I have just started reading Kelly A. Turner’s book Radical Remission Surviving Camcer Against All Odds and it is a real thought-provoking, potential life changer. I admit, at first I only picked it up because it kept beating me out on the Amazon rankings…lol. But honestly, now I can’t put it down.

First of all, what the heck is radical remission? Radical remission is defined as any cancer remission that is statistically unexpected. That usually happens in one of three ways: 1) the cancer goes away without any conventional medicine 2) the patient tries conventional medicine, does not achieve remission and switches to alternative methods which do achieve remission 3) the patient uses conventional and alternative methods at the same time and outlives a particular dire prognosis( any cancer with less than 25 percent 5 year survival.

The book describes nine key factors that can make a real difference in healing. They are as follows:

Radically changing your diet

Taking control of your health

Following your intuition

Using herbs and supplements

Releasing suppressed emotions

Increasing Poaitive emotions

Embracing social support

Deepening your spiritual connection

Having strong reasons for living

I know. You are looking at this list going sure, whatever right? I did too, but then I kept on reading. This list did not come out of nowhere. Dr Turner spents ten months researching cases of radical remission all over the world and got their stories. She spoke to alternative healers and got their prospective on cancer. These were the nine key factors that played a role in all of their stories. I found myself thinking, this all sounds good, but how often does this really happen? Believe it or not, it happens more often than you think. There are a ton of cases just in her book alone. I think that we just don’t hear about them because a lot of physicians don’t want to raise false hope in their patients. I think this is the absolutely wrong approach and I also think that false hope is the wrong term amd not applicable here. The term false hope implies getting someone excited about something that is not possible and thus wasting their energies that could be directed elsewhere. Well hello! Radical remission is possible!

Of course, the book goes on to explain each factor in detail with examples. These are particularly fascinating as well, but beyond the scope of this blog. You jist need to get the book and check it out to be honest.

The element that impacted me the most was the common theme of being an active participant in directing your own health and paying attention to your body. You know the phrase ” gut feeling” or ” gut intuition?” There is really something to that.. Did you know that your gut/intestinal tract has its own nervous system that can respond to stimuli independently of the rest of your body? So when someone says that they have a feeling in the pit of their stomach, it’s a real thing! Listen to it! This is a concept that I have been emphasizing to patients for years. I am always encouraging patients to take control of their health and find ways to be positive and listen to their bodies. This is not me saying to fly in the face of anything your doctor tells you. I’m saying to find a balance between listening to your body, your physicians and your healers. I truly think that’s how I helped find my cancer and beat it. I not sure that I would have been brave/ foolish( I don’t know which is correct) to abandon all conventional therapy and attempt to heal myself like a lot of the patients in the book, but it is nonetheless empowering to hear that it is possible.

Dr. Katz