Fun & Games: Name That Corporation

The clues we provide were pulled from the corporation’s 2024 proxy statement:

Clue #1: “Full-year 2023 revenues were $58.5 billion, reflecting a 41% operational decline, primarily due to the expected decline in revenues related to COVID-19 products. Despite the challenges, a number of significant achievements created a strong foundation for the year end and fortified our potential long-term growth.”

Clue #2: “In December 2023, we acquired Seagan, one of the largest investments in [our] history, and a critical step toward our goal to achieve world class oncology leadership. We are now poised to accelerate the next generation of potential breakthrough treatments and bring new hope to people living with cancer everywhere. Our industry leading oncology portfolio now includes over 25 approved medicines and biosimulars across more than 40 indications…”

Emcee’s commentary: Hope is a powerful marketing tool that is often misused.

Clue #3: As of January 30, 2024, the corporation had the following number of projects in its R&D pipeline.

Emcee’s commentary: Failed COVID-19 products, approved for Emergency Use Authorization and marketed as being “safe and effective,” are being linked to higher incidence of aggressive cancers, as well as debilitating neurologic and cardiovascular diseases?

Clue #4: “Stock ownership guidelines promote the alignment of interests with shareholders by requiring the CEO to own [corporation] stock with a value equal to or at least eight times his base salary…” The Chairman/CEO’s 2023 base salary was $1,787,500, and his total 2023 compensation was $21,562,064. The CEO’s target total direct compensation for 2023 was 92 percent performance-based.

Emcee’s commentary: The Chairman/CEO earned a total 2022 compensation of $33,017,453. His total compensation dropped from $33 million to $22 million. Poor guy!

Clue #5: The stock’s price dropped from $59.05 on 12/30/21 to $28.79 on 12/28/23.

Can you name that corporation?

Here’s one last hint…

A new blockbuster book, baring the name of this corporation (The ____ Papers), reveals how it deceived the public by suppressing horrifying clinical trial results from human testing of its COVID-19 product. The decline in revenues was inevitable.

Emcee’s commentary: 40 years ago, I worked in the Corporate Communications Department of MFS, a company that manages mutual funds and institutional investment portfolios. One of my responsibilities was to proofread shareholder marketing materials – sales brochures, annual and quarterly reports, prospectuses and proxy statements. I had to read them multiple times, before they went to print. Hundreds of pages of tedium! Today I can finally appreciate the value of these documents. It’s like reading a storybook – The Book of Proxy. Hmmm, sounds almost biblical. There must be a lesson here.

The word proxy has multiple meanings:

the authority to act for another
a document empowering a person to act for another, as in voting
an election

Every corporation is required by law to issue a proxy statement on an annual basis. The statement is distributed to the shareholders and made publicly available online. It summarizes operational performance and recommends board membership and executive compensation. The proxy statement also urges shareholders to vote FOR the slate of board members and FOR the executive compensation plan.

Finally, at the end of the proxy statement, there is a presentation of shareholder proposals and the board generally recommends voting AGAINST these, because such proposals are not in the best interest of the company’s stock value. (A few shareholders may raise ethical issues that could complicate corporate operations.)

Investors place their life savings and their retirement assets in mutual funds and institutionally-managed 401Ks, pension plans and family trusts, because they want to share in stock value growth, profits and dividends. When directors make bad decisions, shareholders will eventually pay the price.

Marketing packaged as “hope” is often a manipulation of people’s fear. There is a reason many marketing pieces focus on buyers’ pain points. Keep this in mind. Also, keep one eye on your wealth, and keep the other eye on your health.

We published new book, DIPG: Eternal Hope Versus Terminal Corruption. Please check out our DIPG Book web page. Open your eyes. Real Eyes Realize Real Lies. We must take a closer look at Big Pharma marketing, the mainstream medical system and the government agencies who approve their products and protocols for use on children, teens and adults. Follow us on “X” @dipgbook.

Real Eyes Realize Real Lies

My super power is seeing what other people do not. Working in the field of health insurance opened my eyes to the fact that our medical care system was bleeding our economy to death and compromising our well-being. Was this intentional or was it being done unwittingly? “Unwittingly, blindly,” I thought at the time, “The people who run the system are unable to see what they are doing to us.” The system has become a dark mess created by insurance companies, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies, with each entity focused on its own bottom line.

