Essiac : A Native Herbal Cancer Remedy Chapter One

Essiac: A Native Herbal Cancer Remedy - Chapter One

By Cynthia Olsen

The History Of Essiac

"A holy drink that would purify her body and place it back in balance with the Great Spirit."
Rene Caisse's description of the Ojibwa medicine man's original description of Essiac to the English woman who gave Caisse the formula in 1922.

In 1922, Rene Caisse made a discovery that changed her life dramatically. While attending to an older woman who had had surgery, Nurse Caisse noticed scarring on the woman's breast and asked her how it came about. The woman explained that 30 years earlier she had developed breast cancer and had been led to an old Indian medicine man who told her the cancer could be cured with an herbal remedy that he knew of. After a disappointing visit to a doctor, she decided to go back to the Indian who gave her an herbal formula and instructions on how to brew it. She drank the herbal mixture daily, and within time the breast tumors gradually diminished. She never had a recurrence and was 80 years old at the time Rene Caisse met her. Caisse asked the woman for the formula, saying that: "My thought was that if I should ever develop cancer, I would use it."

About a year after this incident, she "was visiting a retired doctor, whom I knew well. We were walking slowly about his garden when he took his cane and lifted a weed. `Nurse Caisse,' he told me, `if people would use this weed there would be little or no cancer in the world.' It was one of the plants my patient had named as an ingredient of the Indian medicine man's tea!" She did little with the Essiac formula until 1924 when her aunt developed stomach and liver cancer. The doctors had given her aunt six months to live. Rene obtained permission from her aunt's physician, Dr. R. O. Fisher, to administer the herbal tea treatment. Rene later said, "My aunt lived for twenty-one years after being given up by the medical profession. There was no recurrence of cancer."

Caisse and Dr. Fisher began experimenting with the Essiac treatment in a makeshift lab in her mother's basement. In 1925 Dr. Fisher suggested Essiac inoculation for quicker results in addition to giving the treatment orally. The first human inoculation was given to a man with cancer of the throat and tongue. In Rene's words: "I was nearly scared to death. There was a violent reaction. The patient developed a severe chill; his tongue swelled so badly the doctor had to press it down with a spatula to let him breathe. This lasted about twenty minutes. Then the swelling went down, the chill subsided, and the patient was all right. The cancer stopped growing, the patient went home, and lived quite comfortably for almost four years."

In 1926, a group of eight doctors asked Rene to treat an old man who had cancer and was expected to live only ten days. After the treatment, the man lived six months. The same eight doctors signed and sent a petition to the capitol in Ottawa asking the government to provide Caisse with treatment facilities. The petition was denied, and Caisse was threatened with arrest. She was not arrested because she did not charge fees and she worked under the auspices of the doctors.

Between 1928 and 1930, Dr. W. C. Arnold, one of the doctors sent by the governmental investigation, was so impressed with her results that he asked Caisse to perform research on mice with Essiac, as the herbal tea treatment was now commonly called. She was given space at Christie Street Hospital Laboratories under the supervision of Drs. Norich and Lockhead. The mice were injected with Rous Sarcoma, and then treated with Essiac. The mice lived for fifty-two days, longer than with any other treatment. In 1929, Rene Caisse, feeling a persecution that would haunt her throughout her career, gave up professional nursing which was consuming twelve hours a day.

She devoted her time to Essiac research, and in her apartment in Bracebridge, Ontario began treating thirty patients each day. That year she met Dr. Frederick Banting of the Banting Institute, Department of Medical Research, University of Toronto. Dr. Banting is the co- discoverer of insulin for diabetes. Dr Banting knew of a woman who was diabetic and had cancer of the colon. During her Essiac treatments she didn't take any insulin. After her recovery, she had no signs of diabetes. Dr. Banting stated that "Essiac had somehow stimulated the pancreas to function normally, thereby healing the diabetes." Dr. Banting reviewed Rene's case studies including pictures before and after treatments, and said, "Miss Caisse, I will not say you have a cure for cancer, but you have more evidence of a beneficial treatment for cancer than anyone in the world."

Banting invited her to continue her research at the University of Toronto; however, she would have to disclose the formula for Essiac, and she was apparently concerned that the remedy would either be suppressed or not used properly and economically. She declined the offer and went back to Bracebridge, Ontario to continue treating patients.

In 1930 the Canadian College of Physicians and Surgeons sent an agent to issue a warrant for Rene Caisse's arrest for practicing medicine without a license. When the agent discovered Caisse was not only providing free services but also working only with permission and approval from doctors, the warrant was never served.

