually able to be administered at far lower doses than normal because they have been screened for their effectiveness. This not only increases their usefulness, but it also dramatically reduces the otherwise harmful side effects chemotherapy is noted for, sparing the immune system from harm.
The Cancer Establishment Is Catching On But Is It Enough?
Over the past few years drug companies and the mainstream cancer establishment has at long last begun to consider the immune system as part of their approach to treating cancer. Earlier this year, for example, an immune-stimulating cancer drug called Yervoy (ipilimumab) was hailed as “breakthrough” drug for combating late-stage melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. Developed by Bristol-Meyers Squibb, it has been approved by the FDA after studies showed that it nearly doubled the number of melanoma patients who survived for three years or more. Since its approval, the drug industry has increased its research into developing other immune-boosting drugs for cancer.
However, the news is not all good. In fact, some of it is downright frightening. That’s because in clinical trials nearly 13% of patients taking Yervoy had severe or fatal autoimmune reactions. In addition, the drug also causes a wide range of side effects, including fatigue, hormone deficiencies, diarrhea, skin rash, and colitis (inflammation of the intestines. Moreover, like many cancer drugs, it is expensive. Plus, because it is new to market, no studies exist showing whether it is safe and effective long-term.
While I applaud the cancer establishment for finally beginning to research immune-boosting drugs, just as I agree that both chemotherapy and radiation have their place as part of physicians’ overall cancer-fighting arsenal, I question the wisdom of relying on drug-based immune-boosting approaches that are not completely safe and also so expensive. Especially when proven safe and natural immune-boosting therapies, such as those I’ve mentioned above, already exist and have a long track record of efficacy.
That’s why I am such a strong proponent of cancer treatments that rely on the “best of both worlds” from both the alternative and conventional fields of medicine. And it’s also why I encourage all cancer patients to explore all of their options from both fields and to seek out doctors who are trained in how to best integrate them. There is no “magic bullet” when it comes to treating cancer, and there most likely never will be. But certainly your body’s immune system is a key part of the complete cancer care picture, and that’s a fact more cancer doctors and patients alike need to recognize.
Showing posts with label alternative cancer treatments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label alternative cancer treatments. Show all posts
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Conventional Medicine’s Blind and Ignorant Bias Towards Alternative Cancer Therapies
Today I want to share with you the story of a very brave young boy and his equally courageous family. His name is Connah Broom and his story is both a wonderful testament to the power of love and the human spirit and a sad indictment of the ignorance and bias to be found within the conventional medical community when it comes to alternative cancer therapies.
I recently became aware of Connah when I came upon a link to a feature article about him that appeared in the February 10 2009 edition of the Daily Mail, a major newspaper in England. The title of the article is:
The boy with 11 tumours who was sent home to die... and survives after grandparents' alternative therapy treatments.
Briefly, here’s Connah’s story.
In August 2006, after months of intermittent symptoms of pain and a general feeling of illness that physicians initially misdiagnosed, he was found to have a relatively rare and aggressive form of cancer known as neuroblastoma, which attacks the brain and nervous system running along the spinal cord. By the time Connah was properly diagnosed, his cancer was classed as neuroblastoma stage 4. Doctors found that it had spread through his chest near his heart, to his stomach close to several organs including his kidney and intestine, and down his left leg.
Connah received conventional cancer treatments for seven month, at which point his doctors told his family that there was nothing more that they could do for him and that they should “take him home to enjoy his final months” of life. That was in early 2007.
It was at this point that Connah’s grandparents took action. Instead of accepting the doctors’ prognosis, they refused to give up hope and began to educate themselves about any and all potential alternative options that might save their grandson.
The first thing they did was put Connah on an all-organic diet along with filtering his water, after they read doing so could reduce the amount of harmful toxins in his body. “Once we did this, Connah stopped becoming ill,” his grandmother reports.
As they continued their research, Connah’s grandparents (whom he lives with, along with his father) soon added other alternative therapies to his health-care regimen, including reiki, far infrared sauna, laser therapy, ultrasound, and other therapies, some of which they were introduced to when they visited an alternative cancer clinic in Mexico (the newspaper article does not identify which clinic they went to). After being instructed in the use of the therapies they learned about at the clinic, Connah’s grandparents returned home and built their own equipment devices in order to treat Connah on their own. All of the expenses involved were paid for out-of-pocket.
At the time that the Daily Mail article was written—a full two years after Connah’s doctors had given him up for dead—scans showed that ten of Connah’s 11 tumors had shrunk, had no blood flow and appeared to be dead. Today, more than four years after Connah received his death sentence, he is still alive and his latest scans show that “his disease is stable.”
Not only is Connah still with us, he is also living a normal, active life, including pursuing his passion for gymnastics, playing soccer, painting, and winning awards at dance competitions.
As I said, Connah’s story is wonderful.
But what isn’t so wonderful is how the conventional medical community has responded to it. In the same article, the Daily Mail reported that conventional cancer experts remained skeptical and “cast doubt on whether the alternative therapies had made any difference”.
Bear in mind, these are the same types of experts who had handed Connah a death sentence years earlier!
As if that isn’t enough, the article also reported the experts said “levels of toxins in food and drink are unlikely to be high enough to cause cancer”.
Such a claim is not only downright ignorant, it’s also entirely irresponsible. Numerous studies have shown a link between poor diet and cancer, and that includes consuming foods and drinks that contain cancer-causing chemicals. For conventional cancer experts to say otherwise—and for the Daily Mail to allow them to do so unquestioned—verges on criminal negligence.