I left insurance to work in the field of childhood wellness and to write articles for Natural Awakenings Magazine. As I began researching and contributing articles to the Healthy Kids and Healthy Living sections, my super power began allowing me to see solutions to children’s health challenges and to write about them.

Dean and I had been parenting our own two kids consciously – limiting screen time, seeking outdoor adventures, packing healthy lunches, sharing home-cooked dinners and supporting their athletic activities. When our scholar-athlete son, Neil, 19, was diagnosed with terminal DIPG brain cancer in 2016, we were stunned. “This is impossible! How could this happen?” Oncologists were unable to provide a reasonable explanation.

As conscious, well-informed parents, we quickly concluded the cancer was caused by a pair of vaccines our son had been given during his pre-college physical exam one year earlier – the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine (a.k.a. Gardasil) and the meningococcal vaccine. One was supposed to prevent cancer and the other was supposed to prevent brain inflammation.

We were aware of adverse events associated with the HPV vaccine, including death. In fact, when one of us had attended Neil on previous doctor visits, we declined the vaccine when it was offered. At the age of 18, however, Neil had driven himself to his appointment, and when the nurse again offered the vaccine, he held out his arm. Dean describes this particular medical transgression, in a book we just published – DIPG: Eternal Hope Versus Terminal Corruption, on pages 87-90. Neil lost his battle with cancer on February 19, 2017, however, our fight continues.

Six years passed before I spoke publicly about the vaccine incident, and its connection with Neil’s illness and his death. In February 2023, we attended a conference presentation on “Citizen Journalism” given by Children’s Health Defense (CHD). The presenters encouraged the audience to document events and stories through video recordings, and CHD TV journalist Polly Tommey invited me onstage to demonstrate citizen journalism. She interviewed me, and I told Neil’s story. What I remember most about that day is people approaching me afterwards to thank me for speaking out. I found great courage and confidence in this.

On September 29, 2023, the CHD TV bus rolled into my state, Rhode Island, one stop of many on its cross-country tour. Tommey was collecting people’s stories of vaccine injury and death. I waited in the rain until it was my turn to climb aboard. This time she led me through a full video interview, and I told my story in greater detail and with photos.

While on the bus, I met Brian Hooker, PhD, host of Doctor and Scientists on CHD TV and co-author of Vax-Unvax: Let the Science Speak with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.). Wikipedia describes Dr. Hooker as the “Department Chair and Professor Emeritus of Biology at Simpson University… known for promoting the false claim that vaccines cause autism.” Wikipedia describes RFK Jr. as an “American politician, environmental lawyer, anti-vaccine activist and conspiracy theorist.” In Vax-Unvax, these two insightful authors do a deep dive investigation to report on the “real” science and criminality behind vaccines. If you take time to actually read the book, you will be gobsmacked and come to respect their grasp of the real science.

Note: RFK Jr is the chairman and founder of Children’s Health Defense, whose mission is ending childhood health epidemics by eliminating toxic exposure. The organization seeks to protect children, expose harms and seek justice. RFK, Jr hosts The Defender Show on CHD TV.

Hooker signed a copy of his book for me, writing “For Neil, May you rest in the arms of almighty God! Your testimony lives on forever!”

I was also gifted with a second book, The HPV Vaccine on Trial: Seeking Justice for a Generation Betrayed by Mary Holland, J.D., Kim Mack Rosenberg, J.D., and Eileen Iorio. Official statements by the FDA, CDC and WHO, claiming that HPV vaccines are safe, contrast sharply with reports of devastating injuries and death which are recounted throughout this book.

Before leaving the bus…

… I signed Neil’s name and my testimony number (562). Then I went home and found my CHD TV bus interview HPV Vaccine Cancer Connection on the CHD website, watched it and began to read my new books.

In the Vax-Unvax book there is a chapter about HPV Vaccines, which states the following:

“The 2012 Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) data showed that more serious adverse reactions were attributed to Gardasil than all other vaccines, with Gardasil accounting for more than 60% of the total. The Gardasil vaccine also accounted for 63.8% if all deaths, 61.2% of all life-threatening reactions, and 81.8% of all cases of permanent disability recorded in the CDC VAERS data.”

Let this fact sink in: more adverse reactions than all other vaccines. Gardasil is Merck’s #2 selling product, and Keytruda (a.k.a pembrolizumab), a drug used to treat cancer, is the company’s #1 product. Keytruda has such a long list of ugly common side effects, I question how anyone would want to take it.

