I Was Canada's Cancer Nurse

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I Was Canada's Cancer Nurse

May 09, 2006

 

One day one of my nurses was bathing an elderly lady patient. I

noticed

that one breast was a mass of scar tissue, and asked about it.

 

http://comboweb.com/essiac/nurse.htm

 

" I came out from England nearly 30 years ago. " she told me. " I

joined my

husband who was prospecting in the wilds of Northern Ontario. My

right

breast became sore and swollen, and very painful. My husband brought

me

to Toronto, and the doctors told me I had advanced cancer and my

breast

must be removed at once.

 

" Before we left camp a very old Indian medicine man had told me I

had

cancer, but he could cure it. I decided I'd just as soon try his

remedy

as to have my breast removed. One of my friends had died from breast

surgery. Besides, we had no money. "

 

She and her husband returned to the mining camp, and the old Indian

showed her certain herbs growing in the area, told her to make a tea

from these herbs and to drink it every day.

 

She was nearly 80 years old when I saw her and there had been no

recurrence of cancer.

 

I was much interested and wrote down the names of the herbs she had

used. I knew that doctors threw up their hands when cancer was

discovered in a patient; it was the same as a death sentence, just

about. I decided that if I should ever develop cancer, I would use

this

herb tea.

 

About a year later I was visiting an aged retired doctor whom I knew

well. We were walking slowly about his garden when he took his cane

and

lifted a weed.

 

" Nurse Caisse, " he told me, " if people would use this weed there

would

be very little cancer in the world. "

 

He told me the name of the plant. It was one of the herbs my patient

named as an ingredient of the Indian medicine man's tea!

 

A few months later I received word that my mother's only sister had

been

operated on in Brockville, Ontario. The doctors had found she had

cancer

of the stomach with a liver involvement, and gave her at the most

six

months to live.

 

I hastened to her and talked to her doctor. He was Dr. R.O. Fisher

of

Toronto, whom I knew well because I had nursed patients for him many

times. I told him about the herb tea and asked his permission to try

it

under his observation, since there was apparently nothing more

medical

science could do for my aunt.

 

He consented quickly. I obtained the necessary herbs, with some

difficulty, and made the tea.

 

My aunt lived for 21 years after being given up by the medical

profession. There was no recurrence of cancer.

 

Dr. Fisher was so impressed he asked me to use the treatment on some

of

his other hopeless cancer cases. Other doctors heard about me from

Dr.

Fisher and asked me to treat patients for them after everything

medical

science had to offer had failed. They too were impressed with the

results.

 

Several of these doctors asked me if I would be willing to use the

treatment on an old man whose face was eaten away, and who was

bleeding

so badly the doctors said he could not live more than 10 days.

 

" We will not expect a miracle, " they told me. " But if your treatment

can

help this man in this stage of cancer, we will know that you have

discovered something the whole world needs desperately -- a

successful

remedy for cancer. "

 

My treatment stopped the bleeding in 24 hours. He lived for six

months

with very little discomfort.

 

On the strength of what those doctors saw with their own eyes, eight

of

them signed a petition to the Department of National Health and

Welfare

at Ottawa, asking that I be given facilities to do independent

research

on my discovery. Their petition, dated at Toronto on October 27,

1926,

read as follows:

 

To Whom It May Concern:

 

We the undersigned believe that the " Treatment for Cancer " given by

Nurse R.M. Caisse can do no harm and that it relieves pain, will

reduce

the enlargement and will prolong life in hopeless cases. To the best

of

our knowledge, she has not been given a case to treat until

everything

in medical and surgical science has been tried without effect and

even

then she was able to show remarkable beneficial results on those

cases

at that late stage.

 

We would be interested to see her given an opportunity to prove her

work

in a large way. To the best of our knowledge she has treated all

cases

free of any charge and has been carrying on this work over the

period of

the past two years.

 

(Signed by the eight doctors)

 

I was joyful beyond words at this expression of confidence by such

outstanding doctors regarding the benefits derived from my

treatment. My

joy was short-lived. Soon after receiving this petition, the

Department

of Health and Welfare sent two doctors from Ottawa to have me

arrested

for " practicing medicine without a license " .

