Two days before Mary Rust’s mother died of cancer after four years of intermittent conventional treatment, she said to her 22 year old daughter; “Mary, this isn’t the way to cure cancer. There has to be another way. A way that the body can heal itself.”
When Mary then contracted breast cancer at the age of 36, she responded with a whole host of life changes, the mainstay of which was exercise, and no chemo or surgery. She decided; “I’ve got to find a way to live, which led me to treatments to love and support my body rather than tear them down. I wanted to see what my body could do if I loved and supported it. I said, let’s at least give it a try.”
Because of that her two young boys saw a very different face of cancer than the one she had seen with their grandmother. “They never saw Mom get sick with cancer, so they have an entirely different perspective and baseline for what cancer means.”
That is so important for us all to hear. We need this reframe. We need a shift to seeing cancer as a wake-up call to live life differently.
“There’s the host, which is the person hosting the disease, and there’s the disease, the pathology. The idea is to become the most inhospitable host to cancer possible.” This from Glenn Sabin, the other radical remission survivor, who was diagnosed with “incurable” leukaemia at the age of 28. He too decided on a regimen of healthy lifestyle and a variety of exercise disciplines.
Dean Ornish MD: “All of the biological mechanisms that promote chronic diseases; chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, changes in telomeres, in gene expression, in the microbiome and so on, exercise improves. So whatever mechanism you look at, when you exercise it gets better. So that’s really the bottom line.”
It’s nothing new to hear that exercise is good for us. But the science behind it is getting the attention of the medics.
Dawn Lemanne MD, “There’s a difference in what different types of exercise do to your pathology.”
You need a well-rounded program, regular and consistent for mental and physical well-being when faced with a chronic disease. This has been proven to oxygenate cells, shift hormones and ultimately uplift mood. It is enormously beneficial for a healthy mental state as well as a vibrant physical state.
Keith Block, MD “There is breast cancer data that dates back. It shows that if you exercise patients 3-5 hours per week, you can cut breast cancer related mortality IN HALF.”
“When I was trained we were told that patients who were undergoing treatment for cancer care needed to rest. It made no sense to me whatsoever. Atrophy hurts your immune system so maintaining muscle is critical.”
“We now encourage patients to spend 10-20 minutes getting some aerobic activity either immediately before coming in or once they are in the clinic. We know that this will cut acute toxicity by more than half. A lot of the symptoms and side effects that I’ve seen over the last several decades with patients all dissipate if you can get them to do a bit of aerobic activity before you start running their drugs.”
Cut to a visual of a woman hooked up to her chemo iv, walking on a treadmill. Now THAT got my attention.
The antithesis to my experience of being lined-up around a room on recliners as passive recipients of something to cure us.
We are told that even deep breathing is a form of exercise; something everyone can do. A light walk around the house, building to getting out around the block. It doesn’t have to be hard and it has such enormous paybacks.
I knew exercise was a good idea when I was going through my chemotherapy, and I walked one mile per day or gently bounced on a rebounder. But I didn’t know exactly why. Had I known the data behind it, I would have approached it with more of that vital ingredient of hope and conviction which probably would have uplifted my mood all the more.
I’m off for a walk now. You?
Emma
This is one in a series of opinion pieces on Dr Kelly Turner’s docu-series, Radical Remission. This in no way is intended as a replacement for watching the series or for reading her NY Times bestselling book of the same title. I strongly encourage you to investigate her research and support her projects.
https://kelly-turner.com