The word “cancer” was translated by Celsus (28 BC – 50 AD) from the Greek term, “carcinos”.  Hippocrates first developed the word, “carcinos” to describe growths and chronic ulcers and it is not known if what he was describing at that time is the same as what we now call ‘cancer’.

But, “cancer”, like all diagnoses are only names of processes that the body is undergoing to maintain balance and health (homeostasis).  In fact, the chemicals (cytokines) produced by “cancer” and the chemicals produced by healing wounds are basically the same; they stimulate new blood vessel growth (angiogenisis) and tissue proliferation.  That’s a really good and necessary process for healing wounds but it’s not so good if it is a tumor or other forms of cancer.

This is the reason why “cancer” has previously been referred to as, “the wound that wouldn’t heal”.  The only reason that a wound will not heal is if whatever caused the wound to occur in the first place continues to occur or if the body is too overwhelmed to heal because of a lack of energy and raw materials (nutrients) to replace old cells and build new ones OR if there are too many different “attacks” on the body from trauma, poisoning and other environmental conditions.

Clearly, what we call, “cancer” then, is our body’s extraordinary effort to keep us alive.  In fact, all that the body ever does is attempt to maintain balance and function.  With this in mind, one realizes that to “go to war against cancer” is to go to war against our body’s attempt to resolve a problem.  It really makes no sense and, in fact, it is also clear that this method of dealing with cancer is based on the false premise (belief) that “cancer” is a “thing” that is in our body and that we must “kill” it.

What really must happen is that we must eliminate the reasons that are causing the body to go through these processes, provide the appropriate nutrition and eliminate tumor(s) in such a way that we don’t harm the body’s ability to heal.

Thomas Lodi, MD
Internal Medicine
Homeopathic Physician
Metabolic Medicine
Integrative Oncology
Certified Nutrition Specialist

View the original article here

Joan Valentine - A Foundation for Natural Cures, Inc. - Provides education and integrative medicine solutions to those suffering from cancer and their families.

Part 1, It will provide you with the information you need to accurately assess the risks and benefits of any treatment and speak intelligently to your doctor about such treatments. There is also a section on the ‘Cancer Industry’ which explains the history behind cancer treatments, the suppression of alternative treatments and why chemotherapy, radiation and surgery are the only treatments available to mainstream medicine.

Part 2, Healing Cancer, shows how cancer can be successfully healed with dietary treatments and natural supplementation. It explains common misconceptions about cancer, shows how diets designed to fight cancer are more successful than conventional treatments, discusses startling cancer research findings with T. Colin Campbell (The China Study) and has interviews with people who have reversed cancers using diet. It also discusses supplementation and why attitude is important in reversing not only cancer, but any disease.

Participants include: T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. (The China Study), Brian Clement, Ph.D. (Hippocrates Health Institute), Brenda Cobb (The Living Foods Institute), Mirea Ellis (The Kushi Institute), Charlotte Gerson (The Gerson Institute), Matt Lederman, M.D. (Transition to Health, Inc.), Thomas Lodi, M.D. (An Oasis of Healing), John A. McDougall, M.D. )Dr. McDougall’s Health & Medical Center), and many more…

Now on Netflix
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Healing_Cancer/70095421?trkid=912834

Joan Valentine - A Foundation for Natural Cures, Inc. - Provides education and integrative medicine solutions to those suffering from cancer and their families.

By Neal D. Barnard, MD
Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine
President of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington, DC

Author of The Cancer Survivor’s Guide: Foods that help you fight back!

Dr. Neal D. Barnard appeared on Dr. Oz on January 5, 2012 and writes how people can lessen their chance of developing stomach cancer.

Stomach cancer strikes about one million people each year. It is especially common in other parts of the world – in Asia, in particular – and it was something we thought we did not have to worry about in the US. However, recent reports have uncovered a disturbing new trend – a surprising rise in stomach cancer rates among young people in the US.

