John was diagnosed 4 years ago (October 2014) with Stage 4 prostate cancer with lymph node involvement and extensive bone metastasis. We analyzed the medical treatments recommended by the oncologist, and John rejected all of them. We studied the alternative treatments available . . . . although in the USA, any viable natural treatment is met with massive opposition and, unfortunately, that means going out of country to obtain the alternative treatment that John decided was the right path for his treatment and anticipated cure.
John’s treatment of choice was the Gerson Therapy, a natural treatment developed by Max Gerson in the 1920’s. GT activates the body’s ability to heal itself through an organic plant-based diet, raw juices, coffee enemas, and natural supplements. It demands an every day single-focused commitment to building the body’s immune system and detoxing the liver … every single day for a minimum of 2 years.
The first week post-diagnosis, John made application to the Gerson Therapy cancer treatment clinic – initially, they told us that no rooms would be available (they only treat 10 patients at a time) until after the first of the year. Because that was a LONG time to wait with John’s Stage 4 diagnosis and the bone mets, we then applied for Gerson’s in-home training program – they came back and told us he did not qualify because he had had a medullary brain stem stroke earlier that same year.
Then, in early November, the Institute called and said that a room had opened up and did we want it. We traveled to San Diego on 10 November and the next morning reported to the licensed Gerson clinic in Tijuana, Mexico for a full evaluation of his condition and to learn how to do the Gerson Therapy at home.
Our first morning at the clinic involved an intensive interview with the leading physician, Dr. Pedro Cervantes (to be affectionately known thereafter as Dr. C) and a full lab protocol for John. The results of those labs would be the cornerstone for the initial GT protocol developed uniquely for John and his condition.
Our first meal at the clinic was lunch … and while it was beautifully arranged and the tables set for guests, we found the food to be so very bland (after all, we had been eating the standard American diet) that we quietly questioned whether we would be strong enough to stay the course. We had no way of knowing that day how quickly our tastebuds would acquire the sensitivity to actually taste the flavors in the organic produce – what an awakening that was!
Our room was on the ground floor and right next to the 24/7 attending physician’s office. If you were up in the middle of the night and just wanted to talk, there were always medical personnel on staff to work with you. That was also so comforting and we took full advantage of their knowledge and kindness, working with several secondary physicians and RN’s as well as directly with Dr. C during our stay.
Each day was filled with learning experiences and with a long discussion with Dr C as to how to establish and maintain the protocols necessary to give GT the best chance of working for John. The bone mets were the real issue .. it is so much harder to heal cancer once it is in the bone than when it’s confined to soft tissue.
Dr. C told us that John would have a “healing reaction” at least once during our stay; and it happened several days into the therapy. One morning, John literally could not move; he could not get out of bed; he had a lot of back pain; he could not even move his legs. The clinic staff immediately went into action; closely monitoring what was happening and helping me administer the clay packs and castor oil packs on an ongoing revolving basis. For two days, John was absolutely helpless, as the toxins that were being stirred up by the therapy poured out of his body. The third morning, he woke up; hopped out of bed; and we walked down to the beach. The “healing reaction” was gone as quickly as it had come.
Sergio (one of the nurses) taught me how to give the liver/B12 injections. We worked with oranges until I could meet his exacting standards (there sure were a LOT of hole-punctured oranges lying around); then, under supervision, I took over the job of giving John his daily injections.
Dr. C wanted John to start a regimen of Lupron and zometa while we were at the clinic; John refused – he still did not want to do anything allopathic. This proved to be a bad decision.
Dr. C also wanted John to see a natural dentist and start Vitamin C infusion therapy while we were there; but our timeframe would have required an extra 1-to-2 week stay; and that was not possible financially.
Dr. C prescribed daily foot soaks in a Pau d’Arco tea solution, to pull out any fungus in the toenails.
During the course of the two weeks, Dr. C continued to customize John’s protocol, adding several “non-Gerson” adjuncts to his daily routine (including B-17, Stamets, a probiotic, Indole 3 Carbinol, and Boswellia).
December 2014. The chemotherapy oncologist told us that he expected John’s prognosis to be less than one year if we do nothing (he included our GT as part of that “nothing”) and at a maximum 2.5 to 4 years if John were to immediately begin go on hormone therapy and intensive chemotherapy. He was willing to allow us to stay on GT until John became worse but warned us not to wait too long, because he said there is a threshold between when he could help us and when it would be too late.
This was very difficult for us; it was scary to hear the oncologist pronounce a death sentence with no equivocation. Since we had gone straight to Gerson on first diagnosis, and John had never had any traditional treatment, he still had a “clean” (no allopathic treatments) system. John was unwavering in his intention to stay on GT; he had been 100% adherent to the GT protocol at that point – we had just finished week 6 (2 weeks at the clinic and 4 weeks at home).
January 2015 – Dr. C revised the rigid protocol that governed John’s diet, juicing, CE’s, and supplements. This now included 10 juices per day, at specific times between 8am and 7pm – including grapefruit, green juices (a special GT mixture of greens), carrot and carrot/apple – as well as organic green and white teas, peppermint tea, kambucha and pau d’arco tea. Organic cold-pressed flax oil was the only oil allowed; only at lunch and supper; and not on hot foods. There was a daily allotment of supplements in tablet form – more than 50 a day total (including acidol, pancreatin, liver capsules, CoQ10, inflazyme, milk thistle, vitamin D3, curcumin, selenium, indole 3-carbinol, colostrum, probiotics – as well as potassium compound solution and Lugol’s solution). In addition, daily liver extract injections and weekly B12 injections were still required.
