Defending holistic medicine

I wanted to comment on Noemi Lopinto's extremely one-sided article on holistic cancer treatment ["Malignant medicine," June 22]. If it wasn't for holistic medicine, my father would not be with us today. Just over a year ago, my dad was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. The doctor's response to the diagnosis was basically that he should get his affairs in order. After the initial shock faded and the anger set in, my parents tried to process what this doctor was saying. I believe that "playing God" is an appropriate term.

No one has the right to put in someone's mind that they are going to die. It's like planting a seed to speed along someone's demise-- a little suggestion can go very far.

My dad was not one to believe in holistic anything. He used to laugh at my vegetarian diet and my interest in herbal medicine. This time, however, he was not laughing. He decided to try it. He figured that he had very little to lose. My mom and I researched alternative treatments and holistic medicine and put together a regime for my dad to follow. He went on disability leave from work, rented a cabin on a quiet lake for four months and spent his time enjoying life and laughing a lot. He adopted a mostly vegetarian diet, cutting out sugar and saturated fat, taking antioxidants, herbal and soy supplements and drinking tons of pure water and green tea. I visited him every month and each time I went, he seemed healthier, happier and full of life, even more so than I ever remember my dad being for most of my life.

Just four months after the diagnosis, he went back to Winnipeg to see the doctor that diagnosed him. They checked his PSI levels for his prostate; a normal PSI is between zero and three and when my Dad was diagnosed, it was over 300. His level was now at 0.1. There was no trace of cancer. They did an MRI and CAT to see the other tumours in his body. They had shrunk by 50 per cent and were no longer active. The doctor was shocked and very impressed. He said; "I don't know what you're doing, but keep doing it!" Now I have to ask: do you think that these are catastrophic results?

--Kelly Mitchell

This is in response to the article "Malignant medicine," where a case study is explained involving a woman's journey to fight breast cancer. My mother has struggled with different types of cancer all her life (ovarian, breast, then liver). About six years ago, she was diagnosed with a terminal phase of liver cancer. Having been through chemotherapy and drugs in her past battles with cancer, she refused to subject her body to another series of treatments. The doctors basically gave her a death sentence, saying she only had a few months to live.

Desperate, she heard of this centre in Tijuana, Mexico, where apparently great results were being achieved with cancer patients. The treatment consisted of completely detoxifying the body with organically grown foods, dietary supplements, enemas and support groups. Within eight months, her white blood cell level had gone back to normal and her cancer had stabilized. Now, nearly six years later, her tumour has shrunk to about four per cent of its original size. She learned that healing is a process, a journey and an opportunity for an individual to reconnect with his or her body.

This is not to say that everyone should run down to Tijuana if they have cancer, but simply that there are many other cancer cases out there. The article seemed emotionally charged in respect to "non-traditional" forms of medicine. One message it gave was intelligent: don't shut out your options and make sure you know what you're getting into. However, it also blurted high and loud: alternative medicine is not only useless, but is filled with people that will take advantage of you for money. This is a message I cannot agree with.

--Alex Mannarelli, Institute of Natural Health Consultants