Merck and GlaxoSmithKline bring in over $2.5 billion in annual sales for HPV vaccines, and the U.S. government has given these companies blanket liability protection. While the companies claimed the vaccines provided protection against cervical cancer, the clinical trials failed to demonstrate this claim. The HPV Vaccine on Trial exposé shares trial data and reports of women harmed by HPV vaccines.

The CHD bus continued across the country collecting stories to share in its new documentary VAXXED III: Authorized to Kill. The film premiered last week in select theaters. It is a brilliant and stunning piece of journalism. It will be released to the online public on October 4. It presents people’s testimonies of real experiences with C0VID vaccine injuries and deaths, as well as stories of hospital measures that led to unnecessary deaths for the unvaccinated. Currently, the C0VID mRNA spike protein shots, approved for use by the FDA in 2021, now have more adverse event reporting than all other vaccines.

So what comes next? How do we help the children who have been injured, and how do we help everyone else? We take back our health care sovereignty, and we learn how to heal ourselves. The human body has the amazing ability to heal itself when we give it proper support.

I attended the VAXXED III film premier with a group of women who work on the leading edge of care and are proving our children can get better. They provide guidance and natural solutions that are less toxic, less expensive, kinder to the body and more effective. One of these women, Maria Rickert Hong, is a co-founder of Documenting Hope https://documentinghope.com/ and Epidemic Answers https://epidemicanswers.org. These websites provide knowledge for alleviating or even reversing the damage that’s been done. For those of you who, like me, are fighting for kids diagnosed with terminal cancer, please watch Rickert Hong’s interview with Nasha Winters, ND, Lac, FABNO, the best-selling author of The Metabolic Approach to Cancer, about supporting the health of kids with cancer. Winters was diagnosed with Stage 4 Ovarian Cancer at the age of 19. She managed to save herself, and, thirty years later, she is alive and well and helping others in her role as a Naturopathic Oncologist. Documenting Hope will help you find answers for treating autism and other debilitating diseases.

Please check out our DIPG Book web page and all the other links provided in this blog. Open your eyes. Real Eyes Realize Real Lies. We must seek beyond wikipedia and google, and beyond the mainstream media reporting and the agency information controlled by Big Pharma and unelected government technocrats who abuse their power.

For Our Children (Part 2): Parents Leading Civic Engagement

Over the past five years, the Story Walking Radio Hour (SWRH) has introduced podcast listeners to some amazing parents and their difference making efforts. As 50 percent of children in the U.S are now afflicted with chronic health issues, parents are taking action to reverse this trend. When parents discover their own children’s lives being threatened by environmental toxins, they become compelled to learn more and correct the situation, for the love of their children and children all across the country.

Zen Honeycutt, a podcast guest as founder of Moms Across America, advocates for healthy community food systems and promotes organic whole food, free from pesticides, herbicides and other contaminants. She has presented astonishing lab analysis of baby formula and fast food that tested positive for heavy metal contamination and continues to conduct similar studies. She has been gathering and publishing solid evidence. Honeycutt is the author of Unstoppable: Transforming Sickness and Struggle into Triumph, Empowerment and a Celebration of Community.

Rachael McIntosh, founder of the Foundation for Bioethcis in Technology, has spoken on two episode. She cares deeply about the historic shift of life on Earth caused by technological advances — specifically synthetic biology introduced into the natural world and even into humans. She is a community organizer known for her advocacy work crafting legislation for the regulation of toxic atmospheric emissions. Few people are aware of the heavy metal particulates being sprayed into the stratosphere for alleged purposes of weather and climate modification. These particulates shower down to pollute the air, water and soil. McIntosh has presented compelling lab analysis of rainwater with high levels of aluminum, barium and other toxic metals. Rachael brings attention to other advanced technologies through monthly news releases and presentations. She is the author of the fictional Security through Absurdity series of books, in which she combines her personal experiences with scientific fact into a compelling narrative that explores bioethics.