Stomach cancer often goes undetected. There is no lump to feel and nothing that might show up on an X-ray. By the time it is found, usually with a look into the stomach through an endoscope, it can be very hard to treat.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that food choices can protect you. Some foods reduce the risk that stomach cancer could strike. Other foods are harmful, and we now know which ones they are.

Cancer-Fighting Foods

Citrus fruits. It’s no secret that oranges, tangerines and clementines bring us vitamin C; they are among the richest sources of this critical vitamin. Vitamin C does more than help you fight colds. It is also a cancer-fighter. Vitamin C knocks out free radicals, dangerous compounds that arise as a part of body metabolism. Just as cars produce exhaust and factory chimneys release smoke, the chemical reactions in your body produce free radicals that can damage DNA. And DNA damage is the first step in the cancer process. Vitamin C shields you, neutralizing free radicals as they form.

If you were thinking you might have to eat a bushel-full of oranges to protect yourself against cancer, it’s actually much simpler. Just one a day provides measurable benefit.

Citrus fruits also contain lesser-known nutrients, called flavonoids, that inhibit cancer cells from being able to invade your healthy body tissues. Flavonoids are not in the main part of the fruit – you’ll find them in the peel. Adding a little orange zest to your salad does not just make it pretty, it makes it healthier, too. So, citrus fruits help in two ways. Their vitamin C stops cancer from starting in the first place, and their flavonoids inhibit any existing cancer cells from harming you.

Carrots. That bright orange color seen in carrots is beta-carotene, a powerful antioxidant. It knocks out free radicals, just as vitamin C does. In fact, the two work as a team. Vitamin C patrols the blood stream, neutralizing free radicals it finds there, while beta-carotene guards the surface of each cell.

Sweet potatoes. These are also rich in beta-carotene, as you can see by their orange hue. But they have another secret ingredient called caffeic acid. No, it is not related to caffeine, coffee or cappuccinos. Caffeic acid cuts off the blood supply to growing tumors.

Allium vegetables. Garlic is an allium vegetable. Ditto for onions, shallots, leeks and scallions. As they sit in produce department bins, they have very little scent. But if you were to take a garlic clove and crush it on your cutting board, its intense aroma quickly emerges. That’s allicin. Allicin is a cancer fighter. It forms from natural compounds in the garlic plant that are separated from each other until it is crushed.

You do not have to eat the whole knob of garlic. Even a clove or two of garlic each day has health benefits. But be careful – crush the garlic first and wait about ten minutes before cooking it to allow the allicin to form. If you are impatient and cook it too soon after crushing, you’ll stop allicin formation prematurely.

Citrus fruits, carrots, sweet potatoes and vegetables from the garlic-family will go a long way toward helping you prevent stomach cancer. But there is even more you can do to protect yourself.

Harmful Foods to Avoid

Processed meat. Meats that are preserved by curing, smoking or the addition of nitrites are called “processed meats,” a group that includes sausage, bacon, ham, bologna, and, yes, even typical hot dogs. They are strongly linked to digestive-tract cancers, including stomach cancer.

While many doctors usually advise ”moderation,” many are now saying that we should avoid processed meats completely, because the evidence linking them to cancer is so convincing. This is especially true for children.

Salty foods. The body needs only a tiny amount of salt for normal body processes, but many of us get far more salt than we need. In excess, salty foods are linked to stomach cancer. Go easy on potato chips, cheese, salty canned products, and the salt shaker.

Helicobacter pylori. The last thing to avoid is not a food, but a bacteria called Helicobacter pylori (H pylori). This common bacteria can lead to gastritis and ulcers. Many people have it in North America and worldwide. Doctors can easily test you for H pylori, and if you have it, can knock it out with a short course of antibiotics.

Joan Valentine - A Foundation for Natural Cures, Inc. - Provides education and integrative medicine solutions to those suffering from cancer and their families.

Medical Medium Anthony William and Joan Valentine Foundation Founder Dianne Burnett share ideas and thoughts about cancer at her Malibu home.

