By Russ Campbell

Running oncology specialist cancer center is a service provider no doubt, but it should also be kept in mind that the same is a business too which means that one has got to get the billing and coding right in order to be able to charge for all the services rendered so that the center remains profitable and is able to recover the overheads. This is a special area that needs to be managed professionally by those who have the experience in medical billing.

The doctors are not expected to be bothered about the billing system which is not their core area. There are several professional medical billing services providers who can be engaged. They have the required system as well as the experience in being able to manage accurate and speedy billing and collection directly as well as via reimbursements. By engaging them you can be rest assured your center management is in good hands so that you are able to concentrate on your practice.

In fact you can get service providers who have the required expertise and experience in oncology itself so that it makes the job much easier. The best way to go forward would be to invite quotes from various service providers and qualify them.

Having experience in Oncology means that they understands which transactions need to be billed and what kind of expenses are recoverable. Therefore he is in a better position to capture all transactions which are billable.

If you look at the profile of the service providers, they will be those who have managed the oncology department billings in general hospitals as well as special oncology hospitals. Then there will also be those who have manage specialty clinics and smaller oncology centers as well as individual practices.

In fact while you install the equipments and the infrastructure itself, you would need to select the service provider and get them going and be prepared before you start operations. This really is nothing more than a standard procedure, so do not be too alarmed.

It helps to engage a reputed Radiation oncology billing company with a good reference so that your services are managed professionally and the processes are maintained.

These service providers will have the necessary experience in having serviced medical surgical radiation department and also be well versed with customer service and back end accounting procedures. They would be able to deploy experienced team right away.

By Dr. Amit Karkare

INTRODUCTION:

Cancer has reached almost every household in today's era of lack of exercise, healthy food habits, addictions, stress and moral famine. The overall treatment options available in the medical 'market' outside provide pain more than the relief. Various kinds of surgeries, radiations and newer chemotherapy drugs are posing threat to the 'quality of life' of an individual, in their own ways and methods. Apart from the treatment options, the patient is getting bogged down by the battery of investigations and imaging requisitions, often without assessing the case clinically. The pain of cancer has thus extended, from mere physical or emotional sphere, to moral and financial downfall. The patient is getting exhausted and emptied in all sense, and what s/he gets in return? Nothing but a different form of suffering. Is there anything that we as homeopaths can offer?

Most of the patients we meet at our clinics are already in an advanced stage of cancer, or have already undergone a couple of cycles of chemotherapy for the respective malignancy. They pose three significant questions to a homeopath:

1. Do you offer anything for cancer, and if yes, what is its scope?

2. Is it safe to take homeopathy simultaneously with chemotherapy? Won't that affect the efficacy of either of them?

3. Can you prescribe anything on the preventive basis for the patient to avoid the recurrence or to the rest of the family?

We will try to discuss all such issues...

I have heard a lot of claims by the eminent homeopaths of my city to CURE the cancer, but I think let's not cheat patients and homeopathy. I do not doubt the efficacy of homeopathy, but if we make such claims without statistically and objectively proving it, the medical faculty will obviously accuse us for mis-guiding the patients, in turn diluting the faith of the public towards our system.

Apart from its effect against the malignant growth, I have seen homeopathy doing wonders by -

1. Dealing with the mental trauma that the cancer diagnosis causes, with further depression and hopeless mental state.

2. Reducing the side-effects of chemotherapy, especially in cases of CINV (chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting).

3. Relieving the pains in the terminal cancer cases.

Conclusion:

Homeopathy has much to offer in cases of cancer, apart from treating the malignant growth. A patient or his family would often inquire about the role we as homeopaths can play in the overall treatment process; and we need to be clear within ourselves about our scope.

By Lam Bong

One of the scariest epidemics inflicting people around the world today is cancer. It is getting more and more common and scientists predict that it is going to get worse. The British Medical Journal reports that the prevalence of cancer is increasing at an astonishing rate, especially among developed nations like the United States and Britain. Hence, the chance of you getting cancer is very high. Here are 5 simple easy steps designed to stop you from getting cancer!

1. Do not eat food that contains preservatives

Food that contains a lot of preservatives is very carcinogenic when consumed in large amounts. This is because preservatives damages normal functioning cells which causes dysfunction in cell growth and leads to cancer. Hence, to prevent getting cancer, you should buy food that does not contain any preservatives.

2. Eat fresh fruit

Fresh fruit contain many anti-oxidant properties. Anti-oxidants help to stop body tissue damage and promote general healing. Eating lots of fruit will also prevent cells from getting genetically damaged.

3. Drink green tea

Green tea has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries to prevent chronic diseases. Now, scientific studies have proven that green tea helps you to decrease the chances of getting cancer. Scientists believe green tea reduces cancer because it contains lots of anti-oxidants and enhances the body's immune system. For instance, the Japanese have the lowest risk of any cancers in the world, and it is believed they have the lowest risk of cancer because they consume large amounts of green tea every day.

Therefore it is recommended that you consume green tea at least once a day.

4. Run at least a half an hour every day

To prevent cancer, your body has to be in very top physical condition. One of the best and easiest ways to keep your body in top healthy physical condition is running. When you run, you exercise every part of your body. For instance, when you run, you have to exercise your lungs and heart to pump oxygen and blood to your muscles. Also, when you run, your digestive system is working at its optimum rate. Hence, to make your body strong and efficient, you must exercise and run for at least a half an hour every day.

5. Drink at least 8 glasses of water everyday

Your body needs to be constantly hydrated every day. If it your body does not get constantly hydrated, it can cause cell damage and dysfunction. Hence, to prevent this you should keep your body constantly hydrated by drinking at least 8 glasses of water every day.

By Yaros Nevsky

Cancer is diagnosis that scares everybody. Many people perceive it like death sentence. This illness befalls suddenly like a bolt from the blue. Tumor seems people who don't know all about cancer as absolutely evil that damages their organism. This perception is often promoted with academic medicine. Of course, ideal situation is when doctors can treat cancer completely. Today they really can treat most patients. There are new methods of cancer treatment that are not so dangerous as chemotherapy or surgery. But even today cancer often causes death.

Have you ever heard that all the illnesses are the mirror of what we think and do? Nowadays many doctors will surely agree that tumor is not just an isolated nidus. It's sign of some problems with functioning of a whole organism. Cancer is also known as common chronic illness. That's why treatment of cancer should be supplied with common patient's treatment. On these statements so-called "conception of biological protection from cancer" is based.

The point is that malignant cell grows to tumor only if protective and reconstructive systems don't function normally. Patient should not only wait for healing but also help treatment and try to escape cancer by himself. What should patient do?

First of all, one needs to stabilize psychological state.

Then he is to activate his organism.

Third point is improvement of metabolism.

Next step is cleaning organism from toxins.

And finally, patient needs to stimulate his immune system.

Of course, all cases are different. That's why each patient should have his own therapy which usually supplies standard treatment. Method of biological protection from cancer can't completely replace usual treatment; the best variant is when one supplies another.

Several clinics in Germany already treat patients according to the principles of biological protection from cancer. These clinics regard as of paramount importance on human instead of cancer cells. Artistic therapy lowers patients' suffering. Their paintings are analyzed by doctors that allows conclude about some psychological reasons of illness. These clinics use almost all specters of biological methods and soft chemotherapy that is used only in neglected cases.

Today many academic doctors pay much attention to method of biological protection from cancer as one of the most hopeful. Patients shouldn't feel themselves doomed to death. Even big tumors can suddenly disappear and it proves that human's body is provided with effective protective mechanisms. There are many examples when total remissions happen even in the most difficult cases. The truth is that such examples are exclusions, not a rule. Anyway, knowing all about cancer, we can surely say that patient can and must do much for his healing himself.

By Cathy Chapman, Ph.D.

I've had a number of people tell me how grateful they were for having cancer. No, they weren't grateful because they were ill and had to go through surgery, chemo and radiation. They were appreciative because of all they learned. They had to make decisions for their care and how they would emotionally handle what had happened to them.

