One team’s approach to contending with

breast cancer
04-05-1999
by: Robin Harger PhD with input of direct experience provided by Hideh Harger PhD

The New Zealand Health Network

http://www.nzhealth.net.nz

Introduction
Cancer! The very word strikes fear into the hardest heart of any except possibly for those
that have been living with it for some time. Neither the most experienced surgeon nor the
most scientifically unsophisticated adult in modern and particularly western societies is
spared from its grim implications. Simply put, the word strikes terror into everyone and
the majority of people deal with it by the simple expedient of denial. Denial that cancer
exists and more importantly denial that it could latch onto oneself and grow. The reason is
clear, medical science is extremely limited in its capacity to "cure" cancer with the result
that almost every family is touched in some way by the ravages of this degenerative disease.
Almost everybody knows somebody that has died of cancer, increasing almost everywhere,
in spite of the best efforts of medical science.

In many ways this is a curious state of affairs. In modern societies millions of dollars are
spent on capital equipment, training of technical experts and the elaboration of facilities
which together process a steady stream of grim-faced cancer victims. The dreadful
announcement of a cancer diagnosis comes like a thunderclap from hell stunning the victim
into a wooden silence filled with the sound of "why me?" echoing endlessly from the walls
of the mind. For every person that escapes mortality due to this disease at least two or three
perish, sooner or later. The medical fraternity, surrounded by gleaming equipment and
knowing the grim reality make no promises as to the outcome of a proposed course of
treatment. The hapless victim is induced into an interminable treatment schedule in which
death looms as the almost inevitable outcome. Nothing is complete, everything remains
undone. The patient is reduced from a sentient entity to a helpless leaf swirling down a
racing torrent, which will soon empty into the black hole of eternity.

Presentation format
The following is an account of our successful attempt to promote healing in our bout with
breast cancer. It concentrates only on the conclusions we reached in our, to date, successful
effort. The analytical process was ongoing over a period of five months during which time
we both devoted all of our efforts to resolve our crisis. For myself, I have a Ph.D. in
population ecology from the University of California at Santa Barbara and have worked all
my professional life as an environmental analyst. Much of my work had involved efforts to
reduce the level of environmental pollutants, particularly carcinogens. For instance I spent
a year and a half as a Senior Environmental Analyst with the State of Michigan Toxic
Substance Control Commission. Hideh, my wife (the "patient"), also has a Ph.D. but in
Genetics from the University of British Columbia and has worked for many years as a
high-school teacher responsible for "higher biology" in the International Baccalaureate
program.

Since we had both recently retired we were able to devote all of our professional
capabilities towards analyzing the literature, both scientific and popular, in order to decide
the best approach to take with the problem. Hideh made all of the important decisions
involving the critical life-style changes we undertook. Core references are presented at the
end of this article. Some may notice that the list is relatively light in regard to the formal
scientific literature however, this account is intended to be action oriented and it
deliberately eschews scientific obscurantism. A purely technical listing can be provided for
those interested. I can be contacted at robinharger@hotmail.com or directly by post at: 36
Vanessa Crescent, Glendowie, Auckland, New Zealand. Anyone vitally interested in this
subject should certainly read the majority of the books cited. Strictly self-help and
inspirational books, although endlessly valuable, are not cited in the references. A list of
these can also be obtained from the authors.

What happened ?
In April 1998, my wife, Hideh, noticed a small lump in her left breast, a tiny thing, barely
perceptible. Within a week she had identified a leading specialist in Paris where we were
living. A physical examination followed in short order together with a special mammogram
and ultrasound, outside the annual schedule that Hideh was otherwise engaged in. Relief
followed quickly as the lump was pronounced to be nothing more than a benign thickening
of a milk-duct. Everybody relaxed, life flowed on as though nothing had happened.

At the end of August 1998 I retired from UNESCO and by October of that year we had
arrived in New Zealand to visit with my family, en route to Canada where we intended to
reside. Almost casually Hideh suggested that we should both go for a medical check-up.
The GP lost no time in referring Hideh for a mammogram and there it was. The telltale
speckle of minute calcium particles scattered around the tumor, which by this time was
around one centimeter long and about �, a centimeter wide. Almost immediately a core
and needle biopsy revealed the worst. The cancer had spread into the breast-tissue in
several directions as a stage II multi-focal invasion of replicating cells but the lymph nodes
appeared to be "clear" to the touch. Hideh was immediately placed on Tamoxifen.

