Radical Remission: Lessons from 1,500 Cancer Survivors

So many people that have found healing, I see this consistency of being able to lean in and trust and have a way to connect that helps them reduce their fear of death, which is very natural and very expected.

That's the person that I would say should really lean into this factor specifically to really help calm that fear. This is Dr. Talks. Well, I have the joy of having Liz Curran with me today, a radical remission.

Liz, thank you so much for spending some time with. Absolutely. Always happy to be here with you and reconnect. So radical Remission, how did that start?

What kind of gave birth to these principles? So back in the early 2000s, I would say, Dr. Kelly Turner was not yet Dr Kelly, Turner, she was an oncology social worker who heard about the term spontaneous remission.

And that ignited this curiosity of what that was, what does that mean? And as she started digging in, She found that there were cases and cases of unstudied spontaneous remissions.

So she decided to go back and get her PhD to research what these people did to heal because nobody was looking into it. And so she traveled around the world.

She traveled for 10 months to 10 different countries and interviewed people who were known to have been healers of these spontaneous permissions. and then they invited her in to speak to patients.

And then all of a sudden, it kind of, the world opened its doors to her and she was able to interview over the years, over 1500 cases of what she calls radical remissions, because what you found during these interviews was that nothing was spontaneous and it was quite radical.

And she found that there were 10 common healing factors among every single person that was interviewed or researched. And that has become the foundational information from the Radical Remission Project and all the different offerings that we have.

So this is essentially not just something that she, you know, philosophies she had or feelings she has. This is based on hard evidence of people that have, they had cancer and medical community felt like there's no way with the type of therapy that they are doing that, that were going to be cured from cancer.

And then they did these. different principles and all lo and behold, this is what moved them forward and got healed. Yes, so it was a research study that she did, and there were over 70 different things, healing factors, that came into the research.

And it's just that these 10 were done by all of them and their lifestyle changes. So we bring them, we present them in many ways to the world, but mostly we like to emphasize that they are all immune boosting, they're all backed by you know, scientific research from very reputable medical journals over and over again, each individual one, and we often talk about external research that supports it.

And it's just really important for people to say, we always say this is not a treatment plan. This is a hypothesis that was researched. What we do know is they're all safe with whatever the treatment type is and that you can absolutely weave these into, anyone can.

from a health seeker to a cancer patient that is late stage. What actually defines a radical remission or a Radical Remission Survivor is someone who has healed completely alternatively, never touched conventional or someone has used conventional and it failed and they were kind of sent home on hospice or we don't have any more treatment for you, get your affairs in order kind conversations and then they found healing.

And then the last element of a radical remission survivor, which is the most frequent that we see today in all these years later, 15, 20 years that later after the research is, the integrative approach.

So people who are utilizing conventional treatments, but they're also realizing that they themselves have some control over their health, some way to adopt lifestyle change that can improve their quality of life, boost their immune system, help with their longevity.

And we have just seen over and over again how effective this is in our work. And that last element, what I will say, to really kind of define the integrative approach and how, I like to say miraculous it is, that these people have found healing was they had a 25% or less five-year survival rate, the people that were researched that took the integrated approach.

So it's not just stage one through stage four. It's really those people who had that dire prognosis and then found So it's really remarkable. Someone, I was just working with a client yesterday and she said, how do you stay so positive all the time?

And I said well I have the blessing of being able to see people live. I see late stage cancer patients that I've worked with for five plus years that are living beautiful, healthy lives.

So I'm here to share that that late-stage diagnosis does not need to be a death sentence or a reason to very scared and sad. Obviously, it is scary and it sad at moments, but we don't need stay there.

We can have hope. The beauty of these principles is that it's not kind of this weird, strange thing or unsafe things to do. It's very foundational, basic and health supporting no matter what.

No matter other things that you're doing, these are just very foundation principles. Absolutely, yes. And I found my way here to doing this work because my sister had a very aggressive, very conventional cancer journey in 2014, and she ended up passing away after a year from diagnosis.

It was very eye-opening. We'd never really witnessed cancer in our family. That kind of began this curiosity for me of, what would I do if this were me?

And so I became a health seeker and then over time, grandmother, aunt, cousin, all have breast cancer or have had breast-cancer journeys. And, so now I'm considered a pre-vibor, someone who is high risk, no genetic markers, but lots of family history.