Cecelia Doucette, founder of Massachusetts for Safe Technology, is a three-time guest on SWRH. As a communications expert, educator and community organizer, Cece works at the local and state level advocating for tech safe schools, homes, businesses and for regulation of wireless technology. She provides tools, education and informational resources to help people identify, mitigate and eliminate the health effects of living within the radioactive frequencies of cell phones, cell towers, wifi, Bluetooth and smart meters. She introduced listeners to the Safe Living Technologies RF meter, which allows anyone to measure electromagnetic frequencies in any environment. Paired with the monitoring of physical symptoms, these meters can help prove evidence of harm from electromagnetic radiation (EMF) exposure. She works with legislators to craft legislation and leads citizens in advocacy.

Janet Demeter, who lost a child to DIPG brain stem cancer, is the founder of Jack’s Angels Foundation, host of Childhood Cancer Talk Radio and a lead advocate in growing awareness of pediatric cancer through her Moonshot4Kids campaign. Since losing Jack in 2012, Demeter has learned a lot about cancer research, the shortcomings of the pediatric cancer care system and government policy, as well as safer, more effective options for treatment. She one of many parents who have been creating greater visibility and encouraging a higher level of funding for research into cures for diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) and pediatric cancers in general. Janet leads the effort to pass a resolution designating the 17th day in May as ‘‘DIPG Awareness Day,’’ which cites DIPG as the most compelling example of pediatric cancer.

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and the SWRH host, Wendy Nadherny Fachon, interviews Demeter, after sharing her own observations regarding both healthcare and cancer care. Fachon noticed that conventional oncologists ignore causation while naturopathic oncologists and functional medicine practitioners focus on causation. She wanted to know what caused her child’s cancer. This is relevant for SWRH, because cancer is largely a product of environmental factors, both outside the body and inside the body – polluted air, impure water, tainted foods, electromagnetic radiation and other foreign substances that cause harm to a body. These factors are invisible and effect the body in invisible ways, yet new diagnostics are available to make these causes visible and new therapies are available to make cancer and other diseases more treatable. Listen to the latest radio hour episode, For Our Children: Warrior Parenting.

Parents who lead in civic engagement set wonderful examples for their own children and inspire other parents to claim a cause and do the same.

LISTEN TO PARENTS SPEAK ABOUT OUR CHILDREN’S HEALTH

Childhood Cancer Talk Radio with Janet Demeter – https://toginet.com/shows/childhoodcancertalkradio

What is DIPG? With Dean and Wendy Fachon – https://live.childrenshealthdefense.org/chd-tv/shows/good-morning-chd/what-is-dipg/

What is Bioethics? with Rachael McIntosh – https://dreamvisions7radio.com/what-is-bioethics/

Why Eating Organic is Crucial to the Future of the Planet? With Zen Honeycutt – https://dreamvisions7radio.com/eating-organic-crucial-future-planet/

Environmentally-Safe Technology with Cecelia Doucette – https://dreamvisions7radio.com/environmentally-safe-technology-part-3/

READ LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVES FOR CHILDHOOD CANCER

118th CONGRESS (2023-2024)

H.RES 416 – Designating the 17th day in May as ‘‘DIPG Awareness Day’’

Letter to Congress and Text of Resolution – https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/118/hres416/text

Fairness to Kids with Cancer Act of 2023 – https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/5405/text

Gabriella Kids First Research Act 2.0 – https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/3391/text

LEARN ABOUT CHILDHOOD CANCER ORGANIZATIONS CREATED BY PARENTS

Jack’s Angels Foundation (Janet Demeter) – https://jacksangelsfoundation.com/

Smashing Walnuts: Cracking the Cure for Childhood Cancer (Ellyn Miller) https://smashingwalnuts.org/

The Cure Starts Now (Brooke and Keith Dessrich) – https://www.thecurestartsnow.org/

… and there are many, many more.

The Future of Cancer Care: Metabolic, Functional and Bioregulatory Medicine

“The doctor delivered her recommendations – dexamethasone, a tissue biopsy and radiation therapy (drugs, surgery, radiation) – ‘standard of care‘ for DIPG. Clearly, she had no schooling in gut health and nutrition.“

DIPG, diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, is a clinical name that describes a symptom. The name means “cancerous cells are infiltrating healthy brain tissue (glial) cells inside the brain stem (pons).” The diagnosis and a confirming biopsy allow a hospital oncologist to match these results with a standard protocol (standard of care) that is covered by insurance, in this case radiation. The biopsy may or may not match the situation with a clinical trial, which is covered by funding from pharmaceutical corporations, government grants and independent research foundations. Following “standard of care” insures that the doctors and the hospital will get paid for their services. This is how oncology practices, surgeons and hospitals survive. Following “standard of care” protocol is how these people make a living.

