{Or, Consider the Source. OR, Follow me Down This Worm Hole!
As I was weeding emails out of my insanely huge inbox (7,496 at last count -- email hoarder) I stumbled across a flagged email that my Auntie Jane sent me on March 29 of 2008, two years after my cancer diagnoses and almost exactly ten years ago with the subject "Cancer Update from John Hopkins." Wondering, for the first time since I studied, internalized, super seriously took it as gospel, and printed it out, “who wrote this list? Maybe it’s been updated by Johns Hopkins!” I looked it up. You probably know this: it's a hoax. Well, not “technicallly” a hoax, but Johns Hopkins, the medical center, never wrote it. So I took a trip down the Internet worm hole and found this great page on the real Johns Hopkins (note the plural "Johns") web site that lists the hoaxes and myths perpetrated in that list that I based a ridiculous amount of my post cancer, don’t get cancer again, habits.
Disclosure: Yes, I have believed some whacky ideas on what would cure my cancer. I also believed in other, some would say insane, reasons that I had cancer in the first place. At the time, I was grasping for anything that made sense, anything that could save me. The things you believe when you think you are going to die are literally all over the place. I drank clay. Mixed with water. In a glass. I listened to weird wellness tapes that sounded like gongs vibrating at increasingly annoying decibels. I sat next to my Aunt's vibe machine, hoping to get some kind of mysterious benefit. I did shots of fish oil.
Back to the email: The email attributed to “John Hopkins” (copied and pasted below) lists a treasure trove of the kind of advice many cancer patients and survivors and alternative health providers spread, gossip about, recommend, and sometimes aggressively preach (circa ten years ago and today). Trying to follow the instructions and recommendations of the hoax list to the letter could mentally paralyze even the most conscious shopper/eater/human. The real Johns Hopkins web site lists the truth (in JH's eyes and backed by their research) of each of the points in the email. If you read them both, you'll find enough similarities in content that it's easy to see why someone could believe that the email contains a whole bunch of truth.
My personal experience that even without consciously remembering the email (which isn't saying much as I can't remember what I ate for lunch today), I internalized much of what it says during the very beginnings of my treatment. I've often thought, over the last 10 years, "I should limit red meat -- gotta remember that Johns Hopkins list." We've all heard about microwaving plastics and cutting back on carbonated and sugary beverages and processed foods. And, yep, some of my western/conventional doctors prescribed me supplements. Did I believe that the supplements would CURE the cancer? Nah. Did I believe they would help me get well? Hell yeah. Granted, I had already treated depression with self-prescribed supplements and a radical diet change. And the changes I made in that instance were more in line with the moderate-sounding recommendations on the JH web site (yes, moderate-sounding is subjective, I know) than the hoax email. But as a patient, WITH CANCER, sometimes I felt that I couldn't afford to ignore even the most wacky-sounding advice.
Considering all of that (and even the Johns Hopkins list below is from 2007), I thought I'd ask the Internet about "current cancer protocols." As you can imagine, the first page is littered with natural cancer treatments that don't include any western intervention ("HOW I SURVIVED STAGE FOUR CANCER EATING ONLY BROCCOLI! Ok, I made that up, but you get the gist.) I have NO IDEA if any of these cancer stories are real or not. I know that there is big money being made in all different kinds of modalities. I know my Aunt June used all natural methods, and spent good money on a vibe machine. She then turned to conventional/Western medicine in the final days of her treatment.
Today, in 2018, I found, that if you look at a medical/cancer center's web page, they generally preach what they practice. Cancer Centers of America preaches integrative, which in their literature, is a combination of "Western" (chemo, radiation, genomics, hormone therapy) and "Eastern" (acupuncture, chiropractic care, mind-body, nutrition, etc). Their website does have a useful interactive chart on both conventional and supportive therapies. If you look at Cedars, or Johns Hopkins or Sloan-Kettering, you get the more conventional modalities explained. As I always say, if you go to a surgeon for your problem, they will want to cut it out. If you go to a chiropractor, they are not going to steer you towards a surgeon, they are going to align your body. Each human practitioner has their own speciality and hardly ever do they act as a triage nurse who, based on your myriad of symptoms, the causes, your personal wants, needs, medical history, and expectations links you up with a plan to implement the thousands of ideas, treatments, plans, protocols, and trials, and even practitioners you could use to fix whatever might ail you.