So I do very proactively get my, you know, my. Twice a year, getting MRIs and mammograms, and getting all of my proper scans to keep my eye on things.

And there are times where something might show up and I need to get further diagnostics done. I always lean back on, I've been living this way too. And much like I'm sure you are living that healthy lifestyle, if we teach it to people, we need to walk the walk.

And so I always lean back on that. As I know the people I work with do, leaning into, there's 10 things, right? So we can't do all of them perfectly all the time.

There's always something that you can dust off and refresh and really dig back into. Just knowing that they're there is an incredibly powerful tool. And what I love is that when you think of cancer, you're thinking of something big and scary and you need something really powerful and strong and to go after it and kill it, and all these things.

But when we look at these principles, You know, they are just kind of very doable, just supportive. And, and so it just kinda speaks to me that cancer essentially is just an imbalance in all these different factors.

By just bringing the body back into balance and doing things that are restorative and regenerative, then the, body can heal itself. You don't have to go and blast it with these kind you know, excessive things.

You just need to really make sure the foundation is there. Yeah, and I think what was really interesting for me as I was learning about this, not I would say, I don't want to say alternative, it's like not the conventional aspect of cancer, but the lifestyle and the complementary things and integrative approach, It was so eye-opening to me because I didn't know it existed, right?

My sister went through this entire journey. We didn' know anything about it. The very standard answers would come to her, you know, what can I do? What should I eat?

Oh, don't worry. We've got you. You're doing everything you can. Go live your normal life. And I, as I'm sure you agree, it's a disservice to not share that there are things that people can do, because what I've seen so beautifully is the more people do these factors and work the factors, and learn about the integrative approach, the motivated they come, more hope-filled they become, that in itself can bring healing.

And I love that you are kind of dancing away from alternative, because I mean, essentially it is not alternative. You know, these are, I would say primary and then you can build upon that.

So do you mind just kind giving, you know first, just a little bit of an overview of what the 10 principles are. And then I'd love to kind dive deeper into them so we can understand them and how to best utilize them.

You got it. I created a little slide deck for you for us to share with our audience today. So here are the 10 factors and they are, I probably didn't mention this properly.

Our book that was written by Dr. Turner in 2014 was called Radical Remission and it outlined these 10 different healing factors. And then again, in 2020, she created the next book, which was Radicle Hope.

And radical remission really dove into this from a cancer perspective. Radical hope opened it up to other life-changing diseases that went into remition.

Things like Alzheimer's, things like MS, ALS, Things that you just don't even know it's an option, that it can be reversible. And I would gander that, you might more often hear about spontaneous remissions in cancer than you would say Alzheimer or ALs.

And just knowing that it is possible that even if one person has done it, it could be you. So that's the mindset of a radical remission survivor. Here are the 10 factors that we break out into these four categories.

And you'll notice only three are physical. So we do have, you know, the standard things you'd think of, right? Exercise, diet, where you come in as herbs and supplements, having that provider that can really provide you very specific guidance on your needs.

We have our emotional factors, which came up again in all every interview. The importance of increasing positive emotions, releasing suppressed emotions.

Our mental factors are all about mindset, so we have our strong reasons for living, our purpose, right? Empowering yourself. And I'll dive deeply into, a little more deeply, into each of these to explain them.

But empowering yourself, we look at this, originally in radical remission, it was called taking control of your health. And then it was renamed Empowering Yourself in Radical Hope because that was more of the term that we were looking for to showcase that empowering yourself on your healing journey and taking the driver's seat or being the CEO of your health is really quite healing.

And we'll talk about that a little bit more. and then increasing social support. Can't really deny the power of community and connection. And then we have our two spiritual factors, deepening spiritual connection and following your intuition.

I would say these two might have been maybe more surprising than the others as far as when the research was being done, following intuition isn't exactly a very tangible thing.

So we can talk a little bit more about how that came as well. Yeah. And then, and when you look upon that empowering yourself and following your intuition, because a lot of cancer patients, they feel that almost like the body's betrayed them.

You know, all of they've done all these different things and they live the health, you know. In their mind, in many ways, it feels like they lived a healthy lifestyle.

