December 3, 2024 • 31 mins
Four year Idaho HealingStrong Group Leader, Benjamin Canales, shares his inspiring journey from his New York roots to overcoming cancer to now leading a free support group based in holistic health. In 2016, Ben received his cancer diagnosis, and described the initial symptoms. Ben also mentions the spiritual journey that emerged as an integral part of his healing process. Learn from Ben's insights as he highlights the deep impact of faith, community, and holistic healing in his path to recovery.
You will hear the reality of seeking alternative cancer treatments and the emotional roller coaster that accompanies it in his story such as the interactions with different oncologists. Discussed is the importance in understanding cancer as a symptom of deeper health issues and prioritizing nutrition. Through Ben's involvement with HealingStrong, he connects with others seeking a community and most often, alternative paths, and support from others navigating similar fears and/or challenges.
Celebrate the growth of the HealingStrong Group in Idaho, and gain insight into how community and shared resources and experiences can positively impact one's healing journey. This episode is a testament to the strength found in rebuilding the body, renewing the soul, and refreshing the spirit, offering hope and encouragement for anyone on their own path to health and healing. Be inspired to take charge of your health journey and discover the resources available through the HealingStrong organization for a more holistic approach to wellness.
HealingStrong's mission is to educate, equip and empower our group leaders and group participants through their journey with cancer or other chronic illnesses, and know there is HOPE. We bring this hope through educational materials, webinars, guest speakers, conferences, community small group support and more.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
when you read for five years, you learn a lot, and
there's just nothing thatanyone could do to change my
mind.
And I was never even.
You know, the thing I wasfortunate about was, you know, I
mean, I wasn't 100% sure, youknow, I didn't know if I was
going to come through it, but Ijust knew that you know there's
different paths and this is thepath that made the most sense to
(00:21):
me.
And so, you know, with thatsaid, I have a lot of empathy
for the folks that I meet atHealing Strong, because you know
a lot of them that come havealready gone down these roads
and they realize that, okay,this isn't exactly working out
the way I thought it was goingto work out, so now they're
looking for answers.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
You're listening to the I Am Healing Strong podcast,
a part of the Healing Strongorganization, the number one
network of holistic cancersupport groups in the world.
Each week we bring you storiesof hope, real stories that will
encourage you as you navigateyour way on your own journey to
health.
Now here's your host stage fourcancer thriver, jim Mann.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Joining me on this episode, ben Kanellis, all the
way up there in Idaho right.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Yes, sir, the panhandle.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
You don't mind the cold apparently.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
I didn't say that I've gotten used to it.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
For sure.
Yeah, I was telling you earlierI was up in.
I say up, it's down for you,but McCall, Idaho, I was there
for a men in radio retreat andit was like 75 feet of snow.
It was just incredible.
Actually, more like three orfour feet, but it was so serene,
it was so quiet and relaxed andI'm like, ah, this is wonderful
(01:41):
.
Wouldn't want to drive in it,but it was wonderful.
So, yeah, I have good feelingsabout Idaho.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
It's a beautiful area .
Speaker 3 (01:48):
So give us a little background of you.
You said you were born in NewYork.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Yeah, that's where I was originally born.
My dad's, from Puerto Rico,joined the service when he was
young and after the service hewent back to New York but after
a couple years decided it had me.
My mom and uh dad had me, andthen, uh, they moved back to uh
tacoma where he had beenstationed at fort lewis back in
(02:15):
the day, and that's where I grewup was in tacoma did he move
back there because he justthought it was, uh, so nice and
beautiful uh, you know, I thinkit was uh, primarily.
just, you know he was a mechanic, airplane mechanic and Boeing
was in Seattle and so that isprimarily, I think why they
moved back was the jobopportunities back then and cost
(02:36):
of living.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
So you grew up there and had a pretty good childhood.
I assume you have a lot ofsiblings or anything.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Yes, I've got a sister that's dear to me.
We're about 18 months apart,you know just a beautiful area.
I was very fortunate, veryblessed, to have parents that
took care of us and were hardworkers and they did well for
themselves.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Are they all still in that area?
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Oh yeah, yes, they are Okay.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
So they are Okay.
So what is it you do for aliving?
Speaker 1 (03:08):
You know I've got a day job and a night job.
My day job is I have a businesshere, basically a business
consulting, and then my nightjob is a healing strong chapter
president for this area.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Yeah, that's a good combo there.
I like that.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
It's been a blessing.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Let's talk about your diagnosis then.
It was kind of like the sametime.
Mine was a few months before me, but back in 2016.
How did that come about?
What were your symptoms or whatbrought it about to your
attention?
Speaker 1 (03:41):
You know what I actually?
I think I went into the doc andthe doctor in March but I had a
lump on my pelvic area, youknow, just above my leg, and I
thought, you know, like atypical guy, just said, ah,
it'll go away.
So, you know, three, fourmonths go by, it still didn't go
(04:01):
away.
But I happened to go go in, uh,you know, during the spring
marches, when I usually go infor a checkup, and so I went in
and and I almost got out ofthere, uh, without even bringing
it up, but I thought, oh man,I'll just I'll go ahead and
bring it up and so I said hey,doc, you know you might want to
take a look at this, and so sobasically he looked at, he says
oh, it's probably nothing.
And he goes well, well, let's doa blood test real quick.
(04:25):
And you know, the T cell testcame back negative and he goes.
But you know we really shoulddo a biopsy just to be sure.
So did the biopsy and that cameback positive.
And you know the rest ishistory from there.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Did that kind of turn your world upside down at that
moment.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Well, you know, I was very fortunate and blessed.
I've come to realize that God'shad his hand on me for a long
time.
I just wasn't wise enough torealize it, and so what I mean
by that is I had someone that Icared about quite a bit, and
this person worked in anenvironment that, um, you know,
(05:06):
just wasn't healthy.
A lot of you know pinkchemicals and different
chemicals.
I would walk in sometimes and Icouldn't breathe, but she'd be
running around like you know, nobig deal and and breathing in
and stuff.
So I'd say, hey, you know, youreally should wear a mask when
you're in here, and she alwaysjust blew it off, like you know.
I was silly, and so I thoughtto myself, you know what, I'm
(05:30):
not going to get caughtflat-footed If she gets sick.
I want to, you know, have someidea of what to do.
So you know I love readinggeopolitical things and various
topics, and so when I would readit before I went to bed at
night, I would, you know, if Icame across the cancer article,
I would read it, and if itresonated with me, you know,
(05:52):
some examples would be, as youknow, I'd read about turmeric
and how it helped with cancerI'd read about, come across
articles.
That's how I found ChrisWarwick and through Chris
Warwick I just, you know, readsome of his stuff, watched some
of his interviews and learned,just became aware of who he was
Rick Simpson, CBD oil, you knowherbs.
(06:16):
What really educated me waslearning about the what we call
the cancer.
You know cancer care industry,and so I learned a lot about
some different components ofthat.
So I just became very aware.
