Since I suspect that cancer is an advanced symptom of cell starvation, caused by improper nourishment, I will try to record everything that might be relevant.
When I was small, between the ages of about four and twelve, I can remember having a “queezy” stomach. I suffered from gas and stomach cramps some of the time, especially if I ate hot, dogs or sweets, or drank sweet milk or carbonated drinks. I got these only on special occasions like picnics and parties.
I had only two serious illnesses before puberty. Once I had very seriously infected sinuses resulting in having both eardrums punctured. I also was very seriously ill with whooping cough.
If I ate the wrong thing or got too excited I developed diarrhea. Sweet milk gave me diarrhea. I enjoyed buttermilk and did eat all vegetables and foods which were given to me.
My menstrual periods started when I was nine years old. The flow was heavy and I started cramping and having very severe headaches and backaches. My figure developed very early and I had large sensitive breasts, especially during my. menstrual periods. I also was extremely sensitive during ovulation.
It seems that from the time I started menstruating I became constipated and this condition plagued me for years. At first my periods were very uneven, then a sort of erratic schedule seemed to emerge. I had only eleven periods a year lasting over two weeks each period. The first week I hemorrhaged and the following week had a very heavy flow. I had blood clots the size of an egg and larger for the first four or five days.
My eating habits deteriorated while I was in my teens. My complexion was very good in spite of the fact that I ate enormous quantities of sugar, and was very fond of pastries and “gooey” deserts. I threw away the oatmeal that my mother had prepared for breakfast before she went to work, and would eat a bowl of ice cream instead. Then at school would eat a hot dog and an ice cream bar. My only decent meal was in the evening.
When I became pregnant with my first child I gained twenty pounds the first three months and was put on a strict diet by my doctor. The diet consisted of: no salt, no carbohydrates, lots of fats and proteins. I did not gain any more weight after going on the diet, although I retained enormous quantities of water in my legs, in spite of the low salt diet.
The baby was healthy and normal, although highly allergic to milk (cow’s milk).
After the baby was born I picked up a staph infection at the hospital. I ran a temperature of 105 degrees;, the milk dried up, and I could not nurse the baby. I was given sulfa off and on for one year and finally ended up in the hospital with a severe kidney infection and an acute allergy to sulfa.
At around this time I developed a chronic vaginal discharge.
When I became pregnant with the second child I ate the same diet as I had with the first, trying not to gain excessive weight. I only gained fifteen pounds. The baby was healthy and normal. I nursed him for five months, but my breasts were extremely sensitive while nursing. My periods were still very long and with a heavy flow.
When I got pregnant the third time I still used the same diet and only gained fifteen pounds. After the baby was born I had a tubal ligation and was not permitted to nurse him. My periods were still very heavy. I weighed about 100 lbs.
From time to time I was completely exhausted, but attributed this to the fact that I had three small children to take care of. I was also depressed a lot of the time, but thought this was normal when a mother couldn’t get out and be involved with her own projects. I seemed to push myself to the end of my physical limitations all the time.
All this time I was extremely interested in good nutrition so I spent a lot of time in the kitchen. I baked all our bread and made all of our deserts. I also canned great quantities of fruit and made all of our jelly. I used to buy fifty pounds of sugar at a time at the super market.
We ate well balanced meals, I thought. An average day would start with orange juice, sausage and eggs, toast and jelly or home made biscuits and coffee. Then lunch would be a tuna sandwich or peanut butter and jelly with a small salad, and dinner would be meat, two vegetables, potatoes and salad, and home made desert.
I drank at least ten cups of coffee a day. I usually had a cocktail before dinner so my husband and I could sit and relax and usually ended the day with a tranquilizer so I could sleep. (My husband snores and doctors ALWAYS recommended sleeping pills for me). I was a real insomniac and my sleeping patterns were getting worse and worse. I would go to bed at two o’clock and then struggle out of bed at seven o’clock and then try to do a full days work with no rest in between. I went to bed at two o’clock because I was totally unable to get to sleep if I went to bed earlier. Therefore I simply had to take a tranquilizer if I wanted to get my rest.
My gynecologist tried to correct my irregular periods with birth control pills. I started bleeding between cycles, retained water up to ten pounds, had severe headaches and depression and developed lumps on the breasts. At that point I stopped taking the pill. From time to time I took Flagyl for the discharge which at times was so heavy that I had to wear protection.
I was a follower of Adelle Davis, but none of her suggestions, which I read in her books, seemed to improve the situation. I took vitamins, but synthetic ones, and they had no apparent effect on my system. I grew continually more depressed, more exhausted, with crying spells and a feeling of butterflies in the stomach, and a great uneasiness that some disaster was about to happen. I was told by several doctors that I was suffering from the old housewives syndrome and really should see a psychiatrist.
