I should have known that I had cancer last autumn, 2010. I had a strange growth on the side of my foot that bled so copiously that one weekend I went to the Accident and Emergency at The Charing Cross Hospital with my foot in a Wellington boot. I have great admiration and affection for this hospital because they saved my life last year when I had to be taken there by ambulance on two occasions. A main heart artery decided to close completely, first the Right and then 7 weeks later, the Left Coronary Artery. The RCA needed one stent – inserted through the groin, and the RCA five stents, inserted through the wrist.
Here I was again in A & E one year later; I was inspected by six or seven medics and nurses, transferred from A to E since no one in A knew what it was. Finally a doctor, possibly the Consultant said he did know and that it could be removed by surgery but that it often returned and would I like to try the old-fashioned method of tying a piece of thread around it. Yes, I said, and sure enough, two days later it fell off. But no one thought to take a biopsy.
Meanwhile I noticed another strange growth just below the first. When it finally broke cover and became a suppurating, easily bleeding sore, I showed it to my GP who did, bless him, take a biopsy but immediately tried excising it with laser which , as it turned out, was not the wisest thing to do and only encouraged a frenzied period of growth. A few days later he called me in to the Surgery and said, “you have Kaposi Sarcoma and it’s a cancer – usually connected with HIV positive people.” I told him there was no way I could be HIV unless you could pick it up looking at someone across a carriage.
In about a week’s time I received 2 notices of appointments, one with a Plastic Surgeon at Queen Mary’s after a further wait of a week, and another to see a skin specialist in August! So that’s all right I thought: not exactly 999 country.
Meanwhile I was being urged by several friends to ‘go private’, not heed the cost and head for The Royal Marsden or a hospital specializing in cancer. I resisted these because I do believe that my GP has my interests at heart and being the senior doctor in the Practice, has access to the best people. l had to be very trusting because he did not at this stage explain that my Plastic Surgeon whom I had not yet even met, would have access to a team of specialists, including an Oncologist. I was very much left in the dark; no one phoned me nor was I given any advice on how to cope with an open tumour, a couple of centimetres in diameter. However in a way this turned out to be a blessing.
I decided to research cancer on the internet, as well as alternative approaches to treatment. These were fascinating and all involved altering one’s diet in order to make the body as alkaline as possible and to cut out all sugars, which are the preferred food of cancer cells. I also talked to friends who had combined the alternative approach with conventional treatment in mastering their own cancer. One contact led to another and soon I was inundated with help and advice. I decided to draw up a diet sheet and embarked on my new diet immediately. For the first week I felt certainly felt weak but then I began to recover my strength and vitality so much so that soon I felt better than I had for months. I also noticed that the tumour looked slightly better so I started photographing it at weekly intervals and the record makes interesting viewing. I got tired by the afternoon but then lay down and concentrated on relaxing and breathing properly. I made a record of the people who helped me on this new voyage and soon found that I had to avoid anyone, even close friends, if they clearly thought what I was doing was a waste of time. If someone cast doubt I felt lowered and diminished, whereas if they supported me wholeheartedly, I felt strengthened.
Very soon I noticed that my foot was less inflamed and that the open sore was less angry looking. By the time my appointment to see my Plastic Surgeon came up I was able to say to her that I had already changed for the better. She did not say anything to encourage me in what I was doing but neither did she try in any way to dissuade me and I felt encouraged by my first meeting with her. She radiated competence and even a little warmth, though I had the feeling she was keeping this strictly under wraps. I suppose it only helped that she was and is beautiful and vivacious. She also happens to be as black as a moonless night. I felt an instant rapport and confidence. The letter to my GP summed up our meeting in a masterly way with no mistakes.