 

This was the beginning of nearly 50 years of persecution by those in

authority, from the government to the medical profession, that I

endured

in trying to help those afflicted with cancer.

 

However, when these two doctors sent from Ottawa, found that I was

working with nine of the most eminent physicians in Toronto, and was

giving my treatment only at their request, and under their

observation,

they did not arrest me.

 

Dr. W.C. Arnold, one of the investigating doctors, became so

interested

in my treatment that he arranged to have me work on mice at the

Christie

Street Hospital Laboratories in Toronto, with Dr. Norich and Dr.

Lockhead. I did so from 1928 through 1930. These mice were

inoculated

with Rous Sarcoma. I kept the mice alive 52 days, longer than anyone

else had been able to do, and in later experiments with two other

doctors, I kept mice alive for 72 days with ESSIAC.

 

This was not my first clinical experience. I had previously

converted

Mother's basement into a laboratory, where I worked with doctors who

were interested in my treatment. We found that on mice inoculated

with

human carcinoma, the growth regressed until it was no longer

invading

living tissue after nine days of ESSIAC treatments.

 

This was during the period when I was working on Dr. Fisher's

suggestion

that the treatment could be made effective if given by injection,

rather

than in liquid form, as a tea. I started eliminating one substance

and

then another; finally when the protein content was eliminated, I

found

that the ingredients which stopped the malignancy growth could be

given

by intermuscular injection without causing the reaction that had

followed my first experiments with injecting mice. However, I found

that

the ingredients removed from the injection formula, which reduced

growth

of cancer, were necessary to the treatment. These apparently carried

off

destroyed tissue and infections thrown off by the malignancy. By

giving

the intermuscular injection in the forearm, to destroy the mass of

the

malignant cells, and giving the medicine orally to purify the blood,

I

got quicker results than when the medicine was all given orally,

which

was my original treatments until Dr. Fisher suggested further

experiments and developing an injection that could be given without

reaction.

 

I well remember the first injection of the medication in a human

patient. Dr. Fisher called and said he had a patient from Lyons, New

York, who had cancer of the throat and tongue. He wanted me to

inject

ESSIAC into the tongue.

 

Well, I was nearly scared to death. And there was a violent

reaction.

The patient developed a severe chill; his tongue swelled so badly

the

doctor had to press it down with a spatula to let him breathe.

 

This lasted about 20 minutes. Then the swelling went down, the chill

subsided, and the patient was all right. The cancer stopped growing,

the

patient went home and lived quite comfortably for almost four years,

 

At the time I first used my treatment on terminal cancer cases --or

cancers that did not respond to approved treatment referred to me by

the

nine Toronto doctors -- I was still nursing 12 hours a day, the

customary work day for nurses then. I had only my two-hour rest

period

and my evenings to give to my research work and my treatments.

 

I decided to give up nursing, to have more time for my research and

treatment of patients. Doctors started sending patients to me at my

apartment and I was treating about 30 every day.

 

I now felt I had some scientific evidence to present that would

convince

the medical profession my treatment had real merit. I made an

appointment with Dr. Frederick Banting of the Banting Institute,

Department of medical Research, University of Toronto, world famous

for

his discovery of insulin.

 

After reading my case notes, and examining pictures of the man with

the

face cancer before and after treatment, and x-rays of other cancers

I

had treated, he sat quietly for a few minutes staring into space.

 

" Miss Caisse, " he finally said, turning to look me straight in the

eyes,

" I will not say you have a cure for cancer. But you have more

evidence

of a beneficial treatment for cancer than anyone in the world. "

 

He advised me to make application to the University of Toronto for

facilities to do deeper research. He even offered to share his

laboratory in the Banting Institute and to work with me.

 

However, in making application to the University of Toronto, I would

have to give them my formula. They would then have the formula,

which

could be filed in the archives and forgotten, or could be used for

university staff research -- and my application to do independent

research at the university could still be refused.

 

After much soul searching and prayer, I turned down Dr. Banting's

suggestion and his offer to work with me.

 

I wanted to establish my remedy, which I called ESSIAC (my name

spelled

backward), in actual practice and not in a laboratory only. I knew I

had

no bad side affects, so it could do no harm. I wanted to use it on

patients in my own way. And when the time came, I wanted to share in

the

administration of my own discovery.

