January 28, 2025 • 39 mins
David and Kathy Peters share their journey following David's stage four prostate cancer diagnosis, focusing on their choice to pursue natural healing rather than conventional treatments. Highlighting the importance of community, diet, and emotional resilience, they encourage others to embrace holistic approaches to health.
• David's prostate cancer diagnosis and initial reactions
• The decision to pursue natural healing methods
• Importance of community support through their journey
• Dietary changes: transitioning to a plant-based diet
• Emotional aspects of dealing with a cancer diagnosis
• The use of the RGCC test for personalized treatment plans
• Plans for their documentary to share their story
David is a career filmmaker, and together with his wife, Kathi, they operate Global Story Films. They have created award-winning films that tell compelling stories of people from all over the world with an authentic and journalistic approach.
They have a keen interest in telling stories about the often-ignored voices of those speaking truth to power in culture.
In November of 2022 David was diagnosed with Stage 4 Prostate cancer. Along with pursuing an all-natural pathway toward healing, David and Kathi decided to create a documentary about their process. They earnestly hope that this film will give others permission to step away from traditional cancer treatments and go all in toward natural healing.
Kathi
David
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Kathy had someone to come up to her in the library.
We did a lot of posting onFacebook.
I just had, like thisinsatiable desire to write.
I started a blog and I neverthought I would blog and write,
but I was writing long posts andjust talking about what I was
experiencing and feeling andsomeone came up to Kathy and
said you know, I've never metsomeone who didn't do what the
(00:21):
doctor says, and so we're reallycurious.
So in some ways it's kind oflike pressure's on, because we
really hope and believe this isgoing to be successful and we
hope others will follow suitwithin our little sphere of
influence.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
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 (01:02):
David and Kathy Peters.
Thank you so much for joiningus.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Yeah, our pleasure, glad to be with you here.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
And, of course, if you hear a little murmuring in
the background, I'm not sure ifthat's picking up or not, but
we're at the convention the 10thanniversary of Healing Strong,
here in Houston.
Of course, by the time you hearthis, it'll be over.
Sorry, you missed it.
We're here talking with peopleabout Healing Strong and what
God has allowed them to do.
So tell me a little bit aboutwhy you're here and what it is
(01:27):
you guys do.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Yeah, we'd heard about the conference.
As part of our healing cancerjourney that I started last year
in November, I found out that Ihad stage four prostate cancer,
so that was a well alife-changing moment when we
were there with the oncologist,getting this announcement, and
(01:49):
part of what we did is just diveinto how can we heal this
naturally.
And in the process of all ofthat, I can back up a little bit
, but we heard about healingstrong several months ago and I
just want to mention that we'vebeen listening to your podcast.
As we exercise in the morning,we typically listen to a podcast
(02:11):
, so while we're exercising ourbody, we're learning and
exercising our mind and learningmore about health, nutrition
and healing.
So we've enjoyed your guests.
In fact, I think youinterviewed Teresa Scott, if I'm
not mistaken.
Yes, I did.
Yes, that's how we heard abouther, and we're interviewing her
on Tuesday for a documentarythat we're producing.
(02:32):
So after my diagnosis, ourdistributor called us and said
have you guys thought aboutpossibly documenting your
journey?
Because he said, I understandyou're going all natural.
He said, said my father died in2011 of cancer.
He had been diagnosed in 2003,had been given eight months to
live, chose a natural healingpath and lived eight more years
(02:54):
and toward the end of his lifehe was starting to produce a
documentary, do thepre-production research and
unfortunately died before hecould finish.
So he asked us, in the honor ormemory of his father, if we
would finish the documentary.
So that's how we got in theprocess of doing that and then
we'll be doing one of theinterviews with Teresa Scott on
(03:15):
Monday Just looking at mouthhealth and how that impacts our
overall health and chronicdisease and cancer.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Yeah, I learned a lot from her.
I learned that I'm in troubleBecause I still have some metal
in there that I got to get ridof.
I got root canals.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
I didn't know anything was wrong with root
canals, but yeah, man, yeah, shealready had a root canal
removed and my amalgams, whichhad mercury in them, removed.
So kathy is part of thedocumentary um there.
Theresa is going to remove heramalgams on Monday afternoon, so
we're going to interview Teresaand then also actually document
(03:53):
her in action with this veryimportant aspect of our health
if you need more action, I'llvolunteer too, that she can.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Yeah, fix me up here.
Yeah, no, it worked out good.
Are you excited about that?
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Well, I'm anxious to get the nasty stuff out of my
mouth, and so, yeah, I mean it'sagain.
Those things have been in therefor decades and you have no
idea that there's somethinggoing on in there that needs to
be dealt with, and so of course,what we're told is perfectly
safe.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
So, oh yeah, yeah, it's perfectly safe, unless a
thermometer drops on the floorand some mercury comes out, we
have to evacuate, right exactlythat's.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
That's always odd to me, but yeah, when they do the
biological dentistry, theyremove the amalgams and the
mercury and there's they'reconsidered toxic waste that has
to be properly disposed of andit's.
I guess it's a fairly expensiveprocess for dentists to do and
yet that's in our mouths, whichjust really doesn't make sense
(04:56):
yeah, the odor I get.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
More things don't make sense to me anyway.
So yeah, that's just one ofthem there.
In fact, she pointed me out toa dentist in Greenville, south
Carolina area, where I live, andof course they don't ever take
your insurance.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
But that's all right.
You know a lot of money on that.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Yes, so I'm going to be.
I'm going to be looking prettyin a couple of years here.
Good, hollywood smile, there wego, anyway, so, yeah.
So you decided to come herehere, of course, you were doing
some interviews for thedocumentary yourself, so you're
going to be, you're going to besitting in on all the different,
yeah we came to enjoy the theevent.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
We've already interviewed suzy griswold and
then chris warwick earlier today, so we were glad to be able to
do that interview and get thatdone.
So we can just totally focus onbeing part of the event here
and meeting people and justenjoying and being blessed by
all that will take place.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
And we have absolutely come to understand in
this journey that you needcommunity in your life.
When you go through this, it'sscary and it can create a
diagnosis, can create an instantdisconnect with people because
(06:14):
when you choose the naturalroute, we have three children,
all adults, all married, and inthe very initial stages of our
journey, and in the very initialstages of our journey, each of
them in their own way said well,you know, maybe you should
seriously consider what theoncologist said, because they
were reacting in fear.
They don't want David to dieany sooner than he has to.
(06:37):
And it's not that it affects.
Yes, we appreciate that, that'strue, yes, we appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
They want me around, that's true, and the grandkids.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
But it's not that they were against our choice to
do this, but it has the abilityof really tearing you apart.
Part of our journey has beenthat when you decide to go the
natural route, your options aremyriad.
And I came home from theoncologist, I sat down at my
(07:06):
computer and googled naturalhealing for cancer and one of
the first things that popped upin my search results was hope
for cancer, and I tucked it awayand we didn't do much of
anything until we found out theextent of David's cancer and I
said, david, I remember that Ihad discovered something.
It's a clinic in Mexico andthey actually have a booth here
(07:28):
at the Healing Strong Conference.
But that's the one of theavenues that we chose, and so we
went and spent three weeks,started on the 1st of January of
this year.
We're there for three weeks andwe've been back for one
subsequent visit and throughthat we have developed a network
of friends who are goingthrough the same thing that we
are.
We have a WhatsApp group and wecorrespond literally every day
(07:52):
with this group of people.
So we understand the value ofhaving people that you can pour
your heart out to, and so, whenwe looked at the Healing Strong
Conference, it's all aboutconnecting, and so we truly
believe that, just as God wantsus to experience unity on every
(08:13):
level, the unity that you canexperience with people who have
a common I hate to call it anenemy, but a common journey that
they're on, I think that'struly what God's heart is
desiring for us is that weconnect with other people and
that together, we show the worldthere's a better way.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Right.
What made you actually decideto go a different route?
I mean your oncologist.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
He wanted the chemo, or Well, yeah, initially it was
going to be well.
Yeah, initially it was going tobe androgen deprivation
hormones and then, uh, radiationwas.
But, yeah, we had both myparents died from cancer.
Kathy's dad died from cancer.
Um, so it's, we've been aroundit.
