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June
2000
"Betsy
Malone, You are Not Alone"
by Christine H. Taylor, M.D.
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I ’m a doctor. But fortunately, I’m not an oncologist. Imagine
having to tell patient after hopeful patient, day after day, that they
have cancer. My role as a plastic surgeon is to help my patients recover
from their shock and disappointment.
I specialize in breast reconstruction surgery—particularly after
mastectomy. My patients look to me for the hope and courage to start life
afresh. I laugh a lot with my patients, cracking jokes and making light of
life’s difficult turns.
Betsy Malone has been one of my patients over the years. Nothing
serious— just a few minor procedures. Her energy is infectious and she
always makes me laugh with her silly jokes. A tireless mother of two
charming boys, vivacious, pretty beyond words and full of life—Betsy
hardly ever walks, she gallops.
But one look at Betsy Malone in my office late last year brought me
close to tears. This was not the Betsy I knew. That proprietary sparkle
was missing and she was obviously suffering.
A biopsy had just confirmed breast cancer. Holding back tears, she
wanted me to make sure she was not deformed after the mastectomy. I told
her "Betsy Malone, you are not alone. We’ll fight it
together."
The surgery was a success. But the five nasty tumors removed from her
body meant Betsy needed aggressive chemotherapy.
Nothing prepares you to learn that you have cancer—however brave you
may be. But believe me, dealing with the side effects of chemotherapy
requires courage of entirely different nature.
Soon after her first cycle of chemo, Betsy told me the nausea and
vomiting shook her to the bone. Her hair was falling out and she looked
haggard and weak. She said at this rate, she could not even report for her
next dose of chemotherapy.
I knew what Betsy was going through. I wanted to help her—but I was
just her plastic surgeon.
But wait a minute.
What about that research from India about an Ayurvedic herbal
formulation that helps control the side effects of chemotherapy? Could I
ask her to try it out?
I had studied Maharishi Vedic Medicine and read extensively about the
research at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi. In a
randomized trial, doctors worked with nearly 110 breast cancer patients
undergoing chemotherapy. At the end of two years, patients who also took
an herbal formulation, Amrit Protection, reported fewer and less severe
side effects, if any.
I gave Betsy a bottle of Amrit Protection and asked her to start taking
it immediately. I told her it had been tried clinically only in India and
I wasn’t quite sure if it was going to work in her case. But I also told
her that it was full of life-giving phytochemicals and protective herbs
and that it had no side-effects.
The weeks passed. I was sure Amrit Protection hadn’t helped and she
was hesitant to call me.
Almost a month later, I pushed open the operating room door after a
grueling 3-hour procedure and headed for my office next door. What I saw
took my breath away. Betsy Malone, radiant and gorgeous—standing right
in front of me, smiling. Subconsciously I removed my scrub cap to take a
closer look. Indeed, it was Betsy.
"Amrit is working," she said, smiling.
Now, six months into her chemotherapy, Betsy is absolutely free from
side effects. She hasn’t missed a day of work, her hair is luscious once
again and it bounces happily as she struts about, beaming.
For more information on Amrit Protection call for a free
video and information kit: 888-422-6748, or visit www.amritpro.com.
Christine Horner Taylor, M.D., is a successful plastic surgeon,
practicing in Edgewood, Kentucky, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio. Betsy
Malone is a manager at a greeting card company in northern Kentucky.
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