I mean, obviously some hasn't, but I see a lots of, their yoga teacher, the vegetarian, They do all this different thing. And so all of a sudden they're diagnosed with cancer and they kind of feel, well, you know, something's happening to me and that I don't feel like I have power over because I've done everything that.

I feel that, I should. And then. So the importance then of still going inside and feeling what is right for you, because there's not a blanket treatment for that's right, for everybody.

And, you know, one person may choose to do some, do more of the kind of holistic type of therapies. Some may chose to mostly just conventional. or some may choose to do combination, but it is so important that you follow your intuition what feels right within you and, like you said, become CEO of your own journey.

Right. Yeah, and truly understand what you are choosing for your body and making sure that, you educate yourself to the point of, your level of comfort.

Some people will dive down the rabbit hole of research for hours and hours every night and other people are more kind of accepting at the surface level, but there's so much information from the integrative approach, so many different kinds of practitioners and different kind of ways to support all of these lifestyle changes that it's really such a personal journey and everybody really does need to look within to see what it is they need looking at these 10 different elements, these healing factors, what I always like to say, like what one speaks to you the most and which one's kind of like, I don't really want to look at that one.

And that's probably the one that needs to get, you know, the, most attention and maybe it's not where you start, right? And how do you guide people through the fear?

You know, because sometimes it's hard to connect with what's inside of you when you have this. I mean, you're dealing with essentially a disease that can cause death and it is one of the leading causes of death.

So, how you, guide them through that fear to be able to to that intuition within themselves and then also then empower themselves? Yeah, that's a great question.

I think the way we really approach it is hope-filled in a way because we're focusing so specifically on these 10 factors and everybody has a different approach to how they want to, you know, handle, embodying that in their life.

So, it's actually very mindful. It very much brings everyone to the present moment, exactly where you are today. Which factor do you need right now? And that could be, you know, really down.

I really need to work on my increasing positive emotions factor because I'm feeling like I am in a funk. I'm just not happy. Maybe I am not depressed, but I live with the idea that this may be the rest of my life, this chronic cancer from a chronic illness perspective.

So we will work very concretely on today and maybe this week. As you know, that mindfulness, bringing things to the present moment without judgment, really being curious really does help people embody these without feeling so overwhelmed because we're really taking it one step at a time.

And we always say over and over, there's no order of importance to the factors and everyone approached it differently. It wasn't overnight. Give me this list of 10 and tomorrow I'm starting my Excel spreadsheet to checkbox every day these 10 things.

We have healing stories that we share. I failed to mention that's a big part of what we do is share stories of healing. And we have a podcast, we offer a workshop, and in those different modalities, We share people's healing story and how they approached it.

You'll hear over and over again, some people were like, wow, I didn't even know that I did not have healthy diet until I realized what a healthy I had some serious trauma from my childhood, from a divorce, a car accident, and I never really addressed it.

I just put it aside and really think I'm ready to look at that. It really is different, but it's very slow and it is very, as you said, intuitive. And over and over again, at the end of our podcast, every episode, we asked people like you, We have healers on, you know, what we call radical remission survivors on.

And, over, and, again the piece of advice that most people offer at, the, end we say, What would you say to someone new to a healing journey? And overwhelmingly, it is take a breath.

take a moment, be quiet, listen to your mind, to body, your heart, what feels like the right thing. What's the next best thing? And it's really powerful to have received that message, especially as the host, listening over and over again to these these people reiterate the same thing from all different perspectives that we all need.

We're very busy, right? As a culture, we have a lot going on. You know, We have hits constantly from our phone to our watch telling us our phones wants us.

So, you know we can't get away from All of the technology and just communication and life. And so slowing down is really important. Taking off the watch, putting the phone off, completely powering it down and putting it in another room and sitting and having that time of reflection.

I was just talking to somebody yesterday about how another, like one really challenging thing to do anymore is to just drive in quiet. Don't turn on a podcast, don't on the radio, Don' listen to music, just drive alone in silence and see where your thoughts go.

So there's a lot of ways that you can access it. Some people don' really enjoy meditation. It doesn't work for them in the way that they have found yet.

I might challenge that, but taking a walk that doesn' have headphones or a friend and really seeing what type of thoughts come to mind And that is really where the intuition will speak its loudest is, what are the things that consistently start coming up or the messages that you're receiving?

