The China Study and Pancreatic Cancer

This is the hardest post to write in our 31 Day series...

While the China Study is revolutionary in scope, and has profound effect on diseases from hypertension to diabetes to cancers of all kinds.  It has not been able to crack the vicious hold of pancreatic cancer.

On this blog, mom and I decided long ago to only speak truth.  Even when it's hard.
So, this is the hard post... the truth about the China Study and pancreatic cancer.

Dr. John Kelly devotes a whole chapter in his book, Stop Feeding Your Cancer to the problem of the pancreas...

"It has been my fervent hope in this book to tell a personal story that accurately relates the importance of new finding but does not over-simplify the challenge of cancer.  All the case histories that have been presented highlight the close association that exists between the consumption of animal protein and the manner in which the patient's cancer grows.

There can be no exceptions to good scientific theory - or can there be?  The question many will ask is, 'What about pancreatic cancer?'  It's the one that makes most headlines because of its virulent, seemingly unstoppable nature."

Dr. Kelly goes on to share his experience with 4 patients under his care who had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and who had agreed to follow the Whole-Food, Plant-Based diet.

His first case was a patient who came to him with possible gallstones.  Tests revealed the malignant lesion in her pancreas.  She underwent surgery, the surgery was deemed successful,  she embarked on the new diet and seemed to be recovering well.

Two months later a new lesion developed.   Her oncologist put her on a stringent course of chemotherapy along with the whole-food, plant-based diet.

Three months later she was dead.

Dr. Kelly shares his complete shock.  For he firmly believed that neither the original cancer recurring, nor a new tumour should have happened while the patient was on the diet.

A small part of his questioning was her full compliance with the diet. Hopefully she had been faithful to the new diet, but he shares, "The awful truth for the patient was that she got no second chance."

Several years later, Dr. Kelly received another pancreatic cancer case.  The 65-year old man was totally on board with the diet and determined to make it work.  What transpired in his case was completely unexpected.  On the night before surgery, he died from a massive hemorrhage at the cancer site.

Dr. Kelly statess that "if nothing else, this incident was a dramatic demonstration of the aggressiveness of pancreatic cancer; there was clearly no one to blame for what happened."

And yet, Dr. Kelly appears to have taken much of the blame, speaking of many sleepless nights, reviewing and reevaluating the study and pancreatic cancer in particular...

"I took comfort from the progress of the other patients in my trial, but the pancreas issue was never far from my thoughts.  I had to wait three years before another pancreatic case presented itself.  In fact, two showed up in quick succession.  There were striking similarities between the cases.  Both were males between 60 and 70 years old, both had extensive metastatic spread by the time of diagnosis, and tragically both patients were dead within a few months, the agony of their final weeks barely controlled by high doses of pain-killing drugs.  The last patient to die was my own brother, who was eight years my junior.

Observing a family member's death in such pain from this most vigorous cancer was a horrific experience.  The anguish seemed worse since he'd known all about Colin Campbell's work and told me he'd been following the animal-protein-free diet.  I do not know how disciplined he was with the diet but, knowing him so well, I suspect he was at least reasonably so.  I was heartbroken, but his death focused my mind as never before... I went to sleep thinking of pancreatic cancer, and woke every morning still thinking of it."

And if this were the end of our study, it would appear hopeless.  Completely, utterly hopeless...

I would not be sharing the China Study with you, my friends, if I did believe with certainty that it is the stuff of great Hope.

Indeed, it was the China Study that actually led Dr. Kelly to his Eureka Moment with pancreatic cancer...  It's a complicated, scientific thesis that is simply brimming with Hope!

Stay tuned as we delve into the science behind the role of trypsin and pepsin in the aggressive growth of pancreatic cancer.  Dr. Kelly is confident that we are reaching a critical crossroads in cancer research, and if his deductions are right, there is incredible Hope for the pancreatic cancer patients and all their loved ones...

More tomorrow!  Can't wait to share this exciting  new development!