How well has the American cut/burn/poison model worked? Dr. Herzog alluded to President Richard Nixon's declaration of war on cancer and observed that we're losing that war the way we've been fighting it.
The toxic but cheap cancer drug Tamoxifen, which costs about $50 a month, has been replaced by toxic and expensive drugs like Avastin, which cost about $8,000 a month. Despite the increase in cost, Dr. Herzog pointed out that the result is exactly the same: a failure rate of 98 percent in treating advanced cancer! Yet, incredibly, health insurance companies are willing to pay for the more expensive drugs.
Dr. Herzog pointed out that physicians have been using hyperthermia for thousands of years. In ancient Egypt, physicians used a crude method of hyperthermia to cure breast cancer: the hot iron treatment without anesthesia!
Hippocrates, the father of medicine, observed that fevers can cure disease. That's what an American doctor, Peter Busch, M.D., also observed in 1868. One of his cancer patients got a strep infection that led to a fever of 105 degrees Fahrenheit. When the fever went away, so did the sarcoma on her face.
Medicine has come a long way since then. Using state-of-the-art medical equipment, Dr. Herzog gives his patients local or whole-body hyperthermia without any pain. It doesn't matter whether the fever is natural or artificially produced. The effect is the same: a fever activates the immune system. Healthy cells can take the heat, but cancer cells can't handle it. They die by the millions, and the cancer cells that survive the heat are weakened so they can be easily killed by another therapy such as high-dose vitamin C or low-dose chemo.
Dr. Herzog is one of the few doctors who has the skill and experience to apply extreme whole body hyperthermia with complete safety. He artificially induces a fever of 107 degrees Fahrenheit for two hours, during which he monitors and keeps the patient hydrated. He also makes sure the head is kept cool so the brain doesn't overheat. Extreme hyperthermia has a devastating effect on cancer.
American doctors killed six patients!
One reason why hyperthermia isn't used in America, Dr. Herzog pointed out, is because of a disastrous experiment. In 1970, he explained, an American medical team gave whole body hyperthermia to 10 patients. They raised the patients' core temperature to an astounding 110 degrees Fahrenheit, far above the safe maximum of 107 degrees. Not surprisingly, six of the patients died of brain edema -- swelling of the brain.
In sharp contrast, Germany's top cancer doctors have given thousands of hyperthermia treatments without any problems at all. Dr. Herzog said hyperthermia can be used effectively as a stand-alone treatment or to optimize low-dose chemo. After hyperthermia has weakened the cancer cells, only a low dose of chemotherapy drugs is needed to kill them off. This treatment plan avoids the side effects of high-dose chemo that cancer patients dread: nausea, hair loss, and a miserable quality of life.
Don't ignore quality of life, says Dr. Herzog
Quality of life is something Dr. Herzog works hard to restore to his patients. He showed a shocking slide of a woman who came to him with an ugly, smelly tumor on her neck. Her quality of life was gone. She couldn't go out and socialize in that condition. Dr. Herzog used hyperthermia in combination with low dose radiation and chemo to give this lady her quality of life back.
The deadliest form of brain cancer is glioblastoma, the kind of cancer that killed Senator Ted Kennedy. One of Dr. Herzog's glioblastoma patients came to him in such bad shape that he could no longer speak. Using local hyperthermia to shrink the tumor along with low-dose chemo, the patient regained his ability to speak several languages.
A 25-year-old ballet dancer came to Dr. Herzog with a different kind of brain cancer. The doctor restored her health with two major therapies: hyperthermia plus a specialized therapy at the nearby University of Frankfurt that fed chemo directly into the tumor (instead of poisoning her whole body with chemo as a conventional American hospital would have done).
One of Dr. Herzog's most shocking cases was a Japanese-American man who had severe colo-rectal cancer. He had declined surgery, and the tumor was blocking his stool and even growing out of his anus! Following a temporary colostomy, Dr. Herzog cured his cancer with hyperthermia and other therapies. The patient's colostomy was then repaired, and today he's a happy man!
Why "healthy" people get cancer
Dr. Herzog made the counter-intuitive point that "healthy" people can get cancer, but people who get fevers don't get cancer. That's because fevers give your immune system a workout. And when your immune system is strong, it nips cancer in the bud.
As for a healthy eating plan for cancer patients, Dr. Herzog recommends going Mediterranean with not much meat or sugar. He believes an occasional glass of wine is okay. He said, "It's important to enjoy this life."
The audience burst into applause after Dr. Herzog's talk. It has been my privilege to interview Dr. Herzog at his clinic in Germany in 2007 and again in 2010. I describe his clinic in detail as well as nine other outstanding German clinics in my Special Report
German Cancer Breakthrough, published by Cancer Defeated. For free information about this Special Report, just
click here.
Life-changing wisdom from the "Bad Ass Vegan"
Because most cases of cancer are caused by lifestyle choices, such as a poor diet, too much sugar, and too little exercise, you have to change your life if you want to survive cancer. Of course, that's easier said than done. Most cancer patients could use some good advice on how to replace bad habits with healthy habits.