Unfortunately, biopsies, radiation, chemotherapy and clinical trials, can prove more toxic or risky to a cancer patient than the cancer. I have read far too many stories about pediatric cancer patients that bear witness to this. Our teenage son wanted to find alternative therapies that might be less invasive, less toxic and more effective. We discovered such a choice that extended his prognosis significantly, although I wish we’d known about metabolic, functional and bioregulatory medicine back then. We might have been able to get even better results.

The Metabolic Approach to Cancer is an informative book which outlines the Terrain Ten, ten elements that focus on what going on inside the body of a cancer patient. Another book, A Parent’s Guide to Childhood Cancer by Dr. Dagmara Beine, applies the metabolic approach to childhood cancer. Non-invasive biologic methods for assessing root causes and healing of cancer center around metabolic or functional testing – DNA cheek swab, comprehensive blood panel, stool and urine analysis and allergen tests.

Metabolic, functional and bioregulatory approaches to medicine seek to identify what is going on inside the entire body, as well as what’s happening in the outside environment. This highly specific information leads to better care and improved outcomes through personalized nutrition, detoxification, supplementation, naturopathic remedies and lifestyle recommendations. It also promises gentler cancer therapy for children.

Other causal factors leading to cancer are the ingredients used in formulating injections of experimental manufactured substances, also termed investigational new drugs (acronym IND). More doctors are speaking out about this. Once extensive research has proven an IND safe and effective, it should only be offered with a full and honest disclosure of all ingredients, side effects and risks, because everyone has different epigenetic sensitivities, allergies, immune responses and levels of tolerance.

I propose that all INDs should be tested with the integration of comprehensive functional testing (before and after) and with periodic assessments using forms designed to help patients track symptom changes and levels of comfort and discomfort. The causes of cancer and the expressions of cancer are unique for each individual patient, and each requires a personalized biological approach for healing, as opposed to a one-size-fits-all “standard of care” protocol that could fail. Artificial Intelligence would be able to analyze this kind of detailed information to assist in developing personalized integrative care.

Through extensive reading, watching documentaries and having many conversations with functional and wholistic practitioners, I’ve come to understand that everyone has cancer stem cells inside their body and varying genetic susceptibilities. When we maintain a healthy terrain both outside and inside our bodies, we can better prevent those cancer cells from triggering the susceptibilities, causing inflammation and taking advantage of weaknesses to grow out of control and spread throughout the body. Metabolic, functional, bioregulatory and naturopathic medicine are all growing fields, posing tremendous opportunity for young people considering medical careers. I see this as the future of disease management.

Our new book, DIPG: Eternal Hope Versus Terminal Corruption, leads readers through our son’s experiences and discoveries, as well as our own. We asked many tough questions along the way and searched diligently for logical answers. We share what we learned through a compelling, page-turning narrative, in order to impart our acquired knowledge and wisdom to others. Functional medicine was a missing piece, which has since become more well-known and more widely available.

For Our Children (Part 1)

Cancer is the leading disease-related cause of death among children.

My journey of awakening: A few years after receiving an MBA, I earned my license to sell health insurance. Then I worked for three years as an independent agent, representing four large health insurance companies (Blue Cross, United Health, Tufts and Aflac), and I read a lot.

I read health articles about increases in obesity and incidence of autism, ADHD and diabetes among children. Having a father suffering from heart disease and a mother-in-law fighting stage 4 cancer, I also read about these diseases. And, I came to understand how the increasing usage of medical services was driving up insurance costs.

As a number cruncher, I analyzed the double-digit increases in premium costs year-over-year. These increases surpassed inflation and pay raises, by an order of magnitude in one client case that I clearly recall. Higher insurance costs were placing a greater financial burden on small businesses and their employees. This translated into more stress and more dis-ease. I envisioned our economy being pulled into a downward spiral.

The medical insurance system was an economic disaster in the making, and, in good conscience, I could no longer participate in the “system.” I left my job in medical insurance to work with urban school children in “out of school time” (OST) programs, with the intention of helping “insure” their long-term well-being through physical activity, healthy behavioral habit development and social-emotional learning, through fun activities, mostly outdoors. I sought to address the root cause of poo health.