15th May 2011
Felt tired and a bit low. Nice walk in morning, rested before and after lunch, a couple of emails and collected all diet info and typed out daily menu and diet. Here it is:
PAGE 1 DAVID WALSER - SPECIAL DIET
BREAKFAST
1 litre juice made freshly from:
6 medium size carrots, beetroot, swede, parsnip, celery, fennel, ginger, lettuce, celeriac, cucumber, coconut water
dish of sprouted seeds and 6 soaked almonds mixed with boiled millet (egg-cup full when dry) mixed with a gluten free muesli and gluten free cereal
dessert spoon barley grass, ‘Milk Thistle plus’, flaxseed
green tea gluten free bread with ‘white almond spread’
ONE HOUR BEFORE LUNCH OR DINNER
Tsp bicarbonate of soda mixed tsp molasses
LUNCH
Mixed salad from garden, spoonful cider vinegar, garlic
Chives, parsley, coriander, sage etc
Seaweed flakesasparagus
Avocado, dash of Udo’s and cider vinegar
Lemon & fresh ginger tea with fresh peppermint
TREAT: 10p size piece of 100%black chocolate (Hotel du Chocolat, Ken Hi St)
DINNER
Soup of par-boiled and liquidized mixed veg: carrots, cabbage, lettuce, herbs, sprouted seeds, beetroot, garlic, ginger, tsp Miso, cooked tomato paste or juice PLUS tsp of turmeric
Plate of broccoli or sliced cabbage, broad beans, peas, courgettes, runner beans plus
Seaweed flakes, Tofu/Whole rice/sourdough bread made from buckwheat and Quinoa and/or Soya (All veg is organic or unsprayed from Kent farm )
OPTIONAL FOOD
Small piece steamed fish twice pw
White beans, mushrooms, grilled and peeled red peppers, soy yoghourt, Quinoa pasta
SNACKS IF DESPERATE
Tahini, slice of sourdough bread with Japanese preserved ginger slices, rice ‘biscuits’
Rice ‘biscuits’ spread with almond butter, houmous
DAILY MEDICATION
Jane Water’s daily potion (Alternative Health Centre balances and supports the weaknesses in the system) plus, Vit D 1 drop, Beta Carotene 25000 twice daily, Udo’s oil on salads, Milk Thistle complex, Magnesium Pantothenate, Prostease
Colloidal silver used as antiseptic spray for lesion. Cholestsafe .Vit D no longer nec after 2 months, nor Prostease, nor Cholestsafe
NHS medications: Aspirin, Amias -Candesartan, Lipitor-Atorvastatin,
Folk remedy
tsp of bicarb and tsp molasses one hour before lunch or dinner if forgotten
SUPPLIERS
Nutri Centre 0207637 8436 Access codeZZACC025
Rio Trading 01273570987
Bushwacker, King St . Hammersmith
Victoria Health 25a Broadwalk shopping Centre Edgeware Mddx 08003898195
Revital: 88454118 Beta Carotene, Udo’s 83 King’s Road
‘As Nature Intended’, Chiswick Hi Rd
Phone Dome and Compu Dome Attach to mabile phone and computer 02085168276
DAILY ACTION
Keep up supply of sprouted seeds
Exercise in moderation
Rest whenever tired
Allow sun and air to eruption on foot and bathe daily for 20/30 mins in Epsom salts
Apply clay pack
MEDITATION AND VISUALIZATION PRACTICE
30 minutes in Infra-red ‘sleeping bag’
ADVISORS, Healers, Surgeon and GP
Jonathan Botting - GP
Miss Joy Odili - Surgeon and Hospital Consultant
Dr Susan Lalondrelle – Oncologist@Royal Marsden, Sutton RMHNumber 589799 tel 02086613588
***Jane Waters – trained Naturopath and Nutritionist working with vibrational MORA/electro acupuncture testing equipment 02073812298
Alex Johnson – osteopath and Cranial Osteopath, diet advisor , advised soaking foot in Epsom salts tel 07946722777 (weekly treatment session)
Sunita, Chris, Richard et al at BUSHWACKER-organic supplies and supplements and nutrition help
Rhuna Martin – from C experience and successful outcome, Alexander /breathing techniques
Andreas Reyneke – from C experience and successful outcome (weekly exercises)
Danka - present Cancer experience and diet treatment
Tarisha Seligman – present Cancer experience and diet knowledge
Flavio Acerito – nutrition and mental approach – Visualization and Meditation
Heidi: Fresh , unsprayed seasonal veg/ fruit from @ Perry Court Farm, Nr Maidstone, Kent, who sells at Farmers Markets, Barnes/Hammersmith, and 18 others 07031326850
Gabriel Kleinberg Get Fitt Ltd <gabriel@get-fitt.com> Far Infrared Cocoon System
SUPPORT
Love, encouragement, thoughts and prayers of friends
WEBSITEs http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/KaposiSarcoma/DetailedGuide/kaposi
http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Cancerinformation/Cancertypes/Kaposissarcoma/TreatingKaposissarcoma/Radiotherapy.aspx
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:1bU6lt7hSuMJ:alternativecancer.us/diets_for_cancer.htm+Alternative+cancer+diets&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=firefox-a&source=www.google.co.