Um, kathy and I were already.
(08:59):
Kathy's been a health andwellness coach for years, taught
weightlifting and exerciseclasses at the gym.
We ate really well, so so manythings that we were doing were
already right and that's why itwas kind of surprising well, how
on earth did I get stage fourcancer?
So we had discussed in the pastthat if we were ever to be
(09:22):
diagnosed that we would just goall in with natural right.
So, literally that it was onfriday, as I recall.
Yeah, we were met with theoncologist and that's when I
found out that it was stage four, as I knew I had prostate
cancer.
But then they, they staged iton that friday in november and,
literally, cat, well, we firstwe cried ourselves asleep that
(09:43):
night.
It was a very traumatic night.
But then, first thing, we justdove right in.
Kathy had already heard aboutHope for Cancer.
We called them, they calledback and we started the
conversation and then, less thana month later we were well, a
little over a month later wewere there.
So it was somewhat natural forus, but then it still.
You know, when you're sittingWith an oncologist At Fox Chase
(10:04):
Cancer Center, which is one ofthe Most significant ones, or
probably the major Cancer centerIn a Philadelphia area when we
live, and and the oncologist,who's well-trained, well-paid,
experienced, is telling yousomething and you're basically
not listening to them, it'sintimidating, yeah, and you know
, we'd read all about it, wekind of have our minds made up.
(10:26):
But then you go talk to theoncologist and then all these
questions start coming into mindcommunity with people that are
committed to this process, thatare all in, you know, and
listening to people like youknow yourself and the your story
and the people you interview.
It's just so important to beimmersed in that, because it's
(10:46):
easy to become intimidated andand not feel that or to feel
you're alone when you're not.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
Yeah, and we really felt like the way his first
oncologist dealt with us.
It was a.
It was from a position of fear.
They were trying to create fearwithin us.
In fact, when he explained tous how serious it was, he said
you need to start this treatmenton monday.
And this was friday afternoon.
(11:13):
And for us, having walked withGod since we were little
children, we were bornChristians.
Yeah, we know that fear is notof God, and so we just wanted to
make decisions not based on adoctor saying you need to do
this on Monday, and so we justfelt that it was worth taking
(11:37):
the time to make sure that thiswas going to be the route that
we would take, because we knewit was going to be a tough one,
because it's not something thatyou do for a month and then your
cancer's gone and then you goback to the way you lived before
.
It's a committed journey thatyou will be on for the rest of
your life and that scares youenough to think, well, maybe
(12:01):
it'd be easier to getchemotherapy and radiation.
I say that jokingly, but thepassive approach.
But what we found was there's asense of empowerment that comes
from feeling like we're incharge.
I mean, ultimately God holdsall the cards in his hands, but
(12:25):
we're working together with him.
So we feel very empowered bywhat we're doing.
And the more we study andresearch the traditional route
and I had studied that forprobably 20 to 30 years and that
had been our motivation forsaying we're just going to hit
this with all cylinders on thenatural pathway the more we
(12:47):
discover and the more weresearch.
There's not many answers thatwere confidence boosting to us
in the traditional allopathicway of doing things.
So we feel very empowered thatwe're on the right track.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Well, just looking out the window here and seeing
all these people and sensing theenergy here and comparing that
to what I felt when we've goneto see our oncologist, and you
see people waiting to go in fortheir chemotherapy, yeah, and
here they're about to partake inwonderful food that will aid in
their health and healing.
And then people are going to goin and have chemicals dumped in
(13:23):
their body and you know we'vehad so many our friends recently
.
And, of course, once you'vebeen diagnosed, then you start
to notice how many people havecancer, how many are going
through traditional treatmentsand suffering as they go through
them, where, even though it'sbeen hard to give up certain
things, it's been fun to learn awhole new way of eating and
(13:43):
then watch my body, or our bodysince we're eating this together
adapt and really start to cravethe things that are really best
for us now?
Speaker 3 (13:52):
are you in a like a plant-based diet or?
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Yeah yeah, we went Well.
First we tried raw vegan.
So I was diagnosed.
In November there was a localholistic doctor that we had
already connected with and westarted doing IV infusions and
ozone infusion and she suggestedI go raw vegan For 90 days.
For 90 days and that was justlike hellish for me.
(14:16):
That's tough.
In fact.
After about 10 days that wasjust like hellish for me.
That's tough.
In fact.
After about 10 days it wasputting so much stress on me and
Kathy I thought I'm just goingto not eat for three days.
I read three-day fasts weregood and so about two and a half
days into it I felt I was inbed.
I could hardly get up.
I just felt so bad.
And of course, we told ournaturopath.
She said well, you know, youshould have talked to me first,
because you're supposed toprepare for those, not just
(14:38):
decide you're going to do it oneday.
So we did that for a month andI was losing weight.
I went from 175 ultimately downto 145.
Wow, and I'm still just barelyteetering above 145.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
So I lost it.
You're kind of tall, aren't you?
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Yeah, I'm 6'1", so I kind of related to Chris' work
story because he was 150 or soand went down to 130 or maybe I
forget what it was, but he's6'2", he's a little taller than
me.
Yeah, so, going plant based, Idid introduce some meat and of
course we went to some cookedfood starting in January.
So we kind of.
But you know, I'm glad I triedit.
(15:15):
It was an interestingexperiment and you know we had
to laugh at some of Kathy'sattempts to make normal food.
You know, like the mushroomsoup, it literally, you know,
looked like poop.
You know, and the almond crustpizza, was it what it was?
And it looked halfway decentbut it just tasted awful and I
(15:36):
would always say, honey, thankyou for trying this, I will eat
it, but please don't ever makeit again.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
When that happened, I literally went around the
corner and just burst into tears.
Because it's a lot, you knowwhen your plants take a long
time to chop up, and I mean weeat.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Yeah, she works so hard and she loves to cook and
loves to cook for me andtypically I'm very easy to
please.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
Yes, he loves to cook and loves to cook for me, and
typically I'm very easy toplease.
Yes, so, but it's a lot of work.
I feel like I've exchanged myfreewheeling life and now I live
in the kitchen.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
It feels that way sometimes, but basically it's
plant-based.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
Per our dietary recommendations from Hope for
Cancer, he can have wild codfishthree times a week, so we
typically do that, but otherthan that it's a whole lot of
plants, fruits and vegetables.
We have a garden, so that's umoh, that's good yeah, it's been
a a crazy change.
So we'd always eaten.
You know, we would buy our eggsfrom a little farm near us in
(16:28):
Pennsylvania and we had a, aturkey farm where we would get
our chicken and so, um, yeah,but all those places have kind
of gone by the wayside and soanyway, wow, yeah, that's
definitely an all-in thing.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
You can't just like, uh, eat a few more vegetables
and yeah, cancer will go.
Yeah right, yeah, right yougotta spend a lot if you don't
have a garden which I stilldon't have a garden you spend a
lot of time in the grocery store.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Yeah, we do a lot of time and money our food budget
has you know, gone like I don'teven I haven't really wanted to
find out exactly how much morewe're spending, yeah, but, um,
you know we're self-employed, um, so part of it for me came down
as a business decision.
Um, I add a lot of value to ourcompany, so, so the company
(17:15):
investing in keeping me alive, Ithink, is worth it, because
hopefully I'll be able to workfor many more years and create
more films with Kathy and earnhopefully a whole lot more money
.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Experience cancer healing like you never have
before at Hope for Cancer.
Through their patient-centered,integrative and alternative
cancer treatments in Mexico AtHope for Cancer, they offer a
holistic approach, treatmentsthat address the root causes of
cancer and provide apersonalized healing protocol.
Hope for Cancer TreatmentCenters empowers all cancer
(17:48):
patients to overcome the odds oftheir diagnosis, guided by
their four core values of faith,love, hope and generosity.
To learn more, go toHopeForCancercom.
That's Hope, the number four,cancercom, and that's what you
were doing before you got thecancer doing films.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Yeah, I've done my whole career.
Yeah, I picked up a camera insixth grade and started making
movies in high school and wentto film school and have done
film work my whole career.
Kathy joined me back in 2011with our own business.
We mostly worked for otherpeople, but now we produce
long-form documentaries as wellas a lot of short-form films.