Yeah, I mean, the greatest healers that we have are within ourselves. So by slowing down, by being quiet, that inner knowledge, inner intuition will start to resurface, will to bubble up.

And exactly what you're saying, just being quite allows it then to communicate. And the thing is that when people are diagnosed, you know, they, and I hear this again and again, also on the podcast that I do is, that people always say that, I wish I knew I had more time.

Yeah. So it is a, the always. Because if they feel another diagnosed cancer, they gotta rush, gotta do something. They're fighting against the clock. And the oncologists frequently kind of use that feeling and then immediately kind throw them on that.

and throw them on all the different therapies and, you know, I hear we got to do chemo, we've got a cap, the radiation and all that. Not saying that those things are bad.

It's just saying exactly what you are, just take that moment, know that you have more time. Cancer has developed over a long period of time, it didn't just happen last week.

You know it has been developed for a very long time So taking that little extra moment to just to be quiet and really feel what feels right to you. You have that ability, you have time.

Yeah, and there's so many ways to get treated. And there are so much times that I hear people say, well, I just knew in my heart I wasn't someone who was going to do chemo, but I was okay with surgery or radiation.

It's not required. It is a choice, and you can certainly make that choice. And until you're faced with it, you really honestly don't know what your choice would be.

But what I can say is following that intuitive hit and not living in fear, right? Obviously, no one's gonna be like, hey, sign me up for chemotherapy.

This sounds great. I don' know that anybody's ever said that. So there isn't a fear element, so looking beyond the fear and saying like do I feel, do believe that this is gonna heal me?

And if you believe it will heal you, then it is a path to take. Because if people resist and just don't feel like this is the right thing, that suppresses the immune system.

And we want a strong, healthy immune systems the whole time we are in treatment, if possible, and doing everything we can to keep that very thriving immune-system alive.

So having fear and negative thoughts about your choice around your treatment is also not going to serve you. Having that decision and making the decision, and committing to it, once you're in it.

Just really believing in it, whatever that is. And one of the factors, you know, along that kind of grouping is then that spiritual connection. I mean, is there, what does that mean?

Cause obviously you have Christian, Muslims, Buddhist, all these different religions and philosophies. So what the spiritual connections really mean. So from our perspective, through the eyes of the radical remission survivor, obviously everybody had different belief systems.

And we actually really like to reframe religion as an element of spirituality. It is one way to connect spiritually, and it's a big way for a lot of people.

you know, centuries of wars around it. But that is not spiritual connection. Spiritual connection is a feeling. They all described it as a Feeling from within.

It was a physical sensation, it was feeling in their soul, in the spirit. And the way I like to describe it when we teach about it in a workshop, just because we're speaking to a larger group of people and you don't really know where they come from or what their history is with their religious backgrounds, we talk about the feeling of just using nature as an example and the awe that you might feel if you were standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon looking into this massive beauty of earth that's Be like something so much larger than ourselves right we're standing at the bottom of a hundred foot waterfall and the feeling the power of that that water booming and hitting the earth and and shaking your body with you know the sound but also the grandeur of it going into the woods and being quiet and listening to the sounds.

There's so many people that connect so deeply with nature that it's a really great starting point for someone who's trying to connect with their spiritual side that they don't feel like they have one.

I even say sometimes it's that feeling when you, you know, for me, I had little, my kids are older now, but when they were little if I was in another room and I could just hear like a burst of giggles and my heart would just swell.

Like that, feeling is a spiritual connection. It's, that immense love that we all kind of have in this interconnectedness of our lives. Yeah. Well, when we feel powerless sometimes, because we're always at some point going to feel like we Yeah, we're powerless in this situation.

Yeah. It is so great to be able to lean on something or have something that just feels greater than yourself. You know, some power that is driving something and be to connect with that.

No matter what religion an individual has. but or philosophy or spiritual feeling or connection, whether just kind of connecting with the tree out in the forest or like you're saying, standing in front of Grand Canyon and looking at the sky and then saying look how vast this is and look, how amazing the organization and all these things are happening in nature.

Just the beauty of all of that. Being able to connect to that and know that things are okay. Things are happening that are greater, more powerful. And seeing that intelligence, you know, that that Intelligence exists within you and then be able and rely on that.

Absolutely, yeah. And it's interesting, the people who have the most spiritual connection, I won't say faith, because it doesn't have to be in, you know, in something.