24th September
Saw Alex for a ‘treatment ‘ He studied my diet and suggested removing the Hemp protein. He said I was getting enough protein with all the other things. Had a good night again: I’m feeling spoilt. Concentrating on breathing correctly all the time and not only when I lie down and rest, but I’m learning slowly. I’ve obviously breathed badly – very shallow – all my life. Alex was very keen that I should not allow surgery and told me about visualization. I began the next day to add it to my rest period
25th
Heard confirmation today that I am Not – as I told the Consultant- HIV positive so it IS Classic Kaposi Sarcoma. -NOT the HIV related KS- Rather unusual and confined to people of Mediterranean and Eastern European descent. Hmm! Well I happened to remember my mother telling me 60 years ago that one of her mother’s sisters was very dusky, to the embarrassment of the family and was always plastering herself in make-up. Jeanne, mother’s sister, come to think of it, had a “wonderful sallow complexion that took so well to the sun”-, so I reckon Great grandmother, who came from humble farming stock in south of France was shipped over to Vermont after a roll in the hay with an Algerian or Sicilian worker (this cancer is prevalent in Sicily), when the dusky child appeared. No mention of Great grandfather in any of the histories so no doubt it was he who bought her the one-way ticket and stayed in France himself.
I think I am in reasonably good hands but can always get a second opinion before any radical action is taken if I’m in doubt. Meanwhile I have done a lot of research on the alternative route to curing cancer and also been enormously helped by therapists and friends, in particular Jane Waters at the Alternative Centre.
The good news is that I feel wonderful and have stopped losing weight after an initial drop of 9 kilos or so. Full body scan tomorrow so in early June I see my Consultant again.
When I spoke to the Plastic Surgeon Consultant, she said they were considering radiotherapy instead of surgery since such a large area would have to be removed. I told her I had read that radiotherapy was not effective with CKS and she replied, with great emphasis, “Well, that’s where you’re wrong!”
Listened to a rather dreadful Meditation tape on relaxation, dozed off and woke up in time to hear that I was now in an ‘ineffable state of love and at peace with the whole world.’ So that’s all right then.
I saw a veritable team of people on 1st July at St George’s, Tooting: 8 of them
jammed into a little room with me, semi-prostrate in order to have my foot on
display: my Consultant Plastic surgeon, an Oncologist from
The Royal Marsden, a Dermatologist, a chemo-specialist Doctor, two students and a couple of nurses.
The Dermatologist kicked off hardly looking at me, by saying, “This cancer returns and one doesn’t know where it will turn up but one can treat the appearances with surgery, chemo or radio-therapy”. Having delivered this jolly news, he left. The Plastic Surgeon who is the boss of my case and, I distinctly sense is not in the least antagonistic to what I am doing even though she has shown no overt approval, then said,
“You can have me at any time if surgery is what you choose.”
I replied, “I’d love to have you, but not for surgery!” This lightened up proceedings. The chemo Doctor then tried selling me his wares, which I said I didn’t want; he made another bid, then gave up and left. The Oncologist, with a gleam of triumph in her eye, said, “so I’ll see you in about three weeks for radio-therapy”, to which I replied, “I’d love to see you in 3 or 4 weeks but don’t have the zapp machines ready to fire because I would first like to have an assessment and see what further progress I have made, if any. They really looked at my foot at last and agreed it was better than it had been, so I said, “If I can get rid of it altogether by changing my life-style and diet, wouldn’t that be more likely to suggest that the cancer would not return, than if you zapped it or excised it and I went on as before?” The Oncologist replied, “We are trained to cure cancer with surgery, Chemo-therapy or radio-therapy.”
So the excitement continues and as I pointed out, I feel terrific on my strange diet, my sleep is better than it has been for years and my spirits could not be better.
My ambition is now to disappoint the Oncologist from the Royal Marsden by
showing her in three weeks time it is safe to delay again. My foot
improves every day and my hope is that soon the cancer will
have left for greener pastures. If I can do it I want to show that I have
got rid of the cancer without surgery, chemo or radio therapy. If she gives me radio and it is ‘cured’ they will just claim that they did it.
