Grace Gawler has been particularly concerned that stories about her ex-husband, Ian Gawler’s recovery story, a story she played a major role in, have been misreported (as they were in 2 Medical Journal of Australia reports MJA 1978 and 2008) causing many of her patients to abandon conventional medicine in favour of alt/med. She has been trying to educate the public of this fact for years with little cooperation from the media.

Patients have informed us that some ‘integrative’ doctors who read the MJA reports have recommended their cancer patients eat a vegan diet and meditate long hours as Ian Gawler was purported to do.

This article in the Age illustrates her point – Pip Cornall

Writing in the Age – December 31, 2011, Chris Johnston and Julia Medew Health Editor – said

“AN EXPLOSIVE new medical report has cast doubt on whether Melbourne alternative therapies guru Dr Ian Gawler ever suffered the secondary cancer from which he has claimed for 30 years to have cured himself.”

(full article at http://www.theage.com.au/national/cancer-experts-challenge-gawlers-cure-20111230-1pfns.html#ixzz1i3tLcWrX  )

The outdoors component of the program mentioned in the article will be led by Pip Cornall and supervised by institute director Grace Gawler and team advisor Dr Bruce Whelan.

“PIP Cornall is about to go where no man has gone before. He’s taking prostate cancer support to the outdoors. Whether it is fishing, camping or having a beer, he believes it is the perfect opportunity to support affected men in an environment which eliminates the stereotype of a therapist’s chair.

Rail freight giant QR National thinks there is merit to this world-first program designed to be piloted on the Gold Coast in early March and has donated $16,800.

The Prostate Mates program will be run through the Grace Gawler Institute, a local company with a long history of providing emotional support to cancer victims.

Mr Cornall joined the institute as a director after Ms Gawler, the institute founder, read an article he wrote while living in America on his work with men and boys in prison and taking them into the wilderness for therapy. He was also a physical education teacher on the Gold Coast in the mid 1970s.

Mr Cornall is hoping the Prostate Mates program will become a pioneer for prostate support groups across the world.
“Men would rather have a beer and go fishing so we thought, why not run with that trend,” he said.

“It’s taking therapy out of the office.” Mr Cornall said he planned to run the first session in March as either afternoon fishing on the Broadwater or camping on North Stradbroke Island.

“My role is to help men share their deepest fears in things like, if they have had treatment and are now impotent,” he said.
“When someone is no longer pretending to be strong it frees up their energy and helps the healing.”
Mr Cornall said 19,403 new cases of prostate cancer were diagnosed each year in Australia.”

My notes: The prostate diagnosies compare with about 14,234 cases of bowell cancer, 12,670 cases of breast cancer and melanoma of the skin (10,342 cases)  in the same time  frame. – Pip Cornall

Our founder, Grace Gawler has spent nearly 4 decades helping cancer patients build survival strategies. In all of the 13,000 + patients she has worked with, she HAS NOT SEEN A SINGLE RECOVERY DUE TO ALT/MED ALONE. Rather she has seen many alt/med casualties – too many casualties, as have I in my short 4.5 years helping Grace in her work.

Well intentioned blogs like ‘Mum’s not having Chemo’ can fan the wildfire of alt/med cures spreading the world – the plethora of internet claims like ‘cure cancer now,’ ‘read my book and be cured like thousands before you,’ ‘curing cancer’ is easy and so on.

These promotions are very dangerous as those working with cancer patients know. The miracle claims on the net don’t stack up with our experience nor that of our colleagues in Australia and Europe.

Yet the blog in question, Laura Bond’s ‘Mum’s not having Chemo,’ a blog clearly written with love by the daughter who has spent hundreds of hours researching treatments, is wildly inaccurate.

As one medical colleague said, “it’s misleading, dangerous and a mess.”  Worse than that, the Adelaide Advertiser wrote a weekend feature about the alt/med choices of the mum, Gemma Bond and the daughter’s efforts to help her.

It is titled ‘Why a Brave Mum said no to Chemotherapy   – full article   http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/ipad/why-a-brave-mum-said-no-to-chemotherapy/story-fn6bqpju-1226180025592

We have written and phoned the paper to rectify the article. Perhaps they may not know of the increase in alt/med deaths that we and our colleagues witness. I hope they respond!

