Calling of an Angl: Rene Caisse and Essiac Tea--7by Dr. Gary L. Glum |
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CHAPTER SEVENIn May, 1959, Rene flew to Boston and was met by Ralph Daigh. She was given a comfortable apartment in the Commander Hotel in Cambridge, not far from the Brusch Medical Center. At the clinic, three rooms-a waiting room, a dispensary and a treatment room-were made available for Rene's use. Her treatments were to be supervised by Dr. Brusch's director of research, Dr. Charles McClure. Dr. McClure would personally maintain the case history files. One of the first patients treated was a 40 year old woman named Lena Burcell. Four years after surgery to remove a cancerous breast, the cancer had reoccurred in her lung. X-rays showed her to be terminally ill. She received her first treatment from Rene Caisse on May 26, 1959. Almost immediately, her ability to breathe improved markedly. Prior to treatment with Essiac, Mrs. Burcell had complained of severe joint pains. These pains lessened noticeably, she told the doctors. She lived for three months. Exploratory surgery-followed by biopsy-on a 37-year-old man named John Cronin confirmed that he was terminally ill with inoperable cancer of the right lung. An alcoholic, Cronin was known as a difficult and unreliable patient. When he started treatments with Rene Caisse, he was too weak to climb one flight of stairs comfortably. He was suffering severe pains in the area of his chest incision and was being given narcotic painkillers. Cronin had seven weekly treatments, each consisting of one ounce of Essiac orally and one ounce by intramuscular injection. He told doctors that the pain in his chest had disappeared, and he was not as short of breath. He could climb several flights of stairs without discomfort and had taken up his old hobby of swimming. A drinking binge landed him in the V A. Hospital, where he was threatened with loss of his veteran's medical benefits if he continued non-V A. treatment. When he got out of the V A. hospital, Cronin went back to the Brusch Medical Center saying he would gladly sacrifice his veteran's medical care in favor of the relief he was receiving from Essiac. The file merely notes that under the circumstances, no further treatment was given by Rene Caisse. A 58-year-old man named Wilbur Dymond was suffering from prostate cancer. After two months of treatments, all hardness in the prostate had vanished, except for one small nodule. He reported to doctors that he no longer suffered excruciating pain during urination. Russell McCassey was suffering from a basal cell carcinoma of the right cheek, proven by biopsy. The open lesion had been present for months. He had not had X-ray or radiation treatments. After four treatments-both orally and intramuscular injections-in two weeks, the color of the lesion changed from red to pale pink. The lesion reduced in size. The central ulcer crater was disappearing. After three more weeks of treatments, the lesion was healed, leaving only a small white mark where the biopsy incision was made. The file notes that this case appeared to be cured. Those are typical examples. The supervisor, Dr. McClure, wrote about his experiences with Rene and Essiac: "After having personally observed Miss Caisse administer her remedy' for cancer on known cases of malignancy for about three months, and the results of such administration, I am certain the remedy is ef ficacious. It is to be regretted that the patient sample is so small, although small as the sample was, her gratifying results on all cases are indisputable. "The sense of well-being engendered in the patients is heartening and easily noticed. The return of strength and will to do, obvious. The relief from pain is possibly the most dramatic change. In those cases of cutaneous cancer the evidence of quick healing and regeneration visible and positive." To supplement her treatment of patients, Rene agreed-at Dr. Brusch's urging-to perform experiments on mice inoculated with human cancer. Initially the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Institute in New York agreed to provide the mice. The first group of mice treated with Essiac was returned to Sloan-Kettering in mid June, 1959. According to Dr. Brusch's records, Dr. Philip C. Merker of Sloan-Kettering called to say that Sloan-Kettering was very interested in what it was seeing: namely, a physiological change in the cancer growth characterized as "a tendency of the cancer cells to amalgamate and localize." But then Sloan-Kettering said that it would have to have the formula in order to continue any further studies. Dr. Brusch and others seriously considered that possibility, but Rene remained adamant that she would not release the formula until she had some guarantee that it would not be "bottled up in the laboratory" or permanently shelved as worthless. It was the same old Catch-22: Admit its merit and I'll release the formula; we can't admit merit until we know what's in it. The experiments would have to continue without the cooperation of Sloan-Kettering. A prominent Boston surgeon who was familiar with the work being done at the Brusch Medical Center suggested that the National Cancer Institute might be helpful in future animal experimentation. Ralph Daigh contacted the NCI. They were interested, but placed the same demand as Sloan-Kettering: the formula first. So the experiments on mice continued without the involvement of the huge cancer research centers. Here is what Dr. Charles McClure and Dr. Charles Brusch later wrote of those experiments: "On mice it (Essiac) has been shown to cause a decided recession of the mass, and a definite change in cell formation." On the treatments of patients, their final report concluded: "Clinically, on patients suffering from pathologically proven cancer, it reduces pain and causes a recession in the growth; patients have gained weight and shown an improvement in their general health. "This, after only three months' tests and the proof Miss Caisse has to show of the many patients she has benefited in the past 25 years, has convinced the doctors at the Brusch Medical Center that Essiac has merit in the treatment of cancer. The doctors do not say that Essiac is a cure, but they do say it is of benefit. It is non-toxic, and is administered both orally and by intramuscular injection." During the time Rene spent at the Brusch Medical Center, Dr. Charles McClure mailed questionnaires to some of Rene's former patients. He received back several testimonials from people treated as long as 31 years earlier, including some who had testified for Rene at the 1939 Royal Cancer Commission hearings: Clara Thornbury-treated 22 years previously. Alive and well at 75. (She eventually died in 1975 at the age of 91.) Nellie McVittie-treated 23 years previously. Alive and well and still in touch with Rene in 1959. Wilson Hammell-treated 31 years previously. Eliza Veitch-treated in 1938. Age 76 in 1959. After about a year, with only a limited number of patients available for treatment-due to American Medical Association restrictions on remedies of unknown substances-and laboratories increasingly reluctant to supply mice inoculated with human cancer, Rene returned home to Bracebridge. She was convinced that the labs were under pressure to stop cooperating with her. Once again, she was pessimistic about Essiac ever gaining recognition and acceptance. But she had made a friend and believer out of Dr. Charles Brusch. They remained on good terms, in communication and cooperating with each other about the future of Essiac for the rest of Rene's life. To this day, as I write this, almost 30 years after Rene's work in Cambridge, Dr. Brusch remains an outspoken advocate of Essiac as a valuable treatment for cancer patients.. Introduction I 1 I 2 I 3 I 4 I 5 I 6 I 7 I 8 I 9 I 10 I 11 I 12 I 13 I 14 All of the events and characters depicted in this book are non-fictional
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