Your niece and brain tumors

by Mindy Zepp
(Prescott, AZ)

Dear Bill,

When I read about your niece and her brain tumor I felt compelled to write. I've suffered from two brain tumors, first a meningioma in 1998 and then an acoustic neuroma in 2002. The "cure" for the meningioma was a craniotomy and the "cure" for the acoustic neuroma was gamma knife.

I did my research and chose doctors who were world renowned in their fields and was happy with my decisions at the time. But that was then and this is now. I learned from my experience that each of us should be our own patient advocate and learn everything we can about our procedures and also the side effects that "they" don't tell you about.

As a result of the craniotomy I still suffer from facial numbness, headaches, memory loss, very slight speech difficulties and hair loss along the scar. Not only that, the recovery took an entire year and I ended up in the emergency room after the surgery due to excruciating back pain that left me unable to stand.

The acoustic neuroma resulted in Bell's palsy on the left side of my face for 10 days. I also ended up back in the emergency room after the procedure due to bleeding from the pins used to attach the helmet to my forehead. I also now suffer from weight issues which I attribute to hypothyroidism as a result of the gamma rays. I would never submit to either procedure again!

I wish I knew then what I know now! I read everything I can get my hands on regarding health and natural cures and if I ever have another health issue I will only use diet and natural methods. Doctors can only perform procedures they are familiar with so how can you expect them to know about nutritional cures when they've never learned about them?

Good nutrition makes perfect sense. Why would you want to cripple your immune system with drugs, chemo and radiation when you need it to be strong to fight the cancer cells?

I hope your niece keeps an open mind and researches her options well. It's difficult not to get sucked into the mindset of mainstream medicine.