Bombshell: Explosive Medical Secrets That Will Redefine Aging (39 page)

SS:
It’s interesting you say “manage” cancer. In my book
Knockout
, as well as in my most recent interview with Dr. Nick Gonzalez, he also used the word “manage.” Cancer as manageable is an interesting concept. What about meditation and prayer? Thoughts are so powerful.

GG:
Yes, I absolutely agree with that. There is a book by Bruce Lipton called
Spontaneous Evolution
, which is a follow-up to his
Biology of Belief
, and he describes how our thoughts and internal energies affect us on a cellular level and have a direct impact upon the quality of our lives and health.
Biology of Belief
makes it appear that thoughts are possibly the most important part of the equation. Thoughts are energy, and the form they take—negative or positive—does affect our health, as well as influence other energies and people around us.

Thoughts and emotions are extremely important to our health—and the health of our planet.

SS:
What is the single most important factor necessary to survive in today’s world?

GG:
I urge everyone to detoxify daily for life, and then in addition take a week out of your life and go through an intensive detoxification program
every year
!

SS:
So how does my reader access you? What does it cost and how do they find you?

GG:
I schedule one- or two-hour phone consultations with each patient. My consultation fees are typically $300 per hour. During this time, I go over any old records patients were able to obtain and any new lab results they agreed to have done. Then I make recommendations for their health and healing regimen. Everyone needs supplements and a personalized care program to survive today’s toxic world. Ideally, I like to have them do the gene test panel to help me maximize the effects from supplements they need. Then, I find a safe substitute for most of the drugs patients are taking, as we don’t need 90 percent of the drugs prescribed today. They can detoxify using these new incredible protocols that you and I have been discussing in this interview. People can contact me through the Gordon Research Institute, by going to
www.gordonresearch.com
, or by calling 800-580-7587 and requesting a consultation.

SS:
Thank you, Garry. After speaking with you, I am convinced detoxification, and in particular, chelation, is the premier way to remove toxins. In today’s world there is a need for environmental medicine, to live longer and redefine aging as a pleasurable experience. I love your passion and a lot of people are going to find answers to their health problems through your work.

Imagine … the answer
to cancer, one of our two biggest age stoppers. Today, through stem cell protocols, stem cell treatments to end cancer are in
human
clinical trials right here in the United States, and soon this treatment will be a reality for all of us. Imagine eradicating cancer and the present torturous treatment as we know it. Dr. Dipnarine Maharaj is a stem cell specialist and the work he and his team have been doing is going to rock the medical world. His work with Parkinson’s at present is being lauded as spectacular in the conventional medical world, and his understanding of cancer stem cells and eradicating them by building the immune system through stem cell protocols is nothing short of miraculous. The information we learn in Dr. Maharaj’s interview brings hope and light to the nastiest of all diseases. But his caution, as with all the doctors presented in this book, is that the state of health of the patient determines whether there will be a successful outcome. A frail unhealthy body will most
likely not be able to access these great breakthroughs. This is yet another reason to take your health seriously and do anything and everything to keep your body, your own personal Maserati, in great health. The body needs to be strong to combat the present-day assault of stress, toxicity, and rampant disease. Cancer is not a mystery: how we get it, how we manage it, and now how to eradicate it is what Dr. Maharaj is about to tell us.

I was originally
introduced to Dr. Dipnarine Maharaj through Ray Kurzweil, who said to me that if I was writing a book about living longer, then I needed to talk to Dr. Maharaj
.

Dr. Maharaj is the founder and medical director of the South Florida Bone Marrow/Stem Cell Transplant Institute, one of the few completely outpatient bone marrow/stem cell transplant facilities in the United States. He also helped in the establishment of bone marrow/stem cell transplant programs at the University of Miami and for other communities in Florida. He has been involved with clinical research studies using stem cells in the areas of cardiac regeneration, neurodegenerative diseases, and cancer treatments. Most recently, he has obtained investigator-initiated permission from the FDA to study a novel treatment of solid tumors, using only healthy white blood cells. Dr. Maharaj earned both his medical degree and research doctorate at the University of Glasgow Medical School. He is also certified in internal medicine by the Royal College of Physicians of the United Kingdom, and he has accreditations in hematology, specializing in oncology and bone marrow transplantation. He has been a lecturer on internal medicine, hematology, and bone marrow transplantation at medical schools and universities in the United States and Europe. He is a bit of an overachiever, lucky for us. What he has to say in this interview will not only blow your mind but give you even more incentive for healthy living today
.

SS:
Thank you for your time, Dr. Maharaj. Ray Kurzweil, for whom I have the utmost respect, told me about the work you are
doing with stem cells, which is certainly the direction of the future. You are in a new and rare specialty as a stem cell transplant physician. What excites you most that is accessible to my readers right now?

DM:
Thank you, Suzanne. I am so pleased to be included in this book. We all know that the earlier the disease of cancer is caught, the better the outcome. So often a patient comes to me and the thought goes through my head that I wish we had seen him or her sooner, and then we really could have made a difference.

SS:
Early detection is certainly an advantage, but is the real answer to cancer in finding the cancer stem cell?

