What Is Cancer, Anyway?

Bill Henderson — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 06:40:17 EST

Cancer is not some foreign invader which has to be cut, burnedor poisoned in hopes that it will die before the patient dies.No, cancer is simply a temporoary malfunction in your normalcell division process.Each of has about 75 trillion cells in our body. Virtually allof them replace themselves many times during our lifetimes. Howmany cells? Well, it's 75,000,000,000,000. That's a lot. Theyhave various life cycles, but in about 7 years, they have allbeen regenerated. Amazing? I'll say!So, on an average day, about 29 billion cells in your body replace themselves by dividing in two. One of the cells resulting from that division dies off.CELL DAMAGE OR "MUTATION"In our bodies all day every day are lots of "free radicals."These little rascals are molecules which have one unpairedoxygen electron in their atomic makeup. They are produced by our digestive system, the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink and so on. In other words, we can't avoid them.These "free radicals" bounce around, bumping into normal cells,and, in the process, damaging the normal cells DNA. Literallymillions of our dividing cells get damaged every day -- someby free radicals, some by viruses and some by just normal cellbreakdown due to aging or inherited gene mutation (this latteris rare). Fortunately, our cell division policing process recognizes these "incorrect" cell divisions and kills them off, most of the time.HOW WE "GET" CANCERAbout a million or so of the damaged cells each day are damagedin such a way that the "oncogenes," the hundred or so genes (outof the 33,000 or so in each cell's DNA) which control cell death,get damaged. When this happens, the cell begins to grow out ofcontrol. It becomes a cancer cell. Our immune system (about 20trillion cells strong) normally recognizes this and takes careof it every day, until it can't anymore. Then, we "get" cancer.Actually, all of us "have" cancer every day. It is controlled and gives us no symptoms. When symptoms (a tumor, for example)show up, it means that our metabolism (cell division and cell death)has temporarily broken down. A tumor with a billion cells is about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. Bythe time a tumor is diagnosed, it has usually been growing forfrom 5 to 12 years. Far from a death sentence or somethingrequiring instant, emergency, radical treatment, this "getting" cancer is a wakeup call.The key to understanding and controlling cancer is that it is a"systemic" problem. Our entire system has broken down. Killingthe cancer cells (with chemotherapy and radiation, for example)is not going to restore our system to its normal balance. Infact, those "treatments" simply make the condition worse byseverely damaging what is left of our immune system.Once one understands this, our current conventional cancer treat-ment system makes no sense.WHAT DO ONCOLOGISTS DO?An "oncologist" is supposed to be a cancer doctor. But theirtraining and practice does not include studying and understandingthe cancer cell and its relationship to the rest of the body'scellular mechanics and communication. Cellular biology is a very complex and fascinating body of knowledge which is growing rapidly.If the oncologist understood the above, they would be looking fora way to reverse that cell physiology gently and in a non-toxicway (assuming they were honest and open-minded). That is howcancer is brought back under control -- gently and permanently.One M.D. who has "broken the mold" and treats cancer in a gentleand understanding way says that the docs calling themselves"oncologists" are actually "chemotherapists," not oncologists.Radiologists attempt to deal with cancer using radiation. Thisalways has harmful effects on our body's ability to control ourhealth -- our immune system."BUT I KNOW SOMEBODY WHO WAS CURED..."All of us have heard of people who have been "cured" of theircancer using chemotherapy. Remember Lance Armstrong? The chemo-therapy poster boy? It so happened that Lance had one of the fewrare cancers (testicular cancer) which can be effectively con-trolled using chemotherapy.In October, 1971, Dr. Gordon Zubrod, a leading researcher at theNational Cancer Institute, presented a list of the cancer malig-nancies which were "highly responsive" to chemotherapy. All ofthese are rare in adults. But, most important, the list has notchanged since 1971. Here it is:Burkitt's lymphoma; Choriocarcinoma; Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia;Hodgkin's Disease; Lymphosarcoma; Embryonal Testicular Cancer;Wilms' Tumor; Ewing's Sarcoma; Rhabdomyosarcoma; Retinoblastoma.That's it. In the 33 years since that list was published, thereis no solid evidence that chemotherapy for the other, more common,cancers results in significant increased survival.One of my daughters was cured of Wilms' Tumor, a rare kidney tumor,when she was three using chemotherapy. But for all the othercommon forms of cancer (breast, colon, prostate, lung, ovarian, etc.)chemo may show a temporary shrinking of the tumor, what the cancerdocs call a "response." Most of the time, the chemotherapy treatmenteventually kills the patient. It killed my former wife ten years ago.WHAT DOES CHEMOTHERAPY DO?Chemotherapy targets dividing cells. The multitude of tests of newchemotherapy drugs test toxic (actually carcinogenic, or cancer-causing) substances against particular kinds of cancer cells inlive patients. Usually this is done with half the cancer patientsin the test taking an older chemotherapy drug. When there is evenslightly more "response" with the new drug, and over 50% of the test group on the new drug survives, a new cancer drug is approved.Unfortunately, no cancer drug has "eyes" for only cancer cells. These drugs kill any dividing cell. Where are some of your fastest dividing cells? In your hair and your gut. That's why chemotherapy causes you to lose your hair and get nauseous. But these drugs alsocause long-term damage to your organs -- kidneys, liver, heart, etc.Doesn't it seem like there should be a better way? There is. Morecoming soon in another article.I am a "reporter," not a medical professional. Any treatment for cancer or any other illness should be discussed with your medical professional.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Bill Henderson is the author of "Cure Your Cancer" and "Cancer-Free." His books and 70 newsletters have helped over 600 people in 51 countries overcome their cancer in the last 4 years. He provides phone and e-mail answers to his individual reader's questions. His web site is: http://www.Beating-Cancer-Gently.com

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What Is Cancer, Anyway?