During my first summertime youth enrichment program (2012), I witnessed the highly-processed, starchy foods being served for school breakfasts and lunches, including sugary cereals, mealy apples and gluey white bread sandwiches that stuck to the roof of the mouth. The sandwich had one wafer-thin piece of process meat and no lettuce. I took one bite and threw it in the trash can.

My youth work experiences compelled me to write articles about children’s health for a local magazine, Natural Awakenings, and my own awakening evolved. The revelations kept coming…

And WHOMP! In 2016, the most unthinkable happened. Our teenage son, Neil, was diagnosed with terminal DIPG brain stem cancer. The oncologist told him he had three months to live, maybe six, if he were to undergo radiation. Neil, my husband and I sat there in disbelief. How could this possibly have happened to an athletic child who had been perfectly healthy one year earlier?

Statistically, the DIPG diagnosis had a one in a billion chance of happening to any child, healthy or immune-compromised. The oncologist could not say what caused DIPG. She conducted a physical exam, and she asked a few questions. She asked Neil when he’d had his last bowel movement, and he could not remember. One week? Two weeks? Yikes! I got stuck in that moment, while the oncologist breezed on ahead with more questions.

Finally, the doctor delivered her recommendations – dexamethasone, a tissue biopsy and radiation therapy (drugs, surgery, radiation) – “standard of care” for DIPG. Clearly, she had no schooling in gut health and nutrition, and this was a blinking yellow light for me. Caution! Caution! Slow down! Wait. Stop right there!

Thus began our real journey of awakening. Stay tuned for additional blog entries, and check out our book.

Beware the Candy Monster: Reduce Sugar Consumption to Reduce Cancer

When it comes to treating cancer, the best strategy is an integrative approach, which begins by identifying the underlying causes. One cause is too much sugar – cane sugar, beet sugar, corn syrup. Other causes include nutritional deficiencies, immune deficiencies, environmental toxins and a lack of physical exercise, sleep or hydration. Once identified, many of these issues can be addressed by improving diet and digestive health. Nutrition is the key to reclaiming health, and reducing consumption of sugar and simple carbohydrates is a perfect place to start. Sugar lacks vitamins and nutrients, and it literally feeds cancer. This is one of many topics Dean Fachon explores in his book DIPG: Eternal Hope Versus Terminal Corruption. Here are two excerpts from the book:

March 23rd was the day Neil had his first appointment with Dr. Jody Noé, the naturopathic oncologist recommended by Mary Blue. It was sunny and warm outside, and we eagerly piled into the car for the drive to Pawcatuck, Connecticut, just over the state line from Westerly, Rhode Island.

Dr. Noé had a country doctor’s office in the basement of an old New England home. We descended the steps to a reception window, and Neil checked in. Then, we were escorted to a cozily decorated waiting area. As we sat, Wendy picked up a large book off a shelf full of reading material. The book was a tome written by Dr. Noé herself, called the “Textbook of Naturopathic Integrative Oncology (Fundamentals of Naturopathic Medicine).”

* * * * *

“Good nutrition isn’t difficult science,” Dr. Noé continued, “yet you’d be amazed at how little training conventional oncologists ever get.”

“Oh,” Wendy shook her head with chagrin, “we’ve seen posters hawking candy in some of their waiting rooms – — for patients to ‘keep up their strength.’ ”

“It’s hard to fathom,” Neil scowled. “Everything I read says cancer loves sugar!”

Recently, I found an interesting article that explains how sugar feeds cancer: Researchers Discover New Mechanism Linking Diet and Cancer Risk (The Epoch Times, May 29-June 4, 2024). The mechanism is a chemical, methylglyoxal (MGO), which is released whenever the body breaks down glucose. MGO temporarily turns off a cancer-preventive gene known as BRCA2.

BRCA2 repairs damaged DNA and helps make a protein that suppresses tumor growth and cell proliferation. People with a faulty copy of BRCA2 are more susceptible to MGO. For both cancer prevention and supporting cancer treatment, the best doctors recommend reducing or eliminating sugar, high fructose corn syrup and other simple carbohydrates. This means avoiding consumption of soda, baked goods, bread and pasta; cereals and fruit juices (especially with sugar added); candy and even ketchup. If sugar is one of the ingredients listed on the product label, think twice before purchasing. Also beware of sugar substitutes, which can present other products.