So, in fact, the holisticclinic that we do work with or
(18:27):
that treats us, we're startingto do stories for them to put on
their website.
So we pick some of the patientsthat they've helped and not
only interviewed them, but likelike one, he had a lot of
problems with his legs and kneesand he loved to play pickleball
, was having trouble but throughthe clinic's therapies now he's
back playing pickleball.
So we went out and got footageof him playing pickleball and so
(18:50):
so, yeah, in fact that's I'mhoping we can do more of that,
working with organizations thatare into natural healing and
start telling their stories,because I think with social
media, with podcasting, you know, 20 years ago it was really
hard to get information outthere, where now it just can
proliferate and go viral.
(19:10):
You know, if you have somethingthat's good and people start
sharing it and I think peopleare.
Kathy had someone come up to herin the library.
We did a lot of posting onFacebook.
I just had, like thisinsatiable desire to write.
I started a blog and I neverthought I would blog and write,
but I was writing long posts andjust talking about what I was
experiencing and feeling.
(19:31):
And someone came up to Kathyand said I've never met someone
who didn't do what the doctorsays, and so we're really
curious.
So in some ways it's kind oflike pressure's on, because we
really hope and believe this isgoing to be successful and we
hope others will follow suitwithin our little sphere of
influence.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Yeah, it is hard to go against the doctors because
you know they're like right nextto God.
Right, you've got the Trinityand the doctors and then the
rest of us yeah so it's like andusually family, like you said.
You know they they're scared,you're doing the wrong thing and
they're gonna lose you, but forsome reason my, my family
didn't seem too scared maybewe'll get rid of them.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
Let me rethink this, yeah see our inheritance coming
a little sooner than we thought,oh my goodness and I and I.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
I know so well that gut-wrenching cry you have to
have when you first get thediagnosis and you think, oh, my
gosh, it's over and, and you crylike a baby or you're just
shaking.
But then right after that itsounds like the same for you.
Right after that it it's like,okay, god, you've got this.
You know, I got the crying outof the way.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Yeah, well, something that, of course, immediately
after the diagnosis, people weregiving us suggestion upon
suggestion.
You know, you've got to trythis, read that.
And Chris Work's name came up,like everywhere.
Yeah, so we immediately got hisbook.
In fact we got two copies and Iremember reading I just like
devoured it in a couple dayswhere he he said he was asked
(20:59):
the question do you want to liveright and why?
And that's where, you know, theemotions started to come,
because I really wanted to liveright and, for goodness, the
first couple months I would cryover anything and everything, I
just would be.
I was so emotional and in manyways it was kind of like it's
(21:22):
good purging, just letting allof this out.
You know, what I had washolding in and just this whole
new appreciation for my wife andfor my kids and for what we do
and for the world, um, anintense desire to increase, you
know, as a storyteller, becausethe world is hurting and we feel
our films and stories can helppeople in that process, whether
(21:45):
it be just, you know,spiritually or physically.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
So but it's okay to cry and have a sense of resolve.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Yeah, so, yeah, it wasn't despair it, it was just
deep emotion that's just deepwithin the human part of my soul
and the spiritual part that wasjust, I guess, in love with
this life and as hard, asdifficult as it can be at times,
but wanting to be here and tolove and be loved.
(22:15):
I have a crazy vegan friend.
He has a restaurant in our areaand he was one of the first
people I sat down with and hesaid before anything else, he
said, dave, love will heal you.
So now you're going to changeyour diet and everything else,
but love is the core, god's love.
But he said let your food loveyou, let your exercise, let your
(22:37):
friends love you, becausethat's what you need.
Your body's wounded.
And he said your cancer is amessenger, and don't shoot the
messenger, you know.
Get to the bottom of what'sgoing on, because sometimes it
is emotional.
In fact, as a prostate survivor, often that's one of the
highest cancers that'sassociated with stress so wow, I
(23:02):
think it was chris work.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
I said this bc and ad , you know, before cancer and
after diagnosis.
I mean it's kind of it splitsyour life to.
Your perspective is sodifferent.
I think I was 58 when I got mydiagnosis and like I thought man
, I just appreciate everythingthat much more yeah work is not
as important.
We've got to work, of course,but I mean just, you know,
(23:25):
staying busy all the time wasnot important, just calming down
and learning to rest andconnect with god, it's just.
And then also facing death.
You know, I thought you know.
They call me a month or two,I'll be gone, wow.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
And uh, can't imagine .
That.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Yeah, and you and you think, okay, what do they do
with my life?
And I got to make all thesevideos.
I should have come to you.
Yeah, I'm a total differentperson than I was before cancer.
I was just floating throughlife, having fun in radio, but
(24:02):
still, now it's a wholedifferent thing.
Radio is not that important tome.
In fact, I'm not even thereanymore.
Doing this podcast is importantbecause it's giving people hope
that are scared to death whenthey get the diagnosis.
You can't help but do thatbecause you don't know what's
coming down the road.
Even if you do all the rightthings, you don't know what's
coming down the road.
And wow, just outside of ourlittle window, here they're
(24:24):
talking to everybody, they'reall coming together.
The cattle are moving in onedirection, but they're all happy
still.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
Happy cows yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
You know, once you've had the cancer and you've
passed all that, it's a blessing.
The cancer Not the canceritself, but the fact that you
had cancer and it awakens you toall these things.
And of course, we've heardChris talk about that and James
Templeton.
It's amazing.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
Yeah, and one thing that we've told people time and
time again is, after David'sdiagnosis, his sister, who's a
very wise sister, said David,this is a gift.
And so we, you know, in someways it's hard to look at it as
a gift, but that's a choice thatyou make.
So, and it's asking yourselfthe question do you want to live
(25:16):
?
Because there are some peopleand, having been a wellness
coach for many years, there arepeople whose identity is wrapped
up in being sick, so they can'timagine conversations without
their symptoms being part of thediscussion.
And we don't want to be thatway.
We want to be, as Chris callshimself, a cancer thriver.
(25:39):
So we're learning to rephrasehow we say.
We don't call it David's cancer.
We talk about a diagnosis orwhatever, but not owning it.
Because when you ask yourselfthat question, do I want to live
?
As you described it, there's ashift that happens in your brain
(26:00):
and all of a sudden you startto commit, to derive joy out of
situations that might have justgone by totally unnoticed.
So I mean, in God's economy,he's nothing but good.
And so this part of David sayscancer is part of his body.
(26:20):
So we're going to work toeradicate it.
But instead of talking aboutkilling it and having all those,
we want to heal it, because Godis healing.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Yeah, I think that's another thing we picked up from
Chris right away.
He said I don't want to talkabout fighting cancer because
it's this adversarial thing.
I talk about healing it becausethere's beauty in healing,
right um.
So you know, just as it relatesto this whole idea of having
community and being with people,we were in um at hope for
(26:51):
cancer for three weeks injanuary, as kathy mentioned
earlier, and so you know, you,it's like being, you know, in a
foxhole with people.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
I mean you're in six days a week.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
You're in treatments and therapies and you're getting
to know one another.
In the evening you're spendingtime together and you're away
from.
It's the first time we've beenaway from professionally.
For me to have been away fromlife ever that long, I would
maybe have 10 days or two weeks,but to have taken three weeks,
so just that disconnect of fromthe real world to a world of
(27:22):
healing was, was such a greatthing.
But the people we met and wewere I was mentioning this to
sally earlier or suzy earlier ifI feel like if I hadn't been
diagnosed, I would have nevermet these people and I literally
it's like hard to imagine lifewithout them.
So it's I I've I said thisbefore that if if someone came
and said, well, dave, you couldchoose to not have cancer, but
(27:44):
then you would lose all theserelationships and experiences
you've had in the last nine orten months, it'd be a tough
choice.
It really would, especiallybecause we feel, you know we're
on the road to healing and quitepossibly because of the
diagnosis and the cancer, I mayend up living longer, based on
how we're living now.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
You know changing everything, yeah.
So how are you doing right now?
Speaker 1 (28:08):
I feel good.
Um, as I mentioned, I lost alot of weight, right, I had to
get.
I'm in the process of getting anew wardrobe I still now that
it's getting warm, I'm wearingjeans again.
I have one pair that fit me.
But I feel good.
My PSA number had risen rapidlylast year.