Among my so-called psychosomatic symptoms were: a loud ringing sensation in my ears, which I thought was normal. My fingernails were like paper and my hair was dull and lifeless. My vision was getting a little worse too. I found that I had to get glasses in order to sew or read. I couldn’t comfortably sleep on my left side because I felt that I would suffocate. Also, now I had a sharp pain under my left ribs which extended through to the back, this happened in the evenings after supper. Also, in the evenings I felt that I simply HAD to get out of my clothes and into something loose and comfortable.
We moved to California and it was on this trip that I started hemorrhaging while wearing Tampax for the first time in my life. . . and the doctor in California performed an emergency hysterectomy. I discovered later that the hemorrhaging had been caused by the Tampax rubbing on the vagina and the operation was totally unnecessary.
After the surgery I developed severe diarrhea and finally had to take two Lomotil tablets every four hours for three weeks, before controlling it. The diarrhea continued each morning, but when I told my doctor he said that if it happened only once a day, and happened regularly, it was normal.
At this time I started developing allergies. As each season rolled around they got worse and sometimes I would have to sleep with three or four pillows under my head so that I could breathe. My doctor told me that it was quite normal to have allergies after moving from Colorado to California and that’s the price you pay for the privilege of living in California.
I was still taking vitamins as recommended by Adelle Davis in her books, and feeding my family a good nutritious diet. I could eat sweets and not gain weight, in fact, my weight remained around 105 pounds.
My breasts were getting more and more sensitive. I could barely stand to wear a bra, but couldn’t stand to go without one. When I complained to my doctor he said that it was the price I had to pay for being a woman.
By this time I was so depressed and so exhausted most of the time that it was difficult for me to complete a day’s work. I couldn’t drag myself out of bed in the morning. It actually hurt to get up. My eyes ached when I opened them, yet I couldn’t get to sleep at night. I was grinding my teeth so hard at night that I cracked one of my twelve year molars. I had dark circles under my eyes and had to wear white makeup over the circles to keep from looking like a zombie. I had crying spells that made no sense to me, with no reason what-so-ever to be depressed. I was approaching desperation. I actually contemplated suicide.
Then I noticed the lump. It was about the size of an almond and was located on the inner quadrant of the breast. It was very deep inside and perhaps this is why I didn’t notice it sooner. The lump did not go away as the other lumps had when my cycle was over. I remember saying to myself, “This is what it’s all about… I have cancer!”
It was at this time that I happened to get two books. One was “Nutrition and Your Mind”, by George Watson, and the other was “Eating Right For You”, by C. Fredericks.
I realized after reading both books that my symptoms were similar to some cases mentioned in the books and therefore my condition just might be due to poor nutrition. It seemed highly unlikely, since I had prided myself on my ability as a homemaker, but I was a heavy sugar eater so I thought it would be worth a try.
In addition, the Fredericks book described the sore breasts and also the remedy for that condition. So, I tried the liver concentrate and the sensitivity almost went away.
I discovered the lump in the summer of 1972. It showed no further growth during the following year. In the meantime, my eyesight improved immensely, I found it easier and easier to get up in the morning and I was no longer depressed and tired during the day.
Not once during the fifteen years that I complained to doctors about my insomnia, did one ask me how much coffee I drank, nor was I bright enough to connect the two. After all, my husband drank the same amount of coffee and didn’t have a bit of trouble going to sleep at night.
I did nothing more about the lump until the following summer. But in the process I managed to gain ten pounds. My weight was 124. I felt good on the diet.
When I went for my pap smear, which I usually did in the summer because my gynecologist was in Denver, the doctor found the lump and was alarmed. This was the summer of 1973. A mammogram showed nothing but a solid mass with no “spidery” infiltration. Since I was in Denver for our summer vacation and a weeks fishing, I thought I would put it off again until I got back to California. The doctor was insistent that I go in for surgery “tomorrow” and he said that I should prepare for a mastectomy.
When I got back to California I went to Dr. Hewlett Lee, a Stanford graduate, practicing at the Palo Alto Medical Clinic. He tried to aspirate the lump, but could get nothing out of it. He put me on Bisbee, a liver tablet, and said to try it for one month. He also said that I should prepare for a mastectomy, even though the mammogram showed nothing alarming.
Due to the aspiration, the lump got ugly, black and swollen, obviously bruised. I used massive doses of vitamin C, but the swelling never did go back to normal, although the color returned to normal.
I insisted that I must talk to a doctor who understood nutrition and the relationship to cancer. Dr. Lee said that there was no doctor at Stanford Medical School who could discuss such a thing, but he sent me to Dr. Stewart Jones of Palo Alto, a graduate of Stanford Medical School, and also associated with the Stanford Hospital Community there.