FACT: In 1915, the average sugar consumption per person was 17.5 pounds. As of 2011, the number rose to 150 pounds of sugar per person annually.

FACT: The current average sugar consumption per day is 25.28 teaspoons.

FACT: In 2016, the U.S. government has recommended a person’s daily added-sugars intake to 10% of a day’s total calories intake (That means for a 2,000 calories diet, a person should consume no more than 13.3 teaspoons of sugar in a day). THIS IS STILL WAY TOO MUCH!

These facts were pulled from an article titled “45 Alarming Statistics on American’s Sugar Consumption and the Effects of Sugar on Americans’ Health” on The Diabetes Council website – well worth a complete read. Sugar consumption has become a serious addiction, and dealing in sugar is a multi-billion dollar industry. Sugar addictions begin in early childhood, with an overindulgence in sweet foods and drinks. Reducing sugar consumption takes will power, however, removing the temptation of sugar from your kitchen will pay off big time in terms of out-of-pocket health expenses and your family’s overall well being. Ice cream, cookies and soda are a special treat and should be dispensed in moderation.

“Imagine yourself conquering life and beating your fears. The act of imagining can help to make it reality.” — Neil Fachon

Inspirational quote from DIPG: Eternal Hope Versus Terminal Corruption.

What is “Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma?”

Read the following excerpt from DIPG by Dean Fachon, and imagine yourself in the mind and body of a DIPG patient:

It’s “diffuse,” because the cancer spreads in and around healthy tissue; “intrinsic,” because the cancer is so intertwined it’s impossible to tease it apart from healthy tissue; “pontine,” because the cancer specifically takes up residence in the pons, the base of the brain (brain-stem) which controls many crucial bodily functions (many autonomic); and “glioma,” because the cancer invades “glial” cells, the cells which, as irony would have it, form the protective cushion which surrounds healthy neurons. As “Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma” grows, it stretches synaptic-connections and squeezes neurons, slowly degrading their ability to relay signals until those signals are completely cut off. DIPG for short.

DIPG is quick, and it’s stealthy. At first its symptoms are so imperceptible they could easily be ignored, all the more-so because DIPG’s victims are often very small children who can’t articulate what they’re feeling. Even then, a pediatrician might chalk symptoms up to sleep-loss or fighting a low-grade infection: “Fill this prescription and make sure she gets enough rest.”

Until one day the victim’s eyes cross or her movements become fumbled. Then the alarm bells go off and tests are ordered. By then, the prognosis is bleak. In the latter stages of disease, symptoms range from increasing difficulty with swallowing to being unable to take a deep breath. The progressive loss of autonomic functions and motor-control is akin to beheading the victim one nerve-strand at a time. Death by any combination of critical-system failures usually occurs within less than a year of diagnosis.

Yesterday, the U.S. Senate passed the DIPG Pediatric Brain Cancer Awareness Resolution, recognizing May 17 (today) as DIPG Pediatric Brain Cancer Awareness Day. Concurrently, my husband Dean is publishing our son’s story, DIPG: Eternal Hope vs. Terminal Corruption, to build awareness around DIPG, pediatric brain tumors and navigating the medical care with a rare disease. This unique book will place you in the shoes of a family that must manage a truly daunting diagnosis. While we had hoped to have copies available for purchase this month, a well-published book takes time, and we plan for DIPG to be available by July 2024. In the mean time, please visit our web page, dig into its supplemental content, share this blog, and help us grow awareness.

What is a rare cancer?

In 2016, our son, Neil, was diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), a “rare cancer.” With DIPG Awareness Day coming tomorrow, I got to wondering what “rare” means in this context. Here is what I found on the National Cancer Institute (NIH) website – MyPart:

“Rare cancers are those that affect fewer than 40,000 people per year in the U.S. As a group, they make up just over a quarter of all cancers. Because rates of cancer in children are very low, all children’s cancers are considered rare. A quarter of all cancer deaths each year are due to rare cancers. Although new treatments are always being developed, finding new treatments for rare cancers is very hard for many reasons.”

Over a quarter of all cancers are rare. So, then I got to wondering, how many rare “brain cancers” are there? Here is what I read on the NCI website – NCI-Connect:

“There are over 130 different central nervous system (CNS) tumor types. However, they account for less than two percent of all cancers diagnosed each year in the United States. Because primary CNS cancers are so rare, disease information, support, and expert care can be hard to find. NCI-CONNECT started with 12 select tumor types, each with fewer than 2,000 people diagnosed per year in the United States.”