It capped at 49 when my therapystarted and then it started
(28:31):
coming down to 25.
But it's been creeping back upin the last three or four months
.
I just had a PET scan wherethey looked at the metastatic
areas, the parts that had lit upmy large lymph nodes.
Kathy can usually explain thisstuff better than me, but it
seemed like there wasimprovement.
There certainly no growth andit certainly hadn't expanded
(28:54):
into bones or elsewhere in mybody.
So that was really encouraging.
We've got to figure out the PSA, but we just had done a test
called the RGCC test.
Kathy, why don't you explain it?
Speaker 4 (29:06):
So it's also called the Greek test, because that's
where it's done.
Are you familiar with it?
Yes, yes, so Research GeneticCancer Center.
Yeah, teresa told us about it,in fact.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
I think we heard about it on your podcast.
Yeah, we did.
We heard about it on yourpodcast when you interviewed Wow
, what a small world.
There you go.
There you go, see what valueyou're offering.
You were the catalyst.
Speaker 4 (29:27):
Yes.
So you know when your numbersstart going in the wrong
direction?
You aren't.
And again, this is part of thestruggle when you choose the
natural route is there arevariables, you're just not sure.
So what typically people do isthey try everything you know the
diet, the exercise, thesupplements, and how do you know
(29:47):
what's helping?
I mean, you can watch yournumbers go up and down, but you
don't know what is specificallycontributing toward that.
So when David's PSA, which isthe biggest cancer marker for
prostate cancer, started goingback up, we realized we've got
to figure out why that'shappening.
So we remembered the RGCC, anda number of our friends from
(30:09):
Hope for Cancer have done it aswell.
And so basically, they takeblood, they put it on ice and
they overnight it to grease andthey are um, they kind of wanted
to go along and yeah, no, notthe truth, so but they isolate.
they isolate your cancer cellsand they basically for lack of a
better description they dripall types of natural substances
(30:30):
on those cancer cells, as wellas different chemotherapies, and
determine very specificallywhich ones are going to be
working for you.
So we just had a two hour visitwith the doctor that ordered
the test last week, and so weknow now that there are certain
supplements that David has beenon for almost nine months now
that are having no effect.
So that's very helpful.
(30:51):
We can drop those from our, ourhis daily regimen, but then
there are those from our, our,his, daily regimen, but then
they're huge, which is huge.
So, and just the confidence inknowing so, um, and for people
that do choose the thetraditional medical route, it
would tell them exactly whattype of chemotherapy would be
specific for their type ofcancer.
So that's not on our paletteright now, so, but we have been
(31:15):
given a list of substances, ofthings that would be helpful for
him, so we're in the process offiguring out which ones would
be the most helpful and addingthose to his regimen, and they
walk you through it moment bymoment and step by step.
So, um, yeah, so that's, it's a, it's a journey that continues.
It's not just okay, now we knowwhat to do and we're just going
(31:35):
to do this for time andeternity.
It's, it's, uh, it's definitelya process and it's yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Well, we've been throwing, as a friend of ours
suggested, throw the kitchensink at it, just do everything
right, and spending a lot ofmoney doing that.
But now that we saw the numberrising we thought, okay, let's
be a little bit more strategic.
Um, so we could, as we werewere told, kind of give it the
final blow.
It just needed a knockout punch.
(32:03):
And so we're hoping andbelieving this will be a big
part of that.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
Now, when is this documentary coming out?
I want a certain date, yeahwell.
Speaker 4 (32:14):
So do we.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Yeah, it's one of part of you know, listening to
Chris his interview today, hewas talking about stress and,
unfortunately, between this andour other work, September just
turned into a very stressfulmonth.
We were two weeks in Austin andPhoenix, then back to Austin,
then we came home for three days, then flew here and we had
trouble with the rental car lastnight.
(32:36):
So we're trying to not overdoit with the film.
So, as things are happening,we're documenting right and
we're trying.
Now we just finished adocumentary on William Penn.
It's released next in, well, onthe 10th of October.
So now we're going to shifttoward this documentary, plus
another one that we're workingon.
So I would hope that we couldpossibly by the end of next year
(33:00):
.
Um, but we have anotherdocumentary that needs to be
done in july, a long-formdocumentary.
So, um, so we're not in anyreally big hurry because it's
it's our journey and our storyand we want to be able to
interview some key people alongthe way that we keep learning
about.
Like we'll listen to a podcast,like with listening to Teresa,
oh, we got to have her in thefilm, yeah, so we reached out to
(33:22):
her and she, um, you know, wassuper cooperative.
Yeah, whatever I can do, youknow we'll interview.
In fact we're going to go um toGeronimo Adventure Park on
Sunday to go zip lining becauseshe said through her cancer
diagnosis she discovered how tobe fearless, because she was so
fearful in her life and she said, if I can face cancer, I can
(33:43):
face.
I think.
She said she's done skydiving,she's done four-wheeling and I I
said, well, what if?
How do we show that in the film?
And she said, well, there's anadventure park where you can do
a ziplining.
So we're gonna do that with herand her family on Sunday as
part of the film.
We're hoping, you know, we wantit to be clever, you know, and
personal.
There are so many, not just astraight up documentary.
Speaker 4 (34:06):
Yeah there are so many clever documentaries about
food.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
Root cause.
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 4 (34:12):
Root cause.
I mean, it's just there's somany documentaries that you can
watch about this, not justcancer, but just eating healthy
and living healthy.
But um, yeah, you know, when wetalked to chris wark about the
possibility of interviewing himfor the documentary, um, he said
I'll do it if your documentaryanswers three questions or deals
(34:36):
with three topics.
Number one is can I do it?
Number two is how do I do it?
And number three will it helpme?
He said if we can create thatkind of hope for people.
And so at the point that we arein David's journey, we're
feeling very confident that thiswould be something that we
(34:57):
would say to other people.
It's hard but it's good andit's worth the effort.
But who knows what the futurewill bring?
Speaker 1 (35:02):
So hopefully next year, whatever the story looks
like, we'll yeah, and we'llprobably start doing some
editing ahead of time, but wereally appreciate all the
cooperation from Susie andyourself and the whole Healing
strong team here, um, becauseit's these types of things that
we feel will bring it alive,versus just interviews with
(35:25):
people talking about healingtechniques.
so we're, we're really and andso yeah, so when it comes time
for the premiere, we'll makesure you talk about it, okay
yeah get an audience, becausewe'd like to do like a streaming
event where we'll show the filmum and have it open, you know,
globally we did that withanother film recently and it
went really well and then haveafter the film, have like a
(35:47):
discussion afterwards and getsome key people.
In fact, maybe you couldmoderate that discussion.
That we would, we would recordon zoom and then that would be
part of the package.
People would get a ticket towatch the film and then the
discussion afterwards andpossibly some other things.
You know, like a… Ziplining,ziplining.
(36:07):
Yes or a free trip to HealingStrong Conference.
That's right.
Speaker 3 (36:11):
Yeah, I think I'm free that week.
So yeah, we can do that, yeah,well, hey, I figured out what
they're doing.
They were saying grace and nowthey're all eating.
They're all in line in queuewell, they're better.
Speaker 4 (36:22):
They better leave some for us yeah, the line's too
long anyway, so yeah I knowwell, we can tell them we're
vips and we need to get in linefirst exactly well, we know jim
great well, david and k, Iappreciate that it was good to
meet you all.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
Yeah, of course, and it's very interesting.
I can't wait for thatdocumentary to come out November
28th of 2020.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
You're going to pin us down, aren't you?
That's right.
Well, we do work better withdeadlines.
So when it comes that time,we'll call you and say, Jim, we
need a deadline, and you cangive us the deadline and we'll
meet it.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
I'll do it all right.
Well, thank you so much, andI'm glad you guys are here and
uh be encouraged by all thespeakers uh that are going to be
here and thank you so much forbeing part of the podcast yeah,
our pleasure.
Speaker 4 (37:06):
Thank you very much and thank you for what you do.
You truly bring hope intopeople's lives.
It's worth listening and and,uh, we, we've been so blessed by
what you do.
So, um us, us.
Cancer diagnosis, diagnosespeople are looking for looking.
What's that?
Speaker 1 (37:25):
to coin a phrase.
