Testimonials

Breast cancer: does mastectomy / lumpectomy “cure cancer”?

plus Breast Cancer Treatment Advice

by Pat Bafford, First Financial Resources, 2360 W. Joppa Road, Suite 310, Lutherville, MD 21093, Phone: (410) 832-2400, Fax: (410) 832-2410, published by copyright © Healing Cancer Naturally with permission of the author

I ... completely disagree that any form of surgery used alone for breast cancer, whether mastectomy or lumpectomy is effective in curing cancer. I have read numerous accounts and personally known many women who had a lumpectomy with "clear margins" and then the cancer returned elsewhere a few years later. How can this be if the cancer was completely contained in the tumor with no spread to other parts of the body and the tumor was removed?

The answer is how natural medicine views cancer vs. how mainstream medicine views cancer. Mainstream medicine views cancer as the tumor; in fact, oncology means the study of tumors. Therefore, once the tumor is removed, the cancer is cured.

However, natural medicine views cancer as a systemic disease — an entire-body phenomenon, and most natural physicians know that in order to really cure the cancer, you must figure out what caused it and change that.

In other words, even if you catch the cancer early and remove the tumor (lumpectomy), the cancer will return unless you fix what caused it in the first place. I have copied an excerpt below from Dr. Lam's website (www.drlam.com) which I think elaborates on this line of thinking very well:

Modern oncology (the study of tumors) was founded based on the Halstead theory of cancer developed by W.S. Halstead. Halstead lived from 1852 to 1922. His primary focus on cancer was on the tumor and not on the patient as a living organism. Under this hypothesis, the removal of the tumor should remove the disease and cure the patient.

But, if this theory was true, why does the age-adjusted mortality rate for breast cancer remain unchanged for the past 50 years despite advances in surgical techniques and aggressive cancer debulking operations?

Halstead's theory is incomplete because its emphasis is on the tumor and ignores the patient. He looks at the tumor as the disease in and of itself, disregarding the overall body as a contributing factor.

While conventional medicine primarily treats cancer as a focal disease with localized symptoms, naturally oriented physicians think otherwise. They view the body as a closed internal ecosystem, and believe that the dysfunction of this ecosystem leads to the development of cancer.

Compare Healing Cancer Naturally.

No treatment, conventional or otherwise, can completely eliminate all cancer cells according to the naturally oriented physician. The reason is simple. Cancer is a systemic disease, and there are simply too many cancerous or pre-cancerous cells within the ecosystem of the body.

Cancer is not a localized problem but a whole-body phenomenon of metastatic growth. Its growth process is affected by biological conditions. Non-genetically based cancer forms in the body because of toxins, the lack of oxygen, poor nutrition, and other factors such as hormonal imbalance.

Whether the cancer in our body continues to multiply depends to a large degree on our body's biological terrain. It is this terrain that determines how the cancer is expressed.

Naturally oriented doctors often view cancer as a chronic, systemic and metabolic dysfunction of the genetically intracellular makeup. Tumors are only the symptoms of the submicroscopic dysfunctional causes.

The root of cancer therefore lies in the progress of growth and metastasis, and not the tissue in which the tumor was first detected.

The naturally oriented doctor therefore fights cancer by optimizing the internal terrain and enabling the patient's internal system to destroy the tumor. It enhances the patient's health so that cancer cells cannot grow and multiply.

Note by Healing Cancer Naturally

On the other hand, someone reported that “I have a few relatives and acquaintances who have been possibly cured with surgery alone. One is my aunt who is 88 and had her breast cancer surgery many years ago. She is still going strong.

Another person is my good friend's mother who had her lumpectomy many years ago and is still doing fine at 90 except for her diabetes. I could go on and name others who only had surgery and made no other lifestyle or diet changes and are doing fine several years later. So for some people, surgery alone appears to be a cure.”

Perhaps we can tentatively assume here that in at least some of these cases, the various inner and spiritual changes precipitated by the cancer diagnosis and treatment were sufficient to rebalance and stimulate these persons’ flow of life energies to the level found in someone “immune” to cancer. Compare Energetics which discusses the connection between energy blockages and cancer genesis and healing.

On the other hand, "several years" is not long enough to declare someone permanently cured. It would obviously be best if such a "cancer scare" prompted everyone to "clean up their life" and implement positive changes in their diet, exercise habits and other lifestyle factors relevant to keeping or regaining health.

For many successful breast cancer healing testimonies using natural, nutritional & holistic treatments, read Carmen’s Breast Cancer Healing and Budwig Diet Breast Cancer Healing Testimonials.

Breast cancer treatment advice

(In reply to someone asking about their niece diagnosed with breast cancer:)

Your niece is the ONLY one who can decide what is right for her, but the most important thing is that she gives herself enough time to make that decision.

When I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I too was scheduled for surgery within a week of that diagnosis. Consequently, I had my breast and lymph nodes removed. It wasn't until after the surgery that I really began doing the research and learned about all the wonderful and effective alternative treatments available.

There isn't a day that goes by that I don't wish I had never had the surgery. Please tell your niece to cancel the surgery until she has time to fully research her options. She can always have the surgery later if she wants to. A lot of healing has to do with confidence. She must believe that the alternative treatments work, and it takes time in order to believe that.

I can tell you from personal experience that they do work. I was misdiagnosed for 6 months by our wonderful medical establishment. I had lobular breast cancer that actually spread through my breast tissue and was causing me pain because of tissue necrosis.

So, I'm in pain, not knowing that it was cancer because the radiologists told me it was not. I did some research and found out that Vitamin E helped with non-cancerous breast pain. So, I started taking 800 IU of Vitamin E per day. Within 4 days of beginning this supplementation, my pain went away.

Now, mind you, at this time, I didn't know it was cancer. In fact, I was sure it was not cancer. So, my results from taking Vitamin E were not based on cancer in any way. And this was the only change I made at the time.

If the pain I was experiencing was a result of the cancer growing through my breast tissue, then it would be logical to assume that if the pain stopped, the cancer stopped growing. If only taking Vitamin E can do this, imagine what an entire alternative protocol including diet change can do.

My cancer was Stage 3B (8 cm tumor) and 10 out of 11 positive lymph nodes by the time I was diagnosed in September of 2002. It was not a very good prognosis according to the doctors, and I'm not supposed to live 5 years.

However, I started the Budwig protocol immediately after my surgery, and haven't looked back since. I have had no issues in the last one and 1/2 years, am healthier than I have been in 15 years, have never had any lymphedema, and thank God every day for every day that He gives me.

BTW, when I asked the doctors about the effect that Vitamin E had on my cancer, they wouldn't even answer me — completely ignored the question and changed the subject. Needless to say, I "fired" my oncologist and am now under the care of a naturopath and internist who orders my lab work.

I wish the best for you and your niece.

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