It could just be, You know the universe is a very typical term, source. Where did all of that come from? So many people that have found healing. I see this consistency of being able to lean in and trust and have a way to connect that helps them reduce their fear of death.

And the people that live in like a very, very fearful place, which is very natural and very expected. That's the person that I would say should really lean into this factor specifically to really help calm that fear.

Obviously it's very to fear death. We all will, but it will happen to everyone at some point. So facing it, whether you're a healthy 20 year old. or someone with late stage cancer at 90 years old, we all have to face it at some point.

So not, you know, culturally we don't look at that, that's like over here. We will deal with that later kind of thing, but if you can bring it in and if can kind welcome it as if this is going to happen at one point and understand more about it, learn about, take the fear out of it much as you It really is quite healing and it brings a lot of peace with letting go of what could happen.

What I tell my patients frequently is that whatever your thoughts are or wherever your mind is, that's your gravity point. You know, so if you focus on the fear or you're focused too much on cancer or on death, you know then all of a sudden, your body starts to then kind of modulate itself, using that as a gravity point.

But if your focus is on joy, happiness, connection, then that becomes your gravity points and then your bodies start to become alive. Absolutely. And, you know, thinking about that from the perspective of that one factor I mentioned, releasing suppressed emotions, it's a big one, right?

That's where people really start to dig into big T, little T traumas, the various spectrum of things that occur over life experience. It's really fascinating to me.

One of the things to came up in the interviews and the research was nostalgia. So you'll notice the term isn't releasing negative emotions, it's releasing suppressed emotions.

So that suppression comes in many ways. It's not always negative. Nostalgia, I don't think of nostalgia as a negative thing. Oh, remember back in the day when this happened and that was such a great time of life.

But some people live there. And of course it is very common from a cancer patient's perspective to wish back to before they got diagnosed. But if we can accept our present and understand that that was one point of our lives, as wonderful as it may have been, that it was great.

And how can we bring pieces of that to today? So we're not living there, you know, like we always say, the classic, football, the American stereotype of like the football player who was like, you know, king of the castle in his high school loves that stage of life or people who wish their kids were still babies because they love the innocence stage.

You know a new baby or a toddler. So wishing back to that and really pining away is the piece that we're working on releasing and thinking really clearly what did you love about that point in your life and what can you do today to try to foster that in Yeah, because in the present is where you have the power of healing.

If you keep being in a time that was in past, it doesn't mean that you can't love the past and enjoy the moments that have been in your past. But if you're not able to stay in present and appreciate and love, the beauty in that present, then you are separating yourself from the powers that exist within you right now.

Yeah. Yeah, and it's interesting, right? The past is what we know. It's known, it is done. We can't change it. And a lot of people are fearful of the future.

What if, what if? What happens? what about the next scan? If I have no more drug options like this, the constant what-if-ing is the unknown. All we have is today.

The present moment that we now. How can we capture being okay here. And so many people, a very radical remission-minded perspective is being in that present moment and what were, I don't want to say gifts, it doesn't feel like the right term, but like what are the lessons that we can take from the journey?

All of it, life and the cancer journey. What are lessons and are what the gifts that can pull from that, the gratitudes that you can pulled? And it is so clear over and over again, so may people say I am such a happier place in my life now than I was before I got diagnosed.

And while they had a perception of health there, they may be even more healthy now. I think it was Lisa Rankin that this quote came from where we can either be healed or we could be cured or be both.

And I'm paraphrasing here, but, you know, looking for a physical healing or a cure from a disease is not the same as spiritually healing, or feeling cured of, a life that we dragged along with us, right?

Yeah. And like you're saying, I mean, many patients that feel that their cancer diagnosis was the greatest blessing because they had to really then look hard at their life and really kind of modulate or kind create a life that brings joy, that bring peace instead of just living in, you know, whatever it is going on right now that, made the cancer communicate saying that there's something that needs to be fixed.

Right. Yeah. And the people that do that work, the People that really take that time to look and follow these factors and really look within are the ones that can find the gift.

And, or the blessing or, you know, the knowledge, education and realizing how much more connected they are with themselves, who they, are their emotional state, their physical state or spiritual state.

