Dr. John Kelly shares a story in his book, Stop Feeding Your Cancer, that highlights the amazing effects of the China Study diet. It is the story of how brain cancer stopped a 34 year old woman in her tracks.
Her name is Melissa and her is how Dr. Kelly shares her story...
"At surgery, Melissa's tumour was classified as a grade 3 anaplastic glioma. These are usually serious tumours of aggressive malignant cells that quickly infiltrate surrounding brain tissue, making it almost impossible to completely remove the tumour.
Melissa's neurosurgeon had been circumspect about her prospects while she was under his care in hospital, but as soon as she got home she had checked her prognosis on the Internet. Best predictions were that she would probably live for five or six years. The quality of those years would depend very much on how effective chemotherapy and radiation treatments turned out to be; this is the great variable in all cancer treatments. From her reading, one thing seemed certain: the remnants of the tumour that the surgeon had been unable to remove would, despite any conventional treatments, some day begin to grow again. It would continue to grow until there was no more room for it inside her head. Then she would die. This was not a prospect that was easy to live with, even for someone like Melissa, who was strong, resourceful and full of natural optimism. It horrified her that nowhere was the possibility of a cure even mentioned. The situation, in the medium term, was hopeless.
In the absence of any hope, Melissa made the decision to end the relationship with her boyfriend... and attempt to adjust to what she called the emptiness of her new world.
Much of this happened before I'd read The China Study. It was while I was in the process of considering my best approach to a study with my patients that Melissa telephoned to say that she was not well and thought that the tumour had returned. She had developed a fever and the mild headaches that she had on a continual basis since her surgery had become much more severe and were now reminiscent of the headaches she had before the cancer was first diagnosed. I detected her overwhelming anxiety and tried to reassure her. In truth, the symptoms didn't sound too serious to me but in the circumstances, and because I wanted to have some quiet time with her, I decided to visit her at home.
I examined her and was able to quickly assure her that her hour had not yet come. This time at least, she was in the clear. She was simply suffering from a viral infection. She perked, but the intense anxiety was evident in her eyes. I could see that she was struggling with understandable despondency and I was grateful that I had The China Study to talk about. I told her the whole story of how the book had been given to me and that while I had very little experience of using the diet with patients, Professor Campbell's and the other studies had convinced me that animal protein likely had a great deal to do with the way cancers grew. I asked her to give the diet a trial and suggested that because brain tumours do not normally metastasize the diet might be particularly effective in her case. I emphasized that if an animal-protein free diet stopped her tumour from growing she would be cured.
I could see that Melissa was far from convinced, but I had brought a copy of The China Study and I handed it over. My strategy got half a smile from her. Her expectations were grim diagnosis, surgery plans and despair management - and I was giving her a paperback gift. I made her promise to prioritize reading the book, to start the diet and to phone me to let me know how she was getting on.
Melissa phoned three weeks later and I could instantly hear in her voice that she was feeling better. I offered to drop by to see her after I finished at the office.
A striking transformation had taken place. She gave me a full smile and in spite of reciting her reservations about the inconvenience of the diet it was obvious that she was in a much more positive frame of mind. She told me that she had begun to feel better within two weeks of starting the regime. She admitted that, as a discipline, it hadn't been easy. All of us are prone to comfort indulgence when we are under stress, and food "fixes" are often alluring. But she said she developed a new emotional energy once she dove in. Simply committing to the diet had made her feel that her destiny was to some extent now back in her own hands The awful burden of despair that had plagued her since the tumour had been diagnosed was gone. More revealingly, her headaches had miraculously disappeared.
Every time I saw Melissa I encouraged her and congratulated her on her progress. Neither of us expressed any doubts about her future or allowed any negativity into our discussions. It could not have been going better. However, as the day of her visit to her neurosurgeon and her next MRI scan approached, I did feel a certain amount of apprehension. We had striven for positive thinking together and been rewarded with positive results. But the science had yet to be tested and, I confess, I wasn't certain yet what to expect. I felt it my duty to have a cautionary work with Melissa. But she would have none of it. At least on the surface she continued to portray utter confidence in her recovery and seemed fully convince that the diet was working. She told me in no uncertain terms that she was looking forward to the scan as a rubber stamp of confirmation.
As it turned out, the results could hardly have been better. The tumour had reduced considerably in size and what now remained was a smaller, five-centimeter calcified mass situated in the left frontal lobe. Her immune system appeared to have walled off what remained of the tumour from the rest of the brain.
The neurosurgeon was delighted. He indicated that what remained of the tumour could probably be removed in a straightforward surgical procedure. He performed the operation a few weeks later and the histology now indicated that the tumour had changed into a low-grade astrocytoma. As far as the neurosurgeon was concerned, Melissa had been cured.
All this took place some three and a half years ago and during that time I have only seem Melissa twice. She has had the appropriate follow-up scans and all the reports show that the tumour hasn't returned. She has made an excellent recovery in every possible way and now leads a normal, happy life."
This is just one case study... the results speak to a better ending than many experience on this cancer road. For Melissa, she credits the diet for the transformation... and I am inclined to agree... however, for even the most cynical among us, we can agree to an element of curiousity at least.
The China Study diet is a novel approach to cancer. It has intrigued and fascinated me to no end!
More tomorrow...
Grace to you this night, My Love,
Jane
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