Breast Cancer

Categories: The Analysis of Disease States: Helping the Body Recover
Sources: How And When To Be Your Own Doctor

I have worked with many young women with breast cancer; so many in

fact, that their faces and cases tend to blur. But whenever I think

about them, Kelly inevitably comes to mind because we became such

good friends. Like me, Kelly was an independent-minded back country

Canuck. At the age 26, she received a medical diagnosis of breast

cancer. Kelly had already permitted a lumpectomy and biopsy, but had

studied the statis ical outcomes and did not want to treat her

illness with radical mastectomy, radiation and chemotherapy because

she knew her odds of long-term survival without radical medical

treatment were equal to or better than allowing the doctors to do

everything possible. Nor did she want to lose even one of her

breasts. She knew how useful her breasts were because she had

already suckled one child, not to mention their contribution to

one's own self-image as a whole person. I admired Kelly's unusual

independent-mindedness because she comes from a country where

universal health coverage is in place; her insurance would have paid

all the costs had she been willing to accept conventional medicine,

but Canadian national health insurance does not cover alternative

therapy.



Kelly stayed with me for nearly two months as a residential faster,

because she needed to be far from the distractions of a troubled

family life. With financial support from her parents and child-care

from her friends she was able to take time out to give the recovery

of health top priority in her life without worrying about whether

her small son was being well cared for. This peace of mind was also

very important to her recovery.



Analysis with biokinesiology showed a pervasively weak immune

system, including a weak thymus gland, spleen, and an overloaded

lymphatic system. Her liver was weak, but not as weak as it might

have been, because she had become a vegetarian, and had been working

on her health in a haphazard fashion for a few years. Kelly's body

also showed weaknesses in pancreatic and adrenal function as well as

a toxic colon. Most immediately worrisome to her, biokinesiology

testing showed several over-strong testing lumpy areas in the

breasts and over-strong testing lumpy lymph nodes in the armpits.

Cancerous tumors always test overly strong



Kelly's earlier life-style had contributed to her condition in

several ways. She had worked for years in a forestry tree nursery

handling seedling trees treated with highly toxic chemicals. She had

worked as a cook in a logging camp for several seasons, eating too

much meat and greasy food. And she had also spent the usual number

of adolescent and young adult years deeply involved in recreational

drug use and the bad diet that went with it.



Kelly started right in on a rigorous water fast that lasted for one

entire month. She had a colonic every day, plus body work including

reflexology, holding and massage of neurolymphatic and neurovascular

points, and stimulation of acupuncture points related to weak organ

systems and general massage to stimulate overall circulation and

lymphatic drainage. She took protomorphogens to help rebuild her

weakened organs; she took ten grams of vitamin C every day and a

half-dose of life extension vitamin mix in assimilable powdered

form; she drank herbal teas of echinacea and fenugreek seeds and

several ounces of freshly squeezed wheat grass juice every day.

Twice each day she made poultices out of clay and the pulp left over

from making her wheat grass juice, filled an old bra with this

mixture and pressed it to her breast for several hours until the

clay dried. Shortly, I will explain all the measures in some detail.



These physical therapies were accompanied by counseling sessions

dealing with some severe and long-unresolved problems, response

patterns and relationships that triggered her present illness. Her

son's father (Kelly's ex) was suppressive and highly intimidating.

Fearful of him, Kelly seemed unable to successfully extricate

herself from the relationship due to the ongoing contact which

revolved over visitation and care of their son. But Kelly had grit!

While fasting, she confronted these tough issues in her life and

unflinchingly made the necessary decisions. When she returned to

Canada she absolutely decided, without any nagging doubts,

reservations or qualifications, to make any changes necessary to

ensure her survival. Only after having made these hard choices could

she heal.



I one respect, Kelly was a highly unusual faster. Throughout the

entire month on water, Kelly took daily long walks, frequently

stopping to lie down and rest in the sun on the way. She would climb

to or from the top of a very large and steep hill nearby. She never

missed a day, rain or shine.



At the end of her month on water Kelly's remaining breast lumps had

disappeared, the lymphatic system and immune system tested strong,

as well as the liver, pancreas, adrenals, and large intestine. No

areas tested overly strong.



She broke the fast with the same discipline she had conducted it, on

carrot juice, a cup every two hours. After three days on juice she

began a raw food diet with small servings of greens and sprouts well

chewed, interspersed at two hour intervals with fresh juicy fruits.

After about ten days on "rabbit food," she eased into avocados,

cooked vegetables, nuts, seeds, and whole grains and then went home.