But it's amazing what you canlearn over a five-year period.
I learned a lot and so, uh, andlike I said, all I would do is
(06:38):
read these articles.
If it resonated, I put it in mycancer folder and saved it, and
so I just never expected I'd bethe one to get the cancer.
And so, because I had done allthat reading, I definitely knew
what I would not do and had agood idea of what I would do.
And so you know that was myblessing is having the heads up.
(07:00):
You know that was my blessingis having the heads up, and I've
talked to a lot of people overthe years, and particularly when
I was going, when I learnedabout my diagnosis, you know I'd
ask some people that I knewthat had cancer and said, hey,
this is what I'm thinking aboutdoing, what's your thoughts?
And I had a few people say, youknow what, Ben, that's what I
(07:21):
would have done.
That's what I wanted to do is,you know, go the natural route.
But you know my conversationswith the doctor.
They scared me so bad that Ijust threw up my hands and said
do what you got to do, just getit out of me.
And you know just that sentenceright there get it out of me,
that's you know, that's someonewho doesn't understand what
(07:42):
they're dealing with, and so,with that said, that's someone
who doesn't understand whatthey're dealing with, and so,
with that said, that was myblessing, where I was
well-educated before I got thediagnosis and that empowered me
to make the choices that I did.
And you know, in those sorts oftimes you find out, you know,
who loves you, you know they'llexpress it.
You know, and sometimes, inways you know, I don't want to
(08:04):
say I didn't appreciate it butit wasn't helpful to building my
confidence.
You know, and sometimes, inways you know I don't want to
say I didn't appreciate it butit wasn't helpful to building my
confidence.
You know, I had a couple offriends say something like you
know, this isn't something tomess around with, ben, you got
to listen to your doctors.
Or when are you going to stopdoing that voodoo witch doctor
stuff and get serious abouttaking care of this voodoo witch
(08:25):
doctor stuff and get seriousabout taking care of this?
And so, like I said, it'sbecause that I was blessed to
have that information.
I knew that I was on the righttrack and during the healing
process, I continued to listento Chris' work and his
interviews, particularly with DrVickers and I was implementing
(08:46):
some of the protocols that youknow Chris talked about, and you
know there were other ones aswell.
You know and I share this justto you know empower other people
to take a look, but RobertScott Bell was another great one
that I learned a lot from, andso that's part of how I kept
going.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Yeah, so what did the doctors themselves wanted you
to do?
What protocol they want to putyou on?
Speaker 1 (09:14):
You know, what's funny is what happened with me
is a lot of the things that Ihad read.
I mean, it's like you know, jim, literally I experienced it,
and so I broached.
You know, many of the people Imet in the you know Western
medicine, you know, were verynice people, and my oncologist
(09:38):
I'll never forget it, you know.
I said, you know, hey, you know, I don't remember her name
right now, but I said hey, doc,I've been doing some reading and
I'd really like to explore somealternative methods before we
go down this road of chemo orradiation.
And she was typing at hercomputer and she just whipped
her chair around like an angryteacher.
She came up to me and she goesBen, you need to understand
(10:03):
right now you have non-Hodgkin'slymphoma.
Ben, I'm not aware of anyalternative, proven methods to
deal with what you have.
She goes you need to understandthat it's not a question of
whether you're going to do chemoor whether you're going to do
radiation.
The only question is is whetheryou're going to do a lot or a
(10:26):
little.
And that's when I realized,holy smokes, this is exactly
some of the stuff I've read.
And I thought to myselfimmediately okay, well, I'm just
going to get the tests that Ineed to get, so I can take into
a naturopath and we can talkabout some alternatives.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Are there a lot of naturopath doctors in your area?
Speaker 1 (10:47):
You know that was another thing that I was very
fortunate.
There was a place called.
There's a local natural healthfood store in Tacoma called
Marlene's Market and they werevery influential.
Before I got the diagnosis Iwould shop there, but I also go
to some of their different youknow health-oriented seminars or
(11:09):
you know hour-long talks and.
I had met some of the differentpeople that I utilized in my
healing process there.
Actually, and you know, throughthat store I became aware of a
lot of different naturopathicprotocols or people that had
(11:29):
practices that at the time Ididn't really appreciate fully
what they were doing becausesome of them were off the beaten
track in my eyes at that time.
And, as you know, you becomeaware and you realize that
there's a lot of wisdom in someof these different modalities,
as they say.
So yes, in Tacoma, even outhere, in this area, there's a
(11:52):
lot of great practitioners thatI would say are helping a lot of
people.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Yeah, I thought I heard that there's a lot in that
area and it sounds right, eventhough I've never been out there
.
But that's the impression Ihave of that area and it it's.
It sounds right, even thoughI've never been out there, but
that's the impression I have ofthat area.
It's kind of like I'm in southcarolina and just over the
border in north carolina, inashville, you can find
naturopathic doctors andholistic and all that because,
again, it's like a hippie area.
But but they know about healingand, uh, of course, now you
(12:22):
know they are it's beendevastated by the hurricane and
I don't know how many of thosedoctors are still in practice.
I haven't been up there sincethe hurricane came through as of
this recording.
So, yeah, we're still cleaningup.
In fact, you might hear in thebackground here.
We've had so many trees go downin my neighborhood.
I keep hearing these sometrucks out here.
(12:42):
They're cutting down things.
I thought that's typical.
As soon as I start recordingsomething, they start making
noise, but but hey, it's okay toclean these things up.
It's devastated some houses andum, so I'm not going to
complain about that and youprobably won't even hear it.
I'm probably the only onehearing it, but uh, you're doing
good on my end okay, yeah, I.
I fortunately had an oncologistwho he likes the immunotherapies
(13:04):
, which I think is going in theright direction, as opposed to
the chemo and radiation, thestandards and his thinking,
which was so bizarre.
I've never heard anotheroncologist say this, but he goes
.
You know that chemo neverreally did work, like what.
I've never heard a doctor saythat and he's just.
You know he's an oncologist.
I said, okay, I like this guy.
(13:26):
He goes.
There's so many things comingdown the road that is so much
better.
I'm going to stick with him,but yeah, it's good to find
doctors like that.
So did you leave her or just,does she still do tests like
blood tests for you, or how'sthat working out?
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Oh, let's see here.
So I did leave her eventuallyand I went to a naturopathic
clinic in the area.
It was a great experience.
I went there and it was anoncologist that I was speaking
with, but he was more on thatnatural side.
So you know, the thing I thinka lot of people need to
(14:06):
understand, especially when theyget that fresh diagnosis, is
that you know, in my opinion, myhumble opinion that you know,
cancer is not the problem.
You know, it's the symptom ofsomething else that's not
working right with your immunesystem.
And so he is the one that wasresponsible for helping me
figure that out.
He basically figured out thatmy gut, that basically I was
(14:28):
getting sick from malnutritionbecause my gut wasn't healthy
and I wasn't digesting foodproperly, which means you're not
getting the nutrients.