DIPG is among the rarest and deadliest of these cancers, with only about 300 children diagnosed per year. For a 19-year-old to be diagnosed with DIPG is beyond rare; it’s unique.

The MyPart page explains what a “rare” diagnosis means for patients:

It often takes a long time from the time you think something is wrong to the time when doctors know that you have a rare cancer and what kind of cancer it is.
It is hard to find doctors who know a lot about your cancer and how to treat it.
It is hard to know what to do when doctors don’t agree on how to treat your cancer.
You may need to travel far from your home and family to get treatment for your rare cancer.

It took five months from the onset of initial symptoms for doctors to arrive at a cancer diagnosis. From the moment our son was told that he had a “rare” brain stem tumor, we had to contend with the other three challenges. When the oncologist went on to say that the cancer was aggressive, inoperable and incurable, and Neil had maybe only three months left to live, we understood all to well what “rare” and “deadly” meant.

Cancer is but one category of “rare” diseases. So how many “rare” diseases are known to exist and how many people can relate to our situation? The National Library of Science website reports:

Regulators, scientists, clinicians and patient advocacy groups often cite ~7,000 as the number of rare diseases, or between 5,000 and 8,000 depending on the source.

To date, approximately 300 million people live with “rare” diseases, according to The Lancet, which means pretty much everyone knows someone and can relate. Treating a rare disease requires personalized therapy, yet our rigidly-controlled medical system, with its overbearing clinical trial drug approval process, prevents this from happening. Our conventional system is completely dysfunctional when it comes to helping people diagnosed with rare diseases. Is there anything we can do to challenge the current system and improve how we come to understand and treat rare diseases?

Yes! My husband, Dean, is publishing our son’s story, DIPG: Eternal Hope vs. Terminal Corruption to help people begin to explore and discuss this topic. Available by July 2024, our family’s personal narrative offers a compelling illustration. Please visit our web page and share this blog, which can serve as a forum for readers to exchange their thoughts, experiences and suggestions. Together, we could create one heck of a virtual book club. Refer the “Suggested Reading” list we provide. The first book on that list is Defeat Cancer. If you are interested in joining a “rare” book club, please contact us.

Spotlight on Medical Marijauna

When the Rhode Island Natural Awakenings publisher asked me to write a spotlight on the Summit Medical Compassion Center, I eagerly complied, because the integration of medicinal cannabis in treating life-threatening diseases is becoming more noteworthy.

The endocannabinoid system (ECS) was discovered in 1992 by scientists studying how cannabis interacts with the brain. This previously unknown molecular signaling system is involved in regulating a broad range of biological functions and maintaining homeostasis, a healthy equilibrium, within the body. Scientists realized that the ECS allows the body to send signals back and forth, rather than just one direction, allowing the body to communicate with itself, so that it could fix itself.

When our son Neil was diagnosed with cancer, we learned about the beneficial effects of CBD and THC, two key chemical compounds produced by the cannabis plant that are compatible with receptors in the ECS. While CBD and THC do not comprise a proven cure to cancer, they can help fight against the disease. They have demonstrated abilities to prevent cancer cells from reproducing, to prevent the formation of new blood vessels needed by a tumor to grow, to prevent cancer from spreading to other organs and to cause cancerous cells to kill themselves. There are documented cases of cannabis oil sending cancer patients into remission and cases of patients who took cannabis oil and still succumbed to the disease.

Due to his terminal condition, Neil’s medical marijuana card application was expedited and the compassion center he visited gave him some different products to try. Use is individualized and complex, and the process is exploratory. I wish there had been more hard research to guide us, because we sensed so much possibility in integrating cannabis with cancer therapy. This is why I felt so compelled to write about the topic now.

One of the gems I picked up while doing research for the medical marijuana article was this: Cannabis can prevent opioid use and can alleviate symptoms associated with opioid withdrawal. Award-winning neuroscientist, Adie Poe, explains how cannabis can help with opioid detox and replacement: “The evidence suggests it’s the opposite of a gateway drug. It’s an exit drug. This is one of the most exciting frontiers we have in cannabis science at the moment.”

A second gem is that Autism patients will be able to access medical marijuana here in Rhode Island. A third gem is the emergence of cannabis training for nurses.

Read the full article.