Imagine you are 25-years old and have been having strange things happening with your vision. The doctor tells you he needs to do a test to find out whether or not your have melanoma behind your eye. He can't tell you he's sure that you have it, but he's pretty sure. The only way to know for sure is to take out your eye. Even if you don't have cancer, you still lose your eye. What would you do?

I know this woman who had to face this horrible decision when she was about 25-years old. I never head the story from her. Everything I know is from her mother who has such admiration for her daughter. Mom describes her as always being a fearful child. This child, now an adult, had to decide whether to let go of her eye or not. She had to play the odds. She did let them take the eye. She found out she had melanoma. The folks at the cancer hospital still ask her to come back every six months for check-ups, not that she really needs them. They want to watch her because she is the longest living survivor, more than 25 years, with this type of cancer.

He mother tells me that when her daughter stared death in the face, this young woman made a decision. No matter what she was afraid of, she was not going to let fear stop her from living. If she was afraid of it, she'd push right through it. She's a middle aged mother of three now. She does what she can to be sure her children have a variety of experiences and she won't let them quit because they are afraid.

Cancer at the age of 25 convinced her to live life to the fullest no matter how much time she had to live.

Whether she would have made this decision without cancer, I don't know. There comes a time each person has to make a decision as to how to experience his or her time on earth. Some need a major life-threatening event to convince them not to wait around on the sidelines watching others have all the experiences. Still others come out of the womb ready to experience everything possible. What have you decided? If you haven't made the decision yet, when are you going to?

By Emily McLaughlin

This specific type of cancer is caused when there is a growth of cancerous cells in the testicular region. Sometimes, it also happens that the growth happens someplace else in the body and eventually reaches the area of the testicles.

The lymph nodes are where these cancerous eventually land up. In some cases, complications arise in the lungs and stomach. If by chance, the cancer cells spread to these parts, nodes get created in these parts which tend to destroy the body.

2 types of testicular cancer have been identified:

* Seminoma.
* Non-seminoma.

The names given above are actually the names of the cancerous cells which cause the cancer.

Testicular cancer is one of those cancers whose exact cause is yet to be identified. What has been observed over the years is the steady rise in the number of people getting identified with testicular cancer. A large number of these patients have been noticed to have undescended testicles. Undescended testicles are usually present since birth and may be one of the causes for this type of cancer.

Some noticeable characteristics common in all these cases are:

* Caucasians.
* People from an affluent background.
* Heredity.
* People who have contracted orchitis.
* Impotency may also cause this.

There are many myths and confusion related to testicular cancer. Some people assume that if a person has undergone vasectomy, he is at a bigger risk of contracting testicular cancer. Others feel that an injury to the scrotum or groin area leads to testicular cancer. These are definitely not the causes for testicular cancer. The actual reasons have not been discovered yet.

There are some symptoms associated with testicular cancer:

* The lower scrotum area feels really heavy. Similar to being pulled down.
* There is noticeable pain all around the testicles area.
* It may be accompanied by a dull ache in the lower testicular area.
* There is a general feeling of lethargy all the time.

Is a person is experiencing any of these symptoms, it is recommended to take an appointment with a doctor at the earliest. If the diagnosis and the treatment is started in time, the patient has a much better shot at getting fully cured.

There are some symptoms seen in patients in the advanced stages of the cancer:

* A person may cough out blood.
* Problems in breathing.
* There is noticeable pain in the back.

The usual path taken by doctors is to get rid of the testicle that has been affected by cancer. This obviously has effects on the future sex life of a man. In other advanced cases, doctors also resort to chemotherapy and radiation before and after the operation.

By Emily McLaughlin

Endocrine cancer comes in many forms and Thyroid cancer is probably the most popular of them. When the cancer cells grow at an uncontrollable rate, they cause thyroid cancer. These may begin at the thyroid gland themselves or from other tumor parts that eventually turned into a malignant tumor.

As is the case with most types of cancer, the symptoms observed in one person may not be the same in another. Generally, it has been observed that in the early cases, there is a bleak chance of any symptoms showing themselves. If the symptoms are prominent, then it is pretty likely that the cancer is in the advanced stages.

If we categorize, there are around four types:

* Papillary - Extremely common. People who report having a radiation in their heads and necks are most prone to this kind of thyroid cancer.
* Follicular - Older patients are more prone to this kind. It starts its way from the follicular cells and slowly develops.
* Medullary - There is prominent growth of tumors on the 2 lobes of the thyroid gland. Gradually, it makes its way to lymph nodes.
* Anaplastic - Most aggressive and extremely rare. The cause of this has been diagnosed to be genetic mutation.

If we care to look at the symptoms, we may find:

* There is noticeable pain all around the region of the neck.
* There is noticeable pain around the region of the throat.
* Some patients have difficulty in breathing.
* Others have also reported difficulty in swallowing.
* There is swollenness around the lymph nodes.
* There is a change in the voice of a person.
* Has difficulty speaking.
* Some get a painless neck lump. This is present very close to the Adam's apple.

There are a lot of treatments that can be performed for treating this particular type of cancer.

Surgery is the first option. Doctors will try and remove all of the cancer cells that they can find around your neck and throat region. They also work on the lymph nodes, checking for cancerous cells. In most cases, the surgery is successful. There are every few complications, if any.

Apart from the option of surgery, there are many other alternative options that can be used. These are radiation, chemotherapy, radioactive iodine etc.

It is always better to be safe than sorry, so an early diagnosis is the best cure.

By Elliot Yudenfriend and Pamela Yudenfriend

It may be surprising that something as simple as breathing fresh, outdoor air daily can help prevent cancer. But clean, fresh air is more immediately vital to our bodies than is food or water. We can go without food for many days, without water for 48 hours, but without air for mere minutes.

Cancer occurs in a low oxygen environment, so it's particularly beneficial to breathe in such a way as to enrich the blood with as much oxygen as possible. Because people who are seriously depressed tend to breathe shallowly, an astute doctor may check them for cancer while treating the depression.

Because breathing is an automatic, continual process, very few of us pay attention to the breathing process. But those who practice yoga, the martial arts and other bodily disciplines have long been aware of how important proper breathing is. Though many of us do not involve ourselves in those practices, we all need to know that not only does deep breathing enrich the oxygen content of the blood, but that the process of exhalation is vitally important for expelling bodily waste such as carbon dioxide and other toxins. The exhalation of these substances is, in fact, one of the body's major means of detoxification. A few minutes of focused, deep breathing daily is a very good way to lower your chances of developing cancer.

An appropriate amount of sunlight daily is another important but often overlooked component of good health. When weather permits, try to expose a large area of your skin to direct sunlight for 15 to 20 minutes a day. Those with light skin, in particular, as well as everyone else, need to be careful not to burn themselves.

The best time to get sunlight is in the morning, before the sun gets hot, and later in the afternoon, when the sun has lost some of its intense noonday heat. This exposure to sunlight causes the body to manufacture Vitamin D, a vital nutrient for the prevention of cancer of many different kinds, as well as a vitamin that is helpful for preventing many other illnesses.

According to the Vitamin D council, (www.vitamindcouncil.org) an excellent website compiled and maintained by the world's foremost Vitamin D researchers in the world, current research has implicated vitamin D deficiency as a major factor in the pathology of at least 17 varieties of cancer as well as heart disease, stroke, hypertension, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, depression, chronic pain, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, muscle wasting, birth defects, periodontal disease, and more. The importance of getting sufficient Vitamin D for maintaining good health and disease prevention can neither be over-emphasized or ignored.

By Stewart Wrighter

Living with and battling with a terminal illness takes more out of a person than anyone can imagine. In many cases, the treatment to halt the disease is often worse than having the disease itself. Treatments may leave a patient feeling fatigued, nauseous or in pain which can be depressing. While the treatments may be necessary and may ultimately be what saves a person's life, the time spent battling the disease and undergoing treatment may be difficult. Suffering from prostate cancer or an acoustic neuroma may be easier than coping with the treatments for either of the diseases. However, there are things you can do to reduce the negative effects of the treatments without interfering with their healing benefits. If you are working with qualified caregivers, they may be able to suggest some complementary therapies that will help you cope with your treatment. At the very least, they will let you know whether something is dangerous or if it will lessen the benefits of the treatment.