As I write this, it is eight years since Kelly's long fast. She

still comes to see me every few years to check out her diet and just

say hello. She has had two more children by a new, and thoroughly

wonderful husband and suckled them both for two years each; her

peaceful rural life centers around this new, happy family and the

big, Organic garden she grows. She religiously takes her life

extension vitamins and keeps her dietary and life-style

indiscretions small and infrequent. She is probably going to live a

long, time.



I consider Kelly's cluster of organ weaknesses very typical of all

cancers regardless of type or location, as well as being typical of

AIDS and other critical infections by organisms that usually reside

in the human body without causing trouble (called "opportunistic").

All these diseases are varieties of immune system failure. All of

these conditions present a similar pattern of immune system

weaknesses. They all center around what I call the "deadly

triangle," comprised of a weak thymus gland, weak spleen, and a weak

liver. The thymus and spleen form the core of the body's immune

system. The weak liver contributes to a highly toxic system that

further weakens the immune system. To top it off, people with cancer

invariably have a poor ability to digest cooked protein (animal or

vegetable) (usually from a weak pancreas unable to make enough

digestive enzymes) and eat too much of it, giving them a very toxic

colon, and an overloaded lymphatic system.



Whenever I analyze someone with this pattern, especially the entire

deadly triangle, I let the person know that if I had those

particular weaknesses I would consider my survival to be at

immediate risk I'd consider it an emergency situation demanding

vigorous attention. It does not matter if they don't yet have a

tumor, or fibroid, or opportunistic infection; if they don't already

have something of that nature they soon will.



Here's yet another example of why I disapprove of diagnosis. By

giving the condition a name like "lymphoma" or "melanoma", "chronic

fatigue syndrome" "Epstein-Barr syndrome" or "AIDS," "systemic yeast

infection", "hepatitis" or what have, people think the doctor then

understands their disease. But the doctor rarely understands that

all these seemingly different diseases are essentially the same

disease--a toxic body with a dysfunctional immune system. What is

relevant is that a person with the deadly triangle must strengthen

their immune system, and their pancreas, and their liver, and

detoxify their body immediately. If these repairs are accomplished

in time, the condition goes away, whatever its Latin name may have

been.



Now, about some of the adjuncts to Kelly's healing. Let me stress

here that had none of these substances or practices been used, she

probably still would have recovered. Perhaps a bit more slowly.

Perhaps a bit less comfortably. Conversely, had Kelly treated her

cancer with every herb, poultice and vitamin known to man but had

neglected fasting and colonics, she might well have died. It has

been wisely said that intelligence may be defined as the ability to

correctly determine differences, similarities, and importances. I

want my readers to be intelligent about understanding the relative

importances of different hygienic treatment and useful supporting

practices.



Echinacea and chaparral leaves, red clover flowers, and fenugreek

seeds are made into medicinal teas that I find very helpful in

detoxification programs, because they all are aggressive blood or

lymph cleansers and boost the immune response. These same teas can

be used to help the body throw off a cold, flu, or other acute

illness but they have a much more powerful effect on a fasting body

than on one that is eating. Echinacea and chaparral are

extraordinarily bitter and may be better accepted if ground up and

encapsulated, or mixed with other teas with pleasant flavors such as

peppermint or lemon grass. These teas should be simmered until they

are at the strongest concentration palatable, drinking three or four

cups of this concentrate a day. If you use echinacea, then chaparral

probably isn't necessary and visa versa. Red clover is another blood

cleanser, perhaps a little less effective but it has a pleasant,

sweet taste and may be better accepted by the squeamish.



If there is lymphatic congestion I always include fenugreek seed tea

brewed at the strength of approximately one tablespoon of seeds to a

quart of water. Expect the tea to be brown, thick and mucilaginous,

with a reasonably pleasant taste reminiscent of maple syrup.



Kelly used poultices of clay and wheat grass pulp on her lumps,

somewhat like the warm castor oil poultices I used on my mother's

arthritic deposits. Poultices not only feel very comforting, but

they have the effect of softening up deposits and tumors so that a

detoxifying, fasting body is more able to re absorb them. Poultices

draw, pulling toxins out through the skin, unburdening the liver.

Clay (freshly-mixed potters clay I purchase from a potters' guild),

mixed with finely chopped or blended young wheat grass (in

emergencies I've even used lawn grasses) makes excellent drawing

poultices. Without clay, I've also used vegetable poultices made of

chopped or blended comfrey leaves, comfrey root, slightly cooked

(barely wilted) cabbage leaves, slightly steamed onion or garlic

(cooked just enough to soften it). These are very effective to

soften tumors, abscesses and ulcers. Aloe poultices are good on

burns. Poultices should be thought of as helpful adjuncts to other,

more powerful healing techniques and not as remedies all by

themselves, except for minor skin problems.