I have also posted caring but informative comments on the daughter’s blog but these have been removed. I have emailed her but she has not replied. Blinded by her ideology, she obviously can’t allow any debate despite my compassionate emails and comments.

She does not seem to understand that she is not medically trained; that there is a moral obligation not to promote the types of alt/med treatments that are killing thousands of cancer patients each year in Australia. Although the intention behind her blogs may be well meaning, materials that influence desperate cancer patients to chose alt/med treatments that kill them are deadly whatever way you look at it.

Dr Ian Musgrave, PhD, a molecular pharmacologist who works at the University of Adelaide in South Australia said of the blog, “I don’t want to denigrate the experience of the author and her mother, but in trying to explain why her mother chose alternative medicine, a lot of factually incorrect or misleading information is presented by the author.” His full article is very revealing – click here. http://astroblogger.blogspot.com/ (you may have to scroll down to find it)

Amanda Hordern, director of the Cancer Council Victoria’s information and support helpline, says the line is fielding an increasing number of calls from people who believe they can heal their bodies by undergoing restrictive dietary regimes, such as consuming 10 kilograms of juiced fruit and vegetables a day, eliminating dairy and meat, taking high doses of vitamin supplements or eating shark cartilage and having coffee enemas.

She says of the 600 calls about nutrition last year, many were from cancer patients convinced an extreme diet could cure them. ”I’ve spoken to people who have mortgaged their houses looking for this wonder cure. I’ve heard of $20,000 retreats where people go away and are taught how to have alternative diets that are unproven. ”People have asked us for financial assistance to pay for funerals because they’ve lost absolutely everything in pursuing the elusive hope and it hasn’t worked,” Dr Hordern told The Sunday Age.

Dr Hordern has received many calls from relatives of cancer sufferers who have followed unorthodox diets with tragic results. ”I remember a man whose wife had recently died from very advanced breast cancer. He said to me with absolute agony and desperation in his voice, ‘My wife was so sure that this wonder treatment was going to work.’ It was a really extreme, alternative therapy with coffee enemas and a cleansing detoxifying diet recommended by a naturopath. In the end she was so wasted, had lost so much weight and he was really angry. He felt that he had been robbed of the last month of her life.”

Dr Ian Haines, medical oncologist at Cabrini Health, is open to his patients making changes to their diet if they are not too extreme, and says it can provide a placebo effect. He says confusion about what to eat is a big problem: ”Once someone gets diagnosed with cancer they get six or 10 different books on curing cancer from all variety of sources, so they’re absolutely flooded with mixed messages. There is no magic solution out there, moderation is probably the best answer we have in 2010.” Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/national/can-apricot-kernels-keep-cancer-at-bay-20100306-pptb.html

I’ll write more about this topic until we see a change in this terrible trend, a trend fanned by well meaning but untrained and unexperienced people.

Working closely with patients as we do, who have come too late to us because they fiddled around with alt/med (like Steve Jobs) – it is simply heart breaking to witness the preventable deaths of good but misguided patients. That is why we get up early to write.

http:gracegawler.com/institute

We’d rather be working with patients and not be repeating an old story but we must while so many patients are abandoning conventional treatments influenced by this mythical event. We write to set the record straight and warn patients they should not follow alt/med or starve themselves on vegan diets to beat their cancer.

Here is the story again -  references are below – please spread the word.
In 2009, a former patient contacted Grace Gawler concerned about alleged inaccuracies in a Medical Journal of Australia (December 2008) article about Ian Gawler’s recovery story.[5]

Ian Gawler’s high profile as a famous recovered cancer patient with constant media presence, the sale 250,000 copies of his popular book ‘You Can Conquer Cancer,’ along with CDs and DVDs, means he has much influence over cancer patients and the treatment choices they make. [6]

MJA editors invited Gawler to submit evidence of the alleged inaccuracies. After a year of rigorous fact checking, they published her letter on these matters.[7] The letter indicated a number of alleged errors in the article which had implied that Ian Gawler’s recovery was attributed to intensive meditation and adherence to a strict vegan diet. Photographic evidence was provided indicating that timelines in the December 2008 article were not entirely correct.