That's why Ann Fonfa, the founder of the Annie Appleseed conference, invited John Lewis to speak. John cheerfully describes himself as "the Bad Ass Vegan." He has a lot of street smarts and "street cred" about how to make lasting changes in your life. The title of his talk was "Control Your Health Destiny."
It's hard to believe that this young man, just five feet eight inches tall, used to weigh 315 pounds! Today, he's not one bit overweight, and he's as fit as a fiddle. It's well worth listening to anyone who can lose that much weight and keep it off.
John knew he'd find a way to get rid of his excess weight. As he changed one factor after another in his life, the weight dropped off. One key factor he changed was his eating plan. He became a vegan, and now tries to eat foods that build up rather than tear down his health. Vegans eat NO animal products. They not only avoid meat, but also eggs, dairy products and even honey.
There have been some ups and downs in John's life. He was adopted. He has suffered from broken bones and been through surgeries. He was even homeless for a while. But he kept a positive outlook. Using colloquial language, he told the audience, "It's okay to get mad or pissed, but you can't let it last. If you think your life is going to be screwed up, it will be."
How John's mother brought her cancer on
John said his mother had two cancers: first in the throat and then in the colon. Her doctor told him she got cancer from eating too much animal protein and fried foods. John was amazed. He asked the doctor, "You mean you can avoid this?" Yes, the doctor replied.
Stress-run-loose is another factor that can bring on cancer, so John offered the audience some advice about how to control stress. He said you have to get to know yourself, "what stresses you out, what pisses you off." You have to solve the problem or find a way to handle or avoid what causes stress.
John recommends the problem-solving tool he uses: S.W.O.T., which stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Of these four things, the first two are under your control. The last two are outside your control. Once you've identified your weaknesses, you can make a decision to avoid them. Your weaknesses might be sugar, alcohol, junk food, vegetating in front of a TV, or something else.
"S.W.O.T. analysis will help out anybody," John said.
How to avoid your weaknesses
"Don't beat yourself up," John told the audience. "The world is going to beat you up enough. When you're trying to change to a healthier lifestyle, it's not easy. For example, some offices are so large there's a birthday party and cake every week!" When these birthdays roll around, John says "Happy Birthday" and then walks out because "I don't need to be around the cake. That's my weakness."
Don't tempt yourself, John advised, by being near the things that tempt you. That life-changing advice has certainly worked for John!
John encouraged the audience: "Don't be afraid to have a healthy lifestyle. Become more active. We have joints for a reason: we have to use them. I can't outrun death, but dammit, death is going to have to catch me! You have to be in motion and do extra motion. You have to move! Use it or lose it. Go walking. After dinner, take at least 100 steps. Control what goes into your mouth. This is BIG! Implement a plant-based eating plan.
"Drop the excuses. Take responsibility for your life. Ask your doctor questions. Ask him why you should take drugs. If he gets pissed, get another doctor. Don't lose or see yourself as a loser. When suffering happens, understand that it's a part of life, and keep moving. Create your own destiny, and think for yourself."
John's website is BadAssVegan.com.
Cancer survival strategies that work!
The conference's panel discussion featured two cancer survivors and a caregiver whose wife suffers from cancer. Panelist Kenneth Gordon was diagnosed with Stage 3 kidney cancer in 2008. After surgery, when he thought he was cured, he threw a party to celebrate. But when the cancer came back, he shut down emotionally because he thought his life was over.
Kenneth's wife told him to snap out of his depression and join her in looking for a solution. They found a book by Gerald White, Cancer Wars, about getting rid of cancer by activating the immune system. They found another helpful book by Bernie Siegel. After studying the options, Kenneth decided on a three-point plan to get his health back: (1) meditation for stress relief, (2) he hired a dietician to advise him on how to juice (i.e. live on juiced vegetables and fruits), and (3) he started exercising.
His oncologist agreed to monitor him, and the results of his three-point plan were astounding. When Kenneth's doctor showed his chart to another doctor, the doctor replied, "Whatever drug you have your patient on, it's really working great!"
Panelist Karen Lee Sobel was diagnosed with a rare, incurable blood cancer. But after seven years, she's cancer free. Why is she still here, she asks? To write a book. The title of her book is Twelve Weeks: An Artist's Story of Cancer, Healing, and Hope. She used holistic treatments including meditation, mind-body medicine, and energy therapy to build up her health so she could make it through a 12-week clinical trial. Her recovery is almost miraculous.
Panelist Rob Harris is an in-home caregiver to his wife. He's the author of "We're in This Together: A Caregiver's Story." The three words that changed his life were the words "You have cancer," spoken to his wife.
The first lesson he learned as a caregiver was "It's not about you." The second lesson is that you can't be so emotional that it prevents you from giving your loved one the best care. The third lesson is "Don't be an idiot, but take help! Don't be a martyr! Eat right, exercise, and be healthy so you can be the best caregiver you can possibly be." He guarantees that anyone who reads his book will laugh and cry at least twice. It's a must-read book for anyone who's caring for a loved one.
Stay tuned for the second of two articles about this conference.
php?id_product=21&
