The Spread of Cancer Part 1

Cancer is a very serious illness with notoriously poor recovery rates. Many people are terrified with a cancer prognosis and place their trust in conventional medicine to ‘make them well again’. They look externally for the cure and subject themselves to the ‘slash, poison and burn’ standards-of-care protocols. Most often they don’t examine what personal contribution they could make to their recovery. They may continue to smoke, to drink and to eat as before and resign themselves with “What will be will be”. I’m left wondering why these people have given up on life and whether their illness is just the physical manifestation of sorrows and anger they have carried around for years. Even when presented with a message of hope, of an alternative course with a different outcome, they refuse to change. How does the saying go? - “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink” or is it “You can take a patient to an operating theatre but you can’t make him think”. On the other hand there are also many cases where cancer sufferers have been dealt a difficult hand. Their genetic inheritance predisposes them to tumour growth. Here the patients may submit themselves to radical surgery and live with stoicism, smiling in the face of their suffering. Their quiet dignity is exemplary and their engagement with life joyful. Their attitude of gratitude requires them to contribute as volunteers, counsellors, youth workers etc. They can look outward from a place of inner peace. Which group of patients has the better prospects? Since all human bodies must die one might conclude that there is no difference. But when one’s frame of reference is based on gratitude for life the second group wins hands down. Metastasis drives the journey to an end. There is an inevitability about the spread of cancer when nothing is done to change its course. As is said – “It’s a sure sign of madness to repeat unsuccessful behaviour and expect a different result.” The same outcome may await the stoic campaigner of course, but their journey has been different. In their case the baton is gladly passed to the next generation. In the first group the baton is buried in the ground. I frequently describe the journey to health as a three-legged stool – 1. Stop getting Sick – by stopping the behaviour that is making us sick 2. Remove the toxins that are keeping us sick 3. Use the best foods that nature can provide to allow our bodies to be rebuilt. Underlying this description is an awareness that we have brought our illnesses upon ourselves through our modern lifestyles with total disregard of the environment we evolved to inhabit and the foods that we evolved to eat. Such is the cultural inertia behind current practice, and enormous commercial interests, it is extremely difficult for us to see the truth and change direction. Cancer is probably the most feared illness afflicting ever greater numbers, but it is only one of dozens of ailments becoming more common in our modern world. Its spread is not inevitable but we do need to wake up and change direction if it is to be avoided.