Poultices, to be effective, need to be troweled on half an inch

thick, extending far beyond the effected area, covered with cheese

cloth or rags torn from old cotton sheets so they don't dry out too

fast. Fresh poultices needs to be applied several times daily. They

also need to be left on the body until they do dry. Then poultices

are thrown away, to be followed by another as often as patience will

allow. Do not cover poultices tightly with plastic because if they

don't dry out they won't draw much. The drawing is in the drying.



Sometimes poultices cause a tumor or deposit to be expelled through

the skin rather than being adsorbed, all with rather spectacular pus

and gore. This phenomena is actually beneficial and should be

welcomed because anytime the body can push toxins out through the

skin, the burden on the organs of elimination are lessened.



Wheat grass juice has a powerful anti-tumor effect, is very

perishable, is laborious to make, but is worth the effort because it

contains powerful enzymes and nutrients that help detoxify and heal

when taken internally or applied to the skin. As a last resort with

dying patients who can no longer digest anything taken by mouth I've

implanted wheat grass juice rectally (in a cleansed colon). Some of

them haven't died. You probably can't buy wheat grass juice that

retains much medicinal effect because it needs to be very fresh and

should be drunk within minutes of squeezing. Chilled sharply and

immediately after squeezing it might maintain some potency for an

hour or two. Extracting juice from grass takes a special press that

resembles a meat grinder.



The wheat is grown in transplant or seedling trays in bright light.

I know someone who uses old plastic cafeteria trays for this. The

seed is soaked overnight, spread densely atop a tray, covered

shallowly with fine soil, kept moist but not soggy. When the grass

is about four inches high, begin harvesting by cutting off the

leaves with a scissors and juicing them. If the tray contains

several inches of soil you usually get a second cutting of leaves.

You need to start a new tray every few days; one tray can be cut for

three or four days. (Kulvinskas, 1975)



More wheat grass juice is not better than just enough; three ounces

a day is plenty! It is a very powerful substance! The flavor of

wheat grass juice is so intense that some people have to mix it with

carrot juice to get it down. DO NOT OVERUSE. The energizing effects

of wheat grass can be so powerful that some people make a regular

practice of drinking it. However, I've seen many people who use

wheat grass juice as a tonic become allergic to it much as

antibiotic dependent people do to antibiotics. Better to save wheat

grass for emergencies.



I also have treated my own breast cancers--twice. The first time I

was only 23 years old. One night I noticed that it hurt to sleep the

way I usually did on my left side because there was a hard lump in

my left breast. It was quite large--about the size of a goose egg.

Having just completed RN training two years prior, I had been well

brain washed about my poor prognosis and knew exactly what requisite

actions must taken.



I scheduled a biopsy under anesthetic, so that if the tumor was

malignant they could proceed to full mastectomy without delay. I was

ignorant of any alternative course of action at the time.



I might add that before I grew my first tumor I had been consuming

large amounts of red meat in a mistaken understanding gained in

nursing school that a good diet contained large amounts of animal

protein. In addition to the stress of being a full time psychology

graduate student existing on a very low budget, I was experiencing I

very frustrating relationship with a young man that left me

constantly off center and confused.



A biopsy was promptly performed. The university hospital's SOP

required that three pathologists make an independent decision about

the nature of a tumor before proceeding with radical surgery. Two of

the pathologist agreed that my tumor was malignant, which

represented the required majority vote. But the surgeon removed only

the lump, which he said was well encapsulated and for some reason

did not proceed with a radical mastectomy. These days many surgeons

routinely limit themselves to lumpectomies.



I never did find out why I awakened from general anesthetic with two

breasts, but I have since supposed that due to my tender age the

surgeon was reluctant to disfigure me without at least asking me for

permission, or giving me some time to prepare psychologically. When

I came out of anesthesia he told me that the lump was malignant, and

that he had removed it, and that he needed to do a radical

mastectomy to improve my prognosis over the next few years. He asked

me to think it over, but he signed me up on his surgery list for the

following Monday.



I did think it over and found I was profoundly annoyed at the idea

of being treated like I was just a statistic, so I decided that I

would be unique. I made a firm decision that I would be well and

stay well--and I was for the next fifteen years. The decision healed

me.



