By Dr Craig Oster 

A few weeks ago, my amazing Mother told me that her cancer doctor told her that the aggressive cancerous tumor in her lung shrunk 70% in such a short time, and that he said that just doesn’t happen. He then went on to say something about how that made him a great radiation doctor. When my Mother told him how she was diligently employing everything she learned about healing from me about using the mind, he did not appear to perceive this as relevant to the tumor shrinking nor did he express any curiosity in hearing more from my mother about this. Even though he was the one who said that such changes never happen, the thought that the patient’s mind could result in such a healing seemed beyond his conceptual framework.

Before examining my topic, I would like to express gratitude for this doctor for his care of my Mother. He does appear to be quite good at what he does, although I wish my Mother would have had access to insulin potentiated treatment (IPT) form of chemotherapy. IPT targets the tumor instead of affecting the whole body.

My Mother almost died and was told that she would die of cancer and that the only question was when she would die from it. When she told me the prognosis she was given, I immediately shouted, “That is bullshit!” as if I was intending to catch and snap the curse of a dark belief arrow that the doctors from another hospital had earlier shot at the heart and mind of my beloved Mother. I am a warrior of healing, and I reacted instantaneously with fierce emotional energy to attempt to break any doctor-induced prognostic hypnotic trance that may have resulted from the poisonous statement that was shot at my Mother.

I felt some relief when my Mother immediately responded to my statement by saying, “I knew you would say that, Craig.” I could hear from the tone of her voice that she found some comfort in having an image of me with my belief in and knowledge of healing possibilities. I will not go into all of the painful to hear details, other than to say that a tumor was crushing her windpipe and throat with severe consequences.

I relayed this story to Dr Bernie Siegel, a member of my THE HEALERS campaign advisory team. Bernie is a very important part of history, in terms of being an innovative medical doctor who really does healing work with people who have a cancer condition. He said, “Doctors don’t make sense. They say to a patient, “You are doing well. Keep it up, whatever you are doing,” instead of saying, “You are doing well, so tell me what you are doing and I can share it with other patients.””

My Mother’s doctor missed an important opportunity. If only he had been interested in learning from his 67-year-old hard-working waitress; my Mother likely understands much more than he regarding utilizing the mind and the heart in the service of healing. My Mother has learned so much through my healing journey, at some depth; she has many of my recommended books and has listened to CDs on healing over and over and over, a strategy that has been critical in my healing. My Mother now is also making dietary changes to prevent recurrent cancer. Do you think that the doctors believe that dietary practices can do this for my Mother? Another missed opportunity to learn from a patient. One of my goals is to utilize the platform of THE HEALERS campaign to educate the next generation of medical doctors regarding learning from patients and encouraging them to mobilize the healing power within them.

Doctors, it is essential that you really learn to listen to your patients, and do not curse them with declarative statements that they have no chance of healing. Similarly, it is important that integrative medicine doctors do not shoot authoritative statements at patients indicating that the patient will die unless they follow the doctor’s approach. I also experienced this, with some astonishment, in the case of my Mother.

If you are a doctor or any other type of healer, please be specific about your own experiences yet I believe that you are rarely if ever justified in making your prognostic declarations in a way that will be heard by the patient as definitive. Patients do oftentimes internalize the pronouncements of medical doctors as authoritative. Fortunately, my Mother has internalized many images of me grabbing and snapping poisonous prognostic dark arrows shot at me by many and the medical establishment and those under its spell, beginning on August 16, 1994 when I was told I would absolutely die from Lou Gehrig’s disease and that there was absolutely nothing in my power that could slow, stop or reverse the death sentence.

I am happy that my Mother has found strength from my healing journey, yet I want to be clear that over all of the years since my diagnosis with ALS that my Mother has been resolute in declaring I would heal. She has relentlessly visualized this with intense feeling. I could write a book about how my Mother has helped me win with ALS. She is truly my biggest hero. I had a brief time of serious doubt when I was in hospice three years ago experiencing suffocation. My Mother also had a brief time of doubt, but then authoritatively declared that I must heal and that I would heal. My Mother’s intensive work on praying, visualizing and claiming my healing has been very powerful for me; she would say that she knew I would heal, and her confidence gave me much strength and it’s a gift from God.

Although my Mother admires me as a healer, I pray that one day she fully realizes what a remarkable healer she has been for me. Perhaps, it will take my healing journey being on the big screen, with Meryl Streep playing my Mother, in order for this humble and down-to-earth woman to realize the magnitude of what she has given me. Doctors may, and ought to, learn from such persons.

With Love and Gratitude,

Dr Craig

Craig Oster, PhD

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