Speaker 4 (37:25):
To coin a phrase there we go are looking for,
we're looking for information,so, and yours has been- very,
and as we exercise in thebasement and listen to your
podcast, we will think of thismoment.
Speaker 3 (37:35):
Yes, all right, you'll be exercising to yourself
pretty soon.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
Yeah, that's true, Boy would we have.
Speaker 4 (37:40):
Oh, that would be odd .
Speaker 1 (37:41):
Would we be able to listen to ourselves?
I think we did pretty good.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
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
(38:06):
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
(38:28):
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
(38:52):
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.
Kathy had someone to come up to her in the library.
We did a lot of posting onFacebook.
I just had, like thisinsatiable desire to write.
I started a blog and I neverthought I would blog and write,
but I was writing long posts andjust talking about what I was
experiencing and feeling andsomeone came up to Kathy and
said you know, I've never metsomeone who didn't do what the
(00:21):
doctor says, and so we're reallycurious.
So in some ways it's kind oflike pressure's on, because we
really hope and believe this isgoing to be successful and we
hope others will follow suitwithin our little sphere of
influence.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
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 (01:02):
David and Kathy Peters.
Thank you so much for joiningus.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Yeah, our pleasure, glad to be with you here.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
And, of course, if you hear a little murmuring in
the background, I'm not sure ifthat's picking up or not, but
we're at the convention the 10thanniversary of Healing Strong,
here in Houston.
Of course, by the time you hearthis, it'll be over.
Sorry, you missed it.
We're here talking with peopleabout Healing Strong and what
God has allowed them to do.
So tell me a little bit aboutwhy you're here and what it is
(01:27):
you guys do.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Yeah, we'd heard about the conference.
As part of our healing cancerjourney that I started last year
in November, I found out that Ihad stage four prostate cancer,
so that was a well alife-changing moment when we
were there with the oncologist,getting this announcement, and
(01:49):
part of what we did is just diveinto how can we heal this
naturally.
And in the process of all ofthat, I can back up a little bit
, but we heard about healingstrong several months ago and I
just want to mention that we'vebeen listening to your podcast.
As we exercise in the morning,we typically listen to a podcast
(02:11):
, so while we're exercising ourbody, we're learning and
exercising our mind and learningmore about health, nutrition
and healing.
So we've enjoyed your guests.
In fact, I think youinterviewed Teresa Scott, if I'm
not mistaken.
Yes, I did.
Yes, that's how we heard abouther, and we're interviewing her
on Tuesday for a documentarythat we're producing.
(02:32):
So after my diagnosis, ourdistributor called us and said
have you guys thought aboutpossibly documenting your
journey?
Because he said, I understandyou're going all natural.
He said, said my father died in2011 of cancer.
He had been diagnosed in 2003,had been given eight months to
live, chose a natural healingpath and lived eight more years
(02:54):
and toward the end of his lifehe was starting to produce a
documentary, do thepre-production research and
unfortunately died before hecould finish.
So he asked us, in the honor ormemory of his father, if we
would finish the documentary.
So that's how we got in theprocess of doing that and then
we'll be doing one of theinterviews with Teresa Scott on
(03:15):
Monday Just looking at mouthhealth and how that impacts our
overall health and chronicdisease and cancer.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Yeah, I learned a lot from her.
I learned that I'm in troubleBecause I still have some metal
in there that I got to get ridof.
I got root canals.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
I didn't know anything was wrong with root
canals, but yeah, man, yeah, shealready had a root canal
removed and my amalgams, whichhad mercury in them, removed.
So kathy is part of thedocumentary um there.
Theresa is going to remove heramalgams on Monday afternoon, so
we're going to interview Teresaand then also actually document
(03:53):
her in action with this veryimportant aspect of our health
if you need more action, I'llvolunteer too, that she can.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Yeah, fix me up here.
Yeah, no, it worked out good.
Are you excited about that?
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Well, I'm anxious to get the nasty stuff out of my
mouth, and so, yeah, I mean it'sagain.
Those things have been in therefor decades and you have no
idea that there's somethinggoing on in there that needs to
be dealt with, and so of course,what we're told is perfectly
safe.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
So, oh yeah, yeah, it's perfectly safe, unless a
thermometer drops on the floorand some mercury comes out, we
have to evacuate, right exactlythat's.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
That's always odd to me, but yeah, when they do the
biological dentistry, theyremove the amalgams and the
mercury and there's they'reconsidered toxic waste that has
to be properly disposed of andit's.
I guess it's a fairly expensiveprocess for dentists to do and
yet that's in our mouths, whichjust really doesn't make sense
(04:56):
yeah, the odor I get.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
More things don't make sense to me anyway.
So yeah, that's just one ofthem there.
In fact, she pointed me out toa dentist in Greenville, south
Carolina area, where I live, andof course they don't ever take
your insurance.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
But that's all right.
You know a lot of money on that.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Yes, so I'm going to be.
I'm going to be looking prettyin a couple of years here.
Good, hollywood smile, there wego, anyway, so, yeah.
So you decided to come herehere, of course, you were doing
some interviews for thedocumentary yourself, so you're
going to be, you're going to besitting in on all the different,
yeah we came to enjoy the theevent.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
We've already interviewed suzy griswold and
then chris warwick earlier today, so we were glad to be able to
do that interview and get thatdone.
So we can just totally focus onbeing part of the event here
and meeting people and justenjoying and being blessed by
all that will take place.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
And we have absolutely come to understand in
this journey that you needcommunity in your life.
When you go through this, it'sscary and it can create a
diagnosis, can create an instantdisconnect with people because
(06:14):
when you choose the naturalroute, we have three children,
all adults, all married, and inthe very initial stages of our
journey, and in the very initialstages of our journey, each of
them in their own way said well,you know, maybe you should
seriously consider what theoncologist said, because they
were reacting in fear.
They don't want David to dieany sooner than he has to.
(06:37):
And it's not that it affects.
Yes, we appreciate that, that'strue, yes, we appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
They want me around, that's true, and the grandkids.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
But it's not that they were against our choice to
do this, but it has the abilityof really tearing you apart.
Part of our journey has beenthat when you decide to go the
natural route, your options aremyriad.
And I came home from theoncologist, I sat down at my
(07:06):
computer and googled naturalhealing for cancer and one of
the first things that popped upin my search results was hope
for cancer, and I tucked it awayand we didn't do much of
anything until we found out theextent of David's cancer and I
said, david, I remember that Ihad discovered something.
It's a clinic in Mexico andthey actually have a booth here
(07:28):
at the Healing Strong Conference.
But that's the one of theavenues that we chose, and so we
went and spent three weeks,started on the 1st of January of
this year.
We're there for three weeks andwe've been back for one
subsequent visit and throughthat we have developed a network
of friends who are goingthrough the same thing that we
are.
We have a WhatsApp group and wecorrespond literally every day
(07:52):
with this group of people.
So we understand the value ofhaving people that you can pour
your heart out to, and so, whenwe looked at the Healing Strong
Conference, it's all aboutconnecting, and so we truly
believe that, just as God wantsus to experience unity on every
(08:13):
level, the unity that you canexperience with people who have
a common I hate to call it anenemy, but a common journey that
they're on, I think that'struly what God's heart is
desiring for us is that weconnect with other people and
that together, we show the worldthere's a better way.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Right.
What made you actually decideto go a different route?
I mean your oncologist.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
He wanted the chemo, or Well, yeah, initially it was
going to be well.
Yeah, initially it was going tobe androgen deprivation
hormones and then, uh, radiationwas.
But, yeah, we had both myparents died from cancer.
Kathy's dad died from cancer.
Um, so it's, we've been aroundit.
Um, kathy and I were already.
(08:59):
Kathy's been a health andwellness coach for years, taught
weightlifting and exerciseclasses at the gym.
We ate really well, so so manythings that we were doing were
already right and that's why itwas kind of surprising well, how
on earth did I get stage fourcancer?
So we had discussed in the pastthat if we were ever to be
(09:22):
diagnosed that we would just goall in with natural right.
So, literally that it was onfriday, as I recall.
Yeah, we were met with theoncologist and that's when I
found out that it was stage four, as I knew I had prostate
cancer.