When I was 37 I had a recurrence. At the time I had in residence

Ethyl and Marge, the two far-gone breast cancer cases I already told

you about. I also had in residence a young woman with a breast tumor

who had not undergone any medical treatment, not even a lumpectomy.

(I will relate her case in detail shortly.) I was too identified

emotionally with helping these three, overly-empathetic due to my

own history. I found myself taking on their symptoms and their pain.

I went so far into sympathy as to grow back my tumor--just as it had

the first time--a lump mushroomed from nothing to the size of a goose

egg in only three weeks in exactly the same place as the first one.

Just out of curiosity I went in for a needle biopsy. Once again it

was judged to be malignant, and I got the same pressure from the

surgeon for immediate surgery. This time, however, I had an

alternative system of healing that I believed in. So I went home,

continued to care for my very sick residents, and began to work on

myself.



The first thing I had to confront about myself was that I was being

a compassionate fool. I needed to learn how to maintain my own

personal boundaries, and clearly delineate what stuff in my mind and

my body was really mine and what was another's. I needed to apply

certain mental techniques of self-protection known to and practiced

by many healers. I knew beyond doubt that I had developed

sympathetic breast cancer because a similar phenomena had happened

to me before. Once, when I had previously been working on a person

with very severe back pain with hands-on techniques, I suddenly had

the pain, and the client was totally free of it. So I protected

myself when working with sick people. I would wash my hands and arms

thoroughly with cold water, or with water and vinegar after contact.

I would shake off their "energy," have a cold shower, walk bare foot

on the grass, and visualize myself well with intact boundaries.

These prophylaxes had been working for me, but I was particularly

vulnerable to people with breast cancer.



I also began detoxification dieting, took more supplements, and used

acupressure and reflexology as my main lines of attack. My healing

diet consisted of raw food exclusively. I allowed myself fruits (not

sweet fruits) and vegetables (including a lot of raw cabbage because

vegetables in the cabbage family such as cauliflower and broccoli

are known to have a healing effect on cancer), raw almonds, raw

apricot kernels, and some sprouted grains and legumes. I drank

diluted carrot juice, and a chlorophyll drink made up of wheat grass

and barley green and aloe vera juice. I took echinaechia, red

clover, and fenugreek seeds. I worked all the acupuncture points on

my body that strengthen the immune system, including the thymus

gland, lymph nodes, and spleen. I also worked the meridians, and

reflex points for the liver, and large intestine. I massaged the

breast along the natural lines of lymphatic drainage from the area.



Last, and of great importance, I knew that the treatment would work,

and that the tumor would quickly disappear. It did vanish totally in

three months. It would have gone away quicker if I had water fasted,

but I was unable to do this because I needed physical strength to

care for my resident patients and family.



Eighteen years have passed since that episode, and I have had no

further reappearance of breast tumors. At age 55 I still have all my

body parts, and have had no surgery except the original lumpectomy.

Many, viewing my muscles and athletic performance, would say my

health is exceptional but I know my own frailties and make sure I do

not aggravate them. I still have exactly the same organ deficiencies

as other cancer patients and must keep a very short leash on my

lifestyle.



If for some reason I wanted to make my life very short, all I would

have to do would be to abandon my diet, stop taking supplements, eat

red meat and ice cream every day and be unhappy about something.

Incidentally, I have had many residential clients with breast cancer

since then, and have not taken on their symptoms, so I can assume

that I have safely passed that hurdle.



I've helped dozens of cases of simple breast cancer where my

treatment began before the cancer broadly spread. Kelly's case was

not the easiest of this group, nor the hardest. Sometimes there was

lymphatic involvement that the medical doctors had not yet treated

in any way. All but one of my early-onset breast cancer cases

recovered. I believe those are far better results than achieved by

AMA treatment.



Before I crow too much, let me stress that every one of these women

was a good candidate for recovery--under 40 years old, ambulatory and

did not feel very sick. And most importantly, every one of them had

received no other debilitating medical treatment except a needle

biopsy or simple lumpectomy. None of these women had old tumors

(known about for more than six months) and none of the tumors were

enormous (nothing larger than a walnut).



Clearly, this group is not representative of the average breast

cancer case. Hygienic therapy for cancer is a radical idea these

days and tends to attract younger people, or older, desperate people

who have already been through the works. In every one of my simple

cases the tumors were reabsorbed by the body during the thirty days

of water fasting and the client left happy.



Except one. I think I should describe this unsuccessful case, this

"dirty case," so my readers get a more balanced idea of how fearsome

cancer really isn't if the sick person can clearly resolve to get

better and has no problem about achieving wellness.



