Calling of an Angl: Rene Caisse and Essiac Tea--6by Dr. Gary L. Glum |
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CHAPTER SIXIn February, 1959, a Canadian named Roland Davidson visited the New York City office of Ralph Daigh, the Editorial Director and Vice President of Fawcett Publications. Fawcett published magazines-including the most popular men's adventure magazine of the era, True Magazine-and paperback books. It was a prominent American publishing company. That meeting led to Rene Caisse's return to public life, at the age of 70. Ralph Daigh later wrote a 3 3-page, typewritten private memo about the events that began with that meeting. One of the most fascinating documents of the whole Rene Caisse story, Daigh's memo describes-in sometimes chilling detail-what happened the day he met Gordon Davidson and what followed in Daigh's own personal search for the truth about Essiac. Daigh wrote that Gordon Davidson was a complete stranger who showed up at his office urging True Magazine to publish a story about this nurse in Canada who had been treating and curing cancer patients for more than 30 years. Davidson himself had been treated by the nurse for a severe case of ulcerated hemorrhoids and believed that he had been cured. Davidson had with him a large envelope filled with documents. "Mr. Davidson stated," Daigh wrote in his memo, "that in his opinion the material in the envelope could be used to produce the most important story ever published by True, The Mari's Magazine. It was Mr. Davidsori s rather naive opinion that a detailed story of Nurse Caisse's thirty-five years' experience in allegedly curing cancer, alleviating and eliminating pain for cancer patients, would bring her the world-wide acknowledgment to which he felt she is entitled." As a veteran editor, sophisticated in the ways of politics and the media, Daigh understood how naive Davidson was to believe that one magazine article could accomplish anything like that. It was going to take a lot more than a magazine article to win medical acclaim for Rene Caisse. As it turned out, the documents in Davidson's envelope weighed more than ten pounds. At first glance, Daigh wrote, they were "a great hodge podge of newspaper clippings, personal correspondence, case histories of persons suffering from various forms of claimed malignancies." Daigh approached them "with the skepticism that any editor might be expected to exhibit in connection with the efficacy of a so-called cancer cure." Daigh spent four or five hours studying the material. There were case histories of 120 patients. "Very few of these cases were properly validated with pathological reports from laboratories, but some were," Daigh wrote. "In addition to claims of curing these malignancies, the case history reports very frequently mentioned that severe pains suffered by these people were almost without exception alleviated by Nurse Caisse's remedy." There it was again, the theme of pain relief associated with Essiac. Since this was Daigh's first exposure to the subject, he had no way of knowing how common that theme had been. "In many of the instances," he wrote, "the pain was reported alleviated after only one, two or very few treatments." A few of the case histories reported cures for illnesses other than cancer, including stomach ulcers, goiter, hemorrhoids and subsequent bowel stoppage. The package of documents contained the early petition signed by physicians, Dr. Emma Carsori s testimonial to what she had seen at the clinic, Dr. B.L. Guyatt's endorsement, Rene's correspondence with Premier I~epburn and with many of her patients, as well as the newspaper accounts of the parliamentary battles of 1938 and 1939. After reading the material, Daigh took it to the Editor of True, Douglas Kennedy, and discussed it with him in detail. Taking himself out of the story and writing in third-person, a common journalistic practice, here is how Daigh described that conversation: "Both editors thought that indications were present supporting the assumption that Essiac was a substance of importance to the medical world and to humanity. Both editors were impressed by the repeated assurance that patients were taken off narcotics shortly after treatment with Essiac started, and found no necessity for further use of narcotics. Both editors were impressed also by the numerous evidences of proof that skin cancer had been eliminated in many patients, and that such cures were subject to visible proof." But Daigh and Kennedy-as responsible editors-reluctantly agreed that no story could be written without new proof based "on additional patients under absolute clinical and pathological conditions. It was obvious from the material inspected that Nurse Caisse had treated many thousands of patients in a rather helter skelter manner and had been more interested in curing suffering