Massage is one of the most beneficial treatments a person can undergo. Regardless of whether you are dealing with an illness, massage is beneficial. If you are undergoing treatment for an illness and you think massage will help you feel better, talk to your doctor about your options. It is important to work with a massage therapist who has experience working with your illness. If you deal with qualified, properly trained professionals, you stand a good chance of feeling better about your body, even while undergoing treatment.

Aromatherapy is viewed with more skepticism than massage, but it may still offer benefits. For instance, if your treatments are leaving you feeling nauseous, you can burn peppermint oil or inhale peppermint extract. Lavender is another essential oil that helps soothe and relax you during stressful situations. In either case, you are not ingesting anything or applying it topically, so it will not interfere with your treatment, but it can reduce the negative effects.

Herbs are similar to aromatherapy, but may have even more intense healing abilities. It is important if you wish to use herbs to cope with any medical disorder that you work with a qualified herbalist. Your entire team of doctors needs to know every single thing you are doing in relation to your illness to properly treat you. If any of your doctors dismisses a method of treatment and discounts your suffering in response to treatment, it may be time to find a new doctor. Find someone who will work with you to find the best combination of treatments to heal your body and reduce the negative effects while you heal.

Finally, do not forget spiritual support. Regardless of your religion or beliefs, it is important to be in touch with your spirit during your treatment. This can be done through prayer, meditation, yoga or even spending time with people who are supportive and understanding when you need it most. Also consider writing in a journal, working with a counselor or participating in a support group.

By Jonathon Masters

Cancer patients go through both mental and physical discomfort along with severe pain. Severity of the pain depends on the stage of the cancer and the tolerance power of the individual. This pain also causes depression and anxiety to the patients. While cancer pain is caused due to the disease itself or by its side effects, it can be relieved with medication. Here are few tips that will help them get relief form the pain they are suffering.

1. You should consult your doctor and ask him to suggest some medicines or injections that can give some relief to the patient. The medicine can stronger to moderate depending upon the severity of the pain and the stage of the disease. In case you find some irritation, pain or swelling in the area after repeated injections you can apply a little bit of Aloe Vera gel to give a soothing effect and relief from the pain.

2. You can also seek your physicians help and go for massage therapy. This massage therapy will lessen the physical stress of the patient and relieve him from the depression and anxiety he is going through due to the pain.

3. Ayurveda, a form of alternative medicine, can also help you in controlling cancer pain.

4. Yoga and exercise relaxes the mind and body of the patient. It relaxes the senses of the patients and performs a vital role in the pain management. Regular walk and not only helps in maintaining the metabolism of body but it also helps in controlling the side effects that is caused by the disease like cancer.

5. Try and keep a record of the pain, when it occurred, time date and the intensity level. Also mention the things that had aggravated the pain and how long it lasted. This record will help the health physician to have a clear idea of the disease and decide on the treatment that can relieve the patient from the pain.

While taking medicines to control the pain, it is also important that the medicines are to be used in rare cases only. Addiction to pain medicines is also a problem. A good pain management program can help the patient to remain active, sleep better and enjoy activities that he does in his day to day life.

By Anthony Hu

10. Jane Fonda Was diagnosed with Breast Cancer

Actress Jane Fonda discovered she had a small tumor in her breast during a routine checkup. She underwent a procedure to remove the cancer. The cancer turned out to be non-invasive and she is currently cancer free.

9. Stem Cell for Brain Cancer

Jenn Vonckx became the first human being to have stem cells injected into her brain to try to cure her brain cancer. Neural stem cells with a special enzyme are injected into the brain. The stem cells seek out and attach themselves to the tumors. The patient then takes a pill containing a non-toxic drug that enters the brain. When the drug interacts with the enzyme in the stem cells, it instantaneously creates an active chemotherapy drug. The hope is that chemo will kill the tumors and leave healthy brain tissue alone.

8. Elizabeth Edwards Died of Breast Cancer

Elizabeth Edwards was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004. The cancer returned in 2007 and she died on December 7, 2010. She was separated from her husband, John Edwards, who was the former U.S. Senator from North Carolina, the 2004 United States Democratic vice-presidential nominee, and one-time presidential hopeful.

7. Hormone Therapy Links to Breast Cancer

Study shows a direct link between reduced hormone therapy and declines in breast cancer. Women taking a combination of progestin and estrogen face a higher risk of breast cancer and other potential health hazards. Postmenopausal women are strongly advised to refrain from long-term hormone therapy or to use the lowest dose possible for the shortest time to relieve hot flashes and night sweats.

6. Women Faked Cancer

Two Ontario women faked terminal cancer and collected donations to help fight deadly cancers they never had. Ashley Kirilow fraud breast cancer and Jessica Leeder pretended having stomach and lung cancer. They obtained thousands of dollars from sympathetic donors to fund their cancer treatments.

5. FDA Discourage People from Smoking

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced new measures to discourage people from smoking. Terrified graphic images, including a mother blowing cigarette smoke into the face of her baby, a man suffering a heart attack, image of lungs and mouth damaged by smoking etc, are going to post on cigarette packs.

4. FDA Approves Provenge for Prostate Cancer Treatment

Provenge is the first-ever cancer therapeutic vaccine approved by FDA. It is a breakthrough treatment that uses a patient's own antigen-presenting cells to stimulate the body's immune system against prostate cancer.

3. Michael Douglass Was Diagnosed with Throat Cancer

On August 16, 2010, Actor Michael Douglass announced that he was suffering advanced throat cancer. He underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatment. His prognosis is good and he has fair chance of beating the disease.

2. FDA Revokes Approval of Avastin for Treatment of Breast Cancer

Avastin was approved for breast cancer in 2008 under a fast-track process to make promising the drug available, subject to further studies. Follow-up studies indicated that Avastin did not prolong life of breast cancer patients and FDA thus moved toward revoking approval of Avastin as a treatment for breast cancer. This decision does not affect the use of Avastin against other types of cancer.

1. CT Scans Reduce Lung Cancer Deaths

Annual CT scans of current and former heavy smokers reduce their risk of death from lung cancer by 20%. The findings represent a significant advance in cancer detection that could potentially save thousands of lives annually. Lung cancer will claim about 157,000 lives a year in US, more than the deaths from colorectal, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancers combined. Most lung cancer patients discover their disease too late for treatment, and 85 percent die from it.

By Rangga Teguh Pratama

If you have persistent mouth dryness due, for example, to the effect of radiation on the glands that produce saliva, you may wish to sip water frequently or use a mouth spray. Meals will be easier with sauces or salad dressings, and you'll likely be using your blender more than ever before to create soups and fruit smoothies. Some people find that gum without sugar, especially citrus-flavored, helps moisten their mouths.

Anticancer drugs, radiation, and infection may result in tender gums, or a sore mouth or throat.

Try these tips:

- Choose soft foods that are easy to chew and swallow: oatmeal, Cream of Wheat, scrambled tofu, soup, mashed potatoes, blueberry pudding, or smoothies. (See the recipe section for ideas.) Bananas, watermelons, other soft fruits, and applesauce are nutritious and go down easily.

- Mash or puree any variety of vegetable just as you would mashed potatoes. If you don't already have a food processor or blender, you'll find it's an excellent investment.

- Make sure that veggies and beans are cooked well, so they are soft and tender.

- Adding a vegan gravy can make foods easier to swallow.

- Vegetables, beans, and grains, in just about any combination, can make a good soup. In fact, people can live on soups for months on end and never run out of new tastes and combinations.

- To boost the calories, add cashews or tofu. Use soft, medium, or firm tofu, or any silken tofu. They blend right in, and are a gentle form of nourishment.

- Backpacking equipment stores sell containers with lids that screw on tightly and don't leak a drop, making it simple to transport foods without having soup or a fruit shake spill in your bag.