The determination of malignancy was made in mid December 1998. At the time of the
mammogram, the consulting surgeon had made a recommendation first of immediate
lumpectomy and then, upon reflection, of mastectomy. By the time the results of the biopsy
had emerged the Auckland cancer review team had changed the recommended action to a
course of high-focus radiation treatment to shrink the tumor before the mastectomy. This
was initiated on 12th January and ran as daily treatments (Monday to Friday) over five
weeks. The operation was scheduled for 9 April 1999. The breast was removed together
with 4 lymph nodes. The combined treatment schedule had entirely eliminated the in-tissue
cancer, no trace could be found. A remnant consisting of "pre-cancerous" cells was found
in the milk-duct. There was not even enough of the cancer left to perform a proper
estrogen receptor test. A staining technique suggested that the tumor might have been
"weakly positive". The best news of all, dependant on the sacrifice of the 4 lymph nodes,
was that they were "clear" meaning that no chemotherapy was suggested.

This was astoundingly good news – all we had hoped for in fact, an amazing bonus that
confounded our worst fears. What were the factors that contributed to this happy result?
The surgeon confidently proposed that the situation was clear: the radiation had entirely
eliminated the extra-ductal cancer and the surgery had removed all possibility of further
invasion. But was this all there was to it? Obviously not, we had put up a considerable fight
for Hideh’s life and the radiation was only one element of what was otherwise a
"confounded" experiment.

What we did
The first thing we did upon learning that Hideh had cancer was to reconfirm a visit to New
Zealand by our daughters Fara and Kathie. We then took them down to the South Island
for a 10-day trip to see the country before Hideh started the radiation therapy. We also
immediately started to furnish our house in preparation for staying in New Zealand even
though we had a huge cache of furniture already in Canada. In short I built a nest for
Hideh in New Zealand rather than in Canada without regard for the additional expense.

Assessment of scientific literature

I then commenced to research breast cancer starting with the mainstream work. It did not
take long to realize that most of the "scientific research" generated a simple confusion
caused by the fact that individual variation greatly exceeded treatment effects for almost
all comparisons that could possibly be made. Long term survival with or without surgery,
one chemotheraputic cocktail as opposed to another, radiation therapy before surgery as
opposed to after. Redundant ongoing studies versus historical studies and on and on.
Statistical comparisons fill the literature and are deployed in publication after publication
almost without end. Few clear-cut differences emerged one being that estrogen positive
tumors were, by and large, suppressed or limited through tamoxifen, an artificial and
carcinogenic drug that is deployed in a strategy of fire fighting fire. Secondly, the treatment
effects usually seem to be constrained to consider only the narrow medical protocol under
discussion with all other variables such as diet, life-style and so forth free to wander about
without any attempt at control.

In short, this means that what people do or do not do in relation to the everyday things
under their direct control, is at least as important, if not more so, than the main elements of
"scientific" treatment. The main elements falling outside the narrow scientific constraints
of treatment are diet and life-style. The conclusion which follows is that if you want to
understand what principal factors constitute a survival strategy for dealing with cancer
you must carefully study all the elements of practice followed by survivors.

To put this another way, if a marginally effective or even a significantly effective medical
treatment for cancer is proposed, the results of this otherwise potentially positive protocol
can be confounded if half the subjects follow one kind of life-style and the other half
another. Similarly, and more frightening, positive results can be deliberately obscured by
increasing the heterogeneity of life-styles within the treatments under study. If one thinks
about it for a moment there is obviously more money to be made in looking for a cure for
cancer than by curing cancer.

Options
After the diagnosis of cancer is made, people tend to face a major problem in that a fully
objective system takes over and delivers industrial-scale treatments in an anonymous and
faceless manner. It is not so much that the individual caregivers are faceless, many are on
the contrary most kind and considerate. Few however, have any real impact on the course
of treatment itself. The patient is thus reduced to the level of a helpless cipher, subject to
long-term procedures having little flexibility and great uncertainty in outcome.

