Archived from Charlotte Gerson's booklet

Story

Gay, trained as a nurse, held a responsible position as a nursing
supervisor at Chicago’s Rush Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical
Center. In 1976, at the age of 25, she was diagnosed with ITP
(idiopathic thrombocytopenia purpura). A disease of insufficient
platelets in the blood, it causes bleeding. Her platelet count was
below 100,000 (it should have been around 230,000 or more).
She was suffering from vaginal hemorrhaging, and also bleeding
into her tissues, evidenced in purple spots on her skin.

For better diagnosing, Gay was given an exploratory laparotomy
(opening of the abdomen to have a “look/see”) at the
same hospital where she worked. It was discovered that she had
an “auxiliary” spleen, an extra growth, and this was removed.
Following that surgery, her platelet count increased. She was also
given steroid (prednisone) treatment for some six months. However,
her recovery was slow, and she continued to suffer from
severe weakness.

Later in 1976, Gay moved to California. Becoming a patient at
the City of Hope, in Los Angeles, she was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s
disease. (This condition is considered an “autoimmune”
thyroiditis, or inflammation of the thyroid gland.) The ITP
resolved, but her sedimentation rate rose (the rate at which
clumps of red blood cells settle in a test tube) and rheumatoid
arthritis (related to lupus) developed.

In early 1977, Gay happened upon Dr. Gerson’s book, A
Cancer Therapy, and read it with strong interest. This nutritional
and detoxifying approach to helping the body heal itself made
good sense to her. She went to Mexico to have a look at the
Gerson hospital there, and decided to undertake the Gerson
Therapy at home on her own. She continued on it for about two
years at her home in Fullerton, California.

In 1980, feeling well and with normal energy, Gay went back to
nursing. By then she was clear of both lupus and rheumatoid
arthritis—both collagen diseases, as well as of her thyroiditis. She
got married in 1982. When she had first been diagnosed with a
“pre-lupus” condition, she was warned against ever becoming
pregnant. Nevertheless, Gay subsequently had two children, who
are now teenagers. She continued in excellent health until just
recently, when age-onset diabetes was diagnosed. She controls the
problem with diet and exercise, and has reduced her elevated
blood sugar to near normal levels.

Last Contact: March 2001.