Since Gawler’s 2010 letter, some of her claims have been agreed to by Ian Gawler.[8] Information in a 2008 biography of Ian Gawler also agrees with her MJA letter regarding dates and timelines.[9] Referring to both Medical Journal of Australia articles about him (1978 and 2008), Ian Gawler stated that “Dr Ainslie Meares reported that I had more severe disease when I first saw him than I actually did, and these timeline errors were carried over into the 2008 follow-up.”[10]

Ian Gawler also admitted he had not followed a vegan diet.[11] Some Australian researchers hypothesise that TB may have played a significant role in the patient’s remission.[12][13][14]

Writing in PubMed, a prominent Australian onclogist, Prof Ray Lowenthal, said “Furthermore, because his ideas are making such an impact on the day-to-day treatment of cancer in this country, Ian Gawler owes it to the community to justify, with evidence, his claims that by meditation, patients with cancer may be enabled to achieve a cure of their disease in a way that is unattainable with orthodox medical treatment alone.” [15]

Writing in Cancer Forum in 2005 Lowenthal states, “Ian Gawler has not been completely frank in his description of the treatments he received. While he may have spent a lot of time on his own self-prescribed remedies, he also received orthodox treatment, although in his books and interviews he has played down their role in his cure.” [16]

References

Thank you  – Pip Cornall

To go to the Grace Gawler Institute for Integrated Cancer Solutions – http://gracegawler.com/institute

Another day has gone by. Time is still running out for D Gawler,  who is Ian and Grace Gawler’s 31 year old son. This is the same fundraiser appeal with yet with a different title because I feel powerless but refuse to stand by while he deteriorates – we have the solution a skilled surgeon ready and able at Cedars-Sinai hospital in LA. All we need is the $60,000 to fund the operation.

The rest of this post is the same as previous posts… Please click here to go to Grace’s fundraiser site. – and more detail on D’s condition Pip Cornall

To go to the Grace Gawler Institute for Integrated Cancer Solutions – http://gracegawler.com/institute

The rest of this post is the same as previous posts… Please click here to go to Grace’s fundraiser site. – and more detail on D’s condition Pip Cornall

Ian and Grace Gawler’s son, D, aged 31, needs urgent complex surgery that can only be done in the USA. D is in constant pain and his condition is a ticking time bomb. Without surgery his prognosis is poor. Tens of thousands of people have been touched by Grace and Ian’s cancer support work over 3 decades so we’re asking that they may like to  act altruistically and chip in – the $60,000 needed could be easily raised. A media appeal could also be considered.

I’ve lived with D, for almost 4 years in the role of mentor/care giver. D has had a hard life but has made the most of his situation. He is a tall good looking young man who tries so hard and who deserves a chance for a long life just as Grace was steadfast in her support of Ian Gawler when he only had 2 weeks to live. It has been hard watching D detiorate and the weight dropping off him since eating is so painful.

Grace has contacted the best neuro surgeons in Australia, Germany, India, Singapore until she finally found someone skilled and willing to operate. She has spent hundreds of hours so far not stopping when told things are hopeless.

Please click here to go to Grace’s fundraiser site. – She gives more detail on D’s conditionPip Cornall

Or Read on – D Gawler is another Gawler miracle story that has been untold to protect his privacy. Now the urgency of the matter requires a public appeal since neither his mother nor I have the financial means to fund the surgery.

D has primarily lived with Grace since the family split up in 1997 with Grace as prime care giver until I arrived about 4 years ago. The costs associated with his welfare have been enormous with Grace the sole provider.

Grace has not wanted to go public with htis but sees no other option. We can’t stand by and watch a young clean living man have a stroke or heart attack .  Consequently begun a fund raiser based around her books which donors can buy for themselves or others. Please click here to go to Grace’s fundraiser site. – Pip

To go to the Grace Gawler Institute for Integrated Cancer Solutions – http://gracegawler.com/institute Cornall

Ian and Grace Gawler’s son, D, aged 31, needs urgent complex surgery that can only be done in the USA. D is in constant pain and his condition is a ticking time bomb. Without surgery his prognosis is poor. Tens of thousands of people have been touched by Grace and Ian’s cancer support work over 3 decades so we’re asking that they may like to  act altruistically and chip in – the $60,000 needed could be easily raised. A media appeal could also be considered.

