Cancer Causes and Cures: 
Blame vs. Empowerment

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
the courage to change the things I can;
and the wisdom to know the difference.
— Reinhold Niebuhr

Everyone is looking for a silver bullet to cure cancer. In my humble opinion, there will never be a single ‘cure’ as there is not a single ‘cause.’ I don’t use the word ‘cure’ because that implies it can’t come back. And I don’t like ‘cause’ because that implies that it alone can and will always result in cancer. Yet cancer causes and cures are inextricably intertwined.

My path has taken me far and wide on my journey with cancer and healing. I defied dire prognoses and am NEAD, in spite of tumors in my spine, pelvis, lungs, liver, lymph, and eventually brain. The brain metastases were leptomeningeal, which has a particularly poor survival rate. I employed intensive regimes of conventional cancer treatments (CCT) and naturopathic protocols and am firmly convinced I needed both… both times. Although CCT definitely contributed to my success, the western medical establishment cannot explain it. They are flabbergasted, dumbfounded, and at a loss to explain my miraculous ‘recovery.’ Since I have been actively involved in every step of my healing, I have come to my own conclusions about my reasons for getting cancer as well as why I have survived against all odds. It boils downs to three basic questions…

1. • What is cancer?
2. • Why do we get cancer?
3. • How can we control cancer?

What is cancer?

Cancer is a normal part of the aging process. Autopsies show microscopic cancers present in breasts in 40% of women 40-50, and in prostates in 50% of men 50-60. By age 70, microscopic cancers are detected in the thyroids of virtually everyone. Most tumors never become clinically significant.

Cancer is a natural evolution to a changing environment. It manifests from our bodies’ inability to deal with deviation that can give cancer the upper hand.

Cancer is a symptom of a system out of balance. One doesn’t ‘get’ cancer, it is something the body does in reaction to being out of balance. It ‘cancers’… a natural reaction to stimuli that threaten us. It’s trying to tell us something.

Cancer is a ‘seed’ that requires a fertile soil to grow in. Our bodies’ environment, or ‘bioterrain,’ can either be hospitable to cancer, or hostile to it.

Why do we get cancer?

There is no single cause. Rather, there are many factors that can combine to create a ‘perfect storm’ that allows cancer to thrive. Scientists estimate it takes five-ten mutations for healthy cells to become cancerous. Some are caused by toxins, such as UV rays and cigarettes. The devastating havoc we are wreaking on the planet on a macroscopic scale is manifesting on a microscopic scale in our bodies in the proliferation of chronic diseases. Others come from harmful molecules produced by cells themselves. Others from inherited mutations. Once cancer has been ‘born,’ three main biological factors contribute to the onset and progression of tumors: oxidative stress (free radicals), inflammation, and excessive sympathetic nervous system activity (stress).

Most cancers are avoidable and result from an immune system that has been overwhelmed by toxins. The simple reality is… if you have cancer, your immune system was not up to the task of protecting you from the bombardment of cancer cells that we all face every day. The British Medical Journal¹ estimated that 75 percent of most cancers are caused by environmental and lifestyle factors, including exposure to chemicals. The American Cancer Society² reports that nearly half of all cancer deaths can be blamed on unhealthy behavior. A study published in Nature³ concludes that extrinsic factors contribute more significantly to cancer risks than intrinsic factors.

The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) and the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) suggest that making simple lifestyle changes could prevent some 40 percent of breast cancers in Britain and US as well as tens of thousands of other cancers. In China, 620,000 cases per year, or 27% are preventable, as are about 35%, or 340,000, in the United States and 37 percent in Britain. Healthier lifestyles could prevent 61,000 cancers in Brazil and 79,000 in Britain.⁴ A study published in JAMA concluded that 20 to 90% of carcinoma cases and about half of carcinoma deaths (depending on population and type of cancer) can be potentially prevented through lifestyle modification.⁵

Carcinogens, pathogens, genetic mutations, hormones, and, yes, even emotions, can all be toxic. Genetics play a role, but the science of Epigenetics shows that genetics only express if other factors are favorable. It is possible to control factors that influence the on/off switch of some genes. Your diet, lifestyle, and environment are such factors.

We are surrounded by substances, including those hormones that emotions can foster, that have been shown in either a correlative or causal relationship with cancer. While one agent, such as a particular toxin or genetic mutation, may appear to be sufficient to cause cancer in some, we all know a story of some old lady who has chain-smoked all her life and never had cancer. Some conclude from that that smoking doesn’t cause cancer. Or that alcohol, sugar, pesticides, or any of the myriad substances that are said to cause cancer couldn’t possibly because they don’t in everybody.

