Archived from Charlotte Gerson's book

Story

   In November 1999, while taking maintenance care at the Oasis Hospital, the
only official Gerson Therapy facility in Tijuana, Mexico, fifty- one-year-old
Sandra Whitwell, now of Stuart, Virginia, described her permanent recovery
from carcinoma of the ovary. Sandra currently works as a nanny and
nutritionist. Fourteen years ago ovarian cancer had threatened her life; today
she shares her story about using the Gerson Therapy to cure herself of the most
common gynecologic malignancy.

   As the fourth most frequent cause of cancer death in American women,
ovarian cancer’s mortality rate exceeds that for all of the other gynecologic
malignancies combined. Every seventieth woman develops it, and 1 in every
100 dies from the tumorous growth at its primary site or from metastases.
Arising from cells covering the surface of an ovary (epithelial carcinoma), in
1997 in the United States 26,800 ovarian cancers were diagnosed, which caused
14,200 deaths. Subsequent years have shown even higher incidence. Despite all
of the money invested in research by American taxpayers, the incidence of
ovarian cancer is rising steadily.

   Cancer of the ovary spreads by a shedding of malignant cells into the
abdominal cavity and the peritoneum (its covering membrane) and then
implanting on the surface of the liver, the large intestine, the omentum, the
small intestine, the bladder, the diaphragm, or the stomach’s attached fatty
tissue. Ovarian cancer cells also metastasize to lymph nodes in the pelvis, aorta,
groin, and neck. Talcum powder containing asbestos is suspected as one of the
probable causes.’

   Sandra Whitwell’s ovarian cancer came upon her gradually starting with the
breakdown of her body when she was seventeen years old. Invariably her
menstrual periods were beset with unbearable cramps, and these carried over
to her early twenties when she married Lawrence Whitwell, a Nashville,
Tennessee, policeman. “My painful menstruation was abnormal and an
indication of ovarian problems to come,” advises Sandra. “By age twenty-three,
cysts had developed on both of my ovaries which were removed by surgery.
Next, endometriosis struck, which required more surgery to scrape the
endometrium. After each of these two operations I had been asked by the
consulting surgeons as to whether I had ever been pregnant, and I had not.
They never explained why they wanted to know about pregnancy, but the
doctors seemed anxious to perform an ovariectomy or hysterectomy on me.

   “I never gave birth to a child. We adopted our son, Aaron, as a baby. But
then, when he was three years old his daddy was killed in the line of police
duty,” she reveals. “Ovarian cysts formed again, one of them the size of a
baseball, and these were excised. After recuperating from a third operation for
cyst removal, I had begun running for exercise—at least four miles a day. I
enjoyed the running and thrived on it. This vigorous daily movement
continued for me over an eight-year period. Early in 1985, however, running
stopped abruptly for me. I awakened one morning in tremendous pain and
with a distended fluid-filled abdomen [ascites]/’ describes Sandra. “The
operation that followed for removal of a grape- fruit-sized cyst also included a
hysterectomy, which left me feeling awful pain. Two days later my
gynecologist together with the gynecological surgeon told me I was the victim
of ovarian cancer. They wanted to go back in and take biopsy tissue from the
ovaries and several other organs.

   “Since blood transfusions were required as well, and this was during the
time when AIDS resulted from such transfusions, I refused the operation and
three pints of blood that went with it. Simultaneously, my health insurance
carrier did not honor our insurance contract. The insurance company just
outright canceled my coverage,” Sandra states. “Upon my contacting a lawyer
to enforce reimbursement, he informed me that a loophole in the policy
allowed such cancellation under terms stating that this ovarian cancer was a
‘preexisting condition.’ I was just out of luck unless I had lots of money to pay
court costs and legal fees for litigation without any guarantee I would win.

   “Having no treatment available to me, I left the hospital after resting for
seven days diagnosed with ovarian cancer. At age thirty-six, I was alone, a
widow, the mother of a seven-year-old son showing diabetic tendencies, and
without income. Except that I owned my Nashville house and some small
compensation from my husband's death, I could not afford the sophisticated
chemotherapy or other toxic modalities being offered by orthodox medicine.
But I do have loving parents living in Stuart, Virginia, who would do anything
to save my life, and they were the people who did just that.

   “My mother, who has nursed cancer patients, did research and helped me in
deciding to do nothing rather than take toxic therapy. With assistance from
mom and dad in caring for Aaron, I moved in with my parents. Then a friend
from Alaska sent me information about the Gerson Therapy,” Sandra says.
“Sitting with them in their living room, I remember watching videotapes
showing lectures by Charlotte Gerson. My mom said, ‘This program makes so
much sense. Feed the immune system and give it a chance to fight off the
cancer itself.’ So not having hospital insurance was a benefit, because I couldn't
even consider taking any conventional therapy.