- Blended drinks and smoothies can help you swallow pills if you find that thinner liquids don't work. Pills and supplements may need to be crushed and dissolved, or try a liquid formula instead.

- Certain foods can be irritating, such as those that are very sour, salty, spicy, or coarse-textured. This may not be the time for citrus fruits, raw vegetables, or toast.

- If swallowing is hard, tilt your head forward, sideways, or back to find a position that works better. You may need to eat with extra awareness so you don't choke on food. If you are afraid of choking, ask your healthcare provider to arrange an assessment and advice about the best textures and techniques for your situation.

- People treated for esophageal cancer or some stomach cancers may need to sit up for half an hour or so after meals.

By Rangga Teguh Pratama

Vitamin C is a great team player in the antioxidant defense system. It protects against free radical damage and keeps the linings of our lungs, stomach, and reproductive organs in good repair. In grade school we learned that orange juice is a potent source of vitamin C, but that's just the beginning.

To illustrate vitamin C's importance, let's look at lung cancer. Needless to say, smoking is a big part of the problem. Compared to a nonsmoker, a lifetime smoker has twenty to thirty times the risk of getting lung cancer. Secondhand smoke is dangerous, too, increasing lung cancer risk by 30 to 50 percent. But just as tobacco increases the risk of cancer, foods rich in vitamin C reduce the likelihood that lung cancer will start. In other words, you can protect the delicate linings of your lungs against pollutants with vitamin C-rich fruits and vegetables at every meal.

Both non-smokers and smokers benefit from these foods. Let's compare two fifty-five-year-old smokers, Veggie Vic and Pretzel Pete. Veggie's typical menu on any given day looks something like this: oatmeal with fresh berries, a slice of cantaloupe, and a cup of tea for breakfast, a banana and orange juice smoothie for a snack and a veggie sub on wheat bread for lunch and hearty pasta with tomatoes, eggplant, and basil for dinner. With his preference for these healthy and delicious foods, Vic has just one-quarter the risk of dying from lung cancer during the next four years, compared with Pete, who munches on pretzels and other highly refined foods, hardly thinking of eating a vegetable or a fruit.

By Rangga Teguh Pratama

Vitamin E is a popular seller in the vitamin aisle, but let's not forgets where it comes from originally. Vitamin E is naturally present in plant oils. Its specialty is protecting cell membranes. The delicate membranes covering each of your cells are vulnerable to attack by free radicals, leaving you wide open to DNA damage. Vitamin E can stop that chain reaction in its tracks.

Vitamin E also supports your immune system, guards against heart disease, and may even protect against cataracts. Where do we find this powerful vitamin? It's in green vegetables, orange-colored fruits, and blueberries. You'll get even more from whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds. Note that the natural form of vitamin E, present in all these foods, is more potent, more available, and lasts longer in the body, compared with the synthetic vitamin E in supplements.

Selenium

The fourth member of this antioxidant team is the mineral selenium. It is a silvery-colored mineral that was named for Selene, the ancient Greek goddess of the moon. It works together with vitamin E to protect cells against damage from free radicals and other carcinogens.

Studies done at Harvard and Cornell Universities and in China have shown selenium levels to be 30 to 40 percent lower in cancer patients than in healthy people. Low selenium levels have been linked to cancers of the digestive system and the prostate. A surprising number of foods provide this powerful antioxidant.

Take garlic as an example. A clove here and there adds up. When you learn to flavor recipes with garlic, you'll wonder why you ever used so much salt. Over the course of a day, a diet rich in vegetables and fruits provides some selenium, and you'll get even higher amounts from whole grains (barley, brown rice, and oatmeal), legumes, seeds, and nuts. Mushrooms are good sources; tofu and Brazil nuts are excellent sources.

By Rangga Teguh Pratama

Beta-carotene is part of a family of more than six hundred different carotenoids. They give vibrant color to carrots, red peppers, sweet potatoes, yams, apricots, cantaloupes, mangoes, pumpkins, and many other foods with similar hues. Kale and spinach are rich in beta-carotene, too, although the green of chlorophyll hides its pale orange color. Beta-carotene knocks out free radicals and strengthens special white blood cells called natural killer cells, which seek out and destroy cancer cells.

How much of these protective foods do we need? With five servings a day of vegetables and fruits, you'll get a supply of about 800 to 1,000 micrograms of beta-carotene. You'll want to get at least this much each day. To see whether your diet meets this lower limit, jot down the vegetables and fruits you ate yesterday. Then look at the table on pages 50-53 and add up your intake of beta-carotene. It's smart to boost your intake even higher, to 30,000 micrograms or more of beta-carotene, by regularly including the richest sources in your diet.

Here are three different ways to get 30,000 micrograms of beta-carotene:

- Two large carrots

- one cup of baked yam or sweet potato, one cup of kale, and a peach

- A wedge of cantaloupe, 8 ounces of carrot juice, plus a half cup of cooked pumpkin.

Research has shown that a daily intake of five servings of vegetables and fruit would eliminate at least one in five cases of cancer, even if the rest of the diet was not changed at all. A typical serving means 1 cup of fruit or vegetables, a single medium-sized vegetable (carrot, apple, and tomato), 1 cup of salad, or 1 cup of juice. If your day's intake doesn't include five of these foods, here are examples to get you started.

By Alan Wighton

The treatment for cancer today typically focuses on fixing the symptoms which in this case is the cancer growth rather than the root cause of the disease. The root cause is of course the reason why the cancer first appeared and if you address that problem it will go away and never return again.

Profit plays a huge role in all western medicine with our drug based medicine and because nature cannot be patented there is no profit in conducting studies on natural remedies for cancer. The cold hard facts are that cancer and other degenerative diseases are big business. Meanwhile effective natural treatments which address and correct the actual reason why these diseases first appear are labelled as ineffective, not because they work but because there is no money to be made from them.

Doctors are taught that cancer is a foreign lump and if they can remove it all they have successfully beaten the disease. Anybody who knows a little about cancer knows this is not true because of the many people who have been treated by mainstream medicine only to find that their cancer has returned again but in some other area. The reason why that has happened is because they have only treated the symptom of the problem instead of the cause of the problem.

Our orthodox medicine only have 3 ways of treating cancer which are surgery, radiation and chemotherapy and all these treatments kill your natural immune system, the very mechanism that fights off all diseases. When you get these treatments you are killing your body's natural ability to fight the disease. You must never forget that. While these treatments can be helpful in de-bulking cancer, that is removing some of it, it's crucial for a patient to make simple lifestyle changes to address the reasons why it first appeared.

Cancer is a slow growing disease and has to be of a certain size before it can be detected so most cancers have been slowly growing within your body for many years. Unfortunately by time it is detected it is well advanced. The reason why somebody gets cancer is because of a change in your immune system and those changes are brought about by our lifestyle, which is the way we live. It is caused by bad diets, smoking, and our sedentary way of living and our exposure to carcinogenic substances. Cancer has nothing to do with bad luck.

What we see today is harsh toxic treatments which further weakens our immune system and only worsens the condition which lead to the cancer in the first place. Radiation and chemotherapy themselves are carcinogenic and if someone who's undergone these treatments survives for long enough, they could or will develop independent cancers that are a direct result of those treatments.

To stop cancer from shifting or spreading to another part of the body one needs to make changes to the way they live, especially with the food they eat. Our wrong food choices are singularly the most important causative factor in the development of cancer no matter where is appears. While we have blind faith in our medicine system with their drug based medicine it seldom works with cancer because there is nothing in their 3 treatments that will stop it from spreading or returning.

By addressing the reasons why cancer first developed you are strengthening the immune system, our built in defence system, then the human body can heal itself and accomplish what no doctor, surgeon or oncologist could ever hope to achieve. It works with all cancers and even if it's advanced.