All of it. And I know I'm leaning in our conversation quite a bit on, on the emotional factors, because I feel that that is something that a lot of people kind of brush off and don't focus on because they feel cancer is such a physical disease.

and obviously it is. Something that's happening physically to you and in you. But then to recognize the importance of these emotional, spiritual factors to me is so important.

So one of the other factors that's on that kind of emotional side is your connection with people, connection, with community, having that support around you.

And I know there's studies out there showing that the emotion of loneliness is more dangerous than smoking. Yeah. And it kills more people than smoking.

Yeah, so having that connection and being part of a community is so important for our health because we are essentially almost like a pack animal. I mean, we're meant to be with any community.

Absolutely. Yeah, this factor, the research is so compelling. And we actually have a research study that we refer to that says that having strong social support is more beneficial to your health than not smoking, not drinking, no having a healthy diet, and not exercising combined.

So they have researched that even if you do all of those things, If you have a strong social support system, you're going to have higher quality of life.

And that to me is so powerful. I also think about, every person on this earth at some point has felt lonely, or maybe they felt left out of a friend group, even if it's when you are 10 or 12 and you in middle school and at that stage of your life where everybody is trying to learn where they fit.

It's such a feeling everyone can identify with on some level. And if you think about that feeling and then you thing about when you do feel accepted and you feel the love from your family, your friends, you fell respected, are seen by your loved ones as who you really are authentically, that's so powerful.

It definitely counteracts that more lonely, alone stage. And I think that if we can tap into just even what those feelings feel like, back to the emotional piece, It just showcases how important that strong social support is and, you know, it's not always easy.

And I tell people, a lot of people lose friends after they have a diagnosis. They're friends that they really thought were showing up for them or would show up to them in a situation.

When the situation shows up, the friends don't because they had their own fear around what cancer means. what that could bring and the loss of their friend.

So there's a lot that goes on with that social support piece and development, the beauty when they do show up and sadness when the leave. And some people find themselves with a skeleton crew of what they used to have.

I always say you need to think about your healers are part of your social support team, right? You know, when you connect well with your Healer, you know I'm sure your patient dynamic is very different than someone that's going into a sterile hospital and getting eight minutes with their oncologist.

So you're part that you, Dr. Carfeld, are a part the social system in a way that we're hearing very deep aspects of these people's lives. They're sharing their fear and their joys and highs and lows with us.

And that's part of it. It doesn't have to be that you have a dinner party of 30 people that all think you're the greatest thing. So it really looks very different for everyone.

And if people are feeling that loneliness, the best thing you can do is say something to someone and let it out. Because the longer it's in your mind and it festers and grows on its own, it can create its' own animal.

But if you say it, It takes the power away a little bit. Some people are just natural and being able to have that community around them, but then there are other people where this is quite challenging.

They're introvert. They kind of go into themselves, you know, so, and you mentioned, say something, to give other people the opportunity to be able to step up, but obviously not feel like if they don't, then to feel, like they're bad people, by just kind giving the opportunities for people around you, without the fear of rejection.

Are there other pearls of wisdom that you could kind of bring forth that have seemed really helpful for people in a situation where they feel very isolated and alone?

Absolutely. You know, what's interesting is that we talk about two elements of this factor, right? As humans, we're really either good at giving help and guidance and support, or receiving help, guidance, and, support.

And culturally, you know we are told to be independent. We're told be self-sufficient. you know, provide a lot of accolades for people who have that. But ultimately, we are challenged as a culture with receiving.

And when you are under, you, know in cancer treatment and you're living with a big diagnosis like this, it's time to ask. If that means that you need to, ask a neighbor that, that if you've never met, if they could give you a ride or if, they can bring in your trash cans, something.

When you do that when, when allow someone in, then it fosters a sense of the ability to know them a little bit. You're not just gonna get in a car and drive to an appointment and not speak.

you're gonna be like, oh, how was your day? What are you doing? Oh, you are going on this vacation. Oh you have kids? oh you don't have kid? You learn about people and that's just little tiny nuggets that can come from opening the opportunity.

And we always like to repeat that When you give and how good it feels when you're able to support someone that you really love and you want to be there for them and they let you, it is such an amazing feeling.

And that really taps into that spiritual connection too. But when we don't ask. And we say, oh, no, I'm all right. It shuts the door. But even if you don't need someone to make you a meal, if they want to, say yes, because it allows them in.

