David Becker/ViewCancer survivor Summa Nathan, 70, holds up a bottle of Chinese herbs, which she includes in her nutritional regimen to guard against cancer.
Advertisement
April is National Cancer Control Month. Some people swear by natural methods to have the upper hand with the disease.
Summerlin-area resident Summa Nathan, 70, is a certified registered holistic nutritionist. Besides her own cadre of clients, she takes referrals from area doctors and is an on-call counselor for nutrition stores.
"I live the lifestyle I teach," she said. "I live and breathe nutrition."
But she was not immune to cancer. During her annual pelvic exam in mid-March of 2007, her doctor suspected that she had cervical cancer. Nathan immediately began mixing herself a cocktail of herbal brews to kill it off.
Tests were conducted which proved the doctor right. She was scheduled for a hysterectomy, but kept drinking her brews.
When she was on the operating table, the procedure ended almost as soon as it began. The surgeon found that the tumor was now so insignificant, he closed her up.
"I kept all my parts," she said.
Her physician, Dr. Nick Spirtos of Women's Cancer Center, 3131 La Canada St., Suite 110, is agreeable to patients using Eastern methods, he said.
He related seeing Chinese hospitals with two pharmacies -- one for Western medicine, the other for Eastern.
"We encourage patients to look at natural treatments, but all in addition to standard therapy," Spirtos said.
About 10,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year, and about 3,700 women die in the U.S. each year from this disease, according to the National Cervical Cancer Coalition.
A year after being diagnosed, Nathan's cancer appears to be gone, she said.
Likewise, Summerlin south resident Adele Kadans, 88, has always used herbs and vitamins. She once was married to Joseph M. Kadans, author of "Encyclopedia of Fruits, Vegetables, Nuts & Seeds for Healthful Living" and "Modern Encyclopedia of Herbs."
Despite her healthy eating habits, in 1983, she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma -- cancer of the cells of the lymphatic system. Her doctor gave her six months to live, she said.
Kadans told him that she wanted to treat it with alternative, homeopathic methods.
"He said alternative ways were nothing but quackery," she recalled. "Well, we did quackery and in two months, it was all gone."
Kadans said she took a very aggressive approach during those two months, using fresh-squeezed juices and taking as many as 30 vitamins and herbal supplements a day. She called it her "miracle diet."
Tests done after a two-month period, she said, proved her to be free of the cancer.
Dr. James Sanchez, president of Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, said he and his doctors are proponents of integrative medicine. They regularly refer patients to the Center for Compassionate Care, 4131 Swenson St., which offers classes in tai chi, meditation and visualization, as well as therapeutic massages and aromatherapy.
"We (doctors) are coming to realize that there's more to treatment than just chemicals," Sanchez said.
He did warn that self-medicating can undermine the effects of active therapy, so patients should always inform their doctors of what natural methods they plan to use.
Integrated medicine is now being taught at some institutions, such as the University of Arizona's Health Sciences Center in Tucson, Ariz., founded and directed by Dr. Andrew Weil.
"It's not being ignored by doctors," Sanchez said of mixing Eastern medicine with Western techniques. "We're just slow adaptors."
Archived Editions| Advertising | Contact The Staff
