Michael's story

Dear Jane,

I am writing to thank you most sincerely for your help in Michael's recovery from prostate cancer.

Michael had been getting up in the night for many years, which didn't particularly bother him. He went periodically to have his prostate checked, and his PSA taken. He had a quadruple coronary bypass in 2004, but in other respects, seemed extremely fit and healthy. The amount of fat in his diet bothered me, but even after the bypass, he was not happy about changing his diet significantly.

In the late summer, early autumn of 2006, things rapidly changed. His nightly trips to the toilet became increasingly frequent, and even during the day, the need to urinate became frequent, and urgent. In the end, he was getting up as many as eighteen times a night, and was unable to be more than ten minutes from the nearest toilet, as any delay in urinating would cause him extreme pain. He went into retention in October, and was fitted with a catheter. His PSA at the time was 6.3. He had a TURPs (an operation for benign prostate enlargement) on December 28th, 2006.

The biopsy taken during the operation showed that Michael had a Gleason 8 (very aggressive) prostate cancer: in other words, a cancer that spreads quickly, and metastasizes easily. Michael was in shock, and unable, initially, to accept the seriousness of the diagnosis. The medically oriented books I began to read were frightening, given Michael's high Gleason score, and with his permission, I asked our GP what his chances were. She gave me no hope at all.

I started reading everything I could lay my hands on about the subject, to try to find something that would give him a greater chance. We started to do a visualisation from a book by a radiologist, O. Carl Simonton, called "Getting Well Again". Michael had a bladder very weakened by the retention, and a very persistent urine infection, -he had had it for several months, - which had sabotaged two previous attempts to get him off the catheter. A few days after we had begun the visualisation, we visited our GP, to ask for another dose of antibiotics. She said he did not really need one, as there was plenty of white blood cell activity, and the infection had nearly gone! A week after beginning the visualisation, he succeeded in coming off the catheter. We have continued with the visualisation ever since, adapting it to Michael's needs. We got permission to do our T.M. (an easy form of meditation) three times a day, instead of the usual two, and do the visualisation immediately after the meditation, to get it as deep into the mind as possible.

We had to wait a minimum of six weeks before any medical action was taken about the cancer, as Michael had just had an operation. By mid-January, Michael's PSA was up to 8.7. The oncologist, whom we met for the first time in mid-February, revised our GP's prediction, saying that provided the cancer had not spread, or had spread only just outside the prostate, he had about a fifty percent chance. She put him straight onto long-term hormone therapy (Prostap). His bone scan was clear. The MRI scan showed the cancer to be locally advanced. It had invaded the seminal vesicles, with possible very slight involvement of two lymph nodes.

On March 28th 2007, seven weeks after beginning hormone treatment, Michael's PSA was down to 0.3. However, I became increasingly aware that relying just on visualisation to increase his chances was very, very risky. Some people have cured themselves that way, but most people have difficulty getting the visualisation deep enough into their minds to have a really significant effect. We therefore changed our diet in early April, although I did not find your support website until you told me about it, in September. Michael really appreciates good food, and made heavy weather of the diet change. However, we persisted. It is much easier now Michael is used to the diet, and now we can ask you if we have a query. I am sure that diet has played an extremely important role in Michael's recovery.

In August, after radiotherapy to the whole pelvic area, the urologist wanted his PSA checked, to see if it had started rising yet. It came back as below 0.1 (too low to record the exact figure). It has stayed that way for the past six months. While Michael still has to come off the hormones, we think he has beaten his cancer, -and it seems that the Oncology department at our local hospital think so, too. On February 11th, 2008, the doctor there kept saying that the various test results were perfect . He told us that there was no sign whatsoever of any problem, and that he thought it was a good time for Michael to kick up his heels and celebrate!

Thank you, Jane. Thank you very, very much indeed.

Update, September 2008

Michael's PSA has now been below 0.1 for a year! Because of this he has switched to Jane's maintenance diet, which gives him a little more choice of meals. Medical personnel dealing with Michael's case are showing considerable interest in the diet which has led to this remarkable PSA in a man who was diagnosed with a Gleason 8!

Thank you, Jane, -thank you!

... Other success stories

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