Perhaps a better way to look at it is as a ‘toxicity threshold’ that is necessary to reach for cancer to thrive. And that the threshold varies from person to person, depending on genetics, diet, strength of their immune system, etc. If person A has a genetic mutation making them susceptible to cancer and they smoke, drink alcohol and eat a diet high in processed food and lead a high-stress lifestyle without relieving that stress and ingest pesticides and other carcinogens, then the likelihood that they will pass the toxicity threshold will be higher than person B who has the same genetic predisposition to cancer but does not share the same environmental or lifestyle exposures. Person A will have created a bioterrain where cancer can thrive, and it most likely will.

On the other hand, if person C has a genetic mutation that actually protects against cancer but they indulge in an unhealthy, toxic lifestyle, they may be more likely to ‘cancer,’ in spite of the genetic protection, than Person D who has the same protection but supports their immune system through diet and lifestyle.

In addition to environmental toxins, reproductive and stress hormones and pathogens such as viruses and bacteria can contribute to creating a bioterrain that is receptive to cancer. All these factors can suppress the immune system, inhibiting our bodies’ natural ability to keep the invader at bay. Think of our immune system as our ‘forcefield’ and cancer as a Klingon warship and all these genetic mutations, environmental toxins, imbalanced hormones, stress, and other toxic substances are capable of combining to disable our forcefield.

The Klingons (cancer) are constantly bombarding that forcefield and most of the time the blasts explode outside the forcefield, causing no harm. But as soon as the forcefield weakens and a blast gets through, the forcefield is damaged further, more missiles get through, and it’s a spiral into destruction.

No two people get cancer for the same reason. We all have our own perfect storm. Everyone goes out of balance in different ways for different reasons. If you have cancer, the key is to discover the perfect storm that contributed to your cancer. You are best qualified to do that. My perfect storm (see Whatever Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Strong) consisted of a genetic predisposition to iron overload, a chronic infection from a root canal suppressing my immune system, and allowing stress to take over, among other factors. Addressing factors in my perfect storm using both western medicine and naturopathic protocol has played a major role in my recovery.

How can we control cancer?

I’ve been using metaphors here willy-nilly…. bioterrains, perfect storms, toxicity thresholds, Star Trek space battles. Let me tie them all together…

Reaching a toxicity threshold can contribute to a perfect storm
that creates a bioterrain that weakens the forcefield which allows the
cancer we are bombarded with every day to penetrate and thrive.

Our bodies are perfectly designed to do their job… achieve homeostasis under every condition it faces. But we have to empower it, not shackle it. Like most dis-ease states, cancer manifests when a number of factors contribute to a body’s systems becoming overwhelmed and out of balance.

Cancer survives in three ways… by outsmarting apoptosis (the body’s natural programmed cell death mechanisms), by creating its own blood supply to feed tumors (angiogenesis), and by colonizing other parts of the body (metastasis… nobody dies from cancer in the breast, we die when it travels to vital organs). Our own immune system and many naturopathic remedies fight all three of these strategies by stimulating apoptosis (denuding the cancer of its strategy to hide from the immune system), and inhibiting angiogenesis and metastasis. In essence… starving the little bastard, making it commit suicide, and instituting a ‘travel ban.’ I can’t think of more appropriate ways for it to die. : )

We must convert our bioterrains from one that is hospitable to cancer to one that is hostile to cancer. All treatments that work are doing just that… whether western medicine or naturopathic (chemotherapy, radiation, changes to diet and lifestyle, focusing on emotional wellness, etc.)

We start by identifying the factors in our own perfect storms and working to reverse the conditions. To the extent ingested toxins or toxic lifestyles are factors in that perfect storm, let’s get those accumulated and accumulating toxins below the threshold. If nutritional deficiencies or hormonal imbalances are factors, let’s balance them all. To the extent the immune system has been weakened, let’s remove the contributing factors and boost it.

Chemo and radiation will destroy the incoming missiles and kill some of the aliens that made it through but we can’t repair the ship until we get that forcefield back up. Hopefully, the above measures will repair the forcefield. And we should ingest non-toxic, cancer killers to kill the invaders that made it through.

As I said, making the bioterrain hostile to cancer is what western medicine is trying to do. The problem is when it becomes too toxic for the healthy cells and systems too. Almost every friend I’ve lost (dozens) succumbed to the western toxins before cancer had a chance to kill them. So, we must also support our body naturopathically to survive the toxins, if we choose to employ them in our protocols. This hybrid approach worked for me… against all odds.

As I’ve said, I had so many tumors, in so many places, I needed massive amounts of chemo and radiation to ‘blast the barnacles off the hull.’ But I don’t believe I would have survived that massive onslaught of toxins had I not also detoxified and nutritionally supported my body while boosting my immune system and ingesting non-toxic cancer killers that helped the chemo do its job. The six principles of my protocol helped me to help my body to heal.