And that feeling that you are gifting them, they deserve that too, right? They're people we love. They deserve to feel that ability to support us. I think that's a nice way to start thinking if your really alone and you're isolated, And again, it doesn't matter how many people you have in your circle.

It matters how people feel supported by. And if you only need one, that's okay. Sometimes we even say, you know, your pet could be all you had, right?

If people live really remotely and they don't have a neighbor or they have friends accessible, but they really love their pets, like they are, a dog or even a plant.

that they get up and they take care of it and see it grow and that's also kind of tapping into that purpose. We can touch base on that a little bit too, but utilizing pets for that love can also be a really powerful way to just feel that unconditional love because they're just kind always going to be like a baby.

Yeah, I mean, it's so important the point you're making in regards to allowing people then to give to you, kind of opening yourself up, because we know that studies are showing that a cancer personality type a lot of times are the ones that are always giving, always doing, and when you are in that giving-doing, you aren't receiving that much and not opening.

allowing other people to have that opportunity to give to you. So it is so, it doesn't mean that you shouldn't be caring, shouldn' be loving, but just kind of allowing people, to return the favor.

Yeah. Yes. And I'm sure that everyone offers a lot more support than they're willing to take. So I just, I welcome everyone to say yes. I love. Yeah, purpose.

Obviously we can go into diet, we go to exercise and herbs and that's why your program exists out there so that people can really dig into these different factors and get to know them a little bit more.

And I know you have coaching programs, obviously the book, Radical Remission and the follow-up book that exists that as resources for people who want to dig in deeper.

But let's touch about purpose because that seems to be also one of those really important factors because if people don't have something that drive them towards something, or have a reason for existing, then it's almost like the body then gets a programming saying that, well, if I don't have purpose or I have reason, why should I support this healing or fight this ugly battle that I'm dealing with right now?

Right, right. There's no hope in that. And Dr. Turner initially really described this well as kind of the opposite of depression. Because depression, you have no will to live.

With purpose, there is a will-to-live. there's a reason. It doesn't mean that's going to be necessarily the thing that heals you completely, but having it is part of this kind of greater shell of all of these different things, all these components that come together.

Purpose is an extremely powerful tool to help people stay in the present and stay focused on what they can control. and what they do want to do. And it looks so different.

It could be that, you know, some people have a job and they feel really connected to that being their purpose. Some people find parenting to be their purposes, being here for their kids and watching their milestones.

But not everybody has kids, right? And cancer is affecting people younger and younger. So how can we keep fostering purpose even to the young 20-something as their purpose, we need to have what I always call the North Star, right?

What is your North star? And some people, it's finishing a scrapbook or diving into their painting or prayer. There's something that gets everybody motivated in their own way.

And it's just tapping into what that is. And we obviously have some tools when we do the workshop and the coaching around how to help people find that.

But most often it is, who do you want in your life? Where do you want to live? What kinds of places do want travel? And you know, what do wanna be doing when you're there?

When you look at those three elements and really hone in on what that means to you, you can create a plan and maybe it feels scary to plan a trip. They maybe feel scary to plan a trip that requires a long flight.

But if you plan it, it gives you, you know, the joy of planning it sometimes is as fun as the trip itself. Just saying that the possibility is there, being open to the idea will allow you to think about the trips or maybe look at pictures of the place you want to go and all of that is positive.

So it's the little tiny baby steps we take toward that goal or that purpose that are the day-to-day part. Yeah, and I had a patient recently and they got this beautiful spot, beach spot to vacation spot that was really hard to get and there were so excited and the patient just wanted to be well enough to feel vital enough, to go on that trip and be on the beach and experience that moment.

That was the goal and that's the driver and so it doesn't have to these grandiose that I'm going to cure the world of this or make this phenomenal invention, it can just be, like you're saying, as simple as that.

Yeah, absolutely. And I think what I just heard you say, which I thing is really important, is you need to tell someone. You need tell your practitioner, I want to go to Japan.

How can I do that? And, you know, and I know I'm in treatment. I have low white blood cells. I know this. So, how can we make it happen? and let them in.

Again, part of that connection, that purpose, and that empowerment, masking and just letting someone know that that's part it. That's really important.

I never really thought about it that way, but I think saying it out loud helps. It helps kind of manifest if that is your thing. Yeah. It's a certain, I mean, the words have power and when we communicate it, it's like positive, you know, pass positive affirmations.