In the majority of life-crises it is possible for the individual concerned to pursue alternative
strategies in order to obtain some hope of a successful outcome. In the case of cancer, the
afflicted individual is presented with very few options whereby they themselves can
contribute to achieving a cure. The apparent lack of such options in treating cancer within
mainstream medicine constitutes a stress in the case of most people and at the least, a
neutral personal response can only favor spread of the degenerative disease.

It is extremely important to note that cancer is a degenerative disease and once it is

initiated there are two main modes of intervention available to a person in order to
promote healing. Both are essentially reactive but the first encompasses attempts to limit
the spread of the affliction through external invasive procedures. In general these include
surgery, radiation treatment, chemical poisoning or suppression. However, all directly
curative agents also fall into this category which thereby includes plant extracts or artificial
chemicals that act directly on cancer cells and the like, laser targeting against individually
marked cancer cells and so forth. The second, also reactive, involves deliberate attempts to
boost the capacity of the immune system thereby enabling the body itself to eliminate the
run-away cancer directly at the cellular level. The modes of treatment here involve the
intake of antioxidants, vitamins, the implementation of dietary strategies and so forth.

A third and much less important category includes genetic malformations that, in
principal, can be addressed, at least in part, through genetic engineering "patches". An
environmental component may also be involved which means that some genetic structures
can react unfavorably to specific environmental conditions such as those promoted by
pollutants. This latter category may effectively relegate most treatments to the two main
approaches indicated in the above paragraph.

In practice, a cancer patient has direct personal access primarily to the second mode of
intervention although some fringe treatments may also fall into the first mode. In other
words, a cancer patient has almost complete control of methods designed to promote
healing through positive management of the immune system and adjustments to life-style.
As mentioned above, the objective assessment of the scientific literature suggests that
efforts to positively boost the immune system are at least as effective, as the standard
medical forms of intervention if not more so. Furthermore, life-style adjustments
(including emotional healing) and promotion of the immune system are the only tools
available to preempt the development of cancer in the first place.

In view of the foregoing discussion one may safely say that the most important aspect of
healing in dealing with cancer is SELF-HELP. This accounts for the comment made by our
own oncologist at the point he declared Hideh cancer-free. He stated that he is constantly
faced with patients that seemingly have the same external characteristics associated with
their breast-cancer (cell-types, degree of invasion, age, state of health and so forth) only to
see one progress steadily towards good health and the other go into decline after receiving
exactly the same medical treatment. He attributed active self-help to be the primary factor
involved in this differentiation.

Dietary supplements
After studying the available literature, the core of which is cited below, we both agreed to
adopt a program of dietary supplements. By 25th December we had decided on the
following program of dietary additives taken on a daily basis.

Omega 3 Heart Guard (fish oil) 1000mg capsules 2

Vitamin E, 1000 I.U. capsules 1
Selenium, 100 mcg tablets 1
ENZogenol 50 mg (plus ACE + selenium) (Pinus radiata bark extract)2
Formula V vm-75 multivitimin by Solgar 1
Vitimin C plus bioflavonids by Wagner, 1000mg 6
Beta Carotene, 10,000 IU tablets by Thompsons 1
Coenzyme Q10, 60 mg by Radiance 3
Echinacea drops several

Arnica plus, Naturo Pharm, Homeopathic medicine, PO Box 952, Rotorua, New
Zealand (healing after surgery)

One week after radiation began we added:

Evening primrose oil, 1000mg by Biozone 1

(control of hot flashes)

Three weeks before surgery we added:

Kyolic aged garlic extract 1200mg by Wagner 1

Liquid Morinda, by Nature’s Sunshine 1 tablespoon
Aloe Vera juice, by LifeStream 1 tablespoon
Investigation of possible causation
Following the advice of Louise L Hay we examined the factors that might have played a
role in the etiology of the disease. On the mental-psychological (self-inflicted) side the
following negative events were noted: the departure of Kathie from the household to attend
university in Canada, September 1996 (empty nest syndrome); obligatory move from
Jakarta to Paris first by me alone in March 1995 then by Hideh in June 1996 (marital
separation and social disruption); death of Hideh’s father November 1997; very heavy
commitment to African project by me December 1997 – August 1998. The social
readjustment rating scale totaled 423 (see page 140, of the book "You can conquer Cancer"
by Ian Gawler [in reference list]) where a score of 300 in one year is supposed to be
associated with a 50% increase in the chance of developing illness.

