FOR CLARA ...

Today is a special and very important day to me. I don't think I have ever been this personal on our blog Ohlalaparis.com since I have started to share the fun parts of our lives for over a year and a half now.

Clara is a friend of ours. She has been battling cancer for more than 2 years now. All the treatments, mutilating surgeries, radiotherapy and powerful chemotherapy ... haven't cured her yet. The new chemotherapy she is about to have will have to be even stronger because she has become chemo-resistant. Unfortunately, today her immune system is getting weaker with each chemo.

The solution for Clara today is a clinic in India - www.ayushatki.com - that uses a proven therapy and has excellent results. The session lasts 5 weeks and she needs to finance her first trip for May. Clara and her husband have created a site - clara.wells.fr - where all your visits would be more than welcome. The support and love you can show to our friend would also be an incredible thing for us.

We have to help Clara to fight against this dreaded disease that affects women all over the world as best we can. We thank you in advance for any assistance you are able to offer at this difficult time.

Thank you all for your support to our friend. It is really important to us and even more so to her.

Love,
Alek & Steph
Your hosts
www.ohlalaparis.com

Income earned from the sponsors we have at Ohlala for the month of March will go directly to Clara, so a big thanks to them who also participate to this venture.

CLARA'S SITE

Comments

[vincenzo]

Anyway she's very lucky having real friends like you next to her!

All my best to Clara and her family!

God bless you.

Vincy

[Stosine]

The link www.ayushatki.com does not seem to work. Have you spelled it right? I would like to do a google search to find out more. With the present spelling, nothing comes up on google at all. If this place is legitimate, and if as you say it "uses a proven therapy and has excellent results" why is there nothing at all on the internet about it? That is why I think perhaps you have mis-spelled the site.

My heart goes out to your friend. I hope that she is being very careful to investigate this place, however. India is rife with medical quackery. I realize that when a person is losing a battle with cancer that they will grab onto anything.

This web site -
http://www.indianngos.com/issue/cancer/resources/faqs91-100.htm
says this:
"How can I tell a quack from a reputable physician?"
- If a person advertises a cure, guarantees a cure, or employs a method of diagnosis or treatment not generally accepted or endorsed by the medical profession, may he classed as a quack. No reputable, ethical physician will do any of these things.
and
"Why are quacks dangerous?"
- For the following reasons, among others:
Few quacks are medically trained; therefore, they have no fundamental knowledge about cancer.
They cause the patient to lose valuable time that should be used to obtain correct treatment.
The pastes and "medicines" used by quacks have no value in curing cancer.
The quack takes the patient's money under false pretenses, thus depriving him of the means for obtaining competent treatment in time to enable him or her to be cured.

[rod]

Aww, thanks for sharing. I will go to Clara's site. She must stay strong as long as she can, my father and several uncles were lost to cancer. She is very lucky to have such wonderful friends.

[Ted]

The k & the t are transposed in the url. It is www.akushakti.com.

Stosine, I am sure that you are well intentioned, but the woman is "chemo-resistant". Any hope is better than no hope. Also, as someone who was actually cured by a "quack paste" I have more faith in folk medicine than I do in the various poisons that the AMA and their counterparts in other countries push on the public.

I had a tumor on my shoulder under the skin. My doctor wanted me to start chemo and maybe radiation. I told him "no". I had watched my father & my best friend fight cancer for years thru chemo & radiation & surgery. I vowed that I wouldn't do that to myself. I bought a "black salve" over the internet (the FDA here in the US has since raided the place and shut them down), and applied it to my shoulder. The tumor turned green (like a copper penny), died, and my body literally rejected it. I followed that up with a homemade tonic, and I have been cancer free for over a year now. Much to the chagrin of my doctor. Both of those things made me sick, but it was so mild in comparison to chemo & radiation. I didn't lose my hair, and I didn't lose any more than a few sick days from work.

Two books that I found helpful were "Cancer Salves" by Ingrid Naiman, and "Herbal Medicine, Healing & Cancer" by Donald Yance.

[Wynand]

Dear Steph & Alek

I am sad to hear about Clara.

My best friend is loosing her Mother to cancer. They have tried all the therapies, pills and potions that modern medicine can offer, but it is clear to my friend that they are not winning. Daily, I witness my friend’s sadness increase as she despairs about the unavoidable outcome.