A meeting of the minds took place at the home of Dianne Burnett, where several experts with an average of 26 years of experience in the health care and cancer fields, gathered to share information pertaining to the latest advancements, their knowledge and ideas.

“We’re showing the new health care model,” said Dr. Janet Hranicky, who has led the longest running Psychological Intervention Program for cancer in the world. “We’re not waiting for somebody else to create it. We’re creating it altogether and to me that’s the exciting part about it. Instead of trying to change other organizations and create resistance, let’s go with the excitement of what we know.”

Dr. Hranicky spoke her thoughts to Medical Medium Anthony William, who for over 20 years has devoted his life to helping people heal and overcome illness and disease, Dr. Brian Clement, who has spent more than three decades studying nutrition and natural healthcare and is Co-Director at Hippocrates, and Burnett, the Founder of Joan Valentine,  A Foundation for Natural Cures, Inc.

Dr. Steven Small, a pioneer in holistic health, was also on hand to present CyberSpace Professional, a device from Germany that can detect cancer and other diseases plus offer groundbreaking treatments.

“The reports I’ve gotten back from Germany is they’re treating all types of cancer with this device,” said Small, the machine’s only distributor in North America. “I’m like everybody else; I like to kick the tires.”

The device also does chakra therapy and meridian balancing. “The Germans like to say it’s like comparing a Ford to a Mercedes,” Small said, referring to similar machines that have become available over the years.

After Small told of CyberScan Professional’s abilities, Dr. Clement invited Small to West Palm Beach in April 2012 to demonstrate how the machine works to health care professionals.

“Our founder (Ann Wigmore) would be very proud of this (day),” said Clement, the Co-Director of Hippocrates Health Institute, a leader in the field of natural and complementary healthcare and education. Hippocrates is headquartered in West Palm Beach, Fla., and its philosophy is founded on the belief that a vegan, living, enzyme-rich diet — complemented by exercise, positive thinking and non-invasive therapies — are integral to optimum health.

“What we’re doing is revolutionizing methodologies in health care,” Clement said. “We literally have no reason to wait for everyone to create a new health care system. We’ve created the new health care system and in our case for more than half of a century we’ve done clinical research on hundreds of thousands of people.

“We’re bringing together what we know works, not speculation. We’re not testing. We’re not doing anything that hasn’t been substantially documented and proven with human beings – not on computer and not on profiles. When we combine the mind, electronic technology today, the diet that’s a pure diet that literally raises the bio frequency in the cell as well as rebuilds the biology of the cell there is no disease in the world that you cannot address. We’ve had tens of thousands of people reverse catastrophic diseases.

Dr. Brian Clement of Hippocrates Health Institute listens as Dr. Janet Hranicky makes her point about cancer.

The three questions to ask

Clement says he believes anyone who wants to get well today has the great potential to do so. He suggests they ask three basic questions to their health care professional:

• How much experience do you have as health care professional or doctor?
• How many people have you literally seen recover from diseases?
• Do you have a plan to watch me and help me for the rest of my life?

Hippocrates, Clement notes, counsels its graduates free of charge.

“There is no need to die from a disease,” Dr. Clement says. “A disease to me is a matter of you’ve given up in your life because you’re not happy. It’s a way to commit suicide without jumping off a bridge. So don’t let a disease bring you down. Bring yourself up so that you can conquer disease and that’s our objective.”

Burnett, who launched the foundation in honor of her mother after her mother’s diagnosis with esophageal cancer, told Dr. Clement, “I love that philosophy only because I had the experience with my mother of going to the top cancer center, Sloan-Kettering, in New York. “I remember appointment after appointment, we would show up. My mother would be a number and she would have to sit in an office, as ill as she was, going through an hour of questioning all of the time. She was always going through the same routine and wasn’t treated as a person. She was Joan Minerva and 100 questions time and time again.

“They would totally squash any feelings of hope that you were going to get better. They basically said, ‘Get yourself in order. The family needs to prepare’ and that was it from the first diagnosis.”

That’s one reason William, the medical medium, isn’t high on those places that are considered the best in their cities.