Blame vs. Empowerment

We’re all doing the best we can with the tools at our disposal.
Growth comes with developing new tools. – Me

My message is not about blame, it is about empowerment. Blame, denial, and anger do not serve you in your quest to heal. It is bad news that we are exposed to so many toxins and that many of them are beyond our control. It is good news that we can get rid of them and take control of our own healing.

We can help our bodies to achieve homeostasis and heal. Our poor little bodies that have carried us this far need us to be kind to them. That includes loving ourselves and not beating ourselves up for being human. They will forgive us our sins of the past. It’s not about things you did that were ‘wrong’ that ‘caused’ cancer. Or that you ‘didn’t do enough’ so you died. I do not choose to feel bad about choices I have made but to feel empowered to cleanse my body of toxins and boost my immune system to help my body to heal going forward… only good things can come from taking charge of my healing.

I walk the line between western and naturopathic protocols because I employed both and firmly believe I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t. If I had listened only to my doctors, I would be dead… even they admit that. Walking that area of overlap between two worlds makes me a target from both sides… the western side may think the naturopathic stuff is a bunch of hooey and the natural side may think I sold out by having chemo and radiation. All I can do is honor others’ paths and hope they honor mine.

The truth remains… no one on either side entertained the possibility that I would be alive two months later, let alone seven years. Or that I would walk again, let alone be NEAD. As I travel this hallway between two worlds, I am not trying to throw open the doors and drag people kicking and screaming into the hall with me. But I am trying to nudge closed doors open, letting thoughts, beliefs, and ideas from both waft into the corridor to intermingle and penetrate the dark space so that people can make empowered decisions about their path.

It matters not if you agree with me or follow my path. If you are looking for a guru to tell you what to do and who to be, I’m not your girl. Truth: I hold no absolute truths to the universe. I am a deeply flawed human being. Truth: I do feel I found the right path for ME. I’m ALIVE (cue maniacal laughter). In Whatever Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Strong, I shared the excruciating details of my struggles to find that path in the hope that it will encourage you to believe that your truths lie within yourself and to seek them out.

I am not interested in being ‘right.’ I’m all about believing in your indomitable spirit and innate wisdom to know what’s best for you. All I can do for you is to communicate that belief, encourage you to believe in yourself, wake you to your wisdom, and provide some raw materials for you to ply that wisdom on. I tell my story and share the info I do to give you hope in your own ability to access knowledge, develop your tools, identify the factors in your perfect storm, consult your higher healing self, and choose your path.

My truth is most likely not your truth. I share mine in the hope it helps you find yours. If something I say rings true to you, study & adopt it. If not, reject it. I won’t be offended. I want you to question anything and everything I say. Feel free to judge me if it helps you to find your path. If you disagree with something I’ve done or said, good for you! That means you are thinking about things and are in tune with and have confidence in yourself. My work is done.

But if that judgment closes your mind to possibilities that may help you heal, then it doesn’t serve you. Unless you’ve been told you are dying soon and science has nothing to offer you, you don’t really get to judge me. If you have gone through that, you totally get to judge me. In fact, let’s have lunch, compare notes, and make a toast. Maybe we can inspire a clinical trial.

This book is full of my dids and didn’ts. It is tempting to interpret them as shoulds and shouldn’ts but I leave that to you to decide. I’m not preaching to you. Preachy cancer gurus are really annoying to me, especially when they profess to hold the absolute truths to the universe. I respect your path. You know best what is right for you. Knowledge is power. I want you to feel empowered. I want you to believe in the path you have chosen and to own your own power. Bless you all on the path you choose.

Torn between fighting to create my own destiny
and accepting what will be with grace,
I have chosen to walk the path of the graceful warrior.
— Me

1. How strong is the evidence of a link between environmental chemicals and adverse effects on human reproductive health? (British Medical Journal)
2. Nearly half of U.S. cancer deaths blamed on unhealthy behavior (American Cancer Society)
3. Substantial contribution of extrinsic risk factors to cancer development (Nature)
4. Simple Life changes could stop millions of cancers.
5. Preventable Incidence and Mortality of Carcinoma Associated With Lifestyle Factors Among White Adults in the United States. 

This post is from Book 2 of my Thrive Tribe Series, What I Did and Do and Why, a naturopathic protocol that helps me to survive and thrive, available from the bookstore, starting at $7. The book will be posted sequentially in its entirety on this blog, once a week. Subscriptions are free.

A Cancer causes and cures. B Cancer causes and cures. C Cancer causes and cures. D Cancer causes and cures. E Cancer causes and cures. F Cancer causes and cures. G Cancer causes and cures. H Cancer causes and cures.