CAISSE'S WORK ACKNOWLEDGED

A 1932 headline in the Toronto Star read, "Bracebridge Girl Makes Notable Discovery Against Cancer." Ironically, this story brought on another threat of arrest and imprisonment for practicing medicine without a license. At age forty-four, already mentally and physically over-stressed, Rene was granted a hearing with the Canadian Minister of Health, The Honorable Dr. J. A. Faulkner. She was accompanied by patients and supporting doctors, and after hearing the evidence, Dr. Faulkner allowed her to continue with Essiac treatments providing she did not charge a fee and had a doctor's written diagnosis. Because of the notoriety Caisse received for her wonderful work, the Bracebridge Town Council donated the old, deserted British Lion Hotel building to be used for patient treatment. She now had five treatment rooms, an office, a dispensary and a reception area.

For eight years, until 1942, thousands of people came for treatments; most were severely ill with cancer. Rene Caisse's mother was diagnosed with liver cancer in 1935. An internationally known doctor, Roscoe Graham, informed her that her mother had just "days to live." Rene never told her mother of the cancer, but treated her with Essiac for ten days, slowly reducing the dosage. Her mother recovered completely and lived another eighteen years until her death at age ninety of heart failure.

Two more petitions signed by prominent physicians on Caisse's behalf were presented in 1936 to Canadian authorities urging facilities be provided and credence given to Essiac. There was no response to either petition. In that same year the Alumni Association of Northwestern University near Chicago notified Dr. John Wolfer of the medical school of Caisse's treatment efforts and persuaded him to meet with her to discuss terminally ill patients. Rene agreed to treat patients each week under the observation of five doctors. The treatments went well, and she was offered a clinic in Passervant Hospital in Chicago. She was also offered an opportunity to work Dr. Richard Leonardo, a specialist from Rochester, New York. Leonardo was skeptical at first: "You're doing them [patients] good, but it's your personality and the hope you offer them [that gets the results]." Later, after reviewing treatment results and talking with patients, Leonardo said, "Well, by God, you've got it! But the medical profession isn't going to let you do this to me. I've spent seven years in medical school, and I've written books."

Caisse declined both offers, not only because she would have had to divulge Essiac's formula and thus run the risk that it would not be used, but also because she felt an obligation and responsibility to her patients and the Canadian people. The next year, in 1937, Dr. Emma M. Carson, a Los Angeles physician, visited Bracebridge and wrote a favorable report on Caisse and her clinic. "I was firmly resolved that my investigation be based on unprejudiced judgment. The vast majority of Miss Caisse's patients were brought to her after surgery, radiation, x-rays, emplastrums, etc. had failed to be helpful and the patients were pronounced incurable or hopeless cases. The progress obtainable and the actual results from Essiac treatments, and the rapidity of repair were absolutely marvelous, and must have been seen to be believed. My skepticism neither yielded nor became subdued by the hopes and faith so definitely expressed by the patients and their friends. As I reviewed, compared and summarized my data, records, case histories, etc., I realized that skepticism had deserted me.

When I arrived, I contemplated remaining 12 hours - I remained 24 days. I examined results obtained on 400 patients." In 1938 Rene Caisse's supporters attempted to get a bill passed to give her the right to treat cancer patients without the constant threat of arrest. The bill in part would read: ". . . an act to authorize Rene Caisse to practice medicine in the Province of Ontario in the treatment of cancer and conditions resulting therefrom."

The bill was initiated in the Ontario Parliament supported by a petition with over 55,000 signatures. The bill failed by three votes, and it seemed obvious at the time that it failed principally because of collusion by the Canadian Medical Association and the newly formed Cancer Commission. Public Hearings and Condemnation In March 1939, a public hearing was held by the Cancer Commission at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto. Caisse brought 387 patients to testify. The Commission only heard 49 patients that Rene had treated.

Patients testified to the burns from radium and the diagnosis from their doctors giving them a short time to live, all before they saw Rene Caisse. The Commission stated: "It is the opinion that the evidence adduced does not justify any favorable conclusion as to the merit of Essiac as a remedy for cancer." Rene Caisse refused to give the Commission the formula for Essiac unless they would admit the treatments she gave with Essiac had merit.

In 1942, Rene Caisse suffered a nervous collapse and decided to close her Bracebridge Clinic and move to her husband's home town of North Bay. She virtually dropped out of public view. Her husband died in 1943 of pneumonia. Little is known of Caisse's activities between her husband's death and 1958. Presumedly she treated a few seriously ill cancer patients, but the extent of that involvement is unknown.

In 1958 the Cancer Commission recommended that the College of Physicians and Surgeons look into Caisse's activities. As the result of letters from patients and supporters, the Canadian premier requested that Caisse provide the commission with the formula for Essiac. She refused, citing again that if the medical world would acknowledge and administer Essiac, she would divulge the formula. The Secretary of the Commission for the Investigation of Cancer Remedies, C. J. Telfer, wrote to the Minister of Health, Dr. Mackinnon Phillips: "At a meeting of the Commission, a letter was read from Miss Caisse, the nurse from Bracebridge who refused many years ago to divulge the formula which she was then and apparently still using in the treatment of cancer. The Commission feels no action should be taken by them, but directed the matter be brought to your attention in case you might want to refer this one also to the College [of Physicians and Surgeons]."