humanity than in establishing pathological proof that cancer existed, although there was some pathological evidence in the names of many doctors who had allegedly certified malignancy in the patients treated." Just as reluctantly, Daigh and Kennedy concluded that True Magazine did not have the time or the money it would take to conduct such studies. True was, after all, a magazine, not a medical research institution. They decided they would have to return the material without writing a story. In early March, 1959, Daigh sent back the package with a note saying that it would be impossible for Fawcett to conduct such "a long and expensive re-evaluation." But Daigh couldn't shake off his doubts. He found himself "plagued with the possibility that this nurse in a remote section of Canada might have a remedy for which the whole world was looking." Later in March, he requested the material back. He studied it again, carefully, and reached the conclusion that he would be "derelict as an editor and a member of the human race" if he didn't do all he could to find out the truth about Essiac. He contacted a friend, Paul Murphy, at the Science Research Institute and asked him to read the documents and give an opinion. "After a week," Daigh wrote in his memo, "Mr. Murphy returned, convinced by the possibility that Essiac, if not a complete cure for cancer, was at least a palliative, and impressed, too, with the possibility that even though the remedy might not be as efficient against cancer as claimed, an examination by the proper medical authorities and scientific personnel, with laboratory testing, might prove Essiac beneficial as a remedy in the area of ulcers, goiter, hemorrhoids or skin lesions." Daigh decided to take Paul Murphy with him to Bracebridge to conduct "an on the ground examination" and interview Rene Caisse before making any decisions. He called Rene and arranged an appointment. In early April, 1959, Daigh and Murphy arrived at Rene's home. "Nurse Caisse was found to be a most personable woman in her late 60s," Daigh wrote in his memo. "A devout Roman Catholic and possessed of the calm assurance and patient good humor characteristic of a superior individual." Their first interview with Rene lasted seven hours. She told them her story, going all the way back to the fateful day in the early 1920s when she encountered the woman patient with the badly scarred breast. After hearing Rene s account of her political struggles in the 1930s, Daigh concluded that the College of Physicians and Surgeons had become "stiff necked" in their demands for her formula, but that Rene probably hadn't understood how to wage the kind of public relations campaign that would have won the College's cooperation. In a touching passage that helps to explain Rene's withdrawal from the world after the 1939 Cancer Commission Report, Daigh quoted her describing how she'd felt: "This was the end. I had fought so long, and I was tired, and I was older. I felt I had done everything in my power to assure giving my remedy to the public, and I couldn't do any more." Daigh quoted Rene explaining her belief about how Essiac worked: "Occasionally nature makes an error in cell construction, and when this cell attempts to fit into the pattern to which it is assigned, it is repelled by the healthy cells with a violence only nature is capable of producing. "The natural tendency of the normal cells is to throw out, destroy or consume the unnatural cell, and if the body is strong enough, this fact is accomplished. "If, however, the abnormal cell is strong enough to get a foothold in the human body, and the normal cells cannot throw it out or surround it and thus inhibit it, the cells in that particular area go wild and the body destroys itself in that area with a cancerous growth. "My remedy, in some way I do not understand and am unable to explain, strengthens the natural defense mechanisms of the body and enables the normal cells to destroy the abnormal cell as nature might expect a strong body to do. "There also seems a possibility that my preparation weakens abnormal cells, because I am able to observe sloughing off of great masses of diseased tissue from cancer of the breast, cancer of the rectum or even internal cancer. "I am forced to look upon Essiac as a great tonic and giver of strength to the body so that nature is aided in removing the abnormalities of growth which are deimed as stomach ulcers, goiter, hemorrhoids-and cancer." At the end of their seven-hour interview, Daigh told Rene that he and Paul Murphy planned to do more investigation. If they concluded in favor of Essiac, they would invite her to the United States to work with a reputable medical center. Rene said that would interest her, but she was reluctant to take up residence in a strange city at her age. She didn't want to leave her brother. He was not well and