After examining the lump, Dr. Jones sent me back to Dr. Lee to get a lumpectomy, which was performed late in October, 1973.
-The lump was malignancy Grade 3. Dr. Lee pleaded with me to have a mastectomy along with irradiation and possibly chemotherapy. I refused all of these because of the extensive damage or side effects. I told him I wanted to try laetrile. He said that he was sorry he couldn’t give it to me, but indeed he would if he could.
I took the series of injections. Fourteen days of 3 gram (10 cc) shots, then ten more shots every other day of 6 gram (20 cc). I took -a B-complex formula, intravenously, along with the laetrile. There were no bad effects at all. I also took Viokase at each meal. I noticed a definite lift from the shots.
Then I took 3 grams oflaetrile a day, by mouth. Dr. Jones also put me on the Harvey Banting diet.
I took the HCG test at Stanford University Hospital and it came back negative, or below 1%. Eight months later I took another HCG test and it came back 1.4%. A small lump had appeared on the site of the scar.
I started taking a partial series of injections, (10 cc) 3 gram shots; for fifteen days. I went to Dr. Lee for surgery again. On July 24, 1974, he removed two lumps, each the size of a pea, from the scar. They were both malignant, Grade 11/2. Dr. Lee felt that they were caused by minute particles left from the first lump. After the surgical packing was removed, I noticed that the lump still appeared to be there. Dr. Lee assured me that the new lump was caused by the material used to sew up the incision and that he had taken the malignant lump. The one on the scar appeared identical to the one removed.
I then took another full series of laetrile shots.
We moved to New Jersey and I found myself in the predicament of trying to find another doctor who understood a nutritional approach to optimizing health. I found a Naturapath who seemed to understand the problem, although he was not entirely sold on laetrile.
He prescribed about 70 vitamin and mineral supplements to take at each meal. He also put me on fresh juices, bran and whey.’ He eliminated most animal protein, except for cheese, whey and yogurt.
In one month I lost fourteen pounds, which alarmed me. The most alarming part to me was that he said that I would have to lose another 30 or 40 pounds. This seemed like a lot of unnecessary non-sense, so…
I found another Naturapath, who started me on a very strict regime of eating certain foods and a program to regain that weight. He is well known among the cancer patients in this area, and has a long and successful track record. He uses mostly raw foods, strictly vegetarian especially for cancer patients, no vitamin supplements at all. I cheat from time to time and take B-complex, A and E and also take laetrile every day. I also take one tablespoon of cod liver oil at night to supplement my diet, although he has not recommended this.
Some amazing changes have occurred in the past seven months, or since I went on his program. Almost immediately, the swollen glands under my chin returned to normal. For years I thought this was just a “middle age” chin. In fact I didn’t even realize they were swollen until they started receding.
And wonder of wonders, after eight years the chronic diarrhea cleared up. I now have a normal movement three times a day. This is the most significant change in my estimation. It suggests to me that I may be assimilating my food a little better.
Also, I sleep like a log now, get tired at around 9:30 or 10:00, go to bed and sleep soundly until 6:30 or 7:00. I no longer grind my teeth and the cracked molar is no longer sensitive.
The vaginal discharge has completely cleared up. I notice, however, when I’m around cigarette smoke for prolonged periods of time that I get a slight discharge for several days. I also get flu symptoms if I’m exposed to cigarette smoke for long periods of time.
My breasts are NOT sensitive at all, and I have not taken more than six teaspoons of liver concentrate in the seven months. The lump which the surgeon assured me was the material used to stitch the incision has not grown or gotten smaller. . . I am watching it.
The right breast, which had developed a little lump, has completely cleared up.
My vision is quite good, and if I notice a little fuzzing when I read for long periods of time, I simply take a vitamin A tablet.
I seem to have no allergies what-so-ever.
My staying power is phenomenal. I have more energy than I have had in years, without the ups and downs that I’ve been accustomed to, and thought were normal.
The only adverse reaction that I could mention is that I can no longer take 3 grams of laetrile a day without a painful, swollen sensation under my tongue. I have reduced the laetrile to 250 mg. per day and there is no reaction.
My body has become super-sensitive to all things, including food.
The ringing sensation in my ears is only present when I over extend myself, and is so soft that I am not aware of it most of the time.
I hope this report will be of some value to you in your own cancer research. I think that to attempt a cancer cure without regard to a strict nutritional program is useless. I would be willing to bet that the case histories of other cancer patients will show similar health patterns. Most of these symptoms are called “normal” according to medical science and not called symptoms at all.
It’s entirely possible that a great majority of our cancer patients have cancer because of failure to recognize symptoms.