Premier Leslie Frost received supportive letters from Rene Caisse's patients, and Frost wrote to Rene: "It would speed matters up greatly if you would get in touch with Dr. W. G. Brown, Deputy Minister of Health, and arrange through him to give the Cancer Remedies Investigation Commission the details of your methods, so the Commission could give them a thorough analysis." In October of 1958, Rene Caisse wrote a letter to Dr. Brown stating that it had been requested by Leslie Frost that she contact him about her Essiac treatments. Dr. McPhedran of the College of Physicians and Surgeons had ordered her to stop giving treatments. Caisse went on to say that her treatments had continued successfully because she simply could not turn away people.

Several months later the College decide not to prosecute Rene Caisse and that her activities be kept under surveillance. Ralph Daigh, an Editor with Fawcett Publishing, brought attention back to Caisse in 1959 when he arranged to have Essiac investigated by a major Boston hospital. He believed he had concrete evidence that the medical establishment had suppressed information about the efficacy of Essiac.

Through Daigh's efforts, Caisse worked with Dr. Charles Brusch, John F. Kennedy's personal physician. Brusch, in turn, had the clout to interest the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute. Caisse's relationship with Sloan-Kettering offered the first genuine opportunity to get Essiac to the world. Unfortunately, a familiar stumbling block emerged. Fearing Essiac would be shelved if she released the formula, Caisse refused to make any deals and went back to Canada. It was speculated at the time that the AMA had a hand in Sloan-Kettering's reluctance to sponsor the treatment. Years later, in 1989,

Dr. Brusch made the statement: "I still take it myself. I successfully treated my own cancer with it." He regretted that John F. Kennedy did not live long enough to help influence the medical establishment in using Essiac throughout the medical organization. One of the Brusch Clinic's "cures" involved a man who had basal cell carcinoma of the right cheek. After four treatments orally and through injections, the lesion gradually healed. The Brusch clinic called this case a "cure."

Dr. Brusch convinced the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute to conduct tests on animals using Essiac. They cited "...a tendency of the cancer cells to amalgamate and localize." The institute refused to continue testing unless the formula was revealed to them. Testing came to a halt. Dr. Brusch may have been the first physician with enough national notoriety who had a significant chance to get Essiac to the cancer patients who needed it on a global basis. There can be no doubt he personally believed in Essiac. He stated, "The results we obtained with thousands of patients of various races, sexes and ages with all types of cancer definitely prove Essiac to be a cure for cancer. Studies done in four laboratories in the United States and one or more in Canada also fortify this claim." Later in life, Brusch developed cancer and cured it with Essiac. He stated in 1990 that, "I have taken Essiac every day since my diagnosis [1984] and my recent examination has given me a clear bill of health."

Caisse Seeks Mainstream Support Throughout the 1960's and 1970's

Rene Caisse approached several pharmaceutical companies to convince them to become involved with Essiac. The only stipulation, naturally, was that Essiac be put to immediate use with cancer patients. However, without an actual formula and without being able to conduct their own tests, none of the companies were interested. In 1973, Rene Caisse gave Sloan-Kettering one last chance. Dr. Chester Stock asked Rene to send over some herbs for testing. She sent the burdock root, which seemed to have the properties of a tumor regressor. She also provided instructions on how to inject the herb. In 1975, Dr. Stock wrote to Rene and suggested that there was "regression of sarcoma 180 in mice treated with Essiac." Rene was later told, however, that test results were negative. She learned that Sloan-Kettering had not followed her instructions carefully and had frozen the herb. Dr. Stock testified at a hearing that the Essiac did not perform satisfactorily on the mice and that "....we were never provided full information about the nature of Essiac."

In disgust, Caisse broke all ties with Sloan-Kettering. In 1977, shortly before Rene's death, she decided to sell her formula to the Resperin Corporation in Toronto. She also gave the Essiac formula to two friends: Mary Macpherson and Gilbert Blondin. Blondin faced a trial in 1990 for a product he developed called "Easy-Ac" with Dr. Pierre Gaulin, an American doctor. Resperin confronted them and said they were selling the Essiac illegally. Gaulin was quoted as saying "Essiac has never been shown to harm anyone in any way. I don't cure anybody. I don't perform miracles, but whatever period of life a person has to live, we should make it as easy for them as we can."

It is principally through these two that the public knows the formula. Caisse also signed over the formula to Dr. Brusch almost as a dying wish. Rene Caisse died in 1978 at the age of ninety. She spent a frustrating life trying to save people's lives with a simple herbal tea, only to have that effort thwarted by the politics and greed of the medical establishment. Not much has changed since.

Essiac: A Native Herbal Cancer Remedy, By Cynthia Olsen

144 pages, $12.50