By Paula McGill

When it comes to cancer prevention, the phytoestrogens are the business end of soy. As you'll recall, phytoestroogens compete with estrogens produced in the body or introduced from the environment (xenoestrogens) and prevent them from activating estrogen receptors. The cells that make up the breasts, uterus, and prostate gland are very sensitive to estrogen levels and are packed with estrogen receptors. A soy-rich diet provides just enough isoflavones to lessen the chances of developing hormone-related cancers, without the excessive amounts that could affect masculinity or reproduction. It's not surprising, that countries with a high intake of soy tend to have very low rates of hormone-influenced cancers. The antioxidant abilities of the isoflavones cannot be discounted as a cancer-preventing tool used by the soybean. Genistein and daidzein disarm free radicals that would otherwise trigger cellular mutations. These isoflavones also boost levels of some of the body's own antioxidants. Another weapon in soy's anticancer arsenal involves angiogenesis. Angiogenesis is the process of forming new blood vessels. Under normal circumstances, new blood vessels are formed only during limited times: ovulation, pregnancy and wound healing. Angiogenesis steps into high gear when a cancerous tumor starts growing in the body. Large amounts of new blood vessels are needed to feed the enlarging tumor and to shuttle away its waste products. Isoflavones help to prevent this angiogenic process during cancer development.

Does soy have any other anticancer embeds?

Isoflavones can prevent cancer in even more ways. Cancerous tumors are made up of undifferentiated cells. Differentiation is the process that tells a cell to be a heart cell, nerve cell, and so on. Without differentiation, a cell does not have a clearly defined ''job description," which may result in uncontrolled cancerous growth. The isoflavones in soy prevent cancer by encouraging cancer cells to differentiate into normal, healthy cells. It is also likely that the isoflavones arrest the spread of cancer by blocking an enzyme called tyrosine protein kinase, which cancerous cells use during their unhealthy, accelerated growth.

Can soy play a role after cancer has taken hold?

First, it must be noted that all of the research in this area is in a very preliminary stage. But dentists have noticed that certain humors have a drug resistance that acts as a pump within the cancer cells to expel anticancer drugs before they can eradicate the cancer. Greg Peterson, Ph.D., and Stephen Barnes, Ph.D., of the University of Alabama at Birmingham have demonstrated that genistein, ''... and the isoflavones, in general, may be immune to the multidrug resistance phenomena." In effect, the isoflavones, in some difficult to treat cancer cases, may be one of the only treatments that the tumor is not able to resist. But again this potential benefit of soy requires further research for confirmation.

Why do vegetarians tend to have lower rates of cancer?

Using soy foods in place of some or all of a diet's meat and dairy produce twitch contain substances that initiate or promote cancer) may explain some of the benefits of a vegetarian diet. Why? First, soybeans are packed with cancer-fighting antioxidants and phytoestrogens. Second, a vegetarian diet is much lower in total fat and saturated fat. Finally substituting meat with soy-based dishes boosts fiber intake, and high-fiber diets have been shown to protect against several cancers, including breast and colon cancer. Relax you don't have to become a complete vegetarian to garner benefits. Replacing some servings of meat or dairy products with soy foods can give you some measure of protection. Even so, the more you base your diet on low-fat, high-fiber, soy-rich cuisine, the greater your cancer protection will be.

By Alice White Green

Nowadays, more and more people are troubled by various kinds of cancer, such as lung cancer, breast cancer and colon cancer. The medical experts have been studying the newest techniques of treating cancer. In fact, the cancer can be effectively prevented if people maintain the balanced diet in everyday life. In order to help people prevent and treat cancer, the reasonable recipe has been published in America.

Generally speaking, people should increase the intake of vegetables and grains and decrease the intake of animal meat. Even the intake of the animal protein should be reduced moderately. 5 kinds of vegetables and fruits should be taken every day. The overweight can increase the risks of getting colon cancer, esophageal cancer and kidney cancer. The adequate intake of vegetables and fruits can not only maintain the human body slim, but also reduce the risks of getting cancer. Therefore, the medical experts advise people to at least take 5 kinds of fruits and vegetables every day. When people have breakfast, they should frequently eat the foods containing folic acid. The supplementation of folic acid can prevent the colon cancer, rectal cancer and breast cancer for the human body. The grains and whole-wheat foods for the breakfast contain abundant folic acid. In addition, the foods like orange juice, egg and spinach also contain rich folic acid. At the same time, the smoked meat and sausage should be avoided as far as possible, because such foods contain a large number of carcinogenic substances. The intake of tomatoes can be increased moderately, which can decrease the risks of getting various cancers like prostate cancer.

The lycopene contained in tomatoes plays an important role in preventing the formation of cancer for the human body. When people are free, they can drink green tea. The frequent intake of green tea can effectively decrease the morbidity of cancers, such as bladder cancer, gastric cancer and pancreatic cancer. Except green tea, the boiled water is also suitable for people to drink. The adequate intake of boiled water can improve the urination and dilute the hidden carcinogenic substances in the bladder. What's more, the drinking amount should be strictly controlled. The excessive drinking can seriously increase the intake of getting cancer.

In a word, people should maintain the balanced diet in everyday life so as to prevent the occurrence of cancer and reduce the risks of getting cancer for themselves to the full extent.

By Yamuna Loyal

I realise that my take on cancer can be construed as controversial to say the least, but as someone who has been there twice, I feel qualified to some degree to try to reach out to others who are facing this particular life challenge and to attempt to ease the strain.

I truly believe that it is not the cancer that kills people, it is the fear. There is so much negative propaganda and fear of death around cancer that it is high time someone put forward a positive slant. I came across a great book early on in my search for help called, 'Cancer is not a disease'. In this book the author states that cancer is a toxic state of affairs and the body's way of isolating toxicity so as to protect the body. Now if that is not a radical viewpoint, I don't know what is. The arguments put forward are really convincing however, and led me down the path I personally took with my second bout of cancer.

I can honestly say that today I do not have any fear of cancer, or recurrence. It is a cry for help from the body for cleansing, detox, adjustment to lifestyle and a very careful look at the stresses and strains we are living under. Stress is the single most effective of reducing immunity in the body and so many people I know who have had cancer choose to have surgery, chemo/radiotherapy and just carry on the way they were before.

Cancer is calling out to us to change our lives, our diet, our thinking, our relationships, our stress levels - and in that sense it is a survival mechanism, something which cares about our well-being.

I know that what I have just said is preposterous to so many ways of thinking about cancer. But I truly believe that fear of cancer can cause more stress and debilitation to our system than the cancer itself. Fear of death, disability, being socially outcast, losing our job, - these are more devastating than the illness!

Once you have faced your mortality twice and looked death in the face full on, the fear of death can no longer have any hold on you. This is the nature of fear. It is like a monster that runs after us as we run hell for leather in the opposite direction. When you can stop, turn around and look it in the face and say, 'who are you and what do you want?' it shrivels into nothing.

If you don't believe me, try it! And living without fear, is a great way to live.

By Gerald W White

"The sharpest spur that God gives us for battle is contempt for death." Hannibal of Carthage - 318 BC

After a two year hiatus, I have recently gone through the drill of CT and bone scans. This time there was an inordinate delay in getting the results. A couple of nights ago, my doctor called me from Chicago to say that he had personally read the films and that everything was fine. It was in that moment of euphoria and gratitude that I realized that, even though I did not speak of it, the old enemy fear had managed to sneak back into my subconscious mind. I then recalled how, in those terrible years when I was on the death watch, I used to let the details of death dominate my thinking to the exclusion to the more important details of life and future events. It was only after I was able to reach out and seize information based hope that my mindset began to shift to those more important details of future events wherein I was needed to play a part.

Now what, you might ask, does this have to do with Hannibal? Hannibal was not only a military genius, he was a master of illusion and misdirection. He is famous for transporting elephants over the Alps to use in his campaign against Rome.

Actually, he only had 37 elephants and many of these died along the way. These cumbersome beast had little or no actual military value but they inspired fear in the ranks of the Romans, few of whom had ever seen one. Thus, Hannibal succeeded in getting the Roman commanders to concentrate on dealing with the elephants to the extent that they neglected more important matters dealing with the battle before them. The result of this was that Hannibal's army of 40,000 slaughtered an entire army of over 80,000 Romans on the field of Cannae. Clearly the Roman generals would have done well to ignore the elephants and deal with the business of battle.