 

To do such a thing is impossible even today for any independent

research

worker, due to what is nothing less than a conspiracy against

finding a

cure for cancer.

 

I decided to prove my treatment on its own merit, without assistance

if

necessary.

 

Dr. Banting approved my decision, and my courage. He had discovered

insulin. He did not claim it was a cure for diabetes. He did know by

experience that it was a palliative and a deterrent. I knew the same

thing about ESSIAC.

 

But Dr. Banting was a doctor and a recognized practitioner, so

although

he surrendered his formula to the profession under the medical code

of

ethics, he was honored and rewarded.

 

I was in no professional position to secure acceptance of ESSIAC, or

recognition for its discovery, if I surrendered the formula before

the

merit of the treatment was established beyond all doubt.

 

Tenants in my apartment house in Toronto objected to my numerous

visitors -- the 30 or more daily patients. Besides I could no longer

afford to carry on in the city any longer because I had given up

nursing. I made no charge for my treatments and depended entirely on

occasional voluntary contributions. I felt I could live less

expensively

in a smaller town, so I went to Timmins, thinking I would go back to

nursing. However, Dr. J.A. McInnis (who signed the petition in 1926

and

had seen my work in Toronto) asked me to treat cancer patients for

him,

which I did with very good results.

 

I later moved to Peterborough, east of Toronto, and lived in a

rented

house, where I was no sooner moved in than the College of Physicians

and

Surgeons sent a health officer to issue a warrant for my arrest,

again

the charge was " practicing medicine without a license " . I have lost

count of the number of times I have been threatened with arrest and

imprisonment for treating patients with ESSIAC.

 

The health officer talked to me and some of my patients and then

told

me: " I am not going to issue this warrant; I am going back to talk

to

Dr. Noble, my chief. " Dr. R.J. Noble was head of the College of

Physicians and Surgeons.

 

The next day I wrote to The Hon. Dr. J.A. Faulkner, the Minister of

Health, and asked for a hearing. I received a letter granting me a

hearing on the following Monday at 2 p.m. I got in touch with

doctors

who had sent patients to me, and five of them together with 12

patients

went with me to the hearing. We were received very graciously at

Queens

Park by Dr. Faulkner, his Deputy Minister The Hon. B.T. McGee and

other

doctors of National Health and Welfare.

 

After I presented my cases, Dr. Faulkner said that I could carry on,

provided the patients came with their doctor's written diagnoses,

and

that I did not make a charge.

 

" My only ambition, I told Dr. Faulkner, is to prove ESSIAC on its

merit,

and make it acceptable to the medical profession. So I started back

for

Peterborough, very proud and happy that I could continue to help

patients. The look of gratitude I saw in their eyes when relief from

pain was accomplished, and the hope and cheerfulness that returned

when

they saw their malignancies reduced, was pay enough for all my

efforts.

 

I had faith that if I trusted in God and did my best, a way to

support

my work would be found. I remembered our St. Joseph's Church in my

home

town of Bracebridge, Ontario, and the window in it dedicated to the

memory of my mother, Frizelda (Potvin) Caisse. She and my father

raised

their eight girls and three boys to love and fear God, and to

believe

that respect and love of our fellow man were more important than

riches.

 

I never dreamed of the opposition and the persecution that would be

my

lot in trying to help suffering humanity with no thought of personal

gain.

 

I have never claimed that my treatment cures cancer -- although many

of

my patients and the doctors with whom I have worked, claim that it

does.

My goal has been control of cancer, and alleviation of pain.

Diabetes,

pernicious anemia and arthritis are not curable; but with insulin,

liver

extract and adrenal cortex extracts, " incurables " live out

comfortable,

controlled life spans.

 

Cancer patients were successfully treated by me for over 25 years

using

ESSIAC hypodermically and orally. Since I am a nurse and not a

physician, I never gave the treatment until I had written diagnosis

of

cancer signed by a qualified doctor. I administered my treatment

under

the observation of doctors.

 

A few days after the hearing before the Department of National

Health

and Welfare, Dr. Albert Bastedo, of Bracebridge, called me. He had

sent

a patient to me with cancer of the bowel, and was greatly impressed

with

the results of my treatment .He told me he had gone before the

Bracebridge Town Council and had asked that they offer me the old

British Lion Hotel building to be used as a cancer clinic, if I

would

return to my home town to practice. He persuaded me to accept this

offer.