But then they, they staged iton that friday in november and,
literally, cat, well, we firstwe cried ourselves asleep that
(09:43):
night.
It was a very traumatic night.
But then, first thing, we justdove right in.
Kathy had already heard aboutHope for Cancer.
We called them, they calledback and we started the
conversation and then, less thana month later we were well, a
little over a month later wewere there.
So it was somewhat natural forus, but then it still.
You know, when you're sittingWith an oncologist At Fox Chase
(10:04):
Cancer Center, which is one ofthe Most significant ones, or
probably the major Cancer centerIn a Philadelphia area when we
live, and and the oncologist,who's well-trained, well-paid,
experienced, is telling yousomething and you're basically
not listening to them, it'sintimidating, yeah, and you know
, we'd read all about it, wekind of have our minds made up.
(10:26):
But then you go talk to theoncologist and then all these
questions start coming into mindcommunity with people that are
committed to this process, thatare all in, you know, and
listening to people like youknow yourself and the your story
and the people you interview.
It's just so important to beimmersed in that, because it's
(10:46):
easy to become intimidated andand not feel that or to feel
you're alone when you're not.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
Yeah, and we really felt like the way his first
oncologist dealt with us.
It was a.
It was from a position of fear.
They were trying to create fearwithin us.
In fact, when he explained tous how serious it was, he said
you need to start this treatmenton monday.
And this was friday afternoon.
(11:13):
And for us, having walked withGod since we were little
children, we were bornChristians.
Yeah, we know that fear is notof God, and so we just wanted to
make decisions not based on adoctor saying you need to do
this on Monday, and so we justfelt that it was worth taking
(11:37):
the time to make sure that thiswas going to be the route that
we would take, because we knewit was going to be a tough one,
because it's not something thatyou do for a month and then your
cancer's gone and then you goback to the way you lived before
.
It's a committed journey thatyou will be on for the rest of
your life and that scares youenough to think, well, maybe
(12:01):
it'd be easier to getchemotherapy and radiation.
I say that jokingly, but thepassive approach.
But what we found was there's asense of empowerment that comes
from feeling like we're incharge.
I mean, ultimately God holdsall the cards in his hands, but
(12:25):
we're working together with him.
So we feel very empowered bywhat we're doing.
And the more we study andresearch the traditional route
and I had studied that forprobably 20 to 30 years and that
had been our motivation forsaying we're just going to hit
this with all cylinders on thenatural pathway the more we
(12:47):
discover and the more weresearch.
There's not many answers thatwere confidence boosting to us
in the traditional allopathicway of doing things.
So we feel very empowered thatwe're on the right track.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Well, just looking out the window here and seeing
all these people and sensing theenergy here and comparing that
to what I felt when we've goneto see our oncologist, and you
see people waiting to go in fortheir chemotherapy, yeah, and
here they're about to partake inwonderful food that will aid in
their health and healing.
And then people are going to goin and have chemicals dumped in
(13:23):
their body and you know we'vehad so many our friends recently
.
And, of course, once you'vebeen diagnosed, then you start
to notice how many people havecancer, how many are going
through traditional treatmentsand suffering as they go through
them, where, even though it'sbeen hard to give up certain
things, it's been fun to learn awhole new way of eating and
(13:43):
then watch my body, or our bodysince we're eating this together
adapt and really start to cravethe things that are really best
for us now?
Speaker 3 (13:52):
are you in a like a plant-based diet or?
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Yeah yeah, we went Well.
First we tried raw vegan.
So I was diagnosed.
In November there was a localholistic doctor that we had
already connected with and westarted doing IV infusions and
ozone infusion and she suggestedI go raw vegan For 90 days.
For 90 days and that was justlike hellish for me.
(14:16):
That's tough.
In fact.
After about 10 days that wasjust like hellish for me.
That's tough.
In fact.
After about 10 days it wasputting so much stress on me and
Kathy I thought I'm just goingto not eat for three days.
I read three-day fasts weregood and so about two and a half
days into it I felt I was inbed.
I could hardly get up.
I just felt so bad.
And of course, we told ournaturopath.
She said well, you know, youshould have talked to me first,
because you're supposed toprepare for those, not just
(14:38):
decide you're going to do it oneday.
So we did that for a month andI was losing weight.
I went from 175 ultimately downto 145.
Wow, and I'm still just barelyteetering above 145.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
So I lost it.
You're kind of tall, aren't you?
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Yeah, I'm 6'1", so I kind of related to Chris' work
story because he was 150 or soand went down to 130 or maybe I
forget what it was, but he's6'2", he's a little taller than
me.
Yeah, so, going plant based, Idid introduce some meat and of
course we went to some cookedfood starting in January.
So we kind of.
But you know, I'm glad I triedit.
(15:15):
It was an interestingexperiment and you know we had
to laugh at some of Kathy'sattempts to make normal food.
You know, like the mushroomsoup, it literally, you know,
looked like poop.
You know, and the almond crustpizza, was it what it was?
And it looked halfway decentbut it just tasted awful and I
(15:36):
would always say, honey, thankyou for trying this, I will eat
it, but please don't ever makeit again.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
When that happened, I literally went around the
corner and just burst into tears.
Because it's a lot, you knowwhen your plants take a long
time to chop up, and I mean weeat.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Yeah, she works so hard and she loves to cook and
loves to cook for me andtypically I'm very easy to
please.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
Yes, he loves to cook and loves to cook for me, and
typically I'm very easy toplease.
Yes, so, but it's a lot of work.
I feel like I've exchanged myfreewheeling life and now I live
in the kitchen.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
It feels that way sometimes, but basically it's
plant-based.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
Per our dietary recommendations from Hope for
Cancer, he can have wild codfishthree times a week, so we
typically do that, but otherthan that it's a whole lot of
plants, fruits and vegetables.
We have a garden, so that's umoh, that's good yeah, it's been
a a crazy change.
So we'd always eaten.
You know, we would buy our eggsfrom a little farm near us in
(16:28):
Pennsylvania and we had a, aturkey farm where we would get
our chicken and so, um, yeah,but all those places have kind
of gone by the wayside and soanyway, wow, yeah, that's
definitely an all-in thing.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
You can't just like, uh, eat a few more vegetables
and yeah, cancer will go.
Yeah right, yeah, right yougotta spend a lot if you don't
have a garden which I stilldon't have a garden you spend a
lot of time in the grocery store.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Yeah, we do a lot of time and money our food budget
has you know, gone like I don'teven I haven't really wanted to
find out exactly how much morewe're spending, yeah, but, um,
you know we're self-employed, um, so part of it for me came down
as a business decision.
Um, I add a lot of value to ourcompany, so, so the company
(17:15):
investing in keeping me alive, Ithink, is worth it, because
hopefully I'll be able to workfor many more years and create
more films with Kathy and earnhopefully a whole lot more money
.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Experience cancer healing like you never have
before at Hope for Cancer.
Through their patient-centered,integrative and alternative
cancer treatments in Mexico AtHope for Cancer, they offer a
holistic approach, treatmentsthat address the root causes of
cancer and provide apersonalized healing protocol.
Hope for Cancer TreatmentCenters empowers all cancer
(17:48):
patients to overcome the odds oftheir diagnosis, guided by
their four core values of faith,love, hope and generosity.
To learn more, go toHopeForCancercom.
That's Hope, the number four,cancercom, and that's what you
were doing before you got thecancer doing films.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Yeah, I've done my whole career.
Yeah, I picked up a camera insixth grade and started making
movies in high school and wentto film school and have done
film work my whole career.
Kathy joined me back in 2011with our own business.
We mostly worked for otherpeople, but now we produce
long-form documentaries as wellas a lot of short-form films.
So, in fact, the holisticclinic that we do work with or
(18:27):
that treats us, we're startingto do stories for them to put on
their website.
So we pick some of the patientsthat they've helped and not
only interviewed them, but likelike one, he had a lot of
problems with his legs and kneesand he loved to play pickleball
, was having trouble but throughthe clinic's therapies now he's
back playing pickleball.
So we went out and got footageof him playing pickleball and so
(18:50):
so, yeah, in fact that's I'mhoping we can do more of that,
working with organizations thatare into natural healing and
start telling their stories,because I think with social
media, with podcasting, you know, 20 years ago it was really
hard to get information outthere, where now it just can
proliferate and go viral.