On the physical side: partial exposure to environmental carcinogens in Michigan during

1979-1980 due to track-in from my job with the State of Michigan Toxic Substance Control
Commission, exposure to growth hormones in chickens eaten in Jakarta from 1981 through
1996; exposure to heavy air pollution in Jakarta 1981-1996.

Cancer and ecology

In a list of 50 countries from throughout the world the lowest rate of breast cancer is shown
by Thailand, followed by the Republic of Korea, China, Equador and Japan. The rates per
100,000 people are 1.0, 2.6, 4.7, 5.7 and 6.0 respectively. Women from these countries
(Japan is noted particularly) who have accustomed themselves to living in the USA show a
breast cancer rate approximately equal to that of the host country as a whole (22.4). The
major factor held to account for this shift is of course the change in life-style and diet.

There are two major dietary approaches for dealing with cancer. The first is that
propounded by Dr Max Gerson (http://www.gerson.org) based primarily on his experience
in Germany where "heavy" diets were held to be responsible for many cancers. In short
the Gerson diet involves an intensive period of detoxification of the body using a high-
volume through-put of fresh juices, particularly green juices and an associated treatment
involving coffee enemas. The overall diet is vegetarian. The second diet (macrobiotic) has
been introduced to the West by George Oshawa and is based on the traditional Japanese
approach. It enjoys a trial evaluation that ranges into the tens of thousands of years. It is
safe and it is associated with low breast cancer incidence. It also has a thoroughly ecological
context and follows a deeply environmental approach having an extensive philosophical
rational associated with it. Both diets have a proven record of success but I favored the
macrobiotic diet because it is more ecological and less clinical than the Gerson diet.

The fact that the environment (pollutants, pesticides etc) causes the bulk of the burden of
cancer cases carried by modern civilization is now well understood and will not be
extensively documented here (What causes cancer? D.Trichopoulos, F.P. Li, and D.J.
Hunter, Scientific American 09/96 http://www.sciam.com/0996issuetrichopoulos.html) .
Macrobiotics (macro=great, biotic=life) deals with this fact directly by advocating a return
to the basic elements of diet that served humankind directly, within the context of a tight
evolutionary embrace, for tens of thousands of years. Macrobiotics thus embraces organic
production of all foodstuffs. It cautions that one should eat nothing from a can or a packet,
that dairy products, red meat (including chicken and eggs) should be passed-by. It
welcomes a little fish, a moderation of vegetable proteins and a rational balance amongst
the vegetable world of roots, stems, leaves and fruits based on flavors (sour, sweet, pungent,
salty, bitter) as well as one involving the concept of effects classified as expanding (lettuce)
and contracting (turnip) or yin and yang. The nightshades are discouraged, they are too
yin, too many alkaloids (think of green potatoes). It favors fermented grains (miso) and soy
(tempe) and sea vegetables. It frowns on refined products including sugar and white flour.
It lords the grain as a staple to cover 50% or so of the daily intake (wheat, rye, millet,
barley, rice, corn, quinola, buckwheat). It actually forbids nothing and encourages you to
eat the food you like and the food that make you feel "in balance". The last is a
theoretically difficult concept but a simple notion in practice. If one eats predominantly
brown rice or indeed any of the grains as whole living foods for two to three weeks,
supplemented with other vegetables at choice but with a dominance of 50%-60% grains,
one soon obtains balance. You know it when you have achieved it and you know it by the
negative effect that is instantly detected by the body when a disagreeable item is added, for
instance white flour or red meat. It is not a matter of discussion, it is a simple bio-
physiological fact. If one never tries this exercise in discipline and self-control balance can
never be achieved and all discussion about this state is pointless. Why whole living grains?
Simply because these are the original products of the first agriculture and as such they
have been tried and tested over tens of thousands of years. In this sense grains are a safe
and conservative food and one furthermore, that may have been "in service" long enough
to constitute a core of nutrition around which the human body has evolved. When a wheat
kernel is broken (for instance) it dies and commences to oxidize. At the limit of exposure
flour becomes rancid and totally inedible. The process towards those undesirable end-state
starts as soon as the grain of wheat is broken. What is the solution? Buy your own grain
mill and eat fresh whole foods. Many models are available on the market.