she was taking care of him. And she didn't want to indulge, Daigh wrote, "in the opening of an old war which she had already dismissed as lost." But Daigh had learned that three of the doctors who had signed her petitions many years earlier were still alive and living in Bracebridge. He told Rene that he would like to interview them before he left town. Early the next morning, a Sunday, Daigh and Murphy went looking for the doctors. What they found shocked them both and persuaded Daigh that there was more of a mystery here than he'd realized. The first doctor they located was Dr. A.E Bastedo-the physician who had persuaded the Bracebridge City Council in 1935 to turn over to Rene the old British Lion Hotel. "Dr. Bastedo proved extremely uncooperative, and even rude," Daigh wrote in his memo. "When informed that Mr. Daigh and Mr. Murphy would like to ask him a few questions about Nurse Caisse, his reply was: `I will not discuss her in any manner:" When Daigh persisted and said that he had come a long distance to find out what he could, Bastedo said: "You will get no help from me or any other doctor, I don't think." "With that he walked from the porch of his home, turning his back," Daigh wrote, "to a garage where he kept his car, across the street, and apparently drove off to church." Then Daigh and Murphy tracked down Dr. E. G. Ellis. Daigh described him: "In his late 70s, a very handsome and distinguished looking individual, who lives in a small house on the main street of Bracebridge, and is still practicing. Dr. Ellis was planting sweet peas when we approached. He graciously invited us into his house." But when they explained why they were there, Dr. Ellis seemed disturbed. Even though he finally consented to answer their questions, "it was obvious that he was using an extreme economy of words, although he was at all times studiously courteous." They asked Dr. Ellis if he had ever signed a petition for Rene Caisse. He denied that he had. Daigh was carrying the original in his briefcase. He chose not to confront the doctor with it. He wanted to keep the conversation going. They asked Dr. Ellis if he had ever sent cancer patients to Rene Caisse. He denied that he had. Daigh had the case histories in his briefcase revealing "that a number of patients were sent from Dr. Ellis or with Dr. Ellis' permission to Rene Caisse." Daigh said nothing about it. "As the discussion continued," Daigh wrote in his memo, "Dr. Ellis intimated very strongly it was not a good thing for a doctor in Canada to discuss Nurse Caisse in any way, and it would certainly be very bad for any doctor who admitted any faith in her treatment or admitted sending her patients. "Dr. Ellis' attitude in this respect reminded us of Nurse Caisse's statement, that doctors had been forbidden to treat patients treated by Nurse Caisse after 1939 or 1940, and had been forbidden to discuss her or her work." In one of the most chilling passages in all the documents that exist about Rene Caisse, Daigh described at length what happened next: In answer to a direct question, Dr. Ellis would not deny that the situation was as Nurse Caisse stated. Dr. Ellis stated flatly that he knew of no cases of cancer that had been cured by Nurse Caisse. Neither did he know of any cases of goiter, stomach ulcers or hemorrhoids that had been cured by Nurse Caisse. Thereupon Mr. Daigh asked Dr. Ellis the following three-part question: 1. Do you think that Nurse Caisse is a charlatan, a fraud? Dr. Ellis' answer: "No." 2. Do you think Nurse Caisse was only after money? Dr. Ellis' answer: "No, I don't think she made very much money." 3. Now, Dr. Ellis, you have stated that you do not believe Nurse Caisse is a charlatan or a fraud and that you do not believe she was motivated only for mercenary reasons. If I understand your answers correctly, it would seem to me that the only possible definition left for Miss Caisse is that she is a psychotic. Do you believe this to be true? Answer by Dr. Ellis: "No, she is not a psychotic. She is a sincere, well-balanced person." Dr. Ellis was probed for other definitions of Nurse Caisse that would shed light on her operation as a practitioner offering a cure for cancer, and Dr. Ellis' answers were always reserved and courteous. He was completely unwilling to condemn her as a person, or in connection with the administration of her treatment. Thereupon Mr. Murphy asked the following question: "In view of the efforts being made by medicine today to find an effective treatment or cure for cancer, do you think Nurse Caisse's preparation and treatment should be evaluated scientifically and clinically to determine whether or not there is any merit to the remedy?" Dr. Ellis paused briefly, and then an emphatic "Yes." The third doctor Daigh and Murphy interviewed was Dr. EM. Grieg. Daigh described Dr. Grieg in his memo as "a bachelor