 

The Mayor and the Council of Bracebridge were very enthusiastic

about

getting the clinic started. With the help of friends, relatives and

patients, I furnished an office, dispensary, reception room and five

treatment rooms.

 

From 1934 to 1942 I paid the Council the sum of $1.00 per month for

the

building and there was a large " CANCER CLINIC " sign on the door. I

treated thousands of patients who came from far and near, most of

them

given up as hopeless after everything in medical science had failed.

Some arrived in ambulances, receiving their first treatments lying

down

in an ambulance; after a few treatments they walked into the clinic

without help.

 

I had absolute faith that I could accumulate enough proof of results

obtained with different types of cancer, as demanded by the Cancer

Society, the medical profession would eventually be glad to accept

ESSIAC as an approved treatment.

 

I did not know then of an organized effort to keep a cancer cure

from

being discovered, especially by an independent researcher not

affiliated

with any organization supported by private or public funds.

Tremendous

sums have been raised and appropriated for official cancer research

during the past 50 years, with almost nothing new or productive

discovered. It would make these foundations look pretty silly, if an

obscure Canadian nurse discovered an effective treatment for cancer!

 

About the time I opened my Cancer Clinic in Bracebridge, my own dear

mother became ill. The four local doctors said she had gallstones,

and

her heart was too weak for surgery. Mother was 72 years old at the

time.

As she got worse, I insisted on calling Dr. Roscoe Graham, a

consulting

specialist of international fame, for an examination and

consultation

with the other doctors. After the consultation, Dr. Graham came to

me

and said: " Your mother has cancer, Miss Caisse. Her liver is a

nodular

mass. "

 

Dr. McGibbon, a local doctor who was set against my cancer work,

said

very sarcastically, " Why don't you do something? " " I'm certainly

going

to try, doctor, " I replied. And I asked Dr. Graham, " How long does

she

have to live? " Dr. Graham thought it would be only a matter of days.

I

immediately started treating her with ESSIAC. I gave it daily for 10

days. When she improved I reduced the treatment to three a week,

then to

two, then to one. She continued to improve. To make a long story

short,

my mother completely recovered. She passed away quietly after her

90th

birthday -- without pain, just a tired heart. This repaid me for all

my

work -- giving my mother 18 years of life she would not have had

without

ESSIAC. It made up for the great deal of persecution I have endured

at

the hands of the medical world.

 

A few to investigate doctors in the United States became

sufficiently

interested in ESSIAC to investigate the treatment. Some people from

Chicago who knew my work persuaded Dr.Wolfer of the Alumni

Association

of Northwestern University at Chicago, to have me treat patients on

a

Chicago clinic under the observation of their doctors.

 

A consultant specialist took me to see Dr. Wolfer and read the

histories

of the cases selected for my treatment -- all hopeless or terminal.

I

looked the histories over and asked " when would you like me to

start,

doctor? " He looked surprised because, as he told me later, he had

expected me to turn them down.

 

I arranged to be in Chicago to treat these patients each Thursday,

under

observation of five doctors. The consulting specialist asked me, as

he

took me back to the home of friends in Chicago, why I had accepted

these

terrible cases.

 

" I will show results that will surprise your doctors, even in these

late

stages of the disease, " I told him. " The results will be enough to

interest even the most skeptical doctors. "

 

I was proved right. Later, these doctors offered to open a clinic

for me

in the Passervant Hospital in Chicago, if I would stay in the United

States.

 

Dr. Richard Leonardo, a surgical specialist and coroner of

Rochester,

NY, at first scoffed at the idea of any merit in my work. " The only

way

to prove or disprove the merit of ESSIAC, " I told him, " is to remain

in

the clinic and see the patients and observe my work and results. " He

decided to do so.

 

The first day he stayed and talked to patients; then he told me he

was

satisfied that I was getting results, but it was my faith and

encouragement that brought hope and improvement to my patients --

not my

treatment. " These results are entirely psychological " he stated

emphatically.

