So many have asked that we share what we do for our family, so I have created these pages and update them regularly. I strongly suggest you hire a ND, NHD or Herbalist to assist you if you or your child has a serious medical condition and you wish to use CAM treatments. This site is for information and education only and is based on information I have received from MD's, ND's and Herbalists as well as from our own experience with our son's cancer. In my way of thinking, prevention is much better than trying to cure a disease. Information gathered and presented here is based on OUR choices and things that worked for our family. I am not responsible for your choices and I am not an MD. All of our pages are copyrighted and are the result of years of research and trial and error. Please ask before copying my notes. I appreciate a link back to our site in return for the use of our info.
After our son Samuel was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 2, we were thrust into a medical system that I have grown to despise for the most part. While we feel Western Medicine has it's place and some good things to offer, we realize that a big part of being healthy is taking control over and care of our bodies. Unfortunately, with chemotherapy being the mainstream treatment for cancer, thereby poisoning cancer cells and the entire body, we knew we had to do everything possible for Samuel's body to be able to handle such an assault. Sadly, when Samuel started treatment, we had no choice but to ride the rollercoaster of trauma after the first round of chemo. It took us, three months, 8 surgeries, three months in two different hospitals with plenty of heartache before we were able to bring him home and care for him ourselves. I always knew in my heart that if we could get him out of the hospital initially after everything went wrong, we would be able to help him get better. As it happened, we did. But it was only the beginning of a very long road with so many more surgeries and complications still in front of us. I know it would have been a lot harder, or that he would most likely be dead now if we hadn't made such a radical change in his diet and all our lives.
Many of the doctors which we have come into contact with are so busy that they often forget we are people: not numbers, charts of problems for them to solve. We have had hospitals give up on Samuel and transfer his care. We have had hospitals NOT know when to give up and transfer our care. We have had doctors and hospitals lie about us. We have had bureaucrats deny Samuel competent specialty care for a surgery he desperately needed simply because it was their "fiscal obligation to keep the revenue in the state." We have had the surgeon who was denied decide to come to us from Ohio to do this necessary surgery because he felt if anyone else did it, the outcome might not be favorable. We have had doctors do miraculous things for Samuel and others who only made his problems worse. My best advice, proceed with caution. If it doesn't feel right, it most likely isn't. Follow your gut instincts as only YOU know your child best.
If I have medical issues that need a professional's advice, I contact a ND. A doctor of Natural Medicine. These people have time to listen, and want to find a solution for you that heals your body, not just treats the symptoms. Often, I can do this with a simple phone call and minimal financial spending. Often, their advice works and the problem goes away. The other thing that is nice about ND's is that they are licensed doctors who are usually treated as equals by MD's. Having an ND to back up your Holistic choices is a benefit worth it's weight in gold. MD's for the most part, have no clue about herbs, nutrition, and food as medicine. They will treat you as if you are not well educated but if you have an ND's name to toss into the conversation, then they simply shut up. A certain Children's hospital in WA is trying to hire a certain ND because so many people are coming in using Holistic or Herbal remedies and they simply do not know what to do with them. So, they are embracing the ND here trying to gain a foothold because they KNOW that their MD's don't know much in the form of alternatives.
My best experience with healers has been with God. God's medicine does not hurt, harm, poison or destroy. I seek His guidance in determining what Samuel, as well as what the rest of us need to get back on track to better health.
It is possible to find caring compassionate doctors who don't believe they have all the answers, but be prepared to spend some quality time looking. Our current Oncologist told me that if we seek out ten different MD opinions and none of them agree, then no one really knows anything do they? It is all a "practice." Most people in the conventional medical establishment want you to believe you have choices. We have found, however, that you don't have all the freedom they want you to think you have. Read The Fallacy of Informed Consent written by Lisa Matthes,RN and aspiring Midwife. Your health is your responsibility. Time to take it seriously. Our thoughts on this given the medical disaster Samuel's cancer treatment turned out to be is to become proactive and never allow ourselves to be in a situation again where doctors who see us less than five minutes a day make life and death decisions about what is best for our child.
I am sure I sound pretty hard core against doctors in general so understand that we have had some pretty hard core things that "almost" happened. Had we done what the doctors advised ALL THE TIME, Samuel would be dead three times over if not more.
Several moments come to mind. The first being when Samuel had an active unresolved hydrocephalus. Our Oncologist was planning to give chemo through a spinal tap. Had we allowed them to do this, Samuel would have died instantly from the pressure in his head. The Oncologist told me later he was SO glad we were there and refused chemotherapy asking them to figure out why our boy was unresponsive. Had we not been present, they would have went ahead and given chemo and this website would not have gone beyond June 2004. Another occasion was when Samuel's stoma completely closed down due to structures and our Oncologists then wanted to proceed with chemo even though he was unable to pass stool. It was later found out in surgery that Samuel had pancreatitis which was not diagnosed until the surgeon saw his pancreas. Had we not refused chemo then, he would have died from the next dose of the chemo which caused pancreatitis in the first place. Upon diagnosis, this chemo was then listed as an allergy and was no longer a poison Samuel could take. I believe the month of intense chemotherapy that we were able to forego against the recommendation of the Oncologist was also lifesaving, given that it was that exact month which almost killed Samuel the first time and the following month of chemo was so poorly tolerated that we had to discontinue chemo on the second day and wait for GI recovery. There are several more decisions we made against recommendations we feel were lifesaving. Don't think there was a single one that was not met with animosity for our defiance. Praise God for our current Oncologist who listens to our gut and believes that we DO know our child. What a concept!
It has been over 2 years now that we have taken charge of Samuel's diet as a major part of cancer treatment and we have learned a lot of invaluable things. Samuel is alive today, still in remission, and free of illness. It is no accident. It is the result of multitudes of prayers, God's Mercy, Grace and Forgiveness, time spent researching, time spent making all these good things and all the love I have for this little man.
I have comprised several pages of information which I hope will be useful to you. Most of the things are nutritional and safe. Some products and herbs have special dosages and are specific to certain situations so please research accordingly ond/or hire someone to help you. What are my credentials? I have a college degree in Accounting, worked ten years in Medical Billing as well as Medical Assisting. I left the medical field after my son Daniel was born and after the birth of Samuel, our family was inspired to work at home. And so we do. As of 2007, I am studying Clinical Herbalism and intend to pursue a career in Natural Medicine. This is life or death for my child and a wrong decision for him would be something we all have to live with for the rest of our lives. You tend to educate yourself very quickly when you are fighting for your child's life.
If you have any questions about our experiences, feel free to e-mail me.