“If someone is going to go to a conventional physician,” William says, “sometimes I like them going to an old, conventional horse doctor in a country town way off in the distance and 85 years old. Sometimes that’s better off than being at the best medical center.”

Joan Valentine - A Foundation for Natural Cures, Inc. - Provides education and integrative medicine solutions to those suffering from cancer and their families.

Cancer Update from Johns Hopkins :

1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size.

2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person’s lifetime.

3. When the person’s immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumors.

4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, but also to environmental, food and lifestyle factors.

5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet to eat more adequately and healthy, 4-5 times/day and by including supplements will strengthen the immune system.

6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastrointestinal tract etc, and can cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.

7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs.

8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumor destruction.

9 When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb to various kinds of infections and complications.

10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy. Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other sites.

11. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply.

*CANCER CELLS FEED ON:
a. Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc are made with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute would be Manuka honey or molasses, but only in very small amounts. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in color Better alternative is Bragg’s aminos or sea salt.

b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and substituting with unsweetened soy milk cancer cells are being starved.

c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little other meat, like chicken. Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer.

d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance growth of healthy cells. To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C).

e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine Green tea is a better alternative and has cancer fighting properties. Water-best to drink purified water, or
filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.

12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the intestines becomes putrefied and leads to more toxic
buildup.

13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the body’s killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.

14. Some supplements build up the immune system (IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, EFAs etc.) to enable the bodies own killer cells to destroy
cancer cells.. Other supplements like vitamin E are known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body’s normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted or unneeded cells.

15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor. Anger, un-forgiveness and bitterness put
the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life.

16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.

1. No plastic containers in micro.
2. No water bottles in freezer.
3. No plastic wrap in microwave..

Johns Hopkins has recently sent this out in its newsletters. This information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as well. Dioxin chemicals cause cancer, especially breast cancer. Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies. Don’t freeze your plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic. Recently, Dr Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program Manager at Castle Hospital, was on a TV program to explain this health hazard. He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us. He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers. This especially applies to foods that contain fat. He said that the combination of fat, high heat, and plastics releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body. Instead, he recommends using glass, such as Corning Ware, Pyrex or ceramic containers for heating food. You get the same results, only without the dioxin. So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated in something else. Paper isn’t bad but you don’t know what is in the paper. It’s just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc. He reminded us that a while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper The dioxin problem is one of the reasons.

Please share this with your whole email list…

Also, he pointed out that plastic wrap, such as Saran, is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food. Cover food with a paper towel instead.

This is an article that should be sent to anyone important in your life.

Joan Valentine - A Foundation for Natural Cures, Inc. - Provides education and integrative medicine solutions to those suffering from cancer and their families.

Posted by: admin on: January 17 2011

Since inception of Dr. Kelley’s site in the year 2000, one of our focuses has been on the poisonous use of Fluoride in our drinking water. Dr. Kelley’s history with (and against) fluoridation of our drinking water in America, is widely noted, and because of it, we continue to warn our readers of said dangers.

Dartmouth University wrote in 2001:
In a recent article in the journal NeuroToxicology, a research team led by Roger D. Masters, Dartmouth College Research Professor and Nelson A. Rockefeller Professor of Government Emeritus, reports evidence that public drinking water treated with sodium silicofluoride or fluosilicic acid, known as silicofluorides (SiFs), is linked to higher uptake of lead in children.
Sodium fluoride, first added to public drinking water in 1945, is now used in less than 10% of fluoridation systems nationwide, according to the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) 1992 Fluoridation Census. Instead, SiF’s are now used to treat drinking water delivered to 140 million people. While sodium fluoride was tested on animals and approved for human consumption, the same cannot be said for SiFs.

Masters and his collaborator Myron J. Coplan, a consulting chemical engineer, formerly Vice President of Albany International Corporation, led the team that has now studied the blood lead levels in over 400,000 children in three different samples. In each case, they found a significant link between SiF-treated water and elevated blood lead levels.
“We should stop using silicofluorides in our public water supply until we know what they do,” said Masters. Officials at the Environmental Protection Agency have told Masters and Coplan that the EPA has no information on health effects of chronic ingestion of SiF-treated water.

