Diamonds in the Rough
Is it just a coincidence, or an exciting breakthrough in cancer research?
Loretta Hill believes it’s the latter.
Four years ago, Loretta was diagnosed with colon cancer. Surgery, radiation and chemotherapy controlled the cancer at first, but a few months later the cancer was back and had spread to her lungs. After additional surgery her oncologist offered little hope that any treatment would produce long-term survival.
Rather than proceed with a very expensive chemotherapy recommended by her oncologist, Loretta contacted a Pennsylvania physician named Vivienne Matalon, M.D., who treats cancer patients with vitamin C. Lillian began receiving high doses of vitamin C given intravenously – a method known as intravenous ascorbic acid (IAA). She still visits Dr. Matalon to receive 30 grams of C each week, although there are no signs that she currently has cancer.
So is it a coincidence that Loretta and others have overcome dire cases of cancer? Or are we on the verge of an important cancer treatment breakthrough?
It will probably not surprise you at all that many mainstream doctors and researchers want you to believe it’s just a coincidence.
Case after case
We can add Loretta Hill to our growing case file of cancer patients who have been successfully treated with IAA.
In the e-Alert “Good News” (5/24/06), a prostate cancer patient named Don Hemingway eloquently described how IAA brought his cancer under control without surgery, chemotherapy or radiation. And in the e-Alert “Just Getting Started” (4/11/06), I told you about three remarkable cases in which IAA was used to treat kidney tumors, bladder cancer and lymphoma.
Those latter three cases – reported in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) last spring – were all overseen by Dr. Hugh D. Riordan, founder and president of The Center for the Improvement of Human Functioning International (CIHFI). Both Mr. Hemingway and Katie Wernecke (the Texas girl with Hodgkin’s disease) have been treated at CIHFI.
The investigation of the three case studies in CMAJ was led by Mark Levine of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. In a recent interview in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Dr. Levine explained why he has come to focus his research on IAA for cancer while the medical mainstream largely ignores the issue. He notes that the American Cancer Society and other organizations dismiss IAA as a cancer-fighter because the vitamin is an antioxidant. The concern is that the therapy actually protects cancer cells from free radical damage.
But Dr. Levine believes that just the opposite is true. His lab studies have shown that when vitamin C reaches high concentrations it prompts production of hydrogen peroxide, a potent oxidizing agent that attacks cancer cells but leaves healthy cells undamaged.
Follow the money
Unfortunately, the mainstream closed the books on vitamin C cancer therapy when two studies conducted in the 1970s showed that the vitamin was ineffective in treating cancer. But both of those studies tested oral supplements of vitamin C. In recent years, researchers such as Dr. Riordan and Dr. Levine have demonstrated that the difference between oral C or intravenous C is like the difference between logging on to the Internet with dialup or DSL. Both dialup and oral C are useful, but they can’t do the important work that DSL and IAA can accomplish.
In the Inquirer article, Dr. Levine makes it clear that he’s not trying to prove to the world that IAA will revolutionize the treatment of cancer – he’s simply interested in putting IAA to the test. He says, “The goal is: Find what’s true.”
Simple enough, right? But he also notes that there’s “tremendous resistance” to mount significant clinical trials. Part of the resistance stems from the antioxidant issue mentioned above. But what Dr. Levine does not address is the powerful influence of the profit motive. Drug companies and oncologists will not be able to reap much in the way of profits from an IAA breakthrough. On the contrary, they’re more likely to lose a huge source of profits. So with cash cows in jeopardy, the mainstream has little interest in devoting millions of dollars to mount the necessary research.
“Information is diamonds.” That’s how Dr. Levine characterizes the importance of emerging case studies and other research that will hopefully spur major IAA research. And according to the Inquirer there is hope. Private funding will underwrite an upcoming University of Kansas trial that will test IAA on 30 patients with ovarian cancer. McGill University is also mounting an IAA trial with private funding.
Hmmm. Private funding. Now, if only there were a foundation funded by America’s two richest men
Sources:
“Vitamin C: Cancer Cure” Marie McCullough, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 6/18/06, philly.com
“Intravenously Administered Vitamin C as Cancer Therapy: Three Cases” Canadian Medical Association Journal, 3/28/06, cmaj.ca
“In Memory of Hugh D. Riordan, M.D. 1932-2005” orthomolecular.org
