CANCER STORY: Success & Hard Truth

The first patient who took our herbs was Ben. He had colon cancer that had spread extensively to his liver. This happened way back in July 1995. Ben wrote, “There would be no medicine for me. I was advised to prepare my will as soon as possible. I was stunned for a moment. My wife, Cindy and I broke down. I thought I am going to die.“

Ben underwent palliative chemotherapy and at the same time started to take herbs, starting 20 July 1995.  His health turned for the better.  Ben and Cindy came to our house every week to help take care of other cancer patients, as more and more patients came to seek our help.  For Ben to be able to live a quality life was an inspiration for us. At that time, we knew “nothing” about cancer. So through Ben we started to learn many things about cancer.

In the early morning of 29 October 1996, Ben passed away, rather unexpectedly.  According to Cindy, Ben asked for an extra pillow. As she went to take it from the cupboard, Ben put his hands together and went home peacefully. According to the doctors, most parts of his liver had stopped functioning months before.  It was a great wonder that he could still continue to live for more than a year. According to Cindy, one of the doctors commented that, Someone Above was helping him along!

I was at Ben’s grave site, a broken person.  When they buried Ben, I felt as if half of me also followed Ben into the grave.  It was a sad day indeed.  My heart mourned and cried out “I want to give up Cancer Care.  There is no point for me to carry on … Ben had lost his battle against cancer … I have failed!  What is the point of going on? Indeed this failure was a big blow to my ego! I was naive then. But, later I learnt that I was not the only healer who feels this way. These  two famous doctors also felt likewise.

However, in this time of grief, it dawned upon me that I have erred terribly … Chris Teo,  are you playing God?  No one lives forever.  No mortal on earth can decide who lives or who dies or for how long.  Life is God’s prerogative.  He gives and He takes away.  I soon realized that instead of abandoning what we had built, we should instead build upon it.  We should take note of how Ben had benefited from the herbs and count those blessings.

Death comes sooner or later to everyone, to the healthy as well as the sick.  Death is never the issue. Life is. To live is a challenge. It needs determination, courage and wisdom.  Someday, when you are tired, sore or bored with life, death becomes a healing.

As we begin to take account of the blessings in Ben’s case, we realize again that there is no reason for grief.  The doctors gave Ben two months to live but Ben lived one year, three months and eighteen days.  However, it is not the length of time that mattered.  What is more important is the quality of life Ben had.  Ben lived a full happy life.  He did not take life for granted.  He anticipated and made preparations for his departure.  He enjoyed whatever time he had with Cindy, having daily picnics and enjoying Penang’s natural spots under those shady trees.  Ben even designed his own grave!  He taught Cindy how to manage the chores of daily life without him like paying utility bills, taking care of the car, etc.  When he departed, it was neither a sudden good-bye nor a slow painful death. Perhaps on this point alone, we take consolation that many people who were on the herbs died without much pain and their death came easily and peacefully.

From our experience with Ben, we realize that having only herb capsules A and B is not adequate to help the cancer patients.  We need to do more research and find herbs that can alleviate pain, coughs, and a host of other problems that often afflict cancer patients.  On this point, as I was writing this passage, the phone rang.  It was from a lady who had come to see me the previous week.  Her father had a severe stabbing pain in the back. The doctor prescribed pain killers but they were not effective. He took the Pain Tea only twice and the pain disappeared.  There was no need for any pain killer drug!  She called to relay her father’s thank you.

Unfortunately, Ben did not live long enough to benefit from this discovery.  Many after him benefited.  But we all owe it to Ben, our experiences with him widened our vision and understanding of the needs of cancer patients. One fact that amazed Cindy very much was that Ben never before believed in taking herbs! He was so particular that he would not even touch any medicine unless it was prescribed by his doctor.  And then we had this same Ben taking herbs given by a complete stranger. When a friend from his church suggested our herbs he immediately agreed to take them without any hesitation.  In retrospect, we always believe the Almighty God works in ways we cannot understand or foresee. When Ben completed his mission, he left us for Eternal Rest, his ultimate healing.

We now realize that we are not alone if we feel miserable or like a failure.  Such feelings are normal but we must not allow these “failures” to affect us because there are actually not failures!  Dr. Barbara Joseph said this: