Part of what first led me to raw foods was a curiosity about our “optimal diet.” It seemed like such a simple concept: a combination of foods that our bodies are best adapted to, that we could easily discern by looking at our anatomy, that evolutionary history supported, and that would lead to the best health possible. It shouldn’t be rocket science, right?
Unfortunately, it kind of is.
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BRANTFORD – It’s a bitter pill to swallow.
A First Nations family has the constitutional right to choose traditional medicine for their seriously ill daughter — even if eschewing chemotherapy will likely cost the young girl her life.
But such was the precedent-setting decision made by Ontario Court Justice Gethin Edward Friday. To applause and tears in the packed courtroom, the judge rejected a bid by McMaster Children’s Hospital to force an 11-year-old Six Nations girl with leukemia into the care of the Children’s Aid Society and compel her to resume her chemo instead of continuing the traditional and alternative treatments sought by her mother.
“This is not an eleventh-hour epiphany employed to take her daughter out of the rigours of chemotherapy. Rather it is a decision made by a mother, on behalf of a daughter she truly loves, steeped in a practice that has been rooted in their culture from its beginnings,” Edward said in his 15-page ruling.
“It is this court’s conclusion therefore, that (her) decision to pursue traditional medicine for her daughter is her aboriginal right.”
The child, her name protected by a publication ban, was diagnosed at the Hamilton children’s hospital on Aug. 13 with high risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a cancer of the bone marrow. Two days later, she began what was supposed to be her first course of 32 days of chemotherapy.
But on Aug. 27, the mom informed the hospital that she didn’t want the chemo to continue for her daughter and instead planned to treat her with traditional medicines. Her oncologist immediately called on the Brant Families and Children’s Services to intervene for this “medical neglect.”
“This leukemia has an approximately 90% cure rate with the recommended treatment,” Dr. Vicky Breakley wrote in her faxed letter. “We feel that (the mom’s) decision to discontinue the only proven therapy will remove any chance of cure and that (she) will die of a curable condition.”
When the CAS refused to step in, even after learning on Sept. 8 that the mom planned to take her daughter from the hospital to a Florida centre for alternative medicine, the hospital took the unusual step of taking the child welfare agency to court to force them into apprehending the girl as a child in need of protection.
The judge, himself a member of Six Nations, called it a “very difficult case” but reaffirmed the parents’ right to refuse chemotherapy on constitutional grounds. An aboriginal right is guaranteed if it’s both an “integral” part of the culture and was practised before the arrival of Europeans — and Edward found traditional medicine satisfies both criteria.
“I cannot find that (she) is a child in need of protection when her substitute decision maker has chosen to exercise her constitutionally protected right to pursue their traditional medicine over the (hospital’s) stated course of treatment of chemotherapy.”
What kind of “traditional medicine” has she sought for her daughter? Her mom reportedly spent $18,000 to take her to the Hippocrates Health Institute in West Palm Beach, a new age health facility that advocates a raw food diet and a positive attitude can cure cancer.
Outside the court, Six Nations Chief Ava Hill applauded the ruling as a landmark decision upholding their right to pursue native healing. “This is monumental for our people all across the country,” she said.
But why can’t native remedies co-exist with modern medicine? By rejecting medical treatment outright, aren’t they endangering the health of aboriginal children?
“I don’t think we’re risking their lives. We love our kids. Her mother loves her to the world and back,” Hill insisted. “The only reason our people started getting sick is because your ancestors brought diseases, and gave us blankets that were infested with smallpox. We were looking after our people, and we can still do that. And I’m glad that this court is reaffirming that.”
At what cost?
This girl is suffering from a fatal childhood cancer that, thanks to modern medicine, has a remarkably high cure rate. Instead, her parents’ fight for their native “rights” may have just signed her death sentence.
When British Champion powerlifter Pat Reeves found out she had cancer she decided to take it into her own hands to cure herself.
The grandmother of two, 69, refused NHS drugs and instead began pumping iron and eating only raw foods.
“I have kept myself alive by being fit, people are in too much of a rush to take medicine and drugs when we can mend ourselves,” said the weightlifting nan.
“Powerlifting helped me I guess because it was another focus for me. One of the biggest changes I did was to take up exercise because that’s something that I never did.”
Pat was diagnosed with cancer of the brain in 1993. Doctors said the disease was fatal but that she could extend her life with the help of drugs.
Unable to accept her bleak prognosis, she decided against treatment and set about making healthier life choices – self-treating through a drastic change in nutrition and exercise.
“I took up bodybuilding because I realised running was only working me from the waist down,” she added.
But after miraculously fighting herself fit she was left devastated when she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, in the shape of 14 bone cancer tumours, in 1994.
“It was very tough to discover I had the cancer again but I was tougher,” added Pat.
After her diagnosis she has endured four heart attacks and three TIAs – similar to a stroke – but still she refused to undergo treatment.
In a bid for survival she continued to self-treat under the guidance of private doctors in Germany, this time changing her diet to raw foods only, living on a permanent detox and upping the powerlifting.
Now the inspiring nan has been in remission for more than two years.
She works out for over two hours a week in both Germany and UK, as well as competing and judging powerlifting competitions across the world.
“I don’t think I ever come across anyone who thinks I’m mad,” joked Pat. “People are bemused by it and some of them will come around and watch me compete.”
“And I’ve never met anyone who said you’re too old for this except a doctor many years ago.
“He said ‘You’re too old to lift, give it up.’ That was probably 18 years ago – its great proving people wrong.”
Original Article
Hey guys, we made the cover!!!
My partner Holly and I flew to Austin last July for the 2014 PlantBuilt Team Competition and we had the chance to do a photo shoot with the kind folks over at www.veganhealthandfitnessmag.com It was a wonderful experience and we are honored to say we made the cover! This magazine now has distribution all over the world and can be found in nationwide stores such as Target, Whole Foods, Safeway, Barnes & Noble, and many other natural food stores. Thank you so much for following and be sure to pick up a copy next time you are out.
In Fitness and for the Animals,
Ed Bauer
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