Cancer – A Personal Crusade
BY: DR. MELINA ROBERTS
Both my parents have had cancer. My dad in 2002 and my mom in 2009.
When someone as close to you as your mom or your dad gets this scary cancer diagnosis, it is difficult to think straight because you are so emotionally involved.
Now I see many patients with cancer in my practice, I help them and their families to make tough decisions regarding their treatments. I’m a strong believer in laying out the facts, supplying all the information and helping patients to make informed decisions. I have found that the patients who have the best clinical outcomes are those who truly believe that their treatment option will heal them. For example if a person believes that the only way to get rid of my cancer is through chemotherapy and radiation, then they need to do chemo or radiation and I will do supportive treatments with them. In contrast, if a patient believes that they can heal their cancer with natural means, then I will work with them to find a treatment plan that will work best for them.
When my mom was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer, that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to lay out the facts and let her make her own decision on what treatment plan to follow. You need to understand the state of mind that my family was in when making these decisions. My dad died of pancreatic cancer in 2002 and he had gone the natural therapeutic route. So my family was very scared of my mom’s cancer diagnosis, scared of her going the natural therapeutic route and scared of my mom dying, understandably. My brother spoke to the oncology nurse who put the fear of God in him, telling him that my mom needed to do radiation if she wanted to live and that if she didn’t this type of cancer would spread to the brainstem and hugely affect her quality of life. So my brother was fully on board that my mom needed to do radiation. Our family and friends don’t have a strong understanding of the aggressive cancer treatments that I offer in my practice and more think of naturopathic medicine as a nice medicine for less serious problems like digestive issues and allergies. I was in a place where I wanted my mom to make her own decision and wanted her to know that she has my support with whatever decision she makes.
Back in 2002 when my dad was diagnosed with cancer, I was still a student at the naturopathic college. Between my 2nd and 3rd year at the college when most of the students are taking the summer off to study for 2nd year board exams, I went back to university and completed my entire 4th year in 4 months including my thesis so that I could graduate from my Bachelor of Science with honors and I did write my naturopathic board exams that summer as well. If that wasn’t enough, I was also doing a ton of research into natural cancer treatments. It was great to be in a university setting and have access to all this research in scientific journals. It is actually quite astonishing to find that there have been some well researched, effective cancer cures that have been published in the conventional scientific medical journals, yet virtually ignored by conventional medicine. My well-researched thesis on natural cancer therapies was later published in the Townsend Letter.
My dad was offered the Whipple Surgery by conventional medicine, where the success rates are equivalent to not having the surgery, and the surgery is accompanied by a long recovery time and lowered quality of life. He decided to follow a natural protocol called the Kelley method that had a very high success rate in pancreatic cancer. I believe that the Kelley method has a great amount of efficiency, though there are a number of other therapies that could be used adjunctively to increase success, but that’s what I know now, not what I knew then. Unfortunately, my dad died at the young age of 54 after nine short months of being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
This is what started my on-going research into effective natural cancer therapies. I started speaking with researchers and health care practitioners, traveling around the world to attend conferences and go to spend time with doctors who were having success treating cancer and finding out what exactly they were doing. Over the years, I’ve accumulated great amounts of knowledge in the area of natural cancer therapies from a number of great leaders in medicine. I have the great honour to sit from a different advantage point, to be able to work with patients who are truly motivated to get better and are willing to make many changes in their lifestyles and follow my often demanding treatment plan. What I get to see is a lot of successful cancer treatments, a lot of cancer remissions, a lot of people being able to regain their health and regain their lives. Then on occasion, I will sit back and look at my dad’s cancer and say “if only I knew what I know now”..but I know that’s living with regrets and not living in the present.
So now my mom is diagnosed with cancer, she decides to do the radiation which is 6 weeks of daily radiation. As anyone who has gone through this themselves or seen a friend or family member go through this process, this is hard. This is a treatment that is so difficult on the body and I could physically see my mom’s health deteriorating. At the end of her treatments, she was weak, she slept most of the day, she was not herself, but the tumours were gone and she was deemed cancer-free. Unfortunately, a year later the tumours returned. And a year later she was still weak, tired and fragile from the radiation treatments. Her oncologist told her that she had already received the maximum amount of radiation and that they would recommend that she do chemotherapy. At this point, I did pipe in with my opinion. I asked my mom to not do the chemotherapy. I knew she was weak and fragile and her body would be incredibly challenged by the chemotherapy. I asked her to fly out to Calgary, spend a few weeks at the clinic here and get some intensive natural treatments here.
She flew out for 6 weeks and received daily treatments including high dose vitamin IVs, laser treatments, electron footbaths, ozone therapy, visceral manipulation, neuro-viscero regulation therapy, mistletoe injections, neural therapy, dietary changes and a full oral supplement plan. When she returned home she found a doctor to administer the high dose vitamin IVs and mistletoes injections, she continued on the oral supplement plan and diet plan and she got her own electron footbath to do at home daily. In addition, I put her in touch with a biological dentist to remove all the metal from her mouth. At her next scan with her oncologist, to her oncologist’s dismay, the tumours were completely gone. She continues to get checked every 6 months and her scans continue to be clear. She’s stronger now, she no longer sleeps all day and night, she’s got energy and she’s back to being herself. She has the energy to play with her active grandchildren. She comes back to Calgary to visit every few months usually for a couple weeks. While she is in town, I do get her to do some intensive therapies.
I will continue to further my knowledge and remain on the forefront of medicine to be able to offer my patients the highest quality of services and the best therapies. This isn’t just my job, this is my personal crusade.