What I have found, and what my friends going through treatment have found, it's hard to find REAL stories about real people who do all of the things their doctors tell them and then do some of the things they read about and live. It seems that cancer stories are often limited to "the chemo and radiation killed her" or "after 24 days of drinking green juice and meditating, the tumor miraculously disappeared." I'm not doubting those stories are true. What I am looking for, and I know others are too, are the millions of stories in between. I like to think my book tells one story, my story. I would love more stories to be told.
Each human practitioner has their own speciality and rarely do they act as a triage nurse who, based on your myriad of symptoms, the causes, your personal wants, needs, medical history, and expectations links you up with a plan to implement the thousands of ideas, treatments, plans, protocols, and trials, and even practitioners you could use to fix whatever might ail you.
Back to Johns Hopkins. Their REAL list, from 2007 and based on the "World Cancer Research Fund - American Institute for Cancer Research report Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global Perspective" is transcribed below, for fun, so you can compare it's objective, moderate language with the more subjective, adamant and alarming language in the “hoax” email pasted below (and yes, in writing this, I'm bombarded with thoughts of our current fake news/real news national dialogue that shapes the way we get information or ignore information -- the more alarmist, the less true?). It's a good list.
THE REAL JOHNS HOPKINS LIST
Be as lean as possible without becoming underweight.
Be physically active for at least 30 minutes every day.
Avoid sugary drinks. Limit consumption of energy-dense foods (particularly processed foods high in added sugar, or low in fiber, or high in fat).
Eat more of a variety of vegetables, fruits, whole grains and legumes such as beans.
Limit consumption of red meats (such as beef, pork and lamb) and avoid processed meats.
If consumed at all, limit alcohol drinks to 2 for men and 1 for women a day.
Limit consumption of salty foods and foods processed with salt (sodium).
Don't use supplements to protect against cancer.
Find the real Johns Hopkins perspective and published literature on the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center web site: THE HOAX BUSTER LINK. The link leads to lengthy explainations of each claim in the fake email.
AND, THE HOAX EMAIL (below, in quotes and italics to emphasize its fakeness and that it was NOT written or distributed by Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center). Let's be clear: Johns Hopkins didn't write or send this email. They did create a web page that lists their truth, written in their language. Would it harm you if you followed what's in the hoax email? Depends. Should you NOT go through chemo/radiation/surgery based on this list? I think it would behoove you to find a doctor/practitioner to trust instead of an email with an undocumented source (It's all about the SOURCE and the DATE, people!).
The people at Science Blog on the Cancer Research UK web site does a bang up job of parsing the email and rebuttal with good information (dated 2015).
In rereading all of this I’m realizing that it isn’t the information in the fake email that’s the problem (the real JH web site says some of the same stuff is true, but in more of a medical lingo), it’s that the John Hopkins email wasn’t written by Johns Hopkins. If I let that little bit of big medicine conspiracy theorist inside me take over, I think to myself, “holy shit, they (Johns Hopkins) are just trying to cover their asses!” And, “Big medicine doesn’t want the alternative stuff to win because they don’t make any money off of it!” My real, rational, self, thinks that part of it is true. Yes, sugar feeds cancer. AND so many other health problems (just search “sugar and health” and you’ll be bombarded by lists of both news and scholarly articles on the subject of why all of us should cut down on sugar). One of my favorite bits about this entire controversy over the email is the detailed explanation that came out of Johns Hopkins had to write extensively on the claims that the fake email makes. If you read the fake email with a grain of salt (as you should read everything on the Internet), you will see that it’s an alarmist OR alternative medicine-oriented version of what Johns Hopkins recommends.
FAKE EMAIL (pasted exactly including weird spelling and type-os):
"GOOD stuff ...... from John Hopkins. Read it all.
