Not surprisingly, one year after her mastectomy, Mary complained of severe pain in the lower spine
and in her left knee. Ten years earlier she had been diagnosed as having cervical spondylosis^34 in her
lower spine, caused by abnormal outgrowth and ossified cartilage around the margins of joints of the
vertebral column. This time, however, the examinations revealed that she had developed bone cancer in
her lower spine and left knee. The breast surgery and resulting suppression of the immune system, had, as
so often is the case, encouraged millions of cancer cells to develop in other already weakened parts of the
body. Therefore, cancer cells began to grow in her lower spine where the resistance to cancer formation
was particularly low.
Mary had also been suffering from severe menstrual problems as long as she remembered. In addition,
she was diagnosed with having anemia. However, despite taking iron tablets regularly for years, which
caused her frequent nausea and stomach cramps, she remained anemic. She told me that her digestive
system had “never worked properly,” and constipation often lasted for as many as three to five days in a
row. My examination revealed that her liver was filled with thousands of intrahepatic stones.
Mary also mentioned that she had received multiple treatments of antibiotics over the years for all
kinds of infections. It is a well-established fact that regular use of antibiotics sharply increases breast
cancer risk. According to cancer research, the risk of breast cancer is twice as high among women who
receive 25 or more prescriptions for antibiotics of any variety over a 17-year period, in comparison with
women who use no antibiotics at all.
Mary was brought up with a lot of candy, cakes, ice cream and chocolate. A number of recent studies
linked a greater risk of breast cancer among women to a diet high in sugar (especially soft drinks and
popular sweet desserts). Scientists now believe that the extra insulin released to process the simple
starches and sugars found in these foods cause cells to divide and estrogens in the blood to rise. Both of
these factors (cellular division and blood estrogens) can contribute to cancer growth.
2. Its Emotional Side
Mary experienced a very sad childhood because her parents had great problems relating with one
another. When I asked her, she could not remember even one single instance when there had not been
tension between her parents. Being a very sensitive person at heart, she took everything more seriously
than her more extrovert brother, and consequently felt insecure, frightened and depressed. With a painful
smile on her face, she said that she always felt torn between her mother and father and could not make a
choice between which one to favor.
Eating her meals with the parents was particularly difficult for her. She was forced to sit and eat with
them while being tormented by a very tense atmosphere. Sometimes everyone would keep quiet so to not
arouse any new conflicts. Today, she has a strong aversion to, and fear of, food and she gobbles it down
very quickly, often while standing or driving.
Mary also faces great difficulties at work. In her job as a teacher, she feels that her students are
allowed to take their frustrations out on her, but she has to keep it all inside. When she returns home,
though, she shouts at her own children, which creates much guilt in her. She wants to be a good mother,
but believes she is not; she just doesn’t know how to be kind to her children. Mary also told me that she
never wanted to be a teacher; she always dreamt of becoming a gymnastics teacher.
The frustration of not fulfilling her desires was a major cause of Mary’s cancer. Right from the
beginning of her life she was taught to conform to the social system, which meant for her that she always
(^34) Spondylosis is spinal degeneration and deformity of the joint(s) of two or more vertebrae.