And if you have leaky gut andthat sort of thing, now all of a
sudden you got inflammationgoing on in your system.
So that's what I determined.
What was the problem.
So the logic would be as youfix that, then you should be
(14:51):
able to take care of the cancer.
So, with that said, you know heran some tests and you know,
basically the tests came backshowing that I had some gut
issues.
So what was interesting, we gota little aggressive with each
other because he said well, ben,he goes.
You know, now that we know whatthe problem is, we're going to
deal with that cancer.
And uh, you're going to do thechemo and you are going and I'm
(15:15):
going to help you recover fromthe chemo.
And I was not expecting that atall.
And I said, hey, wait a minute,doc, you know, I appreciate
everything that you've done, butI'm here to see you because I
have zero interest in doingchemo.
And you know, basically, hesaid that I was crazy for not
(15:37):
doing the chemo.
Needless to say, I stoppedseeing him as well.
But, like I said, you know, myblessing was is that it just
didn't make any sense to me toto do chemo.
And you know I can go into whyit didn't make sense if you'd
like to.
But the point is, is that, uh,that was one of the things that
I kept running into.
Is this that these road blocksor these comments about that?
(16:00):
I was on the right wrong path.
But you know, like I said, youknow, when you read for five
years, you learn a lot and Ithere's just nothing that anyone
could do to to change my mind,and I was never even.
You know, the thing I wasfortunate about was, you know, I
mean, I wasn't 100 sure, youknow, I didn't know I was gonna
(16:20):
come through it, but I just, youknow, there's different paths
and this is the path that madethe most sense to me.
And so, you know, with thatsaid, I have a lot of empathy
for the folks that I meet atHealing Strong, because, you
know, a lot of them that comehave already gone down these
roads and they realize that,okay, this isn't exactly working
(16:41):
out the way I thought it wasgoing to work out.
So now they're looking foranswers, you know, with that
said, I'm able to talk to themand communicate with them in a
way that, you know, I've beenthere and I felt what you felt,
you know, as far as you know,being scared, confused,
overwhelmed, you know, sad, allthese emotions.
I mean, the only time that Iever really was really scared
(17:04):
was when that first oncologistshe said, ben, we're going to,
you know, got an appointment setup for you for, you know, three
weeks from now, but I want youto come in next week and I want
you to do a bone marrow draw,and I thought, I mean, that
rattled me.
I go what do you mean a bonemarrow draw?
That's just something I hadn'teven thought about, wasn't on my
radar.
And I go, what do we got to dothat for?
(17:25):
And she goes well, ben, you'vegot non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
You could have cancer in yourbone marrow.
We got to figure out how farthis is spread.
So that bone marrow draw was alittle bit of experience.
It wasn't as painful as youalways hear.
It is, for me anyway.
But with that said, it cameback clear it wasn.
(17:51):
With that said, it came backclear it wasn't in the bone
marrow and so that was ablessing.
But yeah, but yeah, my pointbringing that up is that was the
most scared that I ever gotbecause I didn't know.
You know, we said I neverprofessed I knew everything.
I just know that I learned alot in the five-year period.
But but uh, those experiencesis you know really what I enjoy
being able to communicate andhear people out as to what
they're feeling and, you know,just try to keep them moving in
the path, that that they want to, that they want to go all right
(18:14):
.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Well, I want to talk about your connection with
healing strong in a minute here.
But so many people they want tolike, know what.
How exactly did you handle thisand like, for instance, how did
you heal your gut health?
I mean, did you just go on araw food diet or how'd you fix
that?
Speaker 1 (18:31):
You know, for me it just was kind of fundamental.
So what I mean by that is, youknow, once I got confirmation
that my gut wasn't healthy, youknow I knew a little bit about
gut health but know nothing too.
It's nothing too detailed, so,uh, basically I just read up on
the topic, you know, justfocused on a lot of things that
(18:53):
you know chris work preaches isnutrient dense food right, so
just focused on nutrient densefood, probiotics, some of the
foods that I ate that I justdidn't normally eat.
Oh man, I could not standsauerkraut, but I started eating
sauerkraut.
Now I like sauerkraut.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
I love sauerkraut.
It's weird.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
What was the other thing?
Oh, pineapples.
You know they say oh well, youcan't have sugar.
You know you got to stay awayfrom sugar.
Well, I had a.
You know I do some juicing, alittle bit of juicing, but more
I did a lot of not a lotactually, that's not a true
statement.
Once a day I'd have a smoothieand it was just, you know,
nothing but green.
But I think the game changerfor me with that was, you know,
(19:39):
I read that pineapple helps withyour guts acidity and health.
Yeah, so I made sure I and youknow I think that went a long
ways.
But the point is, is I justreally focused on nutrient-dense
food supplementation?
Detoxification was a big part ofwhat I did.
(20:01):
I was very familiar with theGearson therapy via Chris Wark,
but I met a great practitioner,dirk Yao, who lived in the area.
I had a great practitioner,dirk Yao, who lived in the area.
He was what I would consider mygame changer as far as the
detoxification, and I'm tryingto think if I'm missing anything
(20:23):
.
Oh, exercise.
And so I just tried to listento my body and I ended up
changing some of the exercises Idid, because if I started
feeling too tired after doingsomething.
I knew that I shouldn't keepdoing it.
You don't want to stress outthe body by, you know,
over-exercising.
So I started out with hot yoga,which was fantastic, and then I
(20:43):
bounced back to just pushingaround, a little bit of weight,
a little bit of jogging, andthen I pushed it back to playing
nine holes of golf a few timesa week.
So those, to me, are thefundamentals to playing nine
holes of golf a few times a week.
That could be stressful.
Those, to me, are thefundamentals.
You know, you're absolutelyright, we'll leave it at that.
But it's a humbling sport, butI love it.
It's challenging and that's agood thing.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
And there's that one good shot at every game that
brings you back the next time.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
So how are you doing now physically with your, with
the cancer?
Speaker 1 (21:17):
uh, you know I always say no lumps or bumps.
Um, you know, I've done some uhblood tests to make sure things
are.
Things are good, but butoverall, you know, just try to
lead that that lifestyle of just, you know, doing the solid
basics, and you know I preach itall the time.
But what I just mentionedearlier, those are the basics
(21:38):
and I think if you do thosethings you can definitely keep
your health.
But one of the things I thinkthat is most important is
helping your body detox, becauseyou know we're being bombarded
every day in various ways.
I'm just a big proponent ofhaving an attitude that you know
, every day I'm, you know, in abattle to keep my health.
(21:59):
You know to to keep my mind andjust try to put good things in
my body every day, right.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
You're basically getting the balance back in your
life.
That uh usually.
And we don't realize that we'reout of balance until something
like this happens.
So basically it's like, hey,where am I out of balance here?
Whatever that may be, it'sdifferent for everybody, but of
course you can always start withnutrition, because not
everybody eats perfectly and youcan always do exercise.
