Oasis of Hope hospital, located 22 miles south of San Diego in Tijuana Mexico provides care for the whole person when it comes to treating cancer, medical, psychological and spiritual support. Dr. Francisco Contreras is a surgeon, oncologist and director at Oasis of Hope and Daniel Kennedy is the CEO and director of counseling services. Their new book, The Art and Science of Undermining Cancer shares new treatment and offers a new integrative approach. Melanie Camp spoke to both men to find out more.
It has been 50 years since President Nixon declared his war on cancer. Are we winning this war? Dr. Francisco Contreras, surgeon, oncologist and director of Oasis of Hope says unfortunately not. He says “in spite of all the money, brains and time that have been invested in finding the cure for cancer, more people are going to die this year from cancer than last year and that is why we felt it was important to bring out information in our new book, The Art and Science of Undermining Cancer to give hope to patients because there is tremendous amount of hope and we have been able to prove that with our results, we have very good results against cancer in all stages at the Oasis of Hope in Tijuana Mexico.”
When asked what he means by undermining cancer which is part of the title of the book, Dr. Contreras says, “Cancer is a formidable flow and just to try and get rid of it with chemotherapy, surgery or radiation therapy has not been enough. So, we attack cancer from many, many different angles to debilitate cancer so that therapies can be a lot more effective, that there are ways to undermine cancer so that therapies can be more effective.”
Melanie Camp says it’s more than just treating the physical, it’s also looking at your mind and your spirit. Daniel Kennedy, CEO and director of counseling services, Oasis of Hope says his grandfather started Oasis of Hope in 1963. He says his grandfather is also Dr. Contreras’ father and so we work together, the three of us, three generations, and what he taught us was that the emotional state of the patient directly affects the physical state of a person and so we have the time for a spiritual revival. We also have psychologists that does group and individual counseling, so we are not only interested in healing the body but also healing the mind and the spirit because when a person is strong spiritually and emotionally, they are better fit to fight cancer and this is an important part of how we undermine cancer by lifting up the mind and the spirit.”
What is the best thing someone can do if they have just been diagnosed with cancer? Dr. Contreras says, “information for beginners because when you receive a diagnosis like this and you hear the word cancer you feel like you are dead. He says you will do much better against cancer if you truly believe in what they are doing and so we want to inform patients about all of the possibilities they have and this brings a tremendous amount of hope.”
Mel asked if we can prevent cancer with food. Dr. Contreras says, “Yes, there are many studies that show this, that if you consume five portions of vegetables and fruits a day, you will lower the possibility that you will develop cancer by 50% and that if you exercise about four hours a week, only four hours a week you will reduce the risk of getting cancer by 50% so just bey eating and exercising correctly, you can prevent cancer, there is no question about it.”
What kind of things can we do for our mental health that might prevent us from getting serious conditions like cancer? Dr. Kennedy says, “At Oasis of Hope we focus so much on mental health and we have all kinds of interventions but the very first thing that we focus on is inviting people to take back their life and to not be a victim of cancer but a cancer victor and lots of times what I help people do is that I remind them they are not dying of cancer, let’s get rid of that statement, let’s say I am living and I am dealing with cancer. We do art therapy, we do relaxation techniques, music therapy, even laughter therapy and this is why we really call it the art and science of undermining cancer. He says all of our treatments are science based and they are all evidence researched based. What we do with the body, mind, spirit in the art of healing and people can get our book for free, a digital copy at Oasisofhope.com