All too often cancer turns out to be synonymous with death. Strange since there are so many things that cancer cannot do. It cannot destroy love. It cannot take away personal values. It cannot take away hope unless the patient chooses to give it away to those deadly statistics as pronounced by some insensitive doctors. It cannot force one to make unwanted decisions. In short, one might well say that it is far too impotent to be the subject of all consuming fear. Perhaps the patient should quit looking at the elephants and begin to look at those more important details associated with a post remission future. It can and has been done in the lives of numerous exceptional cancer patients.

Now pushing 76, I am well aware that my days on earth are not unlimited. Rather than look at this prospect with fear, I must confess to certain feeling of excitement at the prospect of finally understanding what is on the other side and am looking forward with great interest to what the work will be like in the new dimension. I think of how St. Paul put it when he wrote, "I count that to die is gain". Having fought the good fight he could say this with confidence. He also wrote that whereas hope and faith will end in fruition and realization, love endureth forever. There is absolutely nothing that cancer can do to alter this fundamental truth.

Those wishing to know more about fighting cancer with mind body medicine should refer to my website at http://cancerwarsmaarsjourney.com/

By Carol E Patterson

OK, you have just been diagnosed with cancer...

You have cancer is a phrase which one in five people in the United States will hear this year alone in one form or another. Too many people have cancer! Cancer rips through your life tearing its own pathway. Unfortunately, a lifetime of ignoring certain aspects of your body and you life has resulted in dis-ease.

Hearing you have cancer is earth shattering! Cancer is perhaps the most dreaded disease because we know so little about it and for many it is a death sentence.

All you can do is ask yourself... "how did I get cancer? What did I do to get this in my body? Am I going to die? What am I going to do? Where do I turn? What? What? Where? Where? Why? Why?" Confusion and fear sets in. You are a wreck!

What are you going to do? You need a plan. Prayer helps, but you also need a plan. You need a support system of friends and you need to depend on God to help you.

You question... Am I going to die? Depending on what type of cancer you have and where it is in your body, you have different questions. On the other hand, a few questions are very much the same for everyone. Will I ever get better? Will I look the same? What about insurance? Will it cover everything? What about my family? What about my job? What about business? Who will help me? What shall I do? How much is all this going to cost?

Do these words sound familiar? These words and emotions are all very normal. You are being challenged with the biggest test of your strength in your lifetime. My thoughts probably sound familiar to your thoughts. Your journey has just begun.

As a two-time cancer survivor I have written this book to show you that cancer does not have to be a death sentence. You will have to change many things in your life. As you read on in the book, it is written to make you stop and think. All I can do is to share my experiences and hope that because of my pain and suffering, you will find comfort and cure for your cancer.

Healing yourself, even with the help of modern medicine is a task that only you can do for yourself. Many people will try to help you and guide you, but you need to make the decision that you are going to be well and that certain changes must be made in the way you live your life. In order for you to get well and go on living many more years, you will need to make the decision to be well. Think wellness thoughts. Your mind needs to know that you are already well so that the rest of your body can catch up to such thinking. This concept might be a bit difficult to grasp at first; please read on. Cancer is perhaps the greatest challenge you have ever had to face, and it takes tremendous courage to get well. You must be strong!

Your body, designed by God, has its own self-healing power. Your body got sick by you not listening to it. When you listen to your body and your inner self, you will get well. So many people term cancer as a journey because it is a life changing event. Today, many people are facing cancer and healing themselves. Be hopeful and learn from my journey as well as the journeys and research of many others.

was diagnosed with throat cancer. The doctors were perplexed as to how I got cancer, as I was not the typical profile of the person who contracts throat cancer. I did not smoke, and did not drink to excess. When I walked into the Chemotherapy Infusion Room with a doctor for scheduling, the woman at the help desk asked "who is the patient?" The doctor said, pointing to me and replied, "It is for her." On the outside I looked healthy, or so I thought at the time. To search the reason why I got cancer was my personal journey. Looking back, I have a different perspective.

My journey was not easy. No cancer healing is simple, however; curing yourself of cancer is not as mysterious as you might assume. Decisions must be made quickly and seriously. You will need a support system.

1. If you smoke, you need to stop immediately.

2. If you are in a home where everyone else smokes, you need to get yourself to a clean environment where you are not exposed to second-hand smoke.

3. If you are a heavy alcohol drinker, you need to stop immediately. Did you know that alcohol consumption can cause cancer? Most of us do not. Where is the "surgeon general" warning on alcohol consumption? Drinking alcohol can cause cancer.

4. If you drink soft drinks with aspartame you need to stop immediately. In fact, soft drinks are nothing but sugar and chemicals. You need to drink juices and water instead.

5. You need to decide that you want to live and that you are going to go about changing your life in order to do so.

6. Get plenty of rest. You need at least 8-10 hours of sleep each day. Naps also are recommended. While at rest, your body can do its own healing process.

7. You need to forget about FEAR. You need to get to work on healing the body that you have badly neglected for many years. Right now, you have no time for fear.

8. Have a positive attitude towards your healing. You are going to become healthy again.

9. Let go and let God!

10. Expect a miracle!

You have read that I am a two-time cancer survivor. When I first was diagnosed with cancer, I took the American Medical Association approach to the disease. I went to the University of Virginia Medical Center which has state-of-the-art cancer treatment. First, I had chemotherapy treatments for several weeks. Chemotherapy gives poison to all cells, killing both cancer cells, and at the same time, healthy cells. I also received seven weeks, five days a week, of radiation therapy. Tomotherapy Radiation equipment takes a scan of the cancer tumor daily and as the treatment progresses, the tumor size and positions change. This equipment targets the tumor and lasers it with radiation, killing the cancer cells. I almost died during the combination of these lengthy treatments. However, after the grueling treatment was over, my cancer went into remission. Recovery from the treatments took a very long time because my body was quite frail and weak. All cancer patients have anemia, and I was no exception. Cancer causes anemia and chemotherapy makes anemia even worse.

My weight went down to 80 pounds. I lost all my hair. I was depressed beyond anything I could ever imagine. I did not eat for five weeks. I had to have a stomach tube inserted so that my body could get the nutrition it needed. Everything tasted like cardboard, so why eat? It was a horrible experience. However, the cancer went into remission and I was cured, or so I thought.

I began to gain weight and come alive again. I had hair stubble. With my immune system being challenged by the chemotherapy, I attracted a very rare amoeba in my right eye. The amoeba ate my cornea and eye blood vessels before the problem was diagnosed correctly. The pain was excruciating and for almost nine months, I was blind in my right eye.

When the amoeba was gone, and my eye began to heal, I began to see again. At the eye doctor's visit for the first time in almost a year, I finally saw and recognized the "BIG E." That was a happy day! However, since my body was malnutritioned and weak, the following day I had a heart attack. On the operating room table during heart surgery, I could hear the nurses talking about me. "She is so tiny." I weighed about 90 pounds soaking wet.

After recovering from the heart attack and gaining weight I gradually got back to my old self and went back to work. I had a new heart, I was thin and fashionable, and I was designing and traveling all over the world again. Modern medicine had cured me of the dreaded disease and surrounding complications. Happy days were here again!

I slipped back into my old bad habits. I worked hard, did not rest enough, stressed over things, and did not eat correctly. Basically I did not love myself any more after this entire ordeal than I did before the cancer. The reason being, I did not know any better. You are sitting there saying "what?" I am here to tell you that cancer is the symptom of something much deeper than just the disease of the cells. The body and the mind are much more complex than what we treat with medicine and medical treatments. In case you have forgotten, your mind is attached to your body and the mind and the brain are very much in charge of everything that goes on in your body either on a conscious or subconscious level.

Within two years, the same cancer returned. I was diagnosed with cancer a second time. This time the treatment was more complicated and severe.

After a biopsy verifying cancer, the doctors wanted to do surgery. They felt that chemotherapy and radiation had not worked. This time they would do salvage surgery which would have left me maimed for the rest of my life.