   “Accompanied by my mother as companion and caregiver, I traveled to
Tijuana’s Gerson Hospital. My intent was to receive the Gerson Therapy and
take instructions in following it at home. The trip occurred in September 1985,
exactly one month after my hysterectomy and cancer diagnosis. During that
short period before learning the Gerson program, I became what looked like a
bag of bones,” describes Sandra. “My weight loss was excessive, falling from
120 to 92 pounds. With a height of five feet, six-and-a-half inches, I looked
really skinny. 1 was weak to the point of collapse, and I did remain bedridden
for four months. Only the love and devotion of my care giving parents pulled
me through that worst period of my life.

   “But first spending ten days at La Gloria Hospital to learn the Gerson
Therapy, and then returning to my parents’ home to be nursed by them, saved
me. I had rented my Nashville house to fellow church members. Then bringing
my son, I moved in with my mother and dad,” explains Sandra. “At the Gerson
hospital, I immediately underwent detoxification reactions—many of them—
including emotional depression, many tears, constant nausea, vomiting,
headaches, burning sensations from taking castor oil both orally and rectally,
loss of appetite, sleeplessness, whole body pain in the joints, muscles, and
bones. And I smelled like permanent- waving solution. It was my habit to
periodically take hair permanents, perhaps five times a year, and that
poisonous liquid had permeated my body organs to poison them. The Gerson
Therapy pulled out those accumulated toxins, and I gave off the stinky odor of
permanent-waving solution. I reeked of perm”

   A lesson learned from Sandra Whitwell is that a person becomes what he or
she puts into and onto the body. That is, eat garbage-like foods and you become
garbage. Consume carcinogens and you turn into a walking cancer factory.
Bathe a body part in poison as Sandra did to her head, and you make the entire
body a receptacle for cancer. To stay healthy, you must expose yourself only to
good stuff.

   “Out of ignorance, I harmed myself with convenience or so-called ‘beauty’
items. In college, I had my room and the halls of that dormitory smelling really
bad from the permanent-waving liquid. Just think of all the contaminated air I
inhaled. Also, before I knew better, it had been my habit to drink up to three
full, six-cup pots of coffee a day,” admits Sandra. “But instruction in the Gerson
Therapy taught me how to live correctly. At my parents’ home back then, body
weight began to come back from my dad and mom making juices for me to
drink. They used only fresh, organic vegetables and fruits, which are more
expensive than the supermarket variety. Originally, my mother was afraid for
my life; she truly thought I was gone, but then she saw that slowly I was
improving.

   “It took nearly two years of detoxifying and nourishing my body before the
immune system kicked in and took over against ovarian cancer. I observed it
do this when one day my temperature rose to 104°F during a healing reaction.
After that point, I just got better and better,” Sandra says. “I took no other
medication or nutritional supplementation other than what the Gerson diet
prescribes—the niacin, coenzyme Q10, thyroid, potassium, acidol/pepsin,
pancreatin, and liver. These simple supplements, the diet itself, the juices, and
the detox worked for me. I am alive and thriving today, fourteen years after
being diagnosed with the cancer, because of my faithfully following the Gerson
Therapy [see the photograph below showing how Sandra Whitwell appears
today].

   “The detoxification is difficult to take and people should be aware of what to
expect. I kept a diary so that I know what I went through and how to cope with
the flareups. Perhaps you would want some of my suggestions for achieving a
successful Gerson Therapy,” wonders Sandra Whitwell. “Would you?”

Sandra’s Suggestions for a Successful Gerson Therapy

   Having faithfully pursued the Gerson Therapy full-time for two years, and
still making it her total lifestyle, Sandra Whitwell affirms that this procedure
has saved her life and restored her health. During that time almost fifteen years
ago Sandra accepted the Gerson program as her anti- ovarian-cancer treatment,
and nothing else. She still eats, juices, and cleanses according to the Gerson
therapy’s regulations and occasionally returns to the nearest Gerson facility for
further program updates. She looked the picture of robust health when we
visited with her at the Gerson hospital for one full week in November 1999.

   “Two years is not so long to ensure that you will live, and during the
process you are renewing every cell in your liver—the main portion of one’s
immune system,” says Sandra. “The Gerson method is not for wimps; however,
it takes fighters! This natural and nontoxic treatment is difficult, because you're
not just popping a pill or having some health professional do something to you
or for you. Instead, you must help yourself and call for personal assistance from
family or friends when needed, at least in the beginning. Most of us are too
accustomed to eating fast foods, looking for fast fixes for what ails us, and
taking the easy way out. Not so with the Gerson Therapy; it’s a life-changing
treatment!