(22:29):
But I mean, there's the mindsetand there's detoxing and
there's you can't do it all inone day or one week.
You just got to start with youknow, one step, get that
corrected and then move on and,of course, with you collecting
five years of knowledge.
That's like a college degree,so you're able to add things on.
You didn't do it all in one day, right?
Speaker 1 (22:50):
No, I did not one day , right, and no, I did not.
And, um, well, I said no, it'suh, and so I think it's very
unique, what, what happened withme?
And and, uh, yeah, and that'spart of what I'm trying to do
with, uh, the healing stronggroup here in corduroy and
attract people who are just uh,who are interested in just their
(23:12):
health, you know, justinterested in learning, because
that's where the power comesfrom is by, you know, learning
about your body, worrying abouthealth and worrying about
different protocols.
You know that knowledge is whatgives you power to step through
any type of autoimmune that youknow could come up.
(23:33):
But with that knowledge, thelikelihood of you dealing with
an issue is going to be a lotless, because through that
knowledge, you're going to know,you know what you should be
eating, how much exercise shouldbe doing, you know what is
detoxing and why is it important, and, um, that, uh, I will go a
long way in keeping you healthy, but if you do, you know, run
(23:58):
into a stumbling block, you'llknow how to get around it.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Yeah, and you're unique in that you knew about
Healing Strong before you gotsick doing all that research
right.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
You know, I got to think about that.
No, you know, I know this.
Uh, when healing strong started, but I think it was after I got
the diagnosis.
I just because you know, chriswas doing his uh, chris beat
cancer and I think he was, youknow, just either a couple years
either into it or, uh, he had,you know, got the clean bill of
(24:30):
health.
But right, uh, he was doing theYouTube videos and, like I said
, I just that's how I found him.
He had talked about the Gearsontherapy and I just thought, wow
, I want to learn a little bitmore about that.
And I saw this great video thatyou know.
Like I said, before I got thediagnosis, I was aware of these
(24:51):
protocols and I saw this videowhere this gentleman had a tumor
behind his eyeball, so his eyewas like bulging from the socket
, and so they did a time-lapsevideo, basically every day.
They took a picture of his faceevery day that he did his
Gerson therapy, and I think itwas like over a 90-day period.
(25:13):
It might have been a six-monthperiod, but the time lapse
actually showed the eyeballgoing back into a socket.
So that's well, you know, wasan educational thing that I
would never forget and that wasa big component in helping my
body detox and, you know, getback to health.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Okay, so how long ago did you start the Healing
Strong Group?
Speaker 1 (25:36):
I believe it was four years ago, yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
So yeah, so it just is.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
It's gone by fast, that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
Is it in person or is it Zoom?
Speaker 1 (25:47):
It's in person, thinking about.
You know doing it via Zoom, oryou know online as well.
You know, for me it's justgetting to more people and you
know doing, you know doing itvia zoom, or you know, online as
well.
You know, for me it's justgetting to more people.
And you know, showing, showingthem, yeah, giving testimony,
that's that's what it's aboutright.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
yeah, I had that feeling myself after you, you
know, get healthier and you beatthis cancer, um, and you have
all this information.
You just feel like you got togive it back.
You can't just like move onlike feel like you got to give
it back.
You can't just like move onlike nothing happened.
You got to give back becausethere's so many people I mean,
more and more people are gettingcancer.
It's like you can't go throughlife without knowing somebody,
(26:24):
or many people actually, whohave cancer, and so you just
feel like, hey, I got thisinformation, I got to share it
with people.
So that's pretty much whatmotivated you right there in
Idaho.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Is it information?
I got to share it with people.
So that's pretty much whatmotivated you right there in
idaho, is it?
Is it a pretty big group orjust stay at a certain amount?
I'm just being nosy, uh, youknow.
Uh, on average it's been about,you know, actually, people
showing up has been somewherebetween 8 and 12 people.
But what's been awesome is we'vegot some great folks that come.
I've got a gal well, I don'tknow if that's the right word,
but I have an attendee whosename is Nancy and she's a
(27:00):
fantastic lady.
Just admired her tenacity andregaining her health and she was
influential in helping tocreate the largest group we've
had.
We had 30 people two months agoand so, yeah, so that's been
(27:22):
another thing that I didn'treally expect in creating the
group, which is the blessingsthat I actually get from the
folks that show up.
We do a thing where I just askpeople to do three things, you
know, before we start themeeting A tell us your name.
B what brought you here.
And C what do you hope to gain?
(27:42):
And what's awesome is to comeback the next month and find out
that you know a lot of thesepeople connected with each other
because either they had thesame form of cancer or somehow,
you know, they just uh, you know, were drawn to each other.
So they either go out to coffee, go out to lunch, and now
they're supporting each other,and it's just uh.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
It's just a beautiful thing to see that seems to be
the uh, the draw in the group,because I have the same core
people that come.
There's like five or six peoplethat have contacted me and said
, hey, I'm just moving to thearea and I'm interested in it
and they've yet to show up, butthey say they're coming, but
they haven't yet.
(28:25):
So I just keep them on themailing list.
So you know, it's not abouthaving a huge crowd, it's just
about reaching people that areyou, you know, going through
something and they're scared andthey're looking for hope.
so how can people get a hold ofyou?
I know you like to help peopleand and reach out to them, so
how can they get hold of you?
Speaker 1 (28:42):
uh, you know the best way is uh, just shoot an email
to uh info at healing strongcdaorg, okay, and and I'm pretty
quick to respond and provideinfo or let them know when the
next meeting ends.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
The website's healingstrongcdaorg.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Okay, Well, Ben, it was great to meet you and I'm
glad your journey is in theright direction.
Now You're getting healthierand healthier and feeling good
about things, getting thebalance back in there and
helping other people.
Helping other people is alsovery healing, I find.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Definitely a blessing to meet the people that come,
and then, you know, I've beenmeeting a lot of the
practitioners in the area, andso it's definitely been an
interesting journey, and anenjoyable one at that.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
All right, well, thanks for sharing that story
with us, ben.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
All right, thank you, appreciate your time.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
I'd like to take this moment to recognize a partner
of Healing Strong.
Barlow Herbal, led by owner andmaster herbalist, jane Barlow
Christensen, offers potentherbal products.
Led by owner and masterherbalist, jane Barlow
Christensen, offers potentherbal products.
Jane is known for her expertisein herbal remedies and natural
healing, with a focus oneducating individuals about the
health benefits of medicinalherbs for daily wellness.
To learn more, go toBarlowHerbalcom and use
(30:06):
HEALSTRONG10, that'sHEALSTRONG10, to save.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
You've been listening to the I Am Healing Strong
podcast.
A part of the Healing Strongorganization.
We hope you found encouragementin this episode, as well as the
confidence to take control ofyour healing journey, knowing
that God will guide you on thispath.
Healing Strong is a nonprofitorganization whose mission is to
(30:31):
connect, support and educateindividuals facing cancer and
other diseases throughstrategies that help to rebuild
the body, renew the soul andrefresh the spirit.