 

The second day I invited him to come into my treatment room, examine

patients and watch me administer the treatment. We had many advanced

cases of cancer and I did not finish in the clinic until 7:30 p.m.;

he

stayed until the last patient left.

 

" Young lady, " he told me, " I must congratulate you. You have made a

wonderful discovery. " Dr. Leonardo stayed for four days examining

patients and became more and more interested in my results.

 

" I like your method of treatment, " he said. " I feel it will change

the

whole theory of cancer treatment and will eventually do away with

surgery, radium and x-ray treatments for cancer. "

 

He offered to establish and equip a hospital in Rochester if I cared

to

move there and work with him. I particularly appreciated Dr.

Leonardo's

opinion because he had been scientifically trained in Germany,

Vienna,

London and Scotland and he at first had been so completely skeptical.

 

Both of these offers to establish clinics in the United States were

tempting, but my forbears on both sides of my family had come to

Canada

from France in the 1700's and I had made up my mind long ago that

Canada

would get the credit for providing a cure for the world's most

dreaded

disease.

 

Dr. Leonardo's investigation of my treatment was during the summer

of

1937, while Dr. Emma H. Carson of Los Angeles was spending June and

July

of that year visiting my Bracebridge Clinic and studying the

treatment

and its result

 

The following report is by Dr. Emma Carson of Los Angeles, Ca.,

dated

August 12, 1937:

 

Several of my world-renowned professional friends (physicians,

surgeons

and attorneys) and also four famous business officials were spending

the

winter of 1936-37 in Southern California, and upon various occasions

when they visited me I learned of Miss Caisse's wonderful cancer

clinic

at Bracebridge, Ontario. Owing to such glowing and impressive

reports

and the intense interest so earnestly evidenced during these

discussions, I became interested.

 

I then expressed a resolve to go to Bracebridge as soon as

introductory

letters could be exchanged, providing Miss Caisse would invite me to

visit her clinic. The invitation was most cordially extended

including

explicit instructions for my convenience and comfort, her genuine

assurance of sincere welcome and her appreciation of the fact that I

was

coming from a great distance to investigate her work, regardless of

my

skeptical attitude.

 

At 8 a.m. on the fourth day after I received her welcome invitation,

I

left Los Angeles, enroute to Bracebridge for the exclusive purpose

of

meeting Miss Rene M. Caisse and ascertaining the real virtue of her

ESSIAC treatments, according to her invitation, and especially

appreciative of her promise to demonstrate her method and system

personally in her clinical work.

 

As I seriously and compassionately surveyed that extraordinary

assembly

of afflicted people and visually compared them with the most

prominent

and distinguished clinics I have ever witnessed either in this or

foreign countries, I vividly realized I had never before seen or

been in

any manner associated with such a remarkably cheerful and

sympathetic

clinic, regardless of size, location or number of persons; or

attended a

more peaceful, sympathetic clinic anywhere.

 

I was also assured by patients that they voluntarily abandoned

narcotics

and sedatives of every denomination, that had been prescribed to

them by

their physicians who had attended them previous to their adoption of

ESSIAC treatments, and very soon after the first treatment of ESSIAC.

 

My skepticism neither yielded nor became subdued by the hopes and

faith

so definitely expressed by the Clinic patients and their friends.

However, I candidly admit that my curiosity became greatly

augmented,

and I resolved that skepticism should not blind my eyes or oppose my

thorough investigation of the real efficacy of the ESSIAC treatment

for

cancer.

 

Several prominent physicians and surgeons, who are quite familiar

with

the indisputable results obtained in response to Miss Rene M.

Caisse's

ESSIAC treatments, and who have also asserted their intense interest

in

Cancer Research Work, including the investigation of the most

prominent

advocated remedial treatments for cancer, really conceded to me that

Rene M. Caisse's treatment is the most humane, satisfactory and

frequently successful (in consideration of her unavoidable

limitations

due to certain restrictions) remedy for annihilation of cancer " that

could be found at that time " .

 

I candidly explained the motive that inspired the purpose that

determined my visit to the Bracebridge Cancer Clinic. I hoped to

obtain

visibly authenticated proof that would sufficiently convince and

satisfactorily establish incontrovertible evidence of ESSIAC as a

reliable remedial agent for cancer.