DM:
Yes. The best model for that would be leukemia, which is caused by a
cancer stem cell
. Chronic myeloid leukemia is where the leukemic stem cell has the abnormality. When a cancer stem cell divides, it produces two exact replicas, and one of them goes into what we call a quiescent (dormant) state. The other divides and produces the cancer. Chemotherapy will kill these cells, but the one that is not dividing is not touched by the chemotherapy.

SS:
And this is where the patient goes into remission and everyone gets excited. But it’s really not over, is it?

DM:
Correct. The only way the cancer cell that’s dormant is kept from recurring as cancer is if the cancer protective genetic switch is turned back on, and that happens if the immune system is intact so that the
cancer stem cell
can be destroyed.

SS:
Is this possible?

DM:
It relates back to getting the patient earlier. If a patient gets chemotherapy, then goes into remission, and the disease recurs, then subsequent chemotherapy further degrades the immune system and eventually renders it useless. When patients come to us in this state, it’s like trying to close the door after the horses have bolted.

I am a stem cell transplant physician and the work I have been doing is to restore the immune system of patients with blood cancers, with either their own stem cells or a healthy donor’s stem cells. Clearly cancer is a result of a broken-down immune system. The environment, diet, and lifestyle all determine your health. Take it seriously.

Here is what I am advocating: If you want to be prepared for the future when your immune cells diminish, then right now, while you are healthy, collect and store your stem cells!

SS:
I agree. For that very reason, in 2009 I banked my stem cells with NeoStem. I call it bioinsurance. I know that in the future they
are there and available to use for a catastrophic event, or merely for beauty.

DM:
Again, you are well educated in your thinking of being proactive. I’ve seen the improvements that patients can get from using their own healthy stem cells.

This is the hope for the future. This is what excites me. If people store their stem cells when they are healthy, as you have, they are actually storing a healthier immune system than they could possibly have if they did develop cancer. So when we give them a stem cell transplant, it’s best if done with banked stem cells that are in good health. It’s a huge advantage.

SS:
What else can be done with banked stem cells?

DM:
We can repair and regenerate tissues instead of having to be dependent on a reactive process of using drugs and medications to treat chronic diseases.

SS:
Does this mean I can eat junk food and chemicals and crap and not exercise, because I’ve got my stem cells banked so, yippee, it’s a free ride?

DM:
[Laughs.] NO!

SS:
Can’t blame a girl for trying.

DM:
Seriously, the idea is that we want to improve our immune systems so we live longer with quality of life. In order to do that, you have to make the necessary lifestyle changes. Now, if as a result of your genetic inheritance and/or environmental effects, you do get some chronic disease in later life, then you’ve got your banked stem cells to counteract the disease processes that can be treated or prevented.

SS:
So you are saying, the healthier we are entering the future, the better the shot we have at a longer, healthier life with quality.

DM:
Correct. That is my belief.

SS:
What is legally allowed at present in the United States regarding the use of stem cells, banked or otherwise?

DM:
Approved treatments using stem cells from the patients themselves or from a donor can be used for treating blood cancers and disorders of the immune systems. That is the standard of care. I am able to do this on a day-to-day basis. We can repair a person’s tissues utilizing a patient’s own stem cells, and it is safe (these are adult stem cells).

My area has been focused on how we can optimize an individual’s own stem cells so we can repair tissues. We’ve found that there are
certain patients who we’ve been able to treat with very good results for blood disorders. In our research for treating patients with other diseases such as neurologic disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, we have been working to develop a new noninvasive treatment allowing the stem cells from patients’ own bone marrow to be released into their bloodstream. Those stem cells can go to the brain and repair it, and the patients show improvements in neurologic function. We are also doing the same type of research work in the area of diabetes by noninvasively using the individual’s own stem cells.

SS:
Can you explain the difference between embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells?

DM:
Induced pluripotent stem cells are formed when four genes called the
Yamanaka factors
are inserted into a mature cell, such as a skin cell, to convert it into an embryonic-like stem cell. Scientists are getting very encouraging results in the lab. But of course this is five to ten years off before we may see the benefit of this type of research. Embryonic stem cells are obtained from a five-day-old embryo. The embryo has to be destroyed to get these cells. This is where the ethical and moral issues come into play.

SS:
But what about the problems that patients are having today?

DM:
To use stem cell treatment today we have got to focus on safe treatments, and that would be using a patient’s own stem cells.

SS:
We have within our adult bone marrow, embryonic-like stem cells, right?

DM:
Yes. These cells have some of the same capabilities of being pluripotent, just like embryonic stem cells that would come from embryos, with none of the controversy.

SS:
And are these safe to use?

DM:
Absolutely; the adult embryonic-like stem cells are safe because they are the patient’s own.

SS:
You mention Parkinson’s, which is a devastating disease. Michael J. Fox comes to mind and through his courage, we’ve all seen the toll it takes on people of all ages. What kind of success have you had with Parkinson’s?

DM:
Parkinson’s is a chronic neurodegenerative disorder caused by inflammatory processes in the brain. Any toxin or virus, or any process that induces inflammation, can cause chronic damage. It is similar for Alzheimer’s disease or other neurodegenerative disorders. I believe these conditions are toxin related. The toxin can be viruses,
or increased blood sugar, or pesticides, or environmental exposure, but there is a small percentage of people who unfortunately carry genes that predispose them to get these diseases. Our objective is to develop treatments to reduce the inflammatory processes and regenerate the tissues damaged by the inflammation.