It costs nothing to be a part ofa local or online group.
You can do that by going to ourwebsite at healingstrongorg and
(30:54):
finding a group near you or anonline group, or start your own,
your choice.
While you're there, take a lookaround at all the free
resources.
Though the resources and groupsare free, we encourage you to
join our membership program at$25 or $75 a month.
This helps us to be able toreach more people with hope and
(31:17):
encouragement, and that alsocomes with some extra perks as
well.
So check it out.
If you enjoyed this podcast,please give us a five-star
rating, leave an encouragingcomment and help us spread the
word.
We'll see you next week withanother story on the I Am
Healing Strong podcast.
when you read for five years, you learn a lot, and
there's just nothing thatanyone could do to change my
mind.
And I was never even.
You know, the thing I wasfortunate about was, you know, I
mean, I wasn't 100% sure, youknow, I didn't know if I was
going to come through it, but Ijust knew that you know there's
different paths and this is thepath that made the most sense to
(00:21):
me.
And so, you know, with thatsaid, I have a lot of empathy
for the folks that I meet atHealing Strong, because you know
a lot of them that come havealready gone down these roads
and they realize that, okay,this isn't exactly working out
the way I thought it was goingto work out, so now they're
looking for answers.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
You're listening to the I Am Healing Strong podcast,
a part of the Healing Strongorganization, the number one
network of holistic cancersupport groups in the world.
Each week we bring you storiesof hope, real stories that will
encourage you as you navigateyour way on your own journey to
health.
Now here's your host stage fourcancer thriver, jim Mann.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Joining me on this episode, ben Kanellis, all the
way up there in Idaho right.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Yes, sir, the panhandle.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
You don't mind the cold apparently.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
I didn't say that I've gotten used to it.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
For sure.
Yeah, I was telling you earlierI was up in.
I say up, it's down for you,but McCall, Idaho, I was there
for a men in radio retreat andit was like 75 feet of snow.
It was just incredible.
Actually, more like three orfour feet, but it was so serene,
it was so quiet and relaxed andI'm like, ah, this is wonderful
(01:41):
.
Wouldn't want to drive in it,but it was wonderful.
So, yeah, I have good feelingsabout Idaho.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
It's a beautiful area .
Speaker 3 (01:48):
So give us a little background of you.
You said you were born in NewYork.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Yeah, that's where I was originally born.
My dad's, from Puerto Rico,joined the service when he was
young and after the service hewent back to New York but after
a couple years decided it had me.
My mom and uh dad had me, andthen, uh, they moved back to uh
tacoma where he had beenstationed at fort lewis back in
(02:15):
the day, and that's where I grewup was in tacoma did he move
back there because he justthought it was, uh, so nice and
beautiful uh, you know, I thinkit was uh, primarily.
just, you know he was a mechanic, airplane mechanic and Boeing
was in Seattle and so that isprimarily, I think why they
moved back was the jobopportunities back then and cost
(02:36):
of living.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
So you grew up there and had a pretty good childhood.
I assume you have a lot ofsiblings or anything.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Yes, I've got a sister that's dear to me.
We're about 18 months apart,you know just a beautiful area.
I was very fortunate, veryblessed, to have parents that
took care of us and were hardworkers and they did well for
themselves.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Are they all still in that area?
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Oh yeah, yes, they are Okay.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
So they are Okay.
So what is it you do for aliving?
Speaker 1 (03:08):
You know I've got a day job and a night job.
My day job is I have a businesshere, basically a business
consulting, and then my nightjob is a healing strong chapter
president for this area.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Yeah, that's a good combo there.
I like that.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
It's been a blessing.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Let's talk about your diagnosis then.
It was kind of like the sametime.
Mine was a few months before me, but back in 2016.
How did that come about?
What were your symptoms or whatbrought it about to your
attention?
Speaker 1 (03:41):
You know what I actually?
I think I went into the doc andthe doctor in March but I had a
lump on my pelvic area, youknow, just above my leg, and I
thought, you know, like atypical guy, just said, ah,
it'll go away.
So, you know, three, fourmonths go by, it still didn't go
(04:01):
away.
But I happened to go go in, uh,you know, during the spring
marches, when I usually go infor a checkup, and so I went in
and and I almost got out ofthere, uh, without even bringing
it up, but I thought, oh man,I'll just I'll go ahead and
bring it up and so I said hey,doc, you know you might want to
take a look at this, and so sobasically he looked at, he says
oh, it's probably nothing.
And he goes well, well, let's doa blood test real quick.
(04:25):
And you know, the T cell testcame back negative and he goes.
But you know we really shoulddo a biopsy just to be sure.
So did the biopsy and that cameback positive.
And you know the rest ishistory from there.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Did that kind of turn your world upside down at that
moment.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Well, you know, I was very fortunate and blessed.
I've come to realize that God'shad his hand on me for a long
time.
I just wasn't wise enough torealize it, and so what I mean
by that is I had someone that Icared about quite a bit, and
this person worked in anenvironment that, um, you know,
(05:06):
just wasn't healthy.
A lot of you know pinkchemicals and different
chemicals.
I would walk in sometimes and Icouldn't breathe, but she'd be
running around like you know, nobig deal and and breathing in
and stuff.
So I'd say, hey, you know, youreally should wear a mask when
you're in here, and she alwaysjust blew it off, like you know.
I was silly, and so I thoughtto myself, you know what, I'm
(05:30):
not going to get caughtflat-footed If she gets sick.
I want to, you know, have someidea of what to do.
So you know I love readinggeopolitical things and various
topics, and so when I would readit before I went to bed at
night, I would, you know, if Icame across the cancer article,
I would read it, and if itresonated with me, you know,
(05:52):
some examples would be, as youknow, I'd read about turmeric
and how it helped with cancerI'd read about, come across
articles.
That's how I found ChrisWarwick and through Chris
Warwick I just, you know, readsome of his stuff, watched some
of his interviews and learned,just became aware of who he was
Rick Simpson, CBD oil, you knowherbs.
(06:16):
What really educated me waslearning about the what we call
the cancer.
You know cancer care industry,and so I learned a lot about
some different components ofthat.
So I just became very aware.
But it's amazing what you canlearn over a five-year period.
I learned a lot and so, uh, andlike I said, all I would do is
(06:38):
read these articles.
If it resonated, I put it in mycancer folder and saved it, and
so I just never expected I'd bethe one to get the cancer.
And so, because I had done allthat reading, I definitely knew
what I would not do and had agood idea of what I would do.
And so you know that was myblessing is having the heads up.
(07:00):
You know that was my blessingis having the heads up, and I've
talked to a lot of people overthe years, and particularly when
I was going, when I learnedabout my diagnosis, you know I'd
ask some people that I knewthat had cancer and said, hey,
this is what I'm thinking aboutdoing, what's your thoughts?