(19:10):
You know, if you have somethingthat's good and people start
sharing it and I think peopleare.
Kathy had someone come up to herin the library.
We did a lot of posting onFacebook.
I just had, like thisinsatiable desire to write.
I started a blog and I neverthought I would blog and write,
but I was writing long posts andjust talking about what I was
experiencing and feeling.
(19:31):
And someone came up to Kathyand said I've never met someone
who didn't do what the doctorsays, and so we're really
curious.
So in some ways it's kind oflike pressure's on, because we
really hope and believe this isgoing to be successful and we
hope others will follow suitwithin our little sphere of
influence.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Yeah, it is hard to go against the doctors because
you know they're like right nextto God.
Right, you've got the Trinityand the doctors and then the
rest of us yeah so it's like andusually family, like you said.
You know they they're scared,you're doing the wrong thing and
they're gonna lose you, but forsome reason my, my family
didn't seem too scared maybewe'll get rid of them.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
Let me rethink this, yeah see our inheritance coming
a little sooner than we thought,oh my goodness and I and I.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
I know so well that gut-wrenching cry you have to
have when you first get thediagnosis and you think, oh, my
gosh, it's over and, and you crylike a baby or you're just
shaking.
But then right after that itsounds like the same for you.
Right after that it it's like,okay, god, you've got this.
You know, I got the crying outof the way.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Yeah, well, something that, of course, immediately
after the diagnosis, people weregiving us suggestion upon
suggestion.
You know, you've got to trythis, read that.
And Chris Work's name came up,like everywhere.
Yeah, so we immediately got hisbook.
In fact we got two copies and Iremember reading I just like
devoured it in a couple dayswhere he he said he was asked
(20:59):
the question do you want to liveright and why?
And that's where, you know, theemotions started to come,
because I really wanted to liveright and, for goodness, the
first couple months I would cryover anything and everything, I
just would be.
I was so emotional and in manyways it was kind of like it's
(21:22):
good purging, just letting allof this out.
You know, what I had washolding in and just this whole
new appreciation for my wife andfor my kids and for what we do
and for the world, um, anintense desire to increase, you
know, as a storyteller, becausethe world is hurting and we feel
our films and stories can helppeople in that process, whether
(21:45):
it be just, you know,spiritually or physically.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
So but it's okay to cry and have a sense of resolve.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Yeah, so, yeah, it wasn't despair it, it was just
deep emotion that's just deepwithin the human part of my soul
and the spiritual part that wasjust, I guess, in love with
this life and as hard, asdifficult as it can be at times,
but wanting to be here and tolove and be loved.
(22:15):
I have a crazy vegan friend.
He has a restaurant in our areaand he was one of the first
people I sat down with and hesaid before anything else, he
said, dave, love will heal you.
So now you're going to changeyour diet and everything else,
but love is the core, god's love.
But he said let your food loveyou, let your exercise, let your
(22:37):
friends love you, becausethat's what you need.
Your body's wounded.
And he said your cancer is amessenger, and don't shoot the
messenger, you know.
Get to the bottom of what'sgoing on, because sometimes it
is emotional.
In fact, as a prostate survivor, often that's one of the
highest cancers that'sassociated with stress so wow, I
(23:02):
think it was chris work.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
I said this bc and ad , you know, before cancer and
after diagnosis.
I mean it's kind of it splitsyour life to.
Your perspective is sodifferent.
I think I was 58 when I got mydiagnosis and like I thought man
, I just appreciate everythingthat much more yeah work is not
as important.
We've got to work, of course,but I mean just, you know,
(23:25):
staying busy all the time wasnot important, just calming down
and learning to rest andconnect with god, it's just.
And then also facing death.
You know, I thought you know.
They call me a month or two,I'll be gone, wow.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
And uh, can't imagine .
That.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Yeah, and you and you think, okay, what do they do
with my life?
And I got to make all thesevideos.
I should have come to you.
Yeah, I'm a total differentperson than I was before cancer.
I was just floating throughlife, having fun in radio, but
(24:02):
still, now it's a wholedifferent thing.
Radio is not that important tome.
In fact, I'm not even thereanymore.
Doing this podcast is importantbecause it's giving people hope
that are scared to death whenthey get the diagnosis.
You can't help but do thatbecause you don't know what's
coming down the road.
Even if you do all the rightthings, you don't know what's
coming down the road.
And wow, just outside of ourlittle window, here they're
(24:24):
talking to everybody, they'reall coming together.
The cattle are moving in onedirection, but they're all happy
still.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
Happy cows yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
You know, once you've had the cancer and you've
passed all that, it's a blessing.
The cancer Not the canceritself, but the fact that you
had cancer and it awakens you toall these things.
And of course, we've heardChris talk about that and James
Templeton.
It's amazing.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
Yeah, and one thing that we've told people time and
time again is, after David'sdiagnosis, his sister, who's a
very wise sister, said David,this is a gift.
And so we, you know, in someways it's hard to look at it as
a gift, but that's a choice thatyou make.
So, and it's asking yourselfthe question do you want to live
(25:16):
?
Because there are some peopleand, having been a wellness
coach for many years, there arepeople whose identity is wrapped
up in being sick, so they can'timagine conversations without
their symptoms being part of thediscussion.
And we don't want to be thatway.
We want to be, as Chris callshimself, a cancer thriver.
(25:39):
So we're learning to rephrasehow we say.
We don't call it David's cancer.
We talk about a diagnosis orwhatever, but not owning it.
Because when you ask yourselfthat question, do I want to live
?
As you described it, there's ashift that happens in your brain
(26:00):
and all of a sudden you startto commit, to derive joy out of
situations that might have justgone by totally unnoticed.
So I mean, in God's economy,he's nothing but good.
And so this part of David sayscancer is part of his body.
(26:20):
So we're going to work toeradicate it.
But instead of talking aboutkilling it and having all those,
we want to heal it, because Godis healing.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Yeah, I think that's another thing we picked up from
Chris right away.
He said I don't want to talkabout fighting cancer because
it's this adversarial thing.
I talk about healing it becausethere's beauty in healing,
right um.
So you know, just as it relatesto this whole idea of having
community and being with people,we were in um at hope for
(26:51):
cancer for three weeks injanuary, as kathy mentioned
earlier, and so you know, you,it's like being, you know, in a
foxhole with people.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
I mean you're in six days a week.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
You're in treatments and therapies and you're getting
to know one another.
In the evening you're spendingtime together and you're away
from.
It's the first time we've beenaway from professionally.
For me to have been away fromlife ever that long, I would
maybe have 10 days or two weeks,but to have taken three weeks,
so just that disconnect of fromthe real world to a world of
(27:22):
healing was, was such a greatthing.
But the people we met and wewere I was mentioning this to
sally earlier or suzy earlier ifI feel like if I hadn't been
diagnosed, I would have nevermet these people and I literally
it's like hard to imagine lifewithout them.
So it's I I've I said thisbefore that if if someone came
and said, well, dave, you couldchoose to not have cancer, but
(27:44):
then you would lose all theserelationships and experiences
you've had in the last nine orten months, it'd be a tough
choice.
It really would, especiallybecause we feel, you know we're
on the road to healing and quitepossibly because of the
diagnosis and the cancer, I mayend up living longer, based on
how we're living now.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
You know changing everything, yeah.
So how are you doing right now?
Speaker 1 (28:08):
I feel good.
Um, as I mentioned, I lost alot of weight, right, I had to
get.
I'm in the process of getting anew wardrobe I still now that
it's getting warm, I'm wearingjeans again.
I have one pair that fit me.
But I feel good.
My PSA number had risen rapidlylast year.
It capped at 49 when my therapystarted and then it started
(28:31):
coming down to 25.
But it's been creeping back upin the last three or four months
.
I just had a PET scan wherethey looked at the metastatic
areas, the parts that had lit upmy large lymph nodes.
Kathy can usually explain thisstuff better than me, but it
seemed like there wasimprovement.
There certainly no growth andit certainly hadn't expanded
(28:54):
into bones or elsewhere in mybody.
So that was really encouraging.
We've got to figure out the PSA, but we just had done a test
called the RGCC test.
Kathy, why don't you explain it?