I’ve lived with D, for almost 4 years in the role of mentor/care giver. D has had a hard life but has made the most of his situation. He is a tall good looking young man who tries so hard and who deserves a chance for a long life just as Grace was steadfast in her support of Ian Gawler when he only had 2 weeks to live. It has been hard watching D detiorate and the weight dropping off him since eating is so painful.

Grace has contacted the best neuro surgeons in Australia, Germany, India, Singapore until she finally found someone skilled and willing to operate. She has spent hundreds of hours so far not stopping when told things are hopeless.

Please click here to go to Grace’s fundraiser site. – She gives more detail on D’s conditionPip Cornall

Or Read on – D Gawler is another Gawler miracle story that has been untold to protect his privacy. Now the urgency of the matter requires a public appeal since neither his mother nor I have the financial means to fund the surgery.

D has primarily lived with Grace since the family split up in 1997 with Grace as prime care giver until I arrived about 4 years ago. The costs associated with his welfare have been enormous with Grace the sole provider.

Grace has not wanted to go public with htis but sees no other option. We can’t stand by and watch a young clean living man have a stroke or heart attack .  Consequently begun a fund raiser based around her books which donors can buy for themselves or others. Please click here to go to Grace’s fundraiser site. – Pip Cornall

To go to the Grace Gawler Institute for Integrated Cancer Solutions – http://gracegawler.com/institute

I’ve lived with D, for almost 4 years in the role of mentor/care giver. D has had a hard life but has made the most of his situation. He is a tall good looking young man who tries so hard and who deserves a chance for a long life just as Grace was steadfast in her support of Ian Gawler when he only had 2 weeks to live. It has been hard watching D detiorate and the weight dropping off him since eating is so painful.

Grace has contacted the best neuro surgeons in Australia, Germany, India, Singapore until she finally found someone skilled and willing to operate. She has spent hundreds of hours so far not stopping when told things are hopeless.

Please click here to go to Grace’s fundraiser site. – She gives more detail on D’s conditionPip Cornall

Or Read on – D Gawler is another Gawler miracle story that has been untold to protect his privacy. Now the urgency of the matter requires a public appeal since neither his mother nor I have the financial means to fund the surgery.

D has primarily lived with Grace since the family split up in 1997 with Grace as prime care giver until I arrived about 4 years ago. The costs associated with his welfare have been enormous with Grace the sole provider.

Grace has not wanted to go public with htis but sees no other option. We can’t stand by and watch a young clean living man have a stroke or heart attack .  Consequently begun a fund raiser based around her books which donors can buy for themselves or others. Please click here to go to Grace’s fundraiser site. – Pip Cornall

Grace Gawler is appealling to those touched by her work and the Gawler Foundation to help raise $60,000 for the surgery at Cedar- Sinai Hospital in LA. As her support of Ian Gawler was unflinching so has Grace’s support of D been intelligent and tenacious.

Grace is proud of D’s achievents given he was born deaf with multiple medical syndromes in 1980.  Grace considers D a bigger success than what she and Ian had achieved with his remission, but his story has been largely unknown to protect his privacy. Now a desperate situtation calls for desperate measures.

Just as she had persisted in her role of care giver-solution finder with Ian Gawler, against all odds and advice from the medical profession, Grace applied a wise combination of conventional and complementary therapies along with undying love and patience to help D. If ever an Australian mother deserved assistance to help her son it is Grace. Grace’s previous medical challenges exhausted all her finances which is why the appeal is necessary.

Please read Grace’s compelling blog and lets viral this appeal out so money is raised for D’s urgent (life saving) surgery next month.

Thank you – Pip Cornall

To go to the Grace Gawler Institute for Integrated Cancer Solutions – http://gracegawler.com/institute