 

Miss Caisse explained her earnest desire to conscientiously provide

all

verified information, both favorable and unfavorable, to aid and

establish unbiased and impartial conclusions, decisively confirmed,

as a

merited compensation for my long distance trip, made for the purpose

of

obtaining

 

convincing evidence concerning the real merits of ESSIAC.

 

I diligently proceeded in quest of the definitely assured results

accomplished by the use of ESSIAC, and attributed to Miss Rene

Caisse's

treatment for cancer. I firmly resolved that my investigation must

be

based on unprejudiced judgment.

 

Miss Caisse does not even suggest " cure all " pertaining to her

ESSIAC

remedy. When asked if her ESSIAC will cure cancer, she always

replies:

 

" If it does not cure cancer it will afford relief, if the patient

has

sufficient vitality remaining to enable him to respond to treatment. "

 

The vast majority of Miss Caisse's patients were brought for

treatment

after surgery, radium, x-rays, emplastrums, etc. had failed to be

helpful and the patients pronounced incurable or hopeless cases.

Really,

the progress obtainable and the actual results from ESSIAC

treatments

and the rapidity of repair were absolutely marvelous, and must be

seen

to convincingly confirm belief.

 

I was intently engaged in reviewing, comparing and summarizing my

accumulation of data, records, histories etc., and mentally

visualized

each patient and his apparently miraculous progress toward recovery,

when I realized that skepticism had deserted me, or in recognition

of

defeat folded its tent, like the Arabs, and silently passed away.

 

When I arrived in Bracebridge, I contemplated remaining 12 hours, at

least not more than 48 hours. Miss Caisse and her ESSIAC treatment

and

her patients were responsible for the unlimited extension of my time

in

Bracebridge and Toronto, as I remained 24 days and spent about 16

days

at Toronto.

 

During the three weeks of the time I visited Bracebridge and

neighbouring cities and towns, I examined and investigated results

obtained by ESSIAC treatments including 400 patients.

 

I am pleased to assure all interested persons that I paid my own

expenses and investigated ESSIAC to satisfy my own interest in

cancer

victims and learn of some remedial agent for cancer that had proved

itself superior in every respect to all else, and which I could

conscientiously recommend to my friends and interested persons.

 

I can certainly express my genuine regrets that Ontario is so far

and

difficult to reach for cancer sufferers from California.

Transportation

covering such long distances is certainly an important consideration

for

the safety and comfort of invalids.

 

With sincere interest and hopes that humanity throughout all nations

be

permitted to obtain Miss Rene Caisse's remedy ESSIAC according to

her

philanthropic and humane principles, I remain,

 

(Signed: Emma M. Carson, M.D., Hayward Hotel Los Angeles,

California,

August 12. 1937)

 

Every few years I would make an appointment with whoever was

then " The

Honorable the Minister of Health for Ontario " and would attend with

a

group of patients and a petition. First, Dr. Robb, then Dr. Faulkner

and

The Honorable Harold Kirby. Each year the group of patients would be

more numerous, and the petitions would carry more names.

 

The last petition was presented in 1938 with a bill requesting our

government to legalize my ESSIAC treatment.

 

This bill was presented to the 2nd Session of the 20th Legislature

of

Ontario, 1938, for:

 

" An act to authorize Rene Caisse to practice medicine in the

Province of

Ontario in the treatment of cancer and conditions resulting there

from. "

 

Attached to the bill were petitions bearing names of more than

fifty-five thousand (55,000) persons who were in favor of its

passage.

Of this number, three hundred and eighty-seven (387) were patents,

and

many were doctors.

 

The bill was sponsored by two members of the provincial legislature

from

opposing political parties -- Mr. J. Frank Kelly, a member of the

Liberal Party and Mr. Leopold McCaulley, a member of the

Conservative

Party. There were 59 voting members in the legislature and the bill

failed by only three votes. It would have authorized the practice of

the

treatment of cancer without a medical rating. This was a position

never

before heard of in the conservative history of Canada.

 

I learned later that this unusual bill, authorizing me to practice

medicine in the treatment of cancer, would, no doubt, have actually

been

approved by the Legislature, except that members of the medical

profession assured the members that if the bill was not passed they

would then sponsor the appointment of a " Cancer Commission " to give

my

treatment a fair hearing.