in his late 70s and for many years one of the leading doctors in the community." Greeting them at his front door, Dr. Grieg "evidenced extreme reluctance to discuss Nurse Caisse or her remedy," Daigh wrote. They had to persuade Dr. Grieg to invite them into his living room. "In the beginning his attitude was somewhat antagonistic, but as the meeting progressed, he became more cordial and finally he answered questions freely, although tersely." Dr. Grieg denied much knowledge of Rene Caisse's activities and refused to admit that he had ever sent her patients or signed a petition in her behalf-although Daigh had proof of both in his briefcase. Once again, Daigh chose not to confront the doctor with the evidence. Grieg denied any knowledge of cancer cases cured or in any way helped by Rene Caisse. "He somewhat surprisingly admitted, however, that he knew of a case of stomach ulcers that had been cured by Nurse Caisse," Daigh wrote. "This was a man Dr. Grieg admitted had been his patient." Daigh asked the doctor what he regarded as a cure in this case? The doctor replied: "The man couldn't keep anything in his stomach. He lost weight. He had severe ulcer pains. He couldn't sleep. After a few treatments from Nurse Caisse, the pains disappeared, and he was able to eat anything. I kept track of him for a number of years, and there was never any reappearance of the trouble. I am certain he had ulcers." Immediately following this admission, Dr. Grieg "resentfully attempted to end the interview," Daigh wrote. Daigh asked a few quick questions before leaving:
Is it not healthy for doctors in Canada to discuss Nurse Caisse? Grieg
refused to answer the question. Was she only after money? "I don't know how much she made. She used to take a little black bag to the bank every week, but she didn't make a regular charge and I understand the contributions weren't very large. If she had been after money, she would have charged." Is Nurse Caisse a psychotic? "No." If she isn't any of the above, what is she? "She was a well-intentioned woman, who thought she had a cure." But if she didn't have a cure and still persisted in using it over the years, doesn't it follow that she is a charlatan, after money, or psychotic? "No, she is a good woman. She is not mentally unbalanced, and she certainly wasn't out to take anyone's money. She may have done some good for some people, but I don't know about it." Should a qualified laboratory investigate Essiac? "I think it would be a good thing to test it once and for all , " Dr. Grieg replied. The reactions of the local doctors were enough to persuade Daigh and Murphy to ask Rene Caisse to come to the U. S. to make a scientific evaluation of Essiac. But when they returned to her home, she greeted them by saying: "I'm rather sorry that you have come back." She told them that she had decided against going, although the challenge was intriguing. Her brother needed her. She had had a heart attack a few years ago and her health was not good. She was overweight and afraid that starting all over in a strange city would be too hard on her. But Daigh was ready for Rene's reluctance. Before traveling to Bracebridge, he had prepared a formal agreement-just in case. He read it aloud to her: She would be guaranteed all expenses in Boston to use Essiac on humans with cancer and animals inoculated with cancer. All tests and experiments would be under the direction of Dr. Charles Brusch at the Brusch Medical Center in Cambridge, Mass. Dr. Charles Brusch was-and still is-a respected physician. In 1955, he administered the iirst polio vaccine in Cambridge. For many years, John F. Kennedy was one of his patients-and friends. Dr. Brusch was one of the physicians who treated Kennedy for Addison's disease. Kennedy laid the cornerstone to Dr. Brusch's medical clinic. Among Dr. Brusch's other patients have been many of the most prominent names in Massachusetts, including former House Speaker John McCormack and his wife. The Brusch Medical Center was-and still is-one of the largest medical clinics in the state. Daigh told Rene that the agreement included the stipulation that if the tests proved satisfactory to Dr. Brusch, then a corporation would be formed and a means found for commercially developing and marketing Essiac. After she had heard the entire agreement, Rene Caisse said that this was exactly what she had wanted for more than thirty years. It was an emotional moment for all of them. She said she would go to Cambridge. They signed the agreement. Rene arrived at the Brusch Medical Center on May 22, 1959. And thus began one of the most exciting and hopeful periods of her life-at the age of 70. Introduction I 1 I 2 I 3 I 4 I 5 I 6 I 7 I 8 I 9 I 10 I 11 I 12 I 13 I 14 All of the events and characters depicted in this book are non-fictional
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