And I had a few people say, youknow what, Ben, that's what I
(07:21):
would have done.
That's what I wanted to do is,you know, go the natural route.
But you know my conversationswith the doctor.
They scared me so bad that Ijust threw up my hands and said
do what you got to do, just getit out of me.
And you know just that sentenceright there get it out of me,
that's you know, that's someonewho doesn't understand what
(07:42):
they're dealing with, and so,with that said, that's someone
who doesn't understand whatthey're dealing with, and so,
with that said, that was myblessing, where I was
well-educated before I got thediagnosis and that empowered me
to make the choices that I did.
And you know, in those sorts oftimes you find out, you know,
who loves you, you know they'llexpress it.
You know, and sometimes, inways you know, I don't want to
(08:04):
say I didn't appreciate it butit wasn't helpful to building my
confidence.
You know, and sometimes, inways you know I don't want to
say I didn't appreciate it butit wasn't helpful to building my
confidence.
You know, I had a couple offriends say something like you
know, this isn't something tomess around with, ben, you got
to listen to your doctors.
Or when are you going to stopdoing that voodoo witch doctor
stuff and get serious abouttaking care of this voodoo witch
(08:25):
doctor stuff and get seriousabout taking care of this?
And so, like I said, it'sbecause that I was blessed to
have that information.
I knew that I was on the righttrack and during the healing
process, I continued to listento Chris' work and his
interviews, particularly with DrVickers and I was implementing
(08:46):
some of the protocols that youknow Chris talked about, and you
know there were other ones aswell.
You know and I share this justto you know empower other people
to take a look, but RobertScott Bell was another great one
that I learned a lot from, andso that's part of how I kept
going.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Yeah, so what did the doctors themselves wanted you
to do?
What protocol they want to putyou on?
Speaker 1 (09:14):
You know, what's funny is what happened with me
is a lot of the things that Ihad read.
I mean, it's like you know, jim, literally I experienced it,
and so I broached.
You know, many of the people Imet in the you know Western
medicine, you know, were verynice people, and my oncologist
(09:38):
I'll never forget it, you know.
I said, you know, hey, you know, I don't remember her name
right now, but I said hey, doc,I've been doing some reading and
I'd really like to explore somealternative methods before we
go down this road of chemo orradiation.
And she was typing at hercomputer and she just whipped
her chair around like an angryteacher.
She came up to me and she goesBen, you need to understand
(10:03):
right now you have non-Hodgkin'slymphoma.
Ben, I'm not aware of anyalternative, proven methods to
deal with what you have.
She goes you need to understandthat it's not a question of
whether you're going to do chemoor whether you're going to do
radiation.
The only question is is whetheryou're going to do a lot or a
(10:26):
little.
And that's when I realized,holy smokes, this is exactly
some of the stuff I've read.
And I thought to myselfimmediately okay, well, I'm just
going to get the tests that Ineed to get, so I can take into
a naturopath and we can talkabout some alternatives.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Are there a lot of naturopath doctors in your area?
Speaker 1 (10:47):
You know that was another thing that I was very
fortunate.
There was a place called.
There's a local natural healthfood store in Tacoma called
Marlene's Market and they werevery influential.
Before I got the diagnosis Iwould shop there, but I also go
to some of their different youknow health-oriented seminars or
(11:09):
you know hour-long talks and.
I had met some of the differentpeople that I utilized in my
healing process there.
Actually, and you know, throughthat store I became aware of a
lot of different naturopathicprotocols or people that had
(11:29):
practices that at the time Ididn't really appreciate fully
what they were doing becausesome of them were off the beaten
track in my eyes at that time.
And, as you know, you becomeaware and you realize that
there's a lot of wisdom in someof these different modalities,
as they say.
So yes, in Tacoma, even outhere, in this area, there's a
(11:52):
lot of great practitioners thatI would say are helping a lot of
people.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Yeah, I thought I heard that there's a lot in that
area and it sounds right, eventhough I've never been out there
.
But that's the impression Ihave of that area and it it's.
It sounds right, even thoughI've never been out there, but
that's the impression I have ofthat area.
It's kind of like I'm in southcarolina and just over the
border in north carolina, inashville, you can find
naturopathic doctors andholistic and all that because,
again, it's like a hippie area.
But but they know about healingand, uh, of course, now you
(12:22):
know they are it's beendevastated by the hurricane and
I don't know how many of thosedoctors are still in practice.
I haven't been up there sincethe hurricane came through as of
this recording.
So, yeah, we're still cleaningup.
In fact, you might hear in thebackground here.
We've had so many trees go downin my neighborhood.
I keep hearing these sometrucks out here.
(12:42):
They're cutting down things.
I thought that's typical.
As soon as I start recordingsomething, they start making
noise, but but hey, it's okay toclean these things up.
It's devastated some houses andum, so I'm not going to
complain about that and youprobably won't even hear it.
I'm probably the only onehearing it, but uh, you're doing
good on my end okay, yeah, I.
I fortunately had an oncologistwho he likes the immunotherapies
(13:04):
, which I think is going in theright direction, as opposed to
the chemo and radiation, thestandards and his thinking,
which was so bizarre.
I've never heard anotheroncologist say this, but he goes
.
You know that chemo neverreally did work, like what.
I've never heard a doctor saythat and he's just.
You know he's an oncologist.
I said, okay, I like this guy.
(13:26):
He goes.
There's so many things comingdown the road that is so much
better.
I'm going to stick with him,but yeah, it's good to find
doctors like that.
So did you leave her or just,does she still do tests like
blood tests for you, or how'sthat working out?
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Oh, let's see here.
So I did leave her eventuallyand I went to a naturopathic
clinic in the area.
It was a great experience.
I went there and it was anoncologist that I was speaking
with, but he was more on thatnatural side.
So you know, the thing I thinka lot of people need to
(14:06):
understand, especially when theyget that fresh diagnosis, is
that you know, in my opinion, myhumble opinion that you know,
cancer is not the problem.
You know, it's the symptom ofsomething else that's not
working right with your immunesystem.
And so he is the one that wasresponsible for helping me
figure that out.
He basically figured out thatmy gut, that basically I was
(14:28):
getting sick from malnutritionbecause my gut wasn't healthy
and I wasn't digesting foodproperly, which means you're not
getting the nutrients.
And if you have leaky gut andthat sort of thing, now all of a
sudden you got inflammationgoing on in your system.
So that's what I determined.
What was the problem.
So the logic would be as youfix that, then you should be
(14:51):
able to take care of the cancer.
So, with that said, you know heran some tests and you know,
basically the tests came backshowing that I had some gut
issues.
So what was interesting, we gota little aggressive with each
other because he said well, ben,he goes.
You know, now that we know whatthe problem is, we're going to
deal with that cancer.
And uh, you're going to do thechemo and you are going and I'm
(15:15):
going to help you recover fromthe chemo.
And I was not expecting that atall.
And I said, hey, wait a minute,doc, you know, I appreciate
everything that you've done, butI'm here to see you because I
have zero interest in doingchemo.