 

NOTE: It came to light later that the Canadian Medical Association

had

debated my case with the Legislature before my hearing and had made

this

false promise.

 

Soon after the hearing of my bill, the Legislature passed:

 

" AN ACT FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF REMEDIES FOR CANCER "

 

This act established the Cancer Commission and among other things,

provided that:

 

" The Commission may require any person who advertises, offers for

sale,

holds out, distributes, sells or advertises either free of charge or

for

gain, hire or hope of reward, any substance or method of treatment

as a

remedy for cancer, to submit samples of such substance or a

description

of such treatment, and samples of such substance used with such

treatment to the Commission together with the formula of such

substance

and such other information pertaining to such substance or method of

treatment as the Commission may determine.

 

I immediately closed my clinic, and reopened it only at the urgent

request of the Minister of Health, The Honorable Harold J. Kirby and

the

Premier of Ontario, The Honorable Mitchell Hepburn.

 

The Honourable Mitchell Hepburn said at the time this Act was

passed:

" The onus is on the medical profession now. They must either prove

or

disprove Miss Caisse's claims, and I do not believe they can

disprove

them. I am in sympathy with Miss Caisse's work and will do all in my

power to help her. "

 

The Premier answered an inquiry from Mrs. Wilfred Raney, of

Sunbridge,

Ohio, about my treatment, stating that I could " Carry on " as in the

past. From the " Office of the Prime Minister of Ontario " and dated

June

8, 1938, it read:

 

Dear Mrs. Raney:

 

In reply to your letter of recent date relative to Miss Rene M.

Caisse's

cancer cure, I wish to advise you that the Commission for the

investigation of so-called cancer cures has not been set up as yet.

Miss

Caisse is in the same position today as she was prior to the passing

of

An Act for the Investigation of the Remedies for Cancer. There has

been

no interference whatever by the department of health, nor by any

department of the government.

 

The Minister of Health and the Deputy Minister have personally

interviewed Miss Caisse, and she has been advised that she can carry

on

her treatment in the meantime the same as she has done in the past.

 

With kind regards, I remain yours very sincerely

 

(Signed Mitchell Hepburn)

 

Eventually, on December 31, 1939, the Commission into the

Investigation

of Cancer Remedies brought in its report which read in part:

 

" After careful examination of all the evidence submitted and

analyzed

herewith and, not forgetting the fact that the patients, or a number

of

them, who came before the Commission, felt they had been benefited

by

the treatment which they had received, the Commission is of the

opinion

that the evidence adduced does not justify any favorable conclusion

as

to the merits of ESSIAC as a remedy for cancer and would so report. "

 

It is my opinion, that the hearing of my case before the Cancer

Commission was one of the greatest farces ever perpetrated in the

history of medicine. More than 380 patients came to be heard, and

the

Commission limited the Hearings to 49 patients. Then, in their

report

stated that I had taken only 49 patients to be heard! They stated

that

x-ray reports were not acceptable for diagnosis, and that the 49

doctors

had made wrong or mistaken diagnosis.

 

It is a sad state of affairs if doctors can diagnose an affliction

as

" Cancer " and send the patients home with a few months (at most) to

live,

if they are not sure. In the 49 cases examined by the Commission,

the

majority had been diagnosed by more than one physician. Some of them

had

three or four doctors, and were told they had cancer, and were

treated

for malignancy before coming to me for ESSIAC treatment.

 

In the hearing, the Cancer Commission admitted that every patient

presented had benefited or been cured by ESSIAC: many of them with

pathological findings and reports, but they said the doctors had

been

mistaken in diagnosing the cases.

 

More than 300 patients were waiting to be heard but the Commission

stated they had seen enough to give a report.

 

The Cancer Commission made much of the fact that I had not furnished

them with the formula of ESSIAC or with samples thereof. What they

did

not state was that I had been offering to the proper authorities for

years my formula providing they would admit some merit for ESSIAC on

the

clinical proof I presented.

 

I had offered to give it to them if they assured me that it would

not be

shelved (as was done with penicillin). So I did not give out my

formula

and they published the bald statement that " I refused to give my

formula " .

