A Cancer Patient Instead Of A Swine Feeder?

In the fifteenth chapter of the book of Luke there is to be found one of the most poignantly beautiful stories of redemption and restoration in all of literature. Surely all of you are familiar with this story of a younger brother who persuades his father to give him his inheritance as though the father had died. As the story goes, he then went to a foreign land and wasted his funds in riotous living. His money ran out just as a famine gripped the land he had chosen and he was reduced to the role of a swine feeder in the filthiest of conditions. He then decided to go home and throw himself on his father's mercy and was, happily, extremely well received. This brings us to the central character of the story who was not the prodigal, but rather the older brother who was angered by the whole proceedings. He made it known that his first concern was financial and was based on his brother's handling of his money and the fact that he had come back for more. The story does not tell the ultimate outcome. We do not know if the older brother was ever able to reconcile with his father with the humility that the younger, repentant brother displayed.
Now let us fast forward to today and a currently developing story that bears a strong resemblance to the bible story in view of attitudes found within the community. There is a man in Granbury, Texas by the name of Rex Covert who has just completed a very real journey to hell and back. This started for him with the discovery that he had colo-rectal cancer that had already metastasized to distant organs. Add to the complications that Rex is a 90 year old man and you have what developed as a rather sordid picture of our times. I can only surmise that there must have been a sense of both jubilation and haste when the hospital folks saw a 90 year old cash cow coming through the door. They appear to have thrown every billable process, medication and procedure at him that was available at their facility with the result that by late summer he was bedfast and near death with hospice already on the scene. I had known Rex for many years and when he called me for help, I went immediately.
He would not receive me at his bedside and insisted that he be propped up in a chair in his living room where we engaged in a rather lengthy conversation about my experience in the field of mind/body medicine. Our conversation went very deep into Rex's personal life, at his leading, not mine. Before it was over, he broke down and cried his heart out as I held him in my arms. These were not tears of sorrow or self pity but rather, tears of joy at being released from some burdens that had troubled him for decades. He declared that he felt better and walked unassisted back to his bed. I had just received a package containing 5 proof copies of the new Alpha Wave modulated CD of guided imagery for cancer patients and I left one with him which he assured me he would faithfully use. This pretty much ended my involvement with Rex as the rest was left up to him and this is his story, not mine. Within about 3 months, he had regained his lost weight, resumed his walking exercise program and tests could find no cancer. What a remarkable, unbelievable story this turned out to be. Rex's story is, in fact, a story within a story as four other discs were sent to patients who all had positive responses that ranged from stable disease to full remission. Rex's story was by far the most dramatic. I thought it worthwhile to conduct a small "attitude survey" among several people from select walks of life. It is sometimes tough to tell these stories as people generally are not interested in hearing them. I was curious to see if a common thread of response would run through all the interviews and, sure enough, it did. Here are the results of my little survey:
1) A doctor thought this was "interesting" but since it was not done under proper scientific conditions could not be viewed as having much value. Again the use of the word "anecdotal" - this has become a convenient word as it has become an accepted vehicle for dismissing that which we really don't understand. The NCI has never come up with an answer to the question of "What if the anecdotal evidence is true?".
2) A neighbor of deep religious conviction who simply worried about me and cautioned that I might be in danger of putting myself up as equal to God and that I should be alert to any danger of my immortal soul. No interest in the details of what happened.
3) A person involved in cancer research who was considerably irritated that a layman such as I really had no business playing in the professionals yard. Again no interest in the details or how they might possibly and favorably impact his own work.
4) A cancer patient who felt that I was just not "scientific" enough to be doing this sort of work and felt that her doctor would be offended if she got off into something like this. (she just LOVES her doctor). She was not interested in finding out more of what Rex had done to bring about this miracle. I think this was the most interesting response of all considering that it came from someone who had never had an original thought in her life, scientific or otherwise. I used to argue this point with the doctors on the KCA board. I always mentioned that in my own career in plasma physics and theoretical fluid mechanics I racked up a score or 27 patents in 9 different countries while asking how many original scientific discoveries any of them had made - of course the answer was no. It comes as no surprise that my term on the board was not renewed.
5) A young minister whose first thought was to counsel me on the concern that I might be interfering with God's work. He was not forthcoming as to the scriptural basis for this concern. He never once asked for details.
There is an amazing consistency of disinterest running through the above that bears a striking similarity to the parable of the Prodigal Son, who is, himself, really not the central character of Jesus' story. No. this story was about the older brother who just happened to be the only one of all the characters who was not happy with the outcome. He saw only the financial aspects. None of the people above were joyful at the report that, as the father in the parable put it, "The dead is alive and the lost is found". I suspect that there are with us today, many forward looking oncologists who would find Rex's case of significant interest. I hope so as meaningful discourse on this case, in itself, would be cause for celebration as it could amount to a positive indication that the oncology worm is finally turning from a locked in mindset that is solely pharmaceutical. We are not threatening their treatment protocol -WE ARE TRYING OUR BEST TO ENHANCE IT!
The true essence of all science is expressed in three words "Observing and Inferring". The world is free of smallpox today because a man named Jenner, in the 1700's observed that milkmaids in his community did not seem to get smallpox. Inferring correctly from that observation he proceeded on a healing journey, no doubt over the ridicule of many of his peers in the medical community of his day and smallpox became history. Scientific observation is not limited to any organization or political system.
Let us take this wonderful outcome of tests simply for what it is - a Christmas miracle in the form of answered prayer. Rex, keep on doing what you are doing as you have made at least some of us very, very happy!!
Gerald White, P.E.
Back in 1993 Gerald White survived a 20 pound kidney tumor that subsequently went metastatic to distant organs. After all medical treatments had failed and the dreadful "only three more months" death sentence had been delivered. He worked out a self- directed program of guided imagery that induced a remission in three months. He has served a three year term as a Director of the National Kidney Cancer Association. Through his webpage he maintains an active world wide mentoring program that has yielded many similar remissions of cases thought to be hopeless. His book has been translated into Chinese and Hungarian. A credible Scientist, in his career before cancer, he achieved some 20 technology patents in 9 countries.