Also requiring further examination is German research that shows SiFs inhibit cholinesterase, an enzyme that plays an important role in regulating neurotransmitters.

“If SiFs are cholinesterase inhibitors, this means that SiFs have effects like the chemical agents linked to Gulf War Syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome and other puzzling conditions that plague millions of Americans,” said Masters. “We need a better understanding of how SiFs behave chemically and physiologically.”

Here is Masters’ scientific paper on SiFs (also called “fluosilicic acid” and “fluorosilicic acid“).
Where does this compound come from?

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Toxicology Program, reported in 2001:
Sodium hexafluorosilicate is produced by treating fluorosilicic acid with sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate, or sodium chloride; alkalinity is adjusted to avoid the release of the fluoride. Fluorosilicic acid is mainly produced as a byproduct of the manufacture of phosphate fertilizers where phosphate rock is treated with sulfuric acid.

The major use of sodium hexafluorosilicate and fluorosilicic acid is as fluoridation agents for drinking water.

According to the U.S. U.S. Geological Survey:
An estimated 40,000 tons of fluorosilicic acid (equivalent to about 70,000 tons of 92% fluorspar) was recovered from phosphoric acid plants processing phosphate rock. Fluorosilicic acid was used primarily in water fluoridation, either directly or after processing into sodium silicofluoride.

The USGS also noted in a 2000 report:
Fluorosilicic acid is a byproduct of the phosphate fertilizer industry and is not manufactured for itself alone …
In other words, even though neither the EPA or any other government agency has studied the effects of long-term ingestion of fluorosilicic acid, it is being used instead of sodium fluoride because it is cheaper.

As Edward Urbansky from the EPA’s Office of Research and Development, National Risk management Research Laboratory, Water Supply and Water Resources Division wrote in 2002:
The most common fluoridating agents used by American waterworks are sodium fluoride (NaF), hexafluorosilicic acid (H2SiF6), and sodium hexafluorosilicate (Na2SiF6) as shown in Figure 1.14 Although 25% of the utilities reported using NaF, this corresponds to only 9.2% of the U.S. population drinking fluoride-supplemented tap water. … The cost savings in using fluorosilicates result in large systems using those additives instead.

In the United States, the primary sources of fluoridating agents are rocky mineral deposits containing mixtures of fluorite and apatite; the fluoridating agent itself is produced as a byproduct of phosphate fertilizer manufacture.
The EPA is aware of papers positing links between fluoridation agents and lead in the bloodstream or challenging the accepted chemistry. To truly investigate such hypotheses, better chemical knowledge of the speciation is required.

Joan Valentine - A Foundation for Natural Cures, Inc. - Provides education and integrative medicine solutions to those suffering from cancer and their families.

Esophageal cancer occurs in the tube that carries food from the mouth to the stomach. Although survival rates have improved over the years, esophageal cancer is usually diagnosed when it has advanced and is more difficult to treat.
According to the American Cancer Society, about 16,470 Americans will be diagnosed with esophageal cancer, and about 14,280 deaths will result from the disease, which affects men three to four times more often than women and 50% more African Americans than Caucasians. Populations in certain regions of the world experience a much higher incidence of esophageal cancer than those in the United States.

Types of Esophageal Cancer
Squamous cell carcinoma occurs in the cells lining the esophagus. This type of esophageal cancer is more common in African-Americans.
Adenocarcinoma occurs in glandular tissue, most often in the lower part of the esophagus near the stomach. It is the most common type of esophageal cancer. Adenocarcinomas are more common among Caucasians.