 

My files reflect hundreds of documented cases concerning the proven

efficacy of ESSIAC with cancer patients, including many of the 49

that

the Cancer Commission turned down for dubious reasons. I will give

just

two cases of patients who appeared before the Commission in July of

1939, and who were alive and well 20 or more years later.

 

Patient: Walter Hampson, Utterson, Ontario, aged 34 in 1937.

Diagnosis:

squamous carcinoma of lip. Physicians: Dr. Ansley, Pathologist, and

Dr.

A.F. Bastedo, Bracebridge, Ontario.

 

After the pathologists report, Dr. Bastedo urged Mr. Hampson to go

at

once to have radium treatment as he had no time to lose. Mr. Hampson

came to me for treatment and was cured. When he went before the

Cancer

Commission on July 4, 1939, with other patients, they listed his

case as

" recovery due to surgery " . The only surgery he had was the removal

of a

small section for the biopsy which showed the cancer!

 

Note: Mr. Hampson was well on May 4, 1960.

 

Patient: Herbert Rawson, Bracebridge, Ont. Age 48 in 1935.

Diagnosis:

carcinoma of rectum, confirmed by x-ray.

 

Patient had a hard mass with sloughing and bleeding and great pain.

When

he refused surgery, Dr. Kenny gave Miss Rene Caisse a written

diagnosis

with permission to treat with ESSIAC. Treatments began in April of

1935

and the last of 30 was given on May 1, 1936, and a good improvement

in

weight. Patient was able to work during treatment period except for

one

month of rest. No trace of cancer found in 1936 when he was examined

by

Doctors W.C. Arnold of Ottawa, Herbert Monthorne of Timmins, Ont.,

and

F. Greig of Bracebridge, Ont.

 

Note: May 22, 1960, Mr. Rawson, 73, died of a stroke.

 

In 1963, Mrs. Carline Donald, 79, and John McNee, 95, died. Both had

been cured of cancer at the Bracebridge Clinic, but no doubt the

investigators would now claim they never did have cancer. It seems

the

only cases they admit had cancer are the ones who died of it, in

spite

of all the research and conventional treatments.

 

The Prime Ministers, The Ministers of Health and later the Cancer

Commissioners and the Attorneys-General of Ontario received hundreds

of

letters and pleas from patients and their doctors regarding ESSIAC.

Many

of the 55,000 persons who signed the petition supporting the bill to

recognize and legalize my treatment, also wrote letters. The Cancer

Commissioners, backed by certain medical groups, were deaf to the

appeals, and used the same biased interpretations of data as have

been

placed on other treatments indicated for cancer, unless limited to

their

approved surgery, radiation and toxic drugs.

 

A Doctor Testifies

 

The Testimony of Dr. Benjamin Leslie Guatt, Final Witness at the

Cancer

Commission Hearing, March 1939, Toronto:

 

" During the past three years it has been my privilege to observe in

the

Caisse clinic the work of Nurse Caisse, whose enthusiasm, endurance

and

optimism have been an inspiration to me. On checking authentic

cancer

cases, hemorrhage was readily brought under control in many

difficult

cases. Open lesions of lip and breast responded to treatment; cancer

of

the cervix, rectum and bladder were caused to disappear; and

patients

with cancer of the stomach, diagnosed by reputable physicians and

surgeons, have returned to normal activity. It impressed me.

 

" The cheerfulness and optimism of treated patients in the waiting

room

fascinated me. Distorted countenances became normal and pain reduced

as

treatment proceeded; pain in these cases is difficult to control.

 

I have witnessed a treatment that brings about restoration through

destroying tumor tissues and supplying that `something' which

improves

the mental outlook and re-establishes proper physiological function.

It

is my privilege to do all in my power to bring cancer sufferers this

remedy, Essiac, which has brought relief and restored health to many

in

the past. "

 

Dr. Guyatt testified at this hearing not as a cancer patient, but as

a

courageous physician. As curator of the anatomy department at

Toronto

University, he took the meaning of the Hippocratic oath very

seriously.

His words summed up the feelings of all the eminent doctors who had

bravely penned their signatures to petitions which requested

Ottawa's

National Health and Welfare Department recognize Essiac's efficacy

and

the right for Nurse Caisse to officially treat cancer patients.