I refused salvage surgery and everything else that went along with it. The doctors had suggested I at least take another flight of chemotherapy. I went to the appointment with the Chemotherapy Physician. During the course of our conversation (I was taking notes) we discussed my previous chemotherapy treatments and how the cancer had disappeared very quickly. At that point, the doctor turned to me and said "everyone knows chemotherapy does not cure cancer." I asked him, "then why did you put me through all of that horrendous experience nearly killing me if it could not cure me?" I did not wait for an answer.

My mind was made up that instant. Something was really wrong with this picture! After seeing several of my friends go through cancer treatment with a fatal end, I chose quality of life.

I got three different professional opinions on the second cancer diagnosis.

1. University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville, Virginia where I had been treated for the first cancer treatment.

2. Loma Linda University in Loma Linda, California to their Top Oncology Center.

3. Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona to check out Trans Oral Micro Laser Surgery for Throat Cancer. This is a fairly new procedure done by only two renowned doctors in the world; one of them is at Mayo Clinic.

I saw the most highly regarded Throat Cancer Oncologist in each of the above three places. I did my diligence with world-class surgeons.

All the doctors reviewed my medical history. They assessed my CT Scans, and all gave the same diagnosis. Both University of Virginia and Loma Linda would do the salvage surgery, the only difference being that Loma Linda would remove the artery from my right leg, not my right arm to replace the artery in my neck. At the Mayo Clinic, the surgeon would do a new procedure, Trans Oral Micro Laser Surgery which would involve inserting a laser down my throat surgically and using a laser as the primary cutting tool. This procedure would eliminate cutting my jaw, and removing my artery. However, I was advised the procedure "isn't magic" and was "not minimalistic." I would have a sizable wound, maybe some difficulty with speech, a stomach tube inserted through my nose, a very long recovery, problems swallowing, and a speech hindrance for several years, possibly forever.

I tell you this story because you will hear something similar and you have to weigh your odds. How do you want to live the rest of your life?

At that point in time, I my body weight was 112 lbs. How much more weight could I possibly lose? I also did not want to look in the mirror and see a part of my face removed. In my mind, I had no choice but to take an alternative route. Remember...Be Determined and Beat Cancer. That mantra was always in my mind. I kept beating that drum again and again.

I turned to alternative medicine, and I began what people call the journey to wellness. I went to a Naturopathic doctor in California and changed my diet drastically to include herbs and vitamins, coupled with fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, and fish. This diet changed my life. When you have cancer, your body has been depleted of the nutrients it needs, you must give your body and your brain the nutrition it needs to get you well again.

All during my first cancer treatment, I was never given a diet or any information about how a diet can actually cure cancer. However, the truth of the matter is; I probably was not in the frame of mind to listen to anything, even if they had given me a nutritional diet. I had not passed over what my intuitive healer calls the crossroads to wellness. My old habits of living and eating were still a part of my regime. My attitude was such that "I would just take the medicine prescribed for me, do what the doctors tell me to do, and get healed through the wonders of modern medicine." I would find the best doctor money could buy, the most famous in all the world, and beat cancer! Just take a pill and make it all go away...that was my thinking before I was challenged with cancer the second time.

It was only until I passed over the crossroads, what I call the point of no return when both my conscious and my subconscious mind were working in tandem to get me well forever. I had refused salvage surgery, and knew if I were going to be healed I had to do something major for myself; quickly. I began to study and to do research. I began investigating alternative medicine and other options for healing. I became a voracious reader and searched the Internet for information about cancer cures and healing. I needed to find an answer and heal my self.

I was given a book titled Love, Medicine and Miracles by Dr. Bernie Siegel. Dr. Siegel states that the body has an incredible power to heal itself. This is where my journey began.

Your journey will be different than mine, and only you know where to find the answers buried in your body and mind. Your body has an extremely powerful recuperative ability. You and your mind have the control to heal yourself. In this book, I will show you the tools to institute your own healing process. You must do the work and come to terms with your body.

By Carol E Patterson

Cancer is a disease which touches one in five people. The mysteries of the disease seem to evade even the most well-known oncologists. However, there are alternative cancer cures. Cancer can be cured by changing your lifestyle in such a way that you begin to live an "Anti-Cancer" lifestyle. I have developed an "Anti-Cancer Diet" comprised of cancer fighting foods which can be found on the shelves of the grocery store. Our bodies have miraculous recuperative abilities. A miracle cancer cure occurs "when you get your mind, body and spirit working in 'sync' with one another." Changing your food is not the only change you need to make. "Thoughts are things" and you have "thought yourself into illness." Since you have "thought yourself into illness" logical thought progression shows that you can "think yourself into wellness." This is not an easy concept to grasp at first, but when you take time to consider alternative cancer cures and alternative cancer therapy a new realization happens. Many times the simplest solution is the best solution.

Before I had cancer I was an international fashion designer with a television show on Home Shopping Network and the Shopping Channel in Canada. I had several businesses and life seemed to be thriving.

I was engaged to be married to my business partner. While on a business trip to China, I tried to call home to my fiance. Call it woman's intuition, but I had a very bad feeling. My feeling turned out to be justified. I received a call on my cell phone while in China from the Sheriff of my home town telling me that my fiance had died of a heart attack.

That news shook me to the core of my existence after I stopped screaming for hours.

I flew home to collect the body only to find out my fiancé had another life that did not include me. He was gay; actually bisexual. He died before he could hide the evidence of his other life. This was September 2005. I had a double shock, the shock of his death, and the shock of the reality that he had a life which did not include me.

I was an emotional mess filled with a combination of anger, rage and sadness. I hid the truth from family and friends because I wanted to bury him with honor. My prayers for a very happy marriage with family and friends were answered, but not the way I was expecting.

I had been betrayed on what was to be the happiest time of my life; my wedding.

Within two years of my partner's death, in May of 2007 I was diagnosed with throat cancer. The doctors were perplexed because I was not the typical profile of a person who gets this disease.

I went to the University if Virginia for Chemo and Radiation cancer treatment. I nearly died from the treatment of this type of cure for cancer. I lost 60 pounds, but the cancer was in remission.

With my immune system down, I got an amoeba in my eye that ate the cornea and blood vessels and I had a heart attack. I recovered from both illnesses.

Within two years, the same cancer returned.

This time the doctors wanted to do surgery. They felt that Chemotherapy and Radiation had not worked. This time they would do "salvage surgery" which involved removing a part of my jaw, a part of my throat, a part of tongue, replace my neck artery with an artery from my right hand, take a patch of skin from my left shoulder to make a flap in my throat, insert a tracheotomy, and a stomach tube for the rest of my life.

I refused "salvage surgery".

I turned to alternative cancer therapy to find a new cancer cure. I read where the body has the power to heal itself. That is where I began.

I went to a Naturopathic Doctor and began a regime of herbs and vitamins coupled with fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, and fish.

I began reading everything I could find about miracle cancer cures, healing, alternative cancer cures, self-healing, natural cancer cures, alternative medicine, holistic cancer cures, meditation, visualization techniques and Reiki therapy. Believe me, this was a lot of work. On the other hand, what was my alternative?

I had no choice but to take the road less traveled. I had come to what my intuitive healer calls the "Crossroads" of my healing. I had come to the end of what I would accept from standard medical procedures. I had the three top Throat Cancer specialists in the country basically tell me the same diagnosis. "Salvage Surgery" was not an option that I would allow for myself. Besides, my inner self was telling me to "go deeper."

An intuitive healer helped me to find that the shock of my fiancé's death and related childhood traumas had caused my illness. She helped me to release the fact that I had been betrayed. She showed me how our emotions influence our body, mind, and soul and that I needed to love myself and forget the past. I learned that Cancer is just the symptom of something much deeper.

With the intuitive healer's vast experience in dealing with cancer patients for over twenty years and her Reiki Training, her intuition and wisdom surround you when you are with her. She explains that "Life is like and Onion" peeling one layer at a time. I do not have cancer anymore.

I had a miracle cancer sure. There were many Angels sent to heal me when conventional medicine had all but given up on me. I hope I can be an Angel sent to you. Never forget the Power of God.

