A dying man slides into an MRI machine for the latest scan to measure his tumors. While in the machine, he starts drowning. He sees water rising all around him. He was a diver so he knows how to hold his breath. Why don’t they pull him out? Save him? Will they let him drown?
And then it’s over. He’s released from the machine. No water. No drowning. He’s safe.
Not only that but he’s given a new diagnosis. The tumors are gone. He’s no longer dying. Further tests confirm that the tumors somehow disappeared.
Was it the giant magnet in the MRI machine that caused some change in the molecules in this man’s body? After all, we’re primarily made of water. Was the near-drowning a dream, a metaphor, or a miracle?
Photo by Jan Paloni
Turns out, MRI machines have been known to help people break through serious depression. Could it cure cancer? Did it cure this cancer?
Evidence of spontaneous healing from fatal diseases such as multiple myeloma, or metastatic melanoma, is not only available but is not as rare as once believed. What is rare is anyone studying who heals this way and why?
To find the answer to that question, Dr. Jeffrey Rediger, Harvard doctor, and psychiatrist, dedicated 18 years to studying the phenomena of spontaneous remission. To make the cut, cases had to be medically documented from diagnosis to cure.
In his book Cured: Strengthen Your Immune System and Heal Your Life, he introduces us to people who defied the odds.
What did these survivors do that allowed them to beat a death sentence? Was it a healer they sought? Or the nature of healing in general? If it wasn’t the healer that caused the healing, could it be the nature of the field generated around that healer?
He hoped to find patterns that we could then adapt into our own lives. Initially, he thought it would be diet. While many of those interviewed switched to a diet dense in nutrients there are those who experienced a reversal of disease without making any healthy adjustment.
He noticed one consistent pattern: a change in identity. Patients not only examined their conscious perceptions of themselves but they looked deeper into the subconscious to discover the thoughts and beliefs that ran them. They began to challenge early belief systems and restructure their ideas about what was possible for them. They took control over their lives, sometimes making drastic shifts.
One woman stopped trying to gain acceptance from her adult children and released herself from their relationship. A radical idea to detach from her own children.
Someone else moved to Brazil. They stopped trying to be who they should be and became activated to discover and empower who they actually were. The clock was ticking.
They stopped treating themselves carelessly. Most began to consider what they ate, the news they absorbed; the people and conversations that were around them.
Another patient credited Dr. Issam Nemeh with saving her life. Dr. Nemeh is a Cleveland Ohio MD, Board Certified in Anesthesiology and General Surgery, and a practicing acupuncturist. We discover that **Dr. Nemeh is renowned for his miraculous healings.**
As he did in Brazil, Dr. Rediger traveled to Cleveland to see if he could identify why Dr. Nemeh has such a startling number of spontaneous remissions.
At one moment during his observations, Dr. Nemeh without provocation identified a longstanding problem in Dr. Rediger’s back. With permission, Dr. Nemeh then laid hands on the doctor’s back, praying over him, but also seeming to physically realign something so that a pain present since childhood not only disappeared but to the author’s surprise has not returned.
Patients affirm that Dr. Nemeh listens to them, takes time to understand and treat them. He also prays over them. Dr. Nemeh, a lifelong Catholic, believes that healing comes from God, and he is simply a willing conduit. Access Tickets to Dr. Nemeh on Zoom and Dr. Nemeh’s Website.
What helps us heal? Person-to-person connection. Fall in love with your family, your dog, your friends. If nothing else, **remember to smile and make eye contact with others on the street. Your immune system will thank you.**
Studies reveal that we heal better and feel better when we can tell our stories. We feel valued when a doctor takes time to listen. Unfortunately, modern corporate-controlled medicine is more about meeting quotas to process the maximum number of patients in the minimum amount of time.
(See: Remapping Your Mind: The Neuroscience of Self-Transformation Through Story )
Dr. Rediger also addresses the placebo effect (where a subject gets better because they think they’ve been given the magic pill). Surprisingly, he finds **studies where patients knew they were being given a placebo, but they still got better. Theorizing that the care they were given made a difference in the outcome.**
Who gets sick and why? We learn about the **ACEs** Study. Aces is an acronym for **Adverse Childhood Experiences.** Dr. Rediger learns that “stress and trauma can literally rewrite your DNA making you more susceptible to disease and you can pass this on to your children.” Four or more Aces puts you into a high-risk category.
The good news is that if you fall into the above categories of abuse, you’re not doomed. You can change your programming. This may be what many of those who experienced spontaneous healing ultimately accomplished. They changed their thinking and changed their lives.
There is no silver bullet. Although cases of spontaneous healing may look sudden and miraculous, there is reason to believe that in most cases they are not sudden at all. They’re a positive outcome from the patient’s new approach to life.
Though I can only touch on it here, I found the book overflowing with evidence and ideas that could enhance anyone’s healing quest. Remember that everything doesn’t work for everyone. A diet that seemingly cured one person was ineffective for another person suffering from the same disease. Through trial and error, patients landed upon paths that felt right for them.
Cured reminds us that we’re surrounded by the extraordinary. I see it in my daily life but it isn’t just me. We need to give the miraculous our attention. Not as a fantasy instead of work but as an appreciation of our sixth, seventh or eighth sense–the ones that tell you there’s more than meets the ordinary eye. Valuing and including them allows for riches beyond what money can buy.
Poet T.S. Eliot famously asked, “Do I dare disturb the universe?” You might ask, “What do I have if I don’t?”
Note: I tried to compress layers of information into a small space. I hope you’ll explore the links above and I’ve added more below, as well. A family member told me it was too long and you wouldn’t read it. If you’ve reached this section, you’ve crushed the odds.
Youtube interview that sparked my interest in Cured:
Dr. Rediger & Jill Bolte Taylor, a brain scientist who documented her own stroke, including the bliss of living from the right brain.
Dr. Rediger interviewed on BodyGreen Podcast
©LorrieKazan
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