A retired Neuro-Surgeon friend of mine is unsympathetic to what I am doing and just says, “you have to do what the expert says”. This lowers me: I am very sensitive to negative vibes. I told him that cancer is not like brain or knee surgery where most people would agree on a course of action. One is surrounded by different views, by non-support from the conventional world – not a word of encouragement, concern, advice on diet, advice on care for an open ulcer in the course of five weeks – only tests, scans and meetings with specialists, but masses of help from ‘the alternative brigade’. I have made up my own diet, refining it from time to time and I feel wonderful besides having lost over a stone of unnecessary weight round the hips and stomach.
The open, oozing and bleeding ulcer, is now a small, dry scab about an eighth of an inch in diameter; all the inflammation has gone as has the hardness of the surrounding area. Number two tumour, that had just broken cover and was quite small, has apparently gone and the third, fourth and fifth ones are still black spots under the skin. Perhaps they can’t decide what to do.
Incidentally, the CT scan showed that the cancer had not appeared anywhere else though the Dermatologist I met, and the articles I have read on the Internet suggest that it always does come out in more than one place at the same time.
added on 25th July
A few days ago I had the meeting with the Oncologist. My large tumor had completely disappeared, as had No 2. However the three black nodules were and are still clearly visible under the surface of the skin. The day before I had seen my GP who strongly advised having them removed by surgery (when the main ulcer was at it’s worst he tried to remove it by laser before he knew the results of the biopsy and later strongly recommended surgery). However the Oncologist, knowing my inclinations, agreed to wait for another three months. I asked her if she thought the improvement was anything to do with my diet, to which she replied, “No, it’s just natural remission.”
The next day I had a follow-up appointment with the Consultant Heart Physician who had been in charge of my two heart operations in 2010. When I told her about my interview with the Oncologist, she roared with laughter and said, “The trouble is, we Doctors are plagued by the business of using only proven methods. I personally believe that cancer IS closely connected with diet but I’m not (I seemed to hear a ‘yet’) convinced that diet can cure it.”
I shall continue with my diet, easing up a little here and there, for the next three months and see how things go.
1st September
Three nodules have come much nearer the surface of the skin and one can feel the bumps quite clearly. A fourth very small one has appeared nearby. Alex says they look fine in that there is no inflammation and the area around them is soft and healthy looking. He is confident that the body will deal with them in its own time and that I should not worry. He says I am in very good shape and in the best state of mind and health to deal with it.
17th October
I saw my Oncologist at the Royal Marsden again on the 13th and as a result of the meeting she agreed to let me return in another 3 months’ time, with the warning that if the nodules changed radically in the meantime I should come to see her straight away. She thought –and I agreed – that the nodules were nearer the surface of the skin and she noticed that there were now two more nodules, making a total of five. She saw that the large tumours had completely disappeared. I said I thought the nodules, though nearer the surface, were less prominent than they had been and looked benign rather than angry. We again discussed the importance of diet which she was still dismissive about- although very charmingly. I offered to send her ‘The China Study’; she agreed and said she would send me some information in return. Although there are two more nodules that have now made an appearance, they are both very pale and in fact all five of them are hardly visible. I had hoped they would all disappear by the time I saw her on the 13th but now I hope that they will all have gone by the time I next see her. That will be the first battle won and then the bigger battle will be to keep the cancer at bay, but first things first. Incidentally, I asked the Oncologist why she would prefer to treat the nodules with radio-therapy rather than do nothing to which she replied that they might suddenly get out of hand and be impossible to treat in that way: a chilling thought, but I feel reasonably confident that they will not get out of hand and mean to continue with the treatment I have chosen.
Last weekend I went up to Yorkshire for a wedding and had two dinners running that did not at all conform to what I have been allowing myself. The first dinner in a country pub was by arrangement vegetarian but when it arrived everything was swimming in cheese. I was so hungry that I did my best to scraped off the cheese crust and ate the rest. The next evening at the wedding feast I left most of the first course, pushed the delicious looking bits of beef filet aside on the main course dish and just ate the few vegetables. The pudding was a cream concoction that I also left. The result was that by the time I returned to our rented cottage I was starving so I gobbled down a slice of tofu and a rice biscuit, spread with tahini and houmous. If you had told me only six months ago that I would find fare such as this delicious I would surely have looked at you in disbelief, but it is true and in fact at the dinner I did not really regret the filet of beef that much.