   “From my experience, I put together some suggestions for achieving success
with conquering cancer and other chronic illnesses by use of the Gerson
Therapy. In no particular order of importance, my suggestions follow:

* Keep a diary to record your emotional swings, healing reactions, deviations
from the Gerson program, responses of outsiders to how you are
eating or what you're doing. You'll discover what you've done to bring
on a flare-up. And from their comments, you'll learn who are your real
friends.

* Try to prepare foods and procedures in advance of the next day after
drinking your last daily juice. Not enough time is left to spare during
each day for making coffee, taking ‘coffee breaks,’ engaging in castor oil
enema days, fixing the medications, taking in organically grown produce
shipments, cleaning the veggies, studying recipes, and planning meals.
Being organized is a plus for your self-treatment.

* Watch the Gerson videos, read the Gerson books, listen to the
Gerson audiotapes. After almost fifteen years of participating in the Gerson
Therapy, I still do this and learn new information every time.

* On castor oil days, start early with drinking the terrible stuff. Use the little
medicine cups as dosage forms. (Use of castor oil is not for anyone who has
been pretreated with chemotherapy.) I always put one tablespoonful of
cranberry juice or apple juice in my cup first and then add the required two
tablespoonfuls of castor oil. The mixture goes down more readily with juice
added. Then, after swallowing the mixture, I taste the juice rather than the
oil. Always drink one cup of hot coffee directly after swallowing the castor
oil mixture to speed up the process of the oil going through your gastrointestinal
tract.

* Next after drinking the castor oil, eat a piece of fruit and take your first
coffee enema. Undoubtedly this will be a ‘yucky-feeling’ day, but tomorrow
you will definitely feel much better! In my opinion, drinking the castor oil is
easier on the body than taking a castor oil enema.

* To prepare the castor oil enema, my suggestion is slightly different from the
Gerson regulation. Put warm distilled water in the bucket and run that
water through the tube into the tub or shower. Then shut off the tube
leaving the warm water in it. Pour out the excess water that remains in the
bucket. Put castor oil and ox bile mix (no soap) in the bucket. Now open the
tube and allow water to flow out into the tub or shower (or toilet); as the
water flows out it pulls the oil mixture into the tube. The tube should hold
the full amount of mixture needed. Shut off the tube! Now fill the bucket
with the coffee mixture, and you are ready for your castor oil coffee
cleansing. This enema is usually hard to hold — don't worry! Hold as long as
possible and still benefit from taking a castor oil cleanse. As it happens, this
method which had been recommended previously is now discontinued by
the Gerson hospital, but I find it still works well for me.

* Chamomile tea enemas are always welcome to take when you have released
toxins causing you to feel unable to hold the coffee during a cleansing.
Chamomile taken rectally is soothing, and on castor oil days especially, may
be easier to hold.

* Never become upset when you can’t hold the coffee enema. Sometimes you
just need to try again or maybe wait until your next cof fee-cleansing time.
Just keep trying until you become practiced at
doing the enema and look forward to the good feeling with which it leaves you.

* A trick I use for those rare times when I’m having a hard time holding the
coffee enema is to slow down the flow. I feel fewer spasms if it takes about
five minutes to flow in. Slow the flow by lowering your bucket or closing the
valve on the tube and opening periodically.

* If you have tried slowing the enema flow but still feel spasms, put a
teaspoonful of potassium into the four cups of coffee solution. At the
beginning of using the Gerson approach, your body may well be potassium
depleted which manifests itself by abdominal spasms.

* To reduce or eliminate niacin flush, take this vitamin B, only on a full
stomach. Alternatively, let the niacin tablet melt in your mouth or under the
tongue. That's what I do.

* If you hire help for daily assistance, employ two or three people so that if
someone doesn’t show for the work shift, you'll have a backup person to do
a double shift. If the absent person is sick, you won't want him or her
around anyway since you're fighting enough against illness.

* Don’t play the mind games thrown at you by your subconscious or by other
people. Think positively, play good music, count your blessings, think of the
troubles others are experiencing, and realize that yours are surmountable.
Self-pity will get you nowhere. As I’ve suggested, your diary is the place to
write down your thoughts to get rid of them from your head. Then you can
dwell on better things. Tomorrow, when you reread your diary, you will
wonder why you were in such a bad state of mind.

* Each phase in this step-by-step process —juices, food, medications, coffee —is
important. Work hard! Stay with a stick-to-it attitude! Be disciplined!
Succeed!

* Finally, remember that God never gives you more than you can handle.
There is a reason for going through this tribulation. After coming out from
under your trouble, you may be the one to save someone else’s life beside
your own!”

Sandra Whitwell, Stuart, Virginia