Why Cancer?

By Guest Writer, Bill Henderson

I have a theory. If you agree with it, maybe you will continue reading this article. And maybe you will join me as one of the "Fearless Crusaders" fighting against cancer ignorance and myth.

My former wife, Marjorie, was terrified when she got her first diagnosis of ovarian cancer in 1990. Four years later, on November 1st, 1994, she succumbed to the cancer. The four years were literal hell for her. Numerous surgeries and chemotherapy cocktails literally destroyed her while she endured constant, 
severe pain.

Watching her go through it and trying to help was extremely difficult for me. I loved her. I now know the torture she endured was the result of our ignorance and the myths surrounding cancer causes and treatments in this country.

Don't Be A Victim

My theory is that if I help you take the mystery out of how we get cancer and how it progresses, you will be more willing to accept one or more of the many gentle, non-toxic, proven treatments for this abnormality in our body. You might even pay more attention to your life style and prevent cancer.

Let's see if my theory is correct. I'll give you some of the most popular cancer myths and the truth about them. Don't take my word for any of this. With the Internet, you have the ability to verify my "truths" yourself with very little effort. If that resource had been available to Marjorie and me in 1990-1994, maybe she would not have been a victim of the cancer "system."

I have spent years researching this subject. My research has covered many fields such as psychoimmunology, neurology, microbiology, nutrition and fitness. I have read thousands of case studies of people cured of "terminal" cancer by means dismissed by "traditional" cancer doctors (oncologists) as "quackery." I have saved the lives of several cancer patient friends and relatives using this "quackery."

MYTH #1: Cancer is caused by some mysterious foreign substance.

TRUTH: Cancer is a malfunction of our normal cell functions and our immune system.

The average adult human body contains 75 trillion cells. Here's the number again: 75,000,000,000,000. Our DNA, the "instruction book" in each cell, determines whether the cell will be part of an ear or a finger. Amazingly, within the DNA of each cell are "suicide" genes and "proof-reader" genes.

When a cell division occurs, the "suicide" gene in the DNA decides whether that cell is correct. If not, it kills it. One example: a healing cut.  

When enough cells have gathered and multiplied to heal the "breach," the suicide genes take over and kill the rest. Otherwise, every cut would grow new skin cells indefinitely. Your body would be drowned in new cells.

Another portion of the DNA, called the "proofreader" gene, takes a look at the new cell. If it finds an error, it kills it.

Third Line of Defense

Our immune system is extremely complex, consisting of 130 different kinds of cells -- all with the function of "policing up" the foreigh substances in our body. One type of foreign substance it gobbles up are the abnormal cells produced by our own cell division process. It is the third line of defense guarding against abnormal cells in our body.

How, then, with all this protection, do we get cancer? Good question. It's a matter of numbers. Remember 75 trillion -- lots of zeroes? It has been estimated that all those cells (with a few exceptions in your brain and nerves) get replaced every seven years. That works out to over 200 billion cell divisions every day of your life. Some of them are visible 
to you: growing finger and toe nails; growing hair; peeling skin, for 
example. Most are invisible. They occur inside our bodies.

MYTH #2: Cancer Is Extremely Complex and The Cause Is Unknown

TRUTH: The cause of cancer is well known and is rather simple.

With the exception of the 5% or so of cancers caused by inherited genes, cancer cells are the result of damage to one of your dividing cells.

What kind of damage? Well, the loss of the "suicide" gene in the DNA. The "suicide" gene has also been called the "oncogene." "Onco" is a Greek word meaning "mass, bulk, tumor." When the oncogene is not present, the cell "forgets" how to kill itself and it begins multiplying out of control.

When the "proofreader" gene misses the cancer cell and the immune system misses it, this abnormal cell begins dividing and producing cells like itself (no "suicide" gene) and we have the start of a tumor (or leukemia, if the cells remain in the blood stream). 

The actual process by which the out-of-control cells migrate to a particular organ (skin, ovaries, lung, liver, etc.) or remain in the bloodstream is poorly understood. It appears, however, to be related to the stress experienced by those organs as they endure your chosen lifestyle. More smokers get lung cancer than non-smokers. More sun-worshippers get skin cancer. More alcoholics get liver cancer....and so on.

How Do Genes Get Damaged?

So, roughly 95% of cancers are the result of damaged genes. How do they get damaged? Well, there are random mistakes. These you don't have any control over. But, you needn't worry about them, either. They happen in small enough numbers that your triple line of defense takes care of them.

The second way your DNA gets damaged is by "free radicals." What are free radicals? They are compounds that have one unpaired electron in their atomic makeup. This causes them to bounce around wildly bumping into normal cells, damaging the DNA.

You cannot avoid free radicals. They are in your body and in the atmosphere. They result from the process your body uses to break down food, among many other causes. But, and this is the "bottom line," their numbers are multiplied and can be controlled by the lifestyle decisions we make every day:

• Cigarette smoking causes the largest number of free radicals of any lifestyle activity. Eventually, the number of free radicals it produces overcomes your body's elaborate defenses and you, the smoker, get lung cancer, emphysema, heart disease, and many more maladies.
• The more fat you take in, the more free radicals you 
  produce.
• Certain foods, vitamins and other supplements provide "anti-oxidants" which can kill off the free radicals by 
  the millions.
• Lifestyle choices like these are cumulative -- for better or worse. In addition to cancer, free radical damage also causes senility, arthritis, hardening of the arteries, and the declining function of your immune system as you age.

MYTH #3: There Is No Cure For Cancer

TRUTH: Many alternative therapies, unlike conventional cancer therapies, permanently eradicate cancer cells from your body.

There is not room here to go into the "politics" of cancer and the drug industry it enriches. Many books have documented this subject. If you know only a couple of facts, however, you will know enough.

Fact #1: Despite our government's declared "War on Cancer" in 1974 and the $60 billion of your tax money spent on cancer research, the death rate from cancer (adjusted for population growth) has risen every year since 1970.

Fact #2: Despite thousands of documented cures by dozens of "alternative" cancer therapies over the past 70 years, the cancer "establishment" has not chosen to research even one of them. All have been dismissed as "quackery."

The proponents, including many medical doctors, have been harassed, hounded, driven underground or out of the country and jailed.

Conventional cancer therapy -- surgery, chemotherapy and radiation -- leaves some cancer cells in your body. It also destroys your immune system. The result is that cancer usually recurs. Sometimes weeks or months later. Sometimes years later.

To cure cancer permanently, a treatment is required which continuously boosts your body's natural ability to locate and eradicate any cancer cells. Finding a doctor or clinic willing and able to assist you with this process is the key to never dying of cancer.

Because our cancer treatment system in the U.S. is corrupt, you must learn to be an effective co-doctor. You must get enough knowledge to know when to seek a second, third or fourth opinion. You must be able to help your doctor evaluate the permanence of the treatment you receive.

As I mentioned above, you are indeed fortunate. You live in a time when the knowledge to be an effective co-doctor is readily available, primarily by way of the Internet. Books, newsletters, search engines, clinics, discussion forums -- all of these resources help you zero in on the most effective source for your treatment. 

God bless you in your search for knowledge!

        ----------------------------------------------

Bill Henderson is the author of "Cure Your Cancer." The 145-page e-book, published in April 2001, is a guide to co-doctoring for cancer patients in the Internet age. A free sample of the book is available on his website www.getandstaywell.com.