Marie was an artisan and musician from Seattle who grew up back East

in an upper-middle class dysfunctional family. She was in her late

twenties. She had been sexually abused by an older brother, was

highly reactive, and had never been able to communicate honestly

with anyone except her lesbian lover (maybe, about some things).



Three years prior to coming to see me Marie had been medically

diagnosed as having breast cancer and had been advised to have

immediate surgery. She ignored this advice; Marie never told her

friends, said nothing to her family and tried to conceal it from her

lover because she did not want to disrupt their life together.



On her own, she did begin eating a Macrobiotic diet. In spite of

this diet, the tumor grew, but grew very slowly. After two years the

tumor was discovered by her lover, who after a year of exhausting

and upsetting arguments, forced Marie to seek treatment. Since Marie

adamantly refused to go the conventional medical route, she ended up

on my doorstep as a compromise.



By this time the tumor was the size of a fist and had broken through

the skin of the left breast. It was very ugly, very hard.

Biokinesiology showed the usual deadly triangle and other associated

organ weakneses typical of cancer. Marie began fasting on water with

colonics and poultices and bodywork and counseling and supplements.

At the end of the water fast, Marie looked much healthier, with

clear eyes and clear skin and had a sort of shine about her, but the

tumor had only receded enough for the skin to close over it; it was

still large, and very hard. To fully heal, Marie probably needed at

least two more water fasts of equal length interspersed with a few

months on a raw food diet. But she lacked the personal toughness to

confront another fast in the near future. Nor was she emotionally up

to what she regarded as the deprivation of a long-term raw foods

healing diet.



So I advised her to seek other treatment. Still unwilling to accept

standard medical management of her case, Marie chose to go to the

Philippines to have "psychic surgery." She was excited and

optimistic about this; I was interested myself because I was dubious

about this magical procedure; if Marie went I would have a chance to

see the results (if any) on a person I was very familiar with. Marie

had her tickets and was due to leave in days when her lover, against

Marie's directly-stated wishes, called her parents and informed them

of what was happening.



The parents had known nothing of Marie's cancer and were shocked,

upset, outraged! They had not known Marie was a lesbian, much less

that their daughter was flirting with (from their view) obvious

quackery. Their daughter needed immediate saving and her parents and

brother (the one who had abused her) flew to Oregon and surprisingly

appeared the next day in a state of violent rage. They threatened

lawsuits, police, incarceration, they threatened to have their

daughter civilly committed as unable to take care of herself. They

thought everything Marie had done for the last three years was my

fault. I was lucky to stay out of jail. Of course, all of this was

why Marie had not told them in the first place; she had wanted to

avoid this kind of a scene.



Marie did not have enough personal integrity to withstand the

domination of her immediate family. They put her in a hospital,

where Marie had a radical mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation.

Assured that they had done everything that should have been done,

the self-righteous parents went back home. Marie never recovered

from chemotherapy and radiation. She died in the hospital surrounded

by her lesbian friends who took dedicated, ever-so-sympathetic turns

maintaining an emotional round-the-clock vigil.



Marie's death was partly my fault. She was an early case of mine. At

the time I did not yet understand the total effect of lack of ethics

and irresponsibility on illness. Had Marie really wanted to live in

the first place, she would have sought treatment three years

earlier. In our counseling sessions she always evaded this question

and I had not been wise enough to pin her down with my knee on her

chest and make her answer up. Marie had too many secrets from

everybody and was never fully honest in any of her relationships,

including with me. I think she only came to Great Oaks at her

lover's insistence and to the day she died was trying to pretend

that nothing was wrong.



All Marie really wanted from her life was to be loved and have a lot

of loving attention. In the end, her dramatic death scene gave her

that, which is probably why she manifested cancer and kept it and

eventually, died from it.



The name for this game is "secondary gain." A lot of sick people are

playing it. Their illness lets them win their deepest desire; they

get love, attention, revenge, sympathy, complete service, pampering,

create guilt in others. When sick people receive too much secondary

gain they never get well.



One of the hardest things about being a healer is that one

accumulates an ever-enlarging series of dirty, failed cases like

this one. It is depressing and makes a person want to quit

doctoring. Whenever I get involved with a case I really want them to

get better. My life is put entirely out of joint for several months

dealing with a residential faster. My schedule is disrupted; my

family life suffers; my personal health suffers. No amount of mere

money could pay for this. And then some of these people go and waste

all my help to accomplish some discreditable secret agenda that they

have never really admitted to themselves or others.