And you know, basically, hesaid that I was crazy for not
(15:37):
doing the chemo.
Needless to say, I stoppedseeing him as well.
But, like I said, you know, myblessing was is that it just
didn't make any sense to me toto do chemo.
And you know I can go into whyit didn't make sense if you'd
like to.
But the point is, is that, uh,that was one of the things that
I kept running into.
Is this that these road blocksor these comments about that?
(16:00):
I was on the right wrong path.
But you know, like I said, youknow, when you read for five
years, you learn a lot and Ithere's just nothing that anyone
could do to to change my mind,and I was never even.
You know, the thing I wasfortunate about was, you know, I
mean, I wasn't 100 sure, youknow, I didn't know I was gonna
(16:20):
come through it, but I just, youknow, there's different paths
and this is the path that madethe most sense to me.
And so, you know, with thatsaid, I have a lot of empathy
for the folks that I meet atHealing Strong, because, you
know, a lot of them that comehave already gone down these
roads and they realize that,okay, this isn't exactly working
(16:41):
out the way I thought it wasgoing to work out.
So now they're looking foranswers, you know, with that
said, I'm able to talk to themand communicate with them in a
way that, you know, I've beenthere and I felt what you felt,
you know, as far as you know,being scared, confused,
overwhelmed, you know, sad, allthese emotions.
I mean, the only time that Iever really was really scared
(17:04):
was when that first oncologistshe said, ben, we're going to,
you know, got an appointment setup for you for, you know, three
weeks from now, but I want youto come in next week and I want
you to do a bone marrow draw,and I thought, I mean, that
rattled me.
I go what do you mean a bonemarrow draw?
That's just something I hadn'teven thought about, wasn't on my
radar.
And I go, what do we got to dothat for?
(17:25):
And she goes well, ben, you'vegot non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
You could have cancer in yourbone marrow.
We got to figure out how farthis is spread.
So that bone marrow draw was alittle bit of experience.
It wasn't as painful as youalways hear.
It is, for me anyway.
But with that said, it cameback clear it wasn.
(17:51):
With that said, it came backclear it wasn't in the bone
marrow and so that was ablessing.
But yeah, but yeah, my pointbringing that up is that was the
most scared that I ever gotbecause I didn't know.
You know, we said I neverprofessed I knew everything.
I just know that I learned alot in the five-year period.
But but uh, those experiencesis you know really what I enjoy
being able to communicate andhear people out as to what
they're feeling and, you know,just try to keep them moving in
the path, that that they want to, that they want to go all right
(18:14):
.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Well, I want to talk about your connection with
healing strong in a minute here.
But so many people they want tolike, know what.
How exactly did you handle thisand like, for instance, how did
you heal your gut health?
I mean, did you just go on araw food diet or how'd you fix
that?
Speaker 1 (18:31):
You know, for me it just was kind of fundamental.
So what I mean by that is, youknow, once I got confirmation
that my gut wasn't healthy, youknow I knew a little bit about
gut health but know nothing too.
It's nothing too detailed, so,uh, basically I just read up on
the topic, you know, justfocused on a lot of things that
(18:53):
you know chris work preaches isnutrient dense food right, so
just focused on nutrient densefood, probiotics, some of the
foods that I ate that I justdidn't normally eat.
Oh man, I could not standsauerkraut, but I started eating
sauerkraut.
Now I like sauerkraut.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
I love sauerkraut.
It's weird.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
What was the other thing?
Oh, pineapples.
You know they say oh well, youcan't have sugar.
You know you got to stay awayfrom sugar.
Well, I had a.
You know I do some juicing, alittle bit of juicing, but more
I did a lot of not a lotactually, that's not a true
statement.
Once a day I'd have a smoothieand it was just, you know,
nothing but green.
But I think the game changerfor me with that was, you know,
(19:39):
I read that pineapple helps withyour guts acidity and health.
Yeah, so I made sure I and youknow I think that went a long
ways.
But the point is, is I justreally focused on nutrient-dense
food supplementation?
Detoxification was a big part ofwhat I did.
(20:01):
I was very familiar with theGearson therapy via Chris Wark,
but I met a great practitioner,dirk Yao, who lived in the area.
I had a great practitioner,dirk Yao, who lived in the area.
He was what I would consider mygame changer as far as the
detoxification, and I'm tryingto think if I'm missing anything
(20:23):
.
Oh, exercise.
And so I just tried to listento my body and I ended up
changing some of the exercises Idid, because if I started
feeling too tired after doingsomething.
I knew that I shouldn't keepdoing it.
You don't want to stress outthe body by, you know,
over-exercising.
So I started out with hot yoga,which was fantastic, and then I
(20:43):
bounced back to just pushingaround, a little bit of weight,
a little bit of jogging, andthen I pushed it back to playing
nine holes of golf a few timesa week.
So those, to me, are thefundamentals to playing nine
holes of golf a few times a week.
That could be stressful.
Those, to me, are thefundamentals.
You know, you're absolutelyright, we'll leave it at that.
But it's a humbling sport, butI love it.
It's challenging and that's agood thing.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
And there's that one good shot at every game that
brings you back the next time.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
So how are you doing now physically with your, with
the cancer?
Speaker 1 (21:17):
uh, you know I always say no lumps or bumps.
Um, you know, I've done some uhblood tests to make sure things
are.
Things are good, but butoverall, you know, just try to
lead that that lifestyle of just, you know, doing the solid
basics, and you know I preach itall the time.
But what I just mentionedearlier, those are the basics
(21:38):
and I think if you do thosethings you can definitely keep
your health.
But one of the things I thinkthat is most important is
helping your body detox, becauseyou know we're being bombarded
every day in various ways.
I'm just a big proponent ofhaving an attitude that you know
, every day I'm, you know, in abattle to keep my health.
(21:59):
You know to to keep my mind andjust try to put good things in
my body every day, right.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
You're basically getting the balance back in your
life.
That uh usually.
And we don't realize that we'reout of balance until something
like this happens.
So basically it's like, hey,where am I out of balance here?
Whatever that may be, it'sdifferent for everybody, but of
course you can always start withnutrition, because not
everybody eats perfectly and youcan always do exercise.
(22:29):
But I mean, there's the mindsetand there's detoxing and
there's you can't do it all inone day or one week.
You just got to start with youknow, one step, get that
corrected and then move on and,of course, with you collecting
five years of knowledge.
That's like a college degree,so you're able to add things on.
You didn't do it all in one day, right?
Speaker 1 (22:50):
No, I did not one day , right, and no, I did not.
And, um, well, I said no, it'suh, and so I think it's very
unique, what, what happened withme?
And and, uh, yeah, and that'spart of what I'm trying to do
with, uh, the healing stronggroup here in corduroy and
attract people who are just uh,who are interested in just their
(23:12):
health, you know, justinterested in learning, because
that's where the power comesfrom is by, you know, learning
about your body, worrying abouthealth and worrying about
different protocols.
