Essiac Essentials

which made me feel very ill. I had lost two stones in weight and looked like something out of a concentration camp. I found eating very difficult, I kept passing out and my husband had to lift me in and out of the bath because I was so weak. I am normally such an optimistic person with a great love of life but at that time I didn’t think that I was ever going to recover which was so unlike me. I was only forty-six years old.
    “I had about fifteen months remission after finishing the chemotherapy. We were back in Spain and I had only just got my life back into some sort of order when the results of my latest C.A. 125 blood test showed that the cancer cells were active again. Although we were devastated by the news, I was determined to be more positive this time. A couple of mornings later I remember saying a little prayer to the angels I had always believed had protected and guided me throughout my life. That same afternoon I answered a knock on the door to find a friend standing there with a leaflet in her hand. It was all about Essiac. I immediately ordered a supply which I have been taking ever since.
    “I came back to England in January of this year to start a second course of chemotherapy, still taking the tea. Because it had been almost four months since the secondary cells had been found, my oncologist was convinced that I would have a large tumour or at least several small ones. I had been taking Essiac for about two months. The CT scan returned clear, I believe thanks to Essiac, a healthier diet and an even more positive attitude. My oncologist was very surprised but still put me on to a second six months of chemotherapy because of the active cells.
    “The one thing that I have found from all this is that the hospitals continually tell me that I have no hope while all the alternative and complementary practitioners I have come into contact with during these last few months have been so positive. Although I must say that the doctors have been very surprised at how well I have tolerated this second course of chemotherapy and how fit and healthy I have stayed throughout the full six months.
    “A lot of other cancer patients I know are now taking Essiac and all of them are doing very well. I’ve even got my brother to take it for his diabetes. He agreed to take it for a few weeks just to please me and not only did he feel much better but he told me that a small lump he had noticed on his leg for about five months had started to tingle before it gradually disappeared. He wouldn’t be without his Essiac now.
    “I have noticed a definite difference between those people I know with ovarian cancer who are either taking the tea or using some kind of alternative treatment and those who are not. It’s no good just being positive about the cancer and relying on the conventional treatment. You’ve got to back it up with other therapies like keeping to a special diet or taking the tea. It’s important to me how I feel when I am ill and I need to feel well in order to fight back.”
     
    S. Champney , UK, May 1998
    “I was diagnosed with stage three ovarian cancer following surgery in August 1996. The prognosis was grim and negative. It was followed by a course of chemotherapy almost immediately and then further surgery. Within months the tumours were increasing and I began a course of radiotherapy. I was in a lot of pain, I had lost my appetite, I was having diarrhoea and I had very little stamina.
    “Last September a friend suggested I take Essiac. After a few weeks, my appetite had returned and my weight increased. I sailed though a second course of chemotherapy despite warnings that some people couldn’t tolerate that particular treatment and had to have transfusions. The doctors were amazed that my bone marrow and platelet counts and my immune system stayed so high. I have had no infections and feel quite energised. I am happy that I feel so well and I am very grateful for the tea.”

     
    Harlee Watson , UK, June 1998
    “I was diagnosed with skin cancer in March 1997. I found a mole behind my left knee which was removed, together with some diseased blood tissue. The doctor wanted me to have some purely experimental tests which involved injecting some blue dye directly into the wound to see if the cancer had affected the lymph glands. I went home and thought about it and made a conscious decision there and then to stop all conventional treatment.
    “I did not feel ill in the accepted sense but I