But the height of the arrogance and ignorance of the conventional cancer establishment is revealed later in the article when the Mail reports that, rather than taking a serious look at the merits of the approach Connah’s grandparents have used to not only keep him alive, but restore him to an active childhood, “They say cancers often go into remission for unexplained reasons.”
In other words, they have no interest whatsoever in admitting that what Connah’s grandparents are doing is not only working, but is actually far superior to the conventional treatment Connah received—treatments which they themselves admitted had failed him!
I wish I could say that this example of ignorance about and bias against viable alternative cancer therapies was rare, but it isn’t. It’s the norm! And because it is, untold numbers of cancer patients around the world are denied the opportunity to explore nonconventional therapies that can quite possibly save their lives. All because they heed the advice of conventional doctors and conventional cancer organizations that say such alternatives are “un proven” and not worthy of consideration.
Fortunately for Connah, his grandparents were smarter than that. Instead of passively accepting the death sentence Connah was given, they did their own due diligence and by doing so, they saved Connah’s life.
My hope is that, should cancer strike you or your loved ones, you too will be like Connah’s grandparents, and also refuse to give up hope.
You can read the Daily Mail article about Connah here.
You can also watch a video about Connah and his grandparents here.
Finally, if you would like to be kept informed about Connah’s progress or make a donation to help support his grandparents’ work, you can visit this website set up in his name:
http://www.connahsappeal.co.uk
I recently became aware of Connah when I came upon a link to a feature article about him that appeared in the February 10 2009 edition of the Daily Mail, a major newspaper in England. The title of the article is:
The boy with 11 tumours who was sent home to die... and survives after grandparents' alternative therapy treatments.
Briefly, here’s Connah’s story.
In August 2006, after months of intermittent symptoms of pain and a general feeling of illness that physicians initially misdiagnosed, he was found to have a relatively rare and aggressive form of cancer known as neuroblastoma, which attacks the brain and nervous system running along the spinal cord. By the time Connah was properly diagnosed, his cancer was classed as neuroblastoma stage 4. Doctors found that it had spread through his chest near his heart, to his stomach close to several organs including his kidney and intestine, and down his left leg.
Connah received conventional cancer treatments for seven month, at which point his doctors told his family that there was nothing more that they could do for him and that they should “take him home to enjoy his final months” of life. That was in early 2007.
It was at this point that Connah’s grandparents took action. Instead of accepting the doctors’ prognosis, they refused to give up hope and began to educate themselves about any and all potential alternative options that might save their grandson.
The first thing they did was put Connah on an all-organic diet along with filtering his water, after they read doing so could reduce the amount of harmful toxins in his body. “Once we did this, Connah stopped becoming ill,” his grandmother reports.
As they continued their research, Connah’s grandparents (whom he lives with, along with his father) soon added other alternative therapies to his health-care regimen, including reiki, far infrared sauna, laser therapy, ultrasound, and other therapies, some of which they were introduced to when they visited an alternative cancer clinic in Mexico (the newspaper article does not identify which clinic they went to). After being instructed in the use of the therapies they learned about at the clinic, Connah’s grandparents returned home and built their own equipment devices in order to treat Connah on their own. All of the expenses involved were paid for out-of-pocket.
At the time that the Daily Mail article was written—a full two years after Connah’s doctors had given him up for dead—scans showed that ten of Connah’s 11 tumors had shrunk, had no blood flow and appeared to be dead. Today, more than four years after Connah received his death sentence, he is still alive and his latest scans show that “his disease is stable.”
Not only is Connah still with us, he is also living a normal, active life, including pursuing his passion for gymnastics, playing soccer, painting, and winning awards at dance competitions.
As I said, Connah’s story is wonderful.
But what isn’t so wonderful is how the conventional medical community has responded to it. In the same article, the Daily Mail reported that conventional cancer experts remained skeptical and “cast doubt on whether the alternative therapies had made any difference”.
Bear in mind, these are the same types of experts who had handed Connah a death sentence years earlier!
As if that isn’t enough, the article also reported the experts said “levels of toxins in food and drink are unlikely to be high enough to cause cancer”.
Such a claim is not only downright ignorant, it’s also entirely irresponsible. Numerous studies have shown a link between poor diet and cancer, and that includes consuming foods and drinks that contain cancer-causing chemicals. For conventional cancer experts to say otherwise—and for the Daily Mail to allow them to do so unquestioned—verges on criminal negligence.
But the height of the arrogance and ignorance of the conventional cancer establishment is revealed later in the article when the Mail reports that, rather than taking a serious look at the merits of the approach Connah’s grandparents have used to not only keep him alive, but restore him to an active childhood, “They say cancers often go into remission for unexplained reasons.”
In other words, they have no interest whatsoever in admitting that what Connah’s grandparents are doing is not only working, but is actually far superior to the conventional treatment Connah received—treatments which they themselves admitted had failed him!
I wish I could say that this example of ignorance about and bias against viable alternative cancer therapies was rare, but it isn’t. It’s the norm! And because it is, untold numbers of cancer patients around the world are denied the opportunity to explore nonconventional therapies that can quite possibly save their lives. All because they heed the advice of conventional doctors and conventional cancer organizations that say such alternatives are “un proven” and not worthy of consideration.
Fortunately for Connah, his grandparents were smarter than that. Instead of passively accepting the death sentence Connah was given, they did their own due diligence and by doing so, they saved Connah’s life.
My hope is that, should cancer strike you or your loved ones, you too will be like Connah’s grandparents, and also refuse to give up hope.
You can read the Daily Mail article about Connah here.
You can also watch a video about Connah and his grandparents here.
Finally, if you would like to be kept informed about Connah’s progress or make a donation to help support his grandparents’ work, you can visit this website set up in his name:
http://www.connahsappeal.co.uk
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