By Elliot Yudenfriend and Pamela Yudenfriend

If you are ill, does it necessarily matter what your exact diagnosis is?

I will answer that question from a HOLISTIC point of view, one that favors treating disease effectively, yet as gently as possible, but one that does not rule out or reject mainstream treatment if it is deemed necessary. That holistic viewpoint has allowed me to live in very good health, with excellent quality of life, for 21 years since I was diagnosed with cancer.

The holistic treatment for most any disease, including cancer, is the same: Immune system-supportive diet, proper sleep, exercise and supplements, and an examination of one's life to see what may out of balance, where the stress may be, and generally, why one is "cancering." The idea of "cancering" is that a person with a healthy spirit, mind and body generally will not develop cancer, so that when one finds one is "cancering," he/she takes time out from all else, examines all aspects of his/her life and self, and sets about making whatever changes appear to be necessary so as to stop the cancering process.

That may seem outlandish, but in fact I have found that it makes good sense, and that it has worked for great numbers of people. There is a book one can purchase called "The Cancer Conqueror," by MD Anderson, which is the true story of a man diagnosed with advanced lung cancer in the 1970's, who was given less than a month to live by his doctors. The man did very much what I have described, and will describe further below, and is, to the best of my knowledge, alive and well and still telling others how he recovered from what was considered to be a death sentence. This particular man did mainstream treatment as well as holistic treatment.

When cancer is far advanced, in addition to a comprehensive holistic healing program, treating the cancer aggressively with chemo or radiation to take the wind out of its sails may become necessary, even though it may cause some very undesirable side-effects. But in such a case, I view doing the holistic treatment concurrently with and subsequently to the harsh mainstream treatment to be every bit as necessary as the mainstream treatment.

In the beginning, the cancer is often not "out of control." It is new and unaltered and is as vulnerable as it will ever be to treatment of any kind, mainstream or alternative. However it is likely that among the abnormal cells that compose the tumor, are also cells that may well be resistant to whatever treatments the doctors use. Those resistant cells will generally grow and multiply subsequent to the first round of treatment, and will very likely cause, sooner or later, what doctors call a "relapse." I should say, rather, that those cells, along with not paying attention to following a holistic plan to eliminate the cause or causes of the cancer, will result in a relapse.

From that point, what may well occur, is what one woman who pursued mainstream medicine only said, not long before she died, "Each time they hit the cancer, it hit back 10 times as hard." That phenomenon is due to several things, including the fact that cancer naturally develops resistance to chemo and radiation, and to the fact that with each successive treatment, the immune system is further weakened. Cancer is not an intelligent thing that knows how to "hit back." That is a statement I believe comes from not understanding the natural consequence of using only mainstream treatment and continuing to live one's life in the same way after the diagnosis of cancer as one did before, rather than make healthful changes.

Cancer is the result of a failure of the immune system to kill early stage cancer cells, and the immune system does not, simply for no reason, become weak enough to allow cancer to grow. There are reasons behind the development of cancer, and there are effective steps one can take to support and to rebuild the immune system so as to aid it in destroying the cancer and then keeping it in remission.

By Carol E Patterson

My story is one of a woman who survived cancer with alternative cancer treatment. When I was diagnosed with cancer the second time, all the visions of pain, medical procedures, doctors, waiting rooms and horrible sickness revived in my mind. My eyes swelled with tears as I thought of the worst. How could all of this be happening to me again? I had been diagnosed with throat cancer two years earlier and treated with the normal cancer cures of chemotherapy and radiation. The cancer went into remission. With my immune system down, I attracted an amoeba in my right eye causing blindness for almost a year plus I had a heart attack and heart surgery. I survived all of these trials and was getting well again, or so I thought.

I started to work professionally again after illness upon illness. However, one day I felt pain in my throat shooting up to my right ear again. I knew the signs and went straight to the oncologist for cancer treatment. The conjecture was that the newest cancer cures of Tomotherapy Radiation and Chemotherapy had not worked in my case. The doctors would treat the cancer again. However, this time the doctors prescribed what they termed as "salvage surgery." Just as the name might suggest, this surgery is very radical. The procedure entails removing a part of the right jaw and the neck artery, a part of the tongue, a part of the throat, removing the artery from the right hand to replace the neck artery, removing a patch if skin from the left shoulder to use skin to make a flap for the newly patched artery, insert a tracheotomy, and place a stomach tube for nourishment.

My face would have been deformed. My ability for speech would have changed and never be the same again. I would have lost my ability to swallow for a very long time, possibly forever, and I would be dependent on others to care for me. In my estimate, this was not a way I wanted to live the rest of my life; cancer or no cancer.

The first part of my journey was to get three professional opinions on fighting cancer from the top three surgeons in the world today. The three opinions came from:

1. University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville, Virginia where I had been treated for the first cancer treatment.

2. Loma Linda University in Loma Linda, California to their Top Oncology Center.

3. Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona to check out Trans Oral Micro Laser Surgery for Throat Cancer. This is a fairly new procedure done by only two renowned doctors in the world; one of them is at Mayo Clinic.

All of the doctors were in agreement that surgery was the only solution for my cure for cancer. Their surgical procedures differed slightly, but all agreed that chemotherapy and radiation had not worked. None of the suggested surgical procedures were minimalistic. My life would have drastically changed. My face would have a piece missing and I would never be able to look in the mirror again without crying.

I had to find a "miracle cancer cure." This is where my journey to alternative cancer treatment began. I read articles from doctors and cancer survivors alike where the body has incredible recuperative powers. I also read that "thoughts are things." I realized that I had thought myself into all of these illnesses. Simple logic would tell you "if I thought myself into all of these illnesses, then I can 'think' myself out of this 'dis-eased' state." I began to study and to search for a natural cancer cure. I also had to reach down inside my own being and analyze just what made me get cancer in the first place.

Another part of my journey was to begin to listen to my "inner self" and to be my own best friend. When you are faced with illness, and are busy going to doctors, you have very little time to sit and ponder why you got the illness. And yet, this very action is just as essential to your wellness as the medicine you take; in fact, possibly more essential.

I came to the realization that "cancer was just the symptom of something much deeper." Our mind is in control of both our conscious and subconscious actions. The brain runs the show. Have you ever questioned what your thoughts are giving "action signals" to your brain? What are we thinking in order to get ourselves sick with something as serious as cancer?

After making the decision to "turn down salvage surgery" I knew I needed to take another path to wellness; this time, the path to alternative medicine. Alternative cancer treatment is where my journey and where the story I have to tell others began. I have successfully cured myself of cancer, changed my life, and discovered why such a great percentage of people in the world today have cancer.

I have an incredible story to tell of how I cured my "self" of cancer. First of all, our food supply is being manufactured in such a way that it is poisoning millions of people slowly each day. There are very easy solutions to this problem. I followed a cancer diet cure which I have termed the "Anti-Cancer Diet" stressing strongly on cancer fighting foods. Being a gourmet and a "Foodie," I had to develop recipes which were not only anti-cancer foods, but also taste and look wonderful. Secondly, we all have environmental choices. If you smoke or are in a smoke-filled environment, you need to stop. Consider the consequences seriously. But more important than the others is "your mind." What is going on in your sub-conscious mind which enabled you to attract "dis-ease?" Thoughts are things, and you have attracted cancer to yourself. With some very simple exercises and "thought-changing" concepts, your cancer can be cured as well as any other illness.

Your body has a very strong recuperative power. You can "Cure Your 'Self' of Cancer" just the way I did. Alternative cancer cures are proving to people there is another way to rid ourselves of this dreaded disease named cancer. A healthy body, mind and spirit are possible even if you are deathly ill right at the moment. I am living proof to this fact. At a time when three of the top oncologists in the world today agreed that the only solution to my cancer diagnosis was radical "salvage surgery" I looked cancer in the eye and beat it. You can do this as well. It takes courage to educate you about alternative cancer cures. I believe my journey can be a lesson to others who are sick with cancer. Know that your cancer can be cured.