Archived from Charlotte Gerson's booklet

Story

My family history: baby brother died of a blood clot, nineteen
year old brother died of a malignant brain tumor, father died at
the age of 50 of bone cancer, mother died at 51 years (after
radiation treatments for cancer of the uterus) of sclerosis of the
liver from alcoholism, two uncles had bowel cancer, and on the
list goes. Growing up having spent more time visiting loved ones
in a hospital than seeing them at home was not my idea of a good
childhood.

Due to our upbringing I grew up looking like the Michelin Tire
man and struggled with my weight for years, and I also had
extremely difficult menstrual cycles. In my early 20s I was diagnosed
with anal fistulas, hemorrhoids, bleeding bowels, and
diverticulitis. At that time doctors wanted to remove part of my
bowels. I decided to take a look at my lifestyle and made some
dietary changes. Since my family history of illness was strongly
imprinted on my heart, I did not want to be another statistic
- there had to be a better way! After attending some seminars,
reading and researching some alternative therapies, I became a
Lacto-Ovo-Vegetarian. This change certainly had an impact on my
health, however it did not offer me a cure. I functioned for several
years after that still having some bowel discomforts, difficult
menstrual cycles and was still overweight.

In my mid-thirties, after my son was born, I was diagnosed
with cervical cancer (stage 4). I was scheduled for surgery 10 days
after I was diagnosed. I promptly went home and discontinued all
animal products (milk, cheese, eggs) and went on a very clean diet
of only fresh fruit, vegetables and a small amount of cooked
grains for the next 10 days. On the pre-op tests my stage of cancer
had dropped from 4 to 1. It was then evident to me more than
ever how our lifestyle and eating habits directly affect our health.
I canceled the surgery and continued my research into alternative
health. We became Vegan, although we still ate a lot of cooked
foods, meat analogs, seasonings, salt and oils. But we were careful
not to eat any animal products!

Even with my new healthy lifestyle, my health continued to fail.
I started to have extreme back problems. My son was delivered
via a Cesarean section with long labor and a uterine infection. It
was a difficult delivery done under spinal freezing that had been
attempted four times by an internist that missed. This left a lot of
damage and scar tissue in that area. So as the pain increased to the
point where I was not able to function in the daily home duties
and physical therapists, chiropractors and medical specialists
could not relieve it, I was diagnosed with Degenerative Bone
Disease. It had appeared that the cancer had spread from the
cervix to the weakened spine.

At this point I had little function of my arms, they were very
weak and I was in constant pain all over with shooting pains to
the lower spine causing me to literally fall to the floor. There were
three large abdominal tumors (it was never determined if they
were benign or malignant), which had distended my abdomen
enough to make people ask if I was pregnant. I was resistant to
take further tests outside of X-rays, blood work or physical
examination. I did not want to travel down the well-worn path of
orthodox medicine that had very little hope to offer in my hour of
need.

So, back to the books I went. It was at this time that I started
to apply the Gerson Therapy. I was familiar with the book by Dr.
Max Gerson, A Cancer Therapy: Results of 50 Cases, and had
read and shared it with others years before, however I did not
take it seriously at that time for application in my own life, until
now. I did not have access to the Gerson Primer, so I gleaned what
I could from the book. It was difficult for me to obtain the Lugol's
solution, thyroid pills, etc., therefore I went on a totally raw diet,
eating only live, fresh organic food. I juiced on a regular basis and
took coffee enemas. Within two weeks the constant pain had
gone, though I still had some shooting pains, but they were
subsiding. This already made my life more pleasant. Unfortunately
that gave me fits of heroics and I would also do some physical
tasks beyond my state of health. This soon made me see my place
and restrain myself until the body could truly heal. Realizing that
bones take up to a year to heal I took it quite easy, using the
Gerson Healing Newsletter 15(1), 2000, a rebounder for gentle
exercise, hot and cold hydrotherapy to assist the elimination of
toxins in my system and to aid the healing. Along with the intense
nutritional program and the detoxifying, I had a loving supportive
family to guide and encourage me, this only added to round the
whole thing off - how could I not get well?

So here I am over two years later - cancer free and all of my
previous medical problems gone: arthritis, PMS, obesity, liver
spots, tumors, migraines, depression, allergies, cancer, degenerative
bone disease, chronic pain, even the "C-Section" scar - all
gone! Remember that I had no surgery, drugs or medical interventions!
Health or lack of it is generally our own doing. My condition
was in obvious need of some intervention, however what was
not so obvious was that my family was also in need of help. They
never showed the severity of symptoms that I had, but rather
often had the flu, colds, headaches and general fatigue and socalled
yearly health problems that are considered to be "normal"
today. We have since found out the truth. We have not had a cold,
flu or so much as a sniffle in this home for years, even though we
are exposed to people all the time as we conduct seminars, etc.

This has been a blessing for all members of the family - there
are no more health problems for any of us.