AFTER YEARS OF TELLING PEOPLE CHEMOTHERAPY IS THE ONLY WAY TO TRY ('TRY',
BEING THE KEY WORD) TO ELIMINATE CANCER, JOHNS HOPKINS IS FINALLY STARTING
TO TELL YOU THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE WAY .
Cancer Update from Johns Hopkins :
1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show
up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When
doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their
bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the
cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size.
2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person's
lifetime.
3. When the person's immune system is strong the cancer cells will be
destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumors.
4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has multiple nutritional
deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, environmental, food and
lifestyle factors.
5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and
including supplements will strengthen the immune system.
6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells and also
destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastrointestinal
tract etc, and can cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs
etc.
7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages
healthy cells, tissues and organs.
8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumor
size. However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation do not result in
more tumor destruction.
9. When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation
the immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence the person can
succumb to various kinds of infections and complications.
10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become
resistant and difficult to destroy. Surgery can also cause cancer cells to
spread to other sites.
11. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not
feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply.
CANCER CELLS FEED ON:
a. Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important
food supply to the cancer cells. Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal,
Spoonful, etc. are made with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural
substitute would be Manuka honey or molasses but only in very small amounts.
Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in color. Better
alternative is Bra gg's aminos or sea salt.
b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the
gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and
substituting with unsweetened soy milk cancer cells are being starved.
c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic
and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken rather than beef or pork.
Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites,
which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer.
d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juic e, whole grains, seeds, nuts
and a little fruits help put the body into an alkaline environment. About
20% can be from cooked food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide
live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels
within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance growth of healthy cells. To obtain
live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice
(most vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3
times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F (40
degrees C).
e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine. Green tea is
a better alternative and has cancer fighting properties. Water-best to drink
purified water, or filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap
water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.
12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive
enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the intestines become putrified and
leads to more toxic buildup.
13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or
eating less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer
cells and allows the body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.
14. Some supplements build up the immune system (IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac,
anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, EFAs etc.) to enable the body's own
killer cells to destroy cancer cells. Other supplements like vitamin E are
known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body's normal method
of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or unneeded cells.
15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and
positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor. Anger, unforgi
veness and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment.
Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life.
16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising
daily, and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular
level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.
1. No plastic containers in micro.
2. No water bottles in freezer.
3. No plastic wrap in microwave.
Johns Hopkins has recently sent this out in its newsletters. This
information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as well.
Dioxin chemicals causes cancer, especially breast cancer. Dioxins are highly
poisonous to the cells of our bodies. Don't freeze your plastic bottles with
water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic. Recently, Dr.
Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program Manager at Castle Hospital , was on a TV
program to explain this health hazard. He talked about dioxins and how bad
they are for us. He said that we should not be heating our food in the
microwave using plastic containers. This especially applies to foods that
contain fat. He said that the combination of fat, high heat, and plastics
releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body.
Instead, he recommends using glass, such as Corning Ware, Pyrex or ceramic
containers for heating food. You get the same results, only without the
dioxin. So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc., should
be removed from the container and heated in something else. Paper isn't bad
but you don't know what is in the paper. It's just safer to use tempered
glass, Corning Ware, et! c. He re minded us that a while ago some of the
fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The
dioxin problem is one of the reasons.
Also, he pointed out that plastic wrap, such as Saran, is just as dangerous
when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the food is nuked,
the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic
wrap and drip into the food. Cover food with a paper towel instead.
This is an article that should be sent to anyone important in your life!"
———-
What do you think? Has current medical science and knowledge proved some of this to be true? Depends on who you ask. Every time I’m in a situation talking about cancer with a health care professional I hear an equal number of “if she wants In n’ Out after chemo, let her!” And, “even though there is no science to back it up, my patients who are on the blood type diet do very well.”
I will say that there are many things on the hoax list that I follow 90% of the time whether because of the original email or because of things I’ve learned recently and, for sure, because, I live in California, I had cancer, and the old, “might as well be safe.”
In the meantime, I’ve learned, exerrcise fixes everything! Especially mental fatigue caused by reading cancer survival advice! #goingforawalk
Find the real Johns Hopkins perspective and published literature on the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center web site: THE HOAX BUSTER LINK.
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