Cancer is a scary word, especially if you are diagnosed with it. Most people turn to their doctors and specialists for traditional cancer therapies, but some people do not prefer this route, or else do not qualify. Many of those people turn to medicinal mushrooms as a viable source of anti-cancer therapy that is safe and natural, yet immensely effective, based on clinical trials worldwide. One such person who did not qualify for traditional cancer therapy was the mother of the well-known mycologist (mycology is the study of mushrooms) Dr. Paul Stamets.
When diagnosed with stage four breast cancer in June 2009, she was 84 and had a 5.5 cm diameter tumor, which had spread to her sternum and liver. It was too late, according to her doctor, and she had barely told her son, Stamets, about the problem. Stamets’ mother was given three months to live. But was it actually too late?
Because of her advanced age, Paul Stamets’ mom was not a candidate to receive surgery or traditional radiation treatment; instead, the doctor suggested she try medicinal mushrooms, based on a study on turkey tail mushrooms that he had heard about. What could it hurt? Paul Stamets was already selling these mushroom supplements to the public via his company and brand, Host Defense, so he supplied his mother with exactly what she needed.
The doctors put her on Taxol and Herceptin, which are chemotherapy drugs for breast cancer—both “wonderful drugs” according to Stamets. She also took medicinal mushrooms (Trametes versicolor (similar to Coriolus versicolor), also known as turkey tail mushroom) as an adjunct therapy, rather than as a substitution therapy.
Even with traditional radiation therapy “the Natural Killer (NK) cells are decreased,” thereby lowering your immune system, says Paul Stamets.
Within four weeks of taking 8 capsules per day (four in the morning and four in the evening) of turkey tail/Trametes versicolor, her NK cells had boosted to levels well above normal. Her body was given what it needed to fight the cancer.
Today, Paul Stamets’ mother “has no detectable tumors” in her body. She has beat stage-four breast cancer!
Besides the beta glucan fiber in mushrooms, which help strengthen the immune system to fight cancer, these fungi also have phytochemicals that promote health in the human body. The anti-cancer phytochemicals are not only in turkey tail, but also shiitake, reishi, mesima, Lion’s mane, Birch polypore, and other mushrooms.
Truly it appears that medicinal mushrooms, like the clinical studies have shown, are a top adjunct therapy for cancer. They have also been used for thousands of years in cultures around the world for treating everything from colds to cancer. Anything that boosts the immunity up to 10 times, to help you fight disease and health problems, has got to be good.
References:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWT09ZDqFlE
The post How Paul Stamets’ Mother Beat Breast Cancer Using Medicinal Mushrooms appeared first on Medicinal Mushroom Info.