Yeah, they do have a power when they shift energy. And sometimes even if we don't feel it and we can't think it by saying it we're starting to then reprogramming ourselves and then our body starts to, then kind of move in that direction.

Exactly. Yep. Well, yeah, we, obviously we can talk for days about all these different things. I love it. Yeah. So where do people start? I mean, how did they find you and what can they expect, you know, by being part of the radical remission community?

Yeah, you know, one thing I didn't mention, which I think deserves saying out loud is, so Dr. Turner created a workshop back in the day. She wrote the book, Radical Remission.

It talks about the factors in book and since then has evolved to a work shop that people can take. And what we do is we look at each factor We spend about an hour on a factor each.

Sometimes it's a weekend workshop, sometimes it is virtually, you know, over the course of 10 hours, but we look at each factor. We look Dr. Turner's research, we looked at supporting scientific evidence that is in medical journals that supports it.

we talk about a healing story from someone from her research or our coach community that has used this factor really powerfully in their healing. And then we do an activity around how do we get this into your own life.

So that workshop caught the eye of researchers at Harvard years ago, and it started a process where they actually researched our workshop. And it took a while, but here we are in five-ish years later, maybe more.

This past year, it got published in a medical journal, And what it showed was people who took the workshop, they were interviewed before they took it.

after they took it, one month after and six months after. And what they showed, the research after being analyzed showed was the quality of life improved at, I think, 7.7% after one months.

But then at six month mark, it was almost 11%. So again, It's not like this. It is not a, you know, immediately overnight healing. it's a very slow gradual pace.

but if you think about the fact that, and the researchers said they were surprised at 6 months that it still going up. They weren't sure because, you know, it's a workshop.

People do stuff like this all the time, and do they take away from it? And the fact that at that six-month mark, we're still going in that long-term positive growth is so incredibly powerful.

So I love that we can share that about this workshop and workshops like it that have these, lifestyle interventions. They're so important. So that's one way to connect with radical remission.

We have our podcast, the Stories that Heal podcast that you are on. And we encourage everyone to check out the episode with Dr. Karlfeld. Again, in there, we talk to people who are radical-remission survivors and people have healed five or more of their own radical permission cases in their work.

And then recently, just this summer, we have a new e-book that's come out. So if you join our mailing list, you can get this free ebook to be delivered right into your inbox, and it shows you two tips on each factor.

There's ways to embody this into our life. If you're kind of an eBook person and you like that, I invite you to sign up for the mailing lists to get that.

And we also just started a Thriver membership. So we do have a community where if you're not ready to dip into the whole workshop or you've taken something like that and you just want that consistent connection with people that are like-minded and radical remission minded people, I always say forward thinking inspired thrivers describes them.

And we five classes a month and those classes are more I would say around the emotional, spiritual and mental factors. So it gives people that opportunity to connect in a very positive way.

It's not a support group, it's just connection, community. There's a little education in there, opportunities to connected with our coaches. And then again, beyond that, we do have one-on-one coaching.

On our website, radicalremission.com, anybody can go there and check out our events, they can check out our coaching, and they check this new membership.

They can sign up for the newsletter and get the ebook. So radicalremission.com is probably the hot spot where I kind of leave everybody. And if they're social media fans, you can find us at Radical Remission on Facebook and Instagram.

Yeah, so there are lots of ways to plug in, depending on the individual's comfort level and just to kind of reinforce the Harvard study that it keeps going up.

I mean, these principles, the 10 principles. These are not like you learn them one day and now you've learned them. It is a forever journey, a refinement of each principle.

And so it becomes a lifelong study almost to perfect, to move in the direction of perfection of these principles. Each thing that you are then implementing obviously take you that much closer to well-being and health.

Yeah, so just celebrating then each thing that you're incorporating when you are incorporating it. And so that's what I love about your program. So, well, Liz, it's always such a pleasure.

Thank you so much for what you doing and for being offered. I know you, you one of the co-directors of Radical Remission. This is something that is dear to your heart and you helping so many people.

Yeah, thanks so much for having me and I very much appreciate being part of the summit. Thank you. Stay connected, stay healthy, and join us next time on Doctor Talks, real talks from real doctors on the issues that matter to you most.