You know that knowledge is whatgives you power to step through
any type of autoimmune that youknow could come up.
(23:33):
But with that knowledge, thelikelihood of you dealing with
an issue is going to be a lotless, because through that
knowledge, you're going to know,you know what you should be
eating, how much exercise shouldbe doing, you know what is
detoxing and why is it important, and, um, that, uh, I will go a
long way in keeping you healthy, but if you do, you know, run
(23:58):
into a stumbling block, you'llknow how to get around it.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Yeah, and you're unique in that you knew about
Healing Strong before you gotsick doing all that research
right.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
You know, I got to think about that.
No, you know, I know this.
Uh, when healing strong started, but I think it was after I got
the diagnosis.
I just because you know, chriswas doing his uh, chris beat
cancer and I think he was, youknow, just either a couple years
either into it or, uh, he had,you know, got the clean bill of
(24:30):
health.
But right, uh, he was doing theYouTube videos and, like I said
, I just that's how I found him.
He had talked about the Gearsontherapy and I just thought, wow
, I want to learn a little bitmore about that.
And I saw this great video thatyou know.
Like I said, before I got thediagnosis, I was aware of these
(24:51):
protocols and I saw this videowhere this gentleman had a tumor
behind his eyeball, so his eyewas like bulging from the socket
, and so they did a time-lapsevideo, basically every day.
They took a picture of his faceevery day that he did his
Gerson therapy, and I think itwas like over a 90-day period.
(25:13):
It might have been a six-monthperiod, but the time lapse
actually showed the eyeballgoing back into a socket.
So that's well, you know, wasan educational thing that I
would never forget and that wasa big component in helping my
body detox and, you know, getback to health.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Okay, so how long ago did you start the Healing
Strong Group?
Speaker 1 (25:36):
I believe it was four years ago, yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
So yeah, so it just is.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
It's gone by fast, that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
Is it in person or is it Zoom?
Speaker 1 (25:47):
It's in person, thinking about.
You know doing it via Zoom, oryou know online as well.
You know, for me it's justgetting to more people and you
know doing, you know doing itvia zoom, or you know, online as
well.
You know, for me it's justgetting to more people.
And you know, showing, showingthem, yeah, giving testimony,
that's that's what it's aboutright.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
yeah, I had that feeling myself after you, you
know, get healthier and you beatthis cancer, um, and you have
all this information.
You just feel like you got togive it back.
You can't just like move onlike feel like you got to give
it back.
You can't just like move onlike nothing happened.
You got to give back becausethere's so many people I mean,
more and more people are gettingcancer.
It's like you can't go throughlife without knowing somebody,
(26:24):
or many people actually, whohave cancer, and so you just
feel like, hey, I got thisinformation, I got to share it
with people.
So that's pretty much whatmotivated you right there in
Idaho.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Is it information?
I got to share it with people.
So that's pretty much whatmotivated you right there in
idaho, is it?
Is it a pretty big group orjust stay at a certain amount?
I'm just being nosy, uh, youknow.
Uh, on average it's been about,you know, actually, people
showing up has been somewherebetween 8 and 12 people.
But what's been awesome is we'vegot some great folks that come.
I've got a gal well, I don'tknow if that's the right word,
but I have an attendee whosename is Nancy and she's a
(27:00):
fantastic lady.
Just admired her tenacity andregaining her health and she was
influential in helping tocreate the largest group we've
had.
We had 30 people two months agoand so, yeah, so that's been
(27:22):
another thing that I didn'treally expect in creating the
group, which is the blessingsthat I actually get from the
folks that show up.
We do a thing where I just askpeople to do three things, you
know, before we start themeeting A tell us your name.
B what brought you here.
And C what do you hope to gain?
(27:42):
And what's awesome is to comeback the next month and find out
that you know a lot of thesepeople connected with each other
because either they had thesame form of cancer or somehow,
you know, they just uh, you know, were drawn to each other.
So they either go out to coffee, go out to lunch, and now
they're supporting each other,and it's just uh.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
It's just a beautiful thing to see that seems to be
the uh, the draw in the group,because I have the same core
people that come.
There's like five or six peoplethat have contacted me and said
, hey, I'm just moving to thearea and I'm interested in it
and they've yet to show up, butthey say they're coming, but
they haven't yet.
(28:25):
So I just keep them on themailing list.
So you know, it's not abouthaving a huge crowd, it's just
about reaching people that areyou, you know, going through
something and they're scared andthey're looking for hope.
so how can people get a hold ofyou?
I know you like to help peopleand and reach out to them, so
how can they get hold of you?
Speaker 1 (28:42):
uh, you know the best way is uh, just shoot an email
to uh info at healing strongcdaorg, okay, and and I'm pretty
quick to respond and provideinfo or let them know when the
next meeting ends.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
The website's healingstrongcdaorg.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Okay, Well, Ben, it was great to meet you and I'm
glad your journey is in theright direction.
Now You're getting healthierand healthier and feeling good
about things, getting thebalance back in there and
helping other people.
Helping other people is alsovery healing, I find.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Definitely a blessing to meet the people that come,
and then, you know, I've beenmeeting a lot of the
practitioners in the area, andso it's definitely been an
interesting journey, and anenjoyable one at that.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
All right, well, thanks for sharing that story
with us, ben.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
All right, thank you, appreciate your time.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
I'd like to take this moment to recognize a partner
of Healing Strong.
Barlow Herbal, led by owner andmaster herbalist, jane Barlow
Christensen, offers potentherbal products.
Led by owner and masterherbalist, jane Barlow
Christensen, offers potentherbal products.
Jane is known for her expertisein herbal remedies and natural
healing, with a focus oneducating individuals about the
health benefits of medicinalherbs for daily wellness.
To learn more, go toBarlowHerbalcom and use
(30:06):
HEALSTRONG10, that'sHEALSTRONG10, to save.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
You've been listening to the I Am Healing Strong
podcast.
A part of the Healing Strongorganization.
We hope you found encouragementin this episode, as well as the
confidence to take control ofyour healing journey, knowing
that God will guide you on thispath.
Healing Strong is a nonprofitorganization whose mission is to
(30:31):
connect, support and educateindividuals facing cancer and
other diseases throughstrategies that help to rebuild
the body, renew the soul andrefresh the spirit.
It costs nothing to be a part ofa local or online group.
You can do that by going to ourwebsite at healingstrongorg and
(30:54):
finding a group near you or anonline group, or start your own,
your choice.
While you're there, take a lookaround at all the free
resources.
Though the resources and groupsare free, we encourage you to
join our membership program at$25 or $75 a month.
This helps us to be able toreach more people with hope and
(31:17):
encouragement, and that alsocomes with some extra perks as
well.
So check it out.
If you enjoyed this podcast,please give us a five-star
rating, leave an encouragingcomment and help us spread the
word.
We'll see you next week withanother story on the I Am
Healing Strong podcast.
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