Esophageal Cancer Symptoms
Esophageal cancer symptoms of are often not evident during its early stages. Even though symptoms may not mean cancer, people should consider contacting a doctor when experiencing the following symptoms:
• Difficulty swallowing (dysphagia)
• Pain, pressure or burning in the throat or chest
• Weight loss
• Vomiting
• Hoarseness
• Persistent hiccups
• Chronic cough

Risk Factors
• Long-term history of smoking
• Consumption of alcohol, especially when combined with smoking
• Barrett’s Esophagus: a condition in which chronic acid reflux causes changes in the cells lining the lower esophagus, increasing the risk of adenocarcinoma
• Achalasia: a disease in which the esophagus fails to move food into the stomach properly
• Tylosis: a rare, inherited disorder that causes excess skin to grow on the soles of the feet and palms and has a near 100% chance of developing into esophageal cancer
• Esophageal webs: flaps of tissue that protrude into the esophagus, making swallowing difficult
• Lye or other caustic substances: when ingested, such substances can cause scarring that may progress to cancer years later

Diagnosis
Diagnosing esophageal cancer can be done in various ways, including:
X-rays of the gastrointestinal tract.
Esophagoscopy: a thin tube is inserted into the mouth to examine the inside of the esophagus. This procedure can also be used to collect cell samples from the stomach for analysis.
CT scans are used after a positive diagnosis to determine the extent, or spread of the cancer.

Treatment
Treatment for esophageal cancer depends on the stage.
Surgery is the most common treatment for esophageal cancer. There are two surgical techniques:

Esophagectomy: The cancerous portions of the esophagus and neighboring lymph nodes are removed.

Radical esophagectomy: The entire esophagus and the top portion of the stomach are removed.
Chemotherapy, the use of drugs to kill cancer cells, is most often combined with radiation therapy.

Photodynamic therapy: laser-sensitive chemicals are injected into the tumor site. A laser beam then targets the chemicals to destroy the tumor.

Cancer is a journey that no one needs to take alone. There are many forms of support to help you through every stage: diagnosis, treatment and survivorship. Whether you meet with other cancer survivors like yourself, use complementary therapies or individual coping mechanisms, support is available. Listed below are just some of the ways to find help and hope.

Getting together with other cancer patients in a support group is a valuable coping tool. Support groups are usually focused on a single disease or topic, such as breast cancer survivors or people coping with life-changing side effects from their cancer or cancer therapy. These groups allow participants to meet others like themselves and seek strength from each other. Most major cities and cancer hospitals offer support groups that meet weekly or monthly. There are also dozens of online support Web sites or message boards for those who may not have access to a traditional meeting.

Complementary Therapies
Complementary therapies are used in conjunction with cancer treatment, in an effort to reduce treatment side effects, ease depression and anxiety and help cancer patients take their mind off the negative aspects of their situation. Complementary therapies may include mind-body exercises like yoga, Tai Chi and Qi gong; visualization or guided imagery; using art or music as therapy and self-expression and traditional Eastern medicine such as acupuncture.
Find complementary therapies at MD Anderson

Physical Activity
Staying physically active as much as possible during cancer treatment has many positive benefits. Physical activity stimulates the release of endorphins, a hormone that helps elevate mood, as well as decreasing feelings of fatigue.
Exercises for cancer patients can range from simple stretches done in the bed or chair, to more active pursuits such as walking or light gardening work. However, it’s important not to push yourself too hard. Check with your doctor before attempting any physical activity to make sure you are up to it.

Journaling/Blogging
Many people find it helpful to keep a journal of their cancer treatment experience. It may be as simple as recording symptoms and side effects into a notebook, or may include personal emotions and opinions about what they may be going through. Journals can be private, like a diary, or shared with loved ones and even strangers.

Increasingly, people are turning to the Internet to share their cancer journey with the world at large and to seek out others with similar experiences. Many cancer patients have begun their own Web log, or “blog” to publicize their battle with cancer. Twitter, a mini-blogging technology that limits posts to 140 characters, has also proven to be a helpful tool for cancer patients to keep friends updated and reach out to others.

Joan Valentine - A Foundation for Natural Cures, Inc. - Provides education and integrative medicine solutions to those suffering from cancer and their families.