Speaker 4 (29:06):
So it's also called the Greek test, because that's
where it's done.
Are you familiar with it?
Yes, yes, so Research GeneticCancer Center.
Yeah, teresa told us about it,in fact.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
I think we heard about it on your podcast.
Yeah, we did.
We heard about it on yourpodcast when you interviewed Wow
, what a small world.
There you go.
There you go, see what valueyou're offering.
You were the catalyst.
Speaker 4 (29:27):
Yes.
So you know when your numbersstart going in the wrong
direction?
You aren't.
And again, this is part of thestruggle when you choose the
natural route is there arevariables, you're just not sure.
So what typically people do isthey try everything you know the
diet, the exercise, thesupplements, and how do you know
(29:47):
what's helping?
I mean, you can watch yournumbers go up and down, but you
don't know what is specificallycontributing toward that.
So when David's PSA, which isthe biggest cancer marker for
prostate cancer, started goingback up, we realized we've got
to figure out why that'shappening.
So we remembered the RGCC, anda number of our friends from
(30:09):
Hope for Cancer have done it aswell.
And so basically, they takeblood, they put it on ice and
they overnight it to grease andthey are um, they kind of wanted
to go along and yeah, no, notthe truth, so but they isolate.
they isolate your cancer cellsand they basically for lack of a
better description they dripall types of natural substances
(30:30):
on those cancer cells, as wellas different chemotherapies, and
determine very specificallywhich ones are going to be
working for you.
So we just had a two hour visitwith the doctor that ordered
the test last week, and so weknow now that there are certain
supplements that David has beenon for almost nine months now
that are having no effect.
So that's very helpful.
(30:51):
We can drop those from our, ourhis daily regimen, but then
there are those from our, our,his, daily regimen, but then
they're huge, which is huge.
So, and just the confidence inknowing so, um, and for people
that do choose the thetraditional medical route, it
would tell them exactly whattype of chemotherapy would be
specific for their type ofcancer.
So that's not on our paletteright now, so, but we have been
(31:15):
given a list of substances, ofthings that would be helpful for
him, so we're in the process offiguring out which ones would
be the most helpful and addingthose to his regimen, and they
walk you through it moment bymoment and step by step.
So, um, yeah, so that's, it's a, it's a journey that continues.
It's not just okay, now we knowwhat to do and we're just going
(31:35):
to do this for time andeternity.
It's, it's, uh, it's definitelya process and it's yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Well, we've been throwing, as a friend of ours
suggested, throw the kitchensink at it, just do everything
right, and spending a lot ofmoney doing that.
But now that we saw the numberrising we thought, okay, let's
be a little bit more strategic.
Um, so we could, as we werewere told, kind of give it the
final blow.
It just needed a knockout punch.
(32:03):
And so we're hoping andbelieving this will be a big
part of that.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
Now, when is this documentary coming out?
I want a certain date, yeahwell.
Speaker 4 (32:14):
So do we.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Yeah, it's one of part of you know, listening to
Chris his interview today, hewas talking about stress and,
unfortunately, between this andour other work, September just
turned into a very stressfulmonth.
We were two weeks in Austin andPhoenix, then back to Austin,
then we came home for three days, then flew here and we had
trouble with the rental car lastnight.
(32:36):
So we're trying to not overdoit with the film.
So, as things are happening,we're documenting right and
we're trying.
Now we just finished adocumentary on William Penn.
It's released next in, well, onthe 10th of October.
So now we're going to shifttoward this documentary, plus
another one that we're workingon.
So I would hope that we couldpossibly by the end of next year
(33:00):
.
Um, but we have anotherdocumentary that needs to be
done in july, a long-formdocumentary.
So, um, so we're not in anyreally big hurry because it's
it's our journey and our storyand we want to be able to
interview some key people alongthe way that we keep learning
about.
Like we'll listen to a podcast,like with listening to Teresa,
oh, we got to have her in thefilm, yeah, so we reached out to
(33:22):
her and she, um, you know, wassuper cooperative.
Yeah, whatever I can do, youknow we'll interview.
In fact we're going to go um toGeronimo Adventure Park on
Sunday to go zip lining becauseshe said through her cancer
diagnosis she discovered how tobe fearless, because she was so
fearful in her life and she said, if I can face cancer, I can
(33:43):
face.
I think.
She said she's done skydiving,she's done four-wheeling and I I
said, well, what if?
How do we show that in the film?
And she said, well, there's anadventure park where you can do
a ziplining.
So we're gonna do that with herand her family on Sunday as
part of the film.
We're hoping, you know, we wantit to be clever, you know, and
personal.
There are so many, not just astraight up documentary.
Speaker 4 (34:06):
Yeah there are so many clever documentaries about
food.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
Root cause.
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 4 (34:12):
Root cause.
I mean, it's just there's somany documentaries that you can
watch about this, not justcancer, but just eating healthy
and living healthy.
But um, yeah, you know, when wetalked to chris wark about the
possibility of interviewing himfor the documentary, um, he said
I'll do it if your documentaryanswers three questions or deals
(34:36):
with three topics.
Number one is can I do it?
Number two is how do I do it?
And number three will it helpme?
He said if we can create thatkind of hope for people.
And so at the point that we arein David's journey, we're
feeling very confident that thiswould be something that we
(34:57):
would say to other people.
It's hard but it's good andit's worth the effort.
But who knows what the futurewill bring?
Speaker 1 (35:02):
So hopefully next year, whatever the story looks
like, we'll yeah, and we'llprobably start doing some
editing ahead of time, but wereally appreciate all the
cooperation from Susie andyourself and the whole Healing
strong team here, um, becauseit's these types of things that
we feel will bring it alive,versus just interviews with
(35:25):
people talking about healingtechniques.
so we're, we're really and andso yeah, so when it comes time
for the premiere, we'll makesure you talk about it, okay
yeah get an audience, becausewe'd like to do like a streaming
event where we'll show the filmum and have it open, you know,
globally we did that withanother film recently and it
went really well and then haveafter the film, have like a
(35:47):
discussion afterwards and getsome key people.
In fact, maybe you couldmoderate that discussion.
That we would, we would recordon zoom and then that would be
part of the package.
People would get a ticket towatch the film and then the
discussion afterwards andpossibly some other things.
You know, like a… Ziplining,ziplining.
(36:07):
Yes or a free trip to HealingStrong Conference.
That's right.
Speaker 3 (36:11):
Yeah, I think I'm free that week.
So yeah, we can do that, yeah,well, hey, I figured out what
they're doing.
They were saying grace and nowthey're all eating.
They're all in line in queuewell, they're better.
Speaker 4 (36:22):
They better leave some for us yeah, the line's too
long anyway, so yeah I knowwell, we can tell them we're
vips and we need to get in linefirst exactly well, we know jim
great well, david and k, Iappreciate that it was good to
meet you all.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
Yeah, of course, and it's very interesting.
I can't wait for thatdocumentary to come out November
28th of 2020.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
You're going to pin us down, aren't you?
That's right.
Well, we do work better withdeadlines.
So when it comes that time,we'll call you and say, Jim, we
need a deadline, and you cangive us the deadline and we'll
meet it.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
I'll do it all right.
Well, thank you so much, andI'm glad you guys are here and
uh be encouraged by all thespeakers uh that are going to be
here and thank you so much forbeing part of the podcast yeah,
our pleasure.
Speaker 4 (37:06):
Thank you very much and thank you for what you do.
You truly bring hope intopeople's lives.
It's worth listening and and,uh, we, we've been so blessed by
what you do.
So, um us, us.
Cancer diagnosis, diagnosespeople are looking for looking.
What's that?
Speaker 1 (37:25):
to coin a phrase.
Speaker 4 (37:25):
To coin a phrase there we go are looking for,
we're looking for information,so, and yours has been- very,
and as we exercise in thebasement and listen to your
podcast, we will think of thismoment.
Speaker 3 (37:35):
Yes, all right, you'll be exercising to yourself
pretty soon.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
Yeah, that's true, Boy would we have.
Speaker 4 (37:40):
Oh, that would be odd .
Speaker 1 (37:41):
Would we be able to listen to ourselves?
I think we did pretty good.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
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
(38:06):
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
(38:28):
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
(38:52):
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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