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How to help your body help itself
In this exclusive excerpt from his new book, Anticancer: A New Way of Life, French psychiatrist and neuroscientist David Servan-Schreiber describes how he survived cancer with medical treatment and by boosting his immune system’s natural defenses through diet, exercise and a positive outlook on life.
I received conventional treatment, because it must be stated at the outset that to date, there’s no alternative approach to cancer that can cure the illness. It’s completely unreasonable to try to cure cancer without the best of conventional Western medicine: surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy and soon, molecular genetics.
At the same time, it’s unreasonable to rely on this purely technical approach and neglect the natural capacity of our bodies to protect against tumors. We can take advantage of this natural protection to prevent the disease or enhance the benefits of treatment. (For more on the body’s ability to fend off tumors, read the interview with David Servan-Schreiber on page 50.)
The cancer went into remission, but I relapsed after that. Then I decided to learn everything I could to help my body defend against the illness. As a physician and established researcher, I had access to invaluable information about natural approaches to prevent or help treat cancer. I’ve kept cancer at bay for seven years now.
It took me months of research to begin to understand how I could help my body protect itself from cancer. I participated in conferences in the U.S. and Europe that brought together researchers exploring treatments that work with the “terrain” as they address the disease. I scoured medical databases and combed scientific publications. I soon perceived that the available information was often incomplete and widely dispersed. It only took on its full meaning when it was combined.
Taken as a whole, the mass of scientific data reveals an essential role for our natural defenses in the battle against cancer. Thanks to key encounters with other physicians and practitioners already working in this field, I managed to put all this information into practice along with my treatment.
This is what I learned: If we all have a potential cancer lying dormant in us, each of us also has a body designed to fight the process of tumor development. Something about our way of life weakens our defenses against this disease. It’s up to each of us to use our body’s natural defenses.
In cancer’s grip, the whole body is at war. Cancer cells act like armed bandits, roving outside the law. They’re unhindered by any of the restraints a healthy body respects. With their abnormal genes, they escape the mechanisms controlling normal, healthy tissues. For example, they lose the obligation to die after a certain number of divisions. They become “immortal.” They ignore signals from surrounding tissues—alarmed by the overcrowding—that tell them to stop multiplying. Still worse, they poison these tissues with the substances they secrete. These poisons create a local inflammation that stimulates the cancerous expansion even more, at the expense of neighboring territories. Finally, like an army on the march seeking fresh supplies, they requisition nearby blood vessels. They force them to proliferate and furnish the oxygen and nutrients needed for the growth of what will soon become a tumor.
Under certain circumstances, these savage bands are disrupted and lose their virulence: when the immune system mobilizes against them; when the body refuses to create the inflammation without which they can neither grow nor invade new territories; or when blood vessels refuse to reproduce and provide the supplies the cells need to grow.
These are the mechanisms that can be reinforced to prevent the disease from taking hold. Once a tumor is installed, none of these natural defenses replace chemotherapy or radiotherapy. But they can be exploited, accompanying conventional treatments, to mobilize the body’s resistance to cancer.
Of all the strains of cancer cells researchers use, the most virulent are the S180—for “sarcoma 180”—cells. Stemming from one specific mouse in a Swiss laboratory, they’re bred on a large scale. Throughout the world, they’re used to study cancer under identical conditions. They’re particularly abnormal, containing an unusual number of chromosomes. They secrete great quantities of cytokines, toxic substances that destroy the envelopes of cells with which they come in contact.
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I was thrilled to read about Dr. Servan-Schreiber’s experience using nutrition to heal his body following his cancer treatment. I was captivated by his experience and excited to know another doctor has recognized the immense importance of nutrition combined with positive attitude when it comes to healing the body.
I was diagnosed with Stage II Rectal Cancer in March 2007, and I also treated my body with a nutrition therapy, specifically, with a plant based diet focusing on a high percentage of plant based protein. Only I did the opposite of Dr. Servan-Schreiber and did my nutritional treatment prior to the chemotherapy, radiation and surgery. And what were the results? When the tumor and surrounding tissues were removed and biopsied, not a trace of cancer was found! These results are unprecedented among the physicians I work with at Guthrie Medical/Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre, PA (one of the top 100 hospitals in the United States).
Within the first couple months, it became clear to me the cancer diagnosis had been a gift; my only hope was that the gift included longevity. The gift itself showed up was in countless ways: the opportunity for me to give up my need to do everything on my own and more importantly, giving up how I believed the world and life should be; the immeasurable generosity of so many people in our community; the opportunity to experience my treatment and healing while watching my new born baby grow; and the privilege of being married to a woman who shared my commitment to being joyful and playful regardless of our circumstances.
I have blogged my experience from the start at the following URL: www.bertscholl.blogspot.com Naturally, the initial purpose of the blog was to keep family and friends updated regarding my health status, my treatment, and what my experience was like. As time went on, I began to use the blog to publicize the effectiveness of my choice of nutritional treatment. As I received more and more positive responses and encouragement from my readers, I found myself committed to the transformation our cultural conversation about cancer - here in the U.S. - from one of fear and dread, to one that empowers those of us who have cancer, as well as our friends and loved ones. (I should acknowledge that my commitment is not only to those of us in the U.S., it's just that I have no experience with cultural conversations about cancer, outside of the U.S.)
I began my nutritional treatment on May 14, 2007 at the Gerson Clinic in Baja, Mexico then returned home and continued the therapy with the support of my incredible wife, as well as other family and friends. Due to the location of the tumor, I did a modified version of the therapy for a total of ten months, at which point the cancer had grown about a millimeter and painfully into a nearby nerve. As the pain became too much, I switched to the traditional cancer treatment.
For the complete story of my experience, please visit my blog at: www.bertscholl.blogspot.com I invite you to leave comments and/or questions at the end of any of the entries and I assure you I will read them and the questions I will respond to.
posted by RobertScholl on 10/25/2008 10:12 pm