In keeping with the philosophy of ecological conservatism, we also tried to ensure as far as
possible, that our diet both within and among days was as varied as possible. This was in
keeping with the notion that the hunter-gatherers preceding the emergence of
agriculturists must have subsisted on diverse diets (suggested by Susan Cafoncelli, health
consultant, West Virginia) . This approach might seem to be somewhat in contradiction of
a standard suggested by macrobiotics to the effect that clean up should be best
accomplished through intake of a consistent brown rice based diet. Both courses of action
are time-tested and must have their merits. As an ecologist trying to effect a traditional and
healing diet, the precedence of following what might encompass aspects of the earlier
approach, had the stronger appeal.

The balance in a meat and potatoes meal with lettuce can be seen instantly: meat is
excessively yan and potatoes plus lettuce are together excessively yin. The combination is
balanced technically but the components are too extreme, both elements straying far from
the golden mean represented by whole grains and in particular brown rice. Similarly the
Gerson diet can be seen as a yin extreme which is most effective in dealing with yang-based
cancers.
In mid January we contacted a natural dietitian (Mary Belsy of Auckland) and after two
interviews determined that the cancer afflicting Hideh was undoubtedly a yin (expansive)
variety but caused by a yang (compressed) digestive characteristic. Mary recommended a
macrobiotic-type diet with a deficit in yang components (rye, buckwheat, parsnip, burdock
and the like). She recommended occasional intake of white wine (a yin or expansive
component) along with fresh fruit juice (see Mary's suggestions in full) Hideh immediately
started taking a 10 oz glass of mixed vegetable and fruit juice daily made from local in-
season, organically grown produce which was also laced with local garden-ginger. Since
Hideh was not able to stomach bitter juice it was not possible to move onto an intake of
pure green juices such as broccoli. The juice was initially prepared with a centrifugal juicer
but following the caution recommended by Dr Gerson we soon moved to a masticating type
juicer (Champion). It must be noted that the time required to prepare fresh juice on a daily
basis is considerable since the ingredients must be carefully selected and the machine has to
be washed-down immediately. A fresh juice diet is not a casual commitment. Furthermore,
fruit juice is considered to be extremely yin by the traditional macrobiotic community and
not, in general, highly recommended.

The admonition made by macrobiotics to the effect that intake should be focused on
produce from the immediate environment and "in-season" is not without ecological
justification. All natural communities are closely adjusted to the environment in which they
find themselves and it may be readily claimed that the human body balances itself most
readily when in partakes directly of the life force in its direct surroundings.

In the last week of January we sought out the help of a macrobiotic chef. Mr. Bevin Kaan
of Bethels Beach Auckland, trained in the Macrobiotic Institute of Switzerland, and he
kindly provided us with a five-day course in which he helped to prepare macrobiotic meals
at midday and in the evening. This training was necessary because many of the ingredients
that are used are not immediately familiar to people trained in either Middle Eastern
cooking or in western cuisine. In any event as of the last week in January we moved onto a
macrobiotic diet, got rid of all plastic containers in the house and generally tried to
minimize our exposure to environmental carcinogens. We abandoned the Auckland
municipal water supply (pipes lined with blue epoxy resin plastic) in favor of containers of
spring water, made all our food purchases from organic sources only.

For years I had dealt with environmental problems in a public context. Analyzing such
problems as that faced by the township of Adrian in southern Michigan where epoxy resin
curing agent "Curene", a contact carcinogen, found its way into the environment, where
PBB, PCB, TRIS and other environmental carcinogens caused widespread pollution as
they escaped from industrial control. In later years I pushed the idea of sustainable
development for the community in general thinking somehow that I was above the fray.
Alas, bitter experience has taught me otherwise and I now firmly recommend the
macrobiotic way as the logical path to sustainable personal development and in the end, to
world peace.

For the rest I commend those interested to the reference list appended to this action-report.

JREH
References
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