Before this I have lost, and nearly lost, many friends and family members to cancer and I can understand Clara’s position to pursue all options. What I have learned is that therapies may focus on the physical, but there is a lot to be said for trying, striving, hoping and fighting. Clara’s journey may be so much more that a journey to India to find a cure. I hope that she embarks on a journey that is personally meaningful to her - in my view that is reason enough for her to go.

Good luck and my best wishes to Clara and everyone who loves her.

Wynand

[Julius]

I am so sorry to hear this. I lost all four of my grandparents to cancer.

Stay strong, Clara!

[Stosine]

>> Any hope is better than no hope <<

That's exactly the attitude that enables cancer cure quacks to flourish. They are the most evil people on Earth, taking advantage of other's desperatation.

[Stosine]

Unfortunately for your friend, a quick and easy google search reveals multiple articles about the quackery of the "Ayurveda treatment" promoted by http://www.ayushakti.com/
Here's just one of them:
http://www.quackwatch.org/04ConsumerEducation/chopra.html
The clinic in India has all the clasic signs of fraud and quackery, claiming to cure everything from memory loss to Alzheimers to cancer. These evil people who pray on the suffering of others should be thrown in jail.

[Vikram]

This is going to make absolutely no difference to your friend's treatment, but I would like to vouch from Bombay that, from my dealings with them, the Ayushakti Centre is a decent place. One may or may not accept the validity of ayurvedic treatment - I lean to the sceptical myself - but the people at Ayushakti seem to be dedicated and sincere and, for what its worth, gay friendly.

I know this since the group I'm associated with, Gaybombay, received real help from the Centre some time back. One of its managers at that time was a gay German guy who got in touch with our group and helped us by offering the use of their hall for film screenings of queer themed films (NOT porn) that we would have had problem finding a venue for at that time. Since then we've moved on to more convenient venues - Ayushakti is a bit far out for most people - but we're still grateful for that support then.

Since then I think the centre has been working with another group of queer men, exploring the use of ayurveda in the treatment of HIV/AIDS. Again, when I heard about this, all my alarm bells went off since there are quacks in plenty here in India who claim to have ayurvedic 'cures' for HIV/AIDS. I checked with our friend and he told me that they were only looking at ways of increasing the body's overall health to make it better capable of fighting opportunistic infections. Ayurveda does have such a holistic approach in general and so this seems to me a valid approach in this case, as long as they are not claiming to 'cure' the disease and my friend assured me they were not.

I do not know if this can help your friend - I hope so -but it may be some comfort to know that the centre is decent, in fact its an unexpectedly serene and well designed place in the middle of a fairly uninspiring suburb of Bombay (nothing wrong with it, just dull). And if you're coming to visit her, get in touch since I'd be happy to introduce you to Bombay's gay scene, in return for your very entertaining site,

best

Vikram

[Clara]

Hello to you all,
Steph and Alek just gave me the link to their site and I thought I ought to pay a visit. I really didn't think my case would bring so much debate. I wanna thank you all for your concern, your support.
If you look around it is rare to meet a family who hasn't been touched by cancer and I guess this is why so many people can relate to my situation.
I also wanted to let you know that I don't believe in miracle cures, I'm way passed that. Ayurveda is a proven medicine, it's been around for thouthands of years. It just has a different approach, a different way to treat a human being. They don't see a body they see a human being, with a mind, a soul, a body of course, and emotions...
When I got sick I started questioning myself. Healing is a real journey, and sometimes it's a long process. I've learned to make my own decision regarding my health, my life! I've stopped kidding myself, modern medicine is wonderful but also has its limits (otherwise everybody would be cured, wouldn't they?)
I read that some of you are sceptical, and it's normal, when faced with a disease you're entrusting someone with your life, but the problem is that nobody questions modern medicine and people get treated blindly just because the doctor said so. No questionning, no doubts. To heal one has to take his life and treatment in charge.I really believe that behaving as a lamb doesn't won't cure you.
To finish I'd like to share a lil joke with you: What is the difference between God and a great surgeon?
God doesn't think he's a surgeon!
Thanks again for your support, and caring thoughts
Clara