The number of CE’s was reduced to 3 per day, with castor oil treatments twice a week. Dr. C also continued to recommend zometa and lupron for the bone mets; which John still refused to even consider. We added quark to the protocol at this point, learning to make the version from the Budwig protocol, with Dr. C’s approval.
From the beginning of the therapy (November 2014), John tracked his monthly labs via an excel spreadsheet initially developed for him by one of the GT physicians. Today, we now have 48 months of labs in a liner fashion that can be compared and analyzed. It is easy to see the progression of both the disease and the healing process.
Early March 2015 – We had been struggling lately … John’s February labs came in with two of the cancer markers up– not good. Both of our Gerson practitioners urged him to begin hormone therapy immediately based on the labs, so we met with the oncologist and started John on Casodex orally for one week, followed by the insertion of a Vantas implant. This was a very difficult decision to make; however, as both Dr. Cervantes and Dr. Donato kept telling us, we had to halt the cancer growth long enough for GT to build the immune system to the point that it could address the cancer on its own. Because that takes 9-to-12 months at a minimum, and because John’s cancer was already metastasized when diagnosed, the cancer had a huge head start on the GT, and we just flat ran out of time. The goal now was to keep the cancer in that “box” so to speak while we strengthened the immune system; then at the end of the 12-month cycle on Vantas (which does not kill the cancer, it only holds it at bay), the immune system would hopefully be ready to kick in on its own to actually kill the cancer cells. In the meantime, we stayed the course with GT, supplementing with B17 to work at killing any cancer cells we could on our own.
The struggle was multi-fold. John was so fatigued that he was unable to do any mental or physical work – his attention span and physical capability just were not there.
Even with the CNA who came in every morning to help relieve the GT prep load, my stress levels were through the roof … we didn’t have a good support system network locally (I came to depend on the GT FB support group for much of our inspiration and positive encouragement).
I was concerned about making sure we had all the food that John required for the protocol, and the supplements … and with keeping a roof over our heads! I was able to work only part-time and that had a significant impact on our finances.
In late March 2015, John suffered a major setback – his T1 vertebrae collapsed when the cancer ate through it. He was hospitalized for two weeks; semi-comatose; and I was told to prepare to put him in a care situation; that he would not come home again. We persevered with GT, even giving him also the CE’s while he was hospitalized (thanks to the admitting physician who wrote in the chart that I could continue to administer them [much to the chagrin of the staffers]).
While hospitalized and when coherent again, John demanded that the Vantas implant be removed. The oncologist acquiesced only after we told him that if he didn’t remove it for us, we would remove it on our own.
Following this setback, and in conjunction with continuing 100% on GT, we administered a high dose of CBD for 90 days. We chose a medical dosage without the side effects of delta-9-THC. While this process was not specifically approved by the GT physicians, they were aware of what we were doing.
December 2015 – the next set of scans showed conditions slightly worse than those of the diagnostic year – while disappointed, we recognized that this finding was definitely aggravated by the T1 vertebrae collapse.
John refused to have scans in 2016 and 2017 … so we have no knowledge of when the actual turnaround came about. We believe it to have been at approximately 18 months; although the monthly labs had stabilized slightly prior to that. His strength and desire to be active again started to return. Proof enough for us that the Gerson Therapy was the right choice for John.
The April 2018 scans show no lymph node involvement; no active cancer; no signs of any new cancer in John’s system. All of his labs, which are checked monthly, stay well within range, with the one exception of that pesky PSA, which continues to bounce up/down.
John has added homemade kefir water, colloidal and iconic silver, and ozone therapy (steam saunas and insufflations, ozone oil for the skin, and ozone drinking water) to his routines.
We’ve had many others diagnosed with various cancers come to us for information … few are willing to commit to the rigorous schedule demanded by GT. Many have moved directly to chemo; and we’ve watched far too many die. John has been unswerving in his desire to stay as non-allopathic as possible. As a result, today the oncologist is willing to say that he is in “partial remission.” We’ll take that in a heartbeat … and move forward with our lives; staying 80% GT in the process; staying pretty much plant-based organic in the process.
We’ve started traveling again and delight in finding vegan/vegetarian restaurants wherever we go … we have a new-found appreciation of the everyday delights of just being alive and together to enjoy our small organic backyard garden or a weekend trip to walk on the beach and do a bit of metal detecting. Every day is a gift, and we do not look on that gift lightly. “Thank God and thank Gerson” is truly a mantra around our house! All the best … Jean Griswold-Lynn!!! 🙂
The best video to get started: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quuvi6Gvvmc
A fabulous lecture Charlotte Gerson gave in 1989 in Sedona:
Part 1: https://youtu.be/haqSGbS5Jws
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoau2A8hzp4
Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4G3AqbDOzU
Part 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st7YwEH9QHQ
Part 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28nD73b4mqE
Part 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R3HE4k0rSg
Part 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReAdr7LRd7E
Other Gerson Documentaries:
