This is from blog/entry/06-30-2009/Chemo-vs-MonaVie/45
About Don
Don Wilhelm, author of This Time's a Charm and a 4-time cancer survivor, shares his knowledge and experiences with cancer through his Website.
June 30, 2009
Many of you who follow my normal blogs, Facebook posts or tweets on Twitter, know that something different has been happening for me lately with my chemo treatments. Well, to clarify, nothing has changed with the treatments themselves, but I’ve made one small change in my routine that has me screaming up and down with excitement! I’m going to attempt to fully detail this change, my excitement, and a recommendation for an unbelievable opportunity for all of us.
On June 3, 2009 my wife brought home a bottle of MonaVie. Someone in her work world, that is aware of my regular treatments, suggested that I try it to see if it could make chemo more tolerable. MonaVie is a juice made of 19 fruits, the most prominent being the Acai (Ah-Sigh-EE) berry. This berry has been everywhere in the news for the last couple of years or so, though I’ve never really paid much attention to the hoopla. Oprah and Dr. Oz called it “The World’s #1 Superfood!” Being someone who takes his health extremely seriously, I was more than just a little embarrassed that I had let this health discovery slip right past me.
The Acai berry grows at the top of palm trees in the northern end of the Brazilian rainforest. Given the extremely harsh Amazonian conditions it grows in, the plant has evolved protection for itself through the production of enormous amounts of antioxidants. Tested against cranberries and blueberries, the acai berry has over 10 times their antioxidant amounts. In fact, the acai berry has the highest antioxidant score of any food ever tested! It’s simply off the charts. There are many additional healthy things now credited to this berry as well, but for the sake of this blog, that’s enough info to follow my story.
As Amy gave me the bottle of MonaVie to examine, she also mentioned that there’s an opportunity to sell the product and make a lot of money as well.
“Oh brother,” I said. “Let me guess…multi-level marketing, right?” Let me tell you, I’ve never, ever, ever considered, even remotely, becoming involved with what is now know as “Network Marketing.” But for some odd reason, that day, I simply filed the info away in my mind and focused on the bottle of juice in my hands.
After being tremendously surprised at how good the juice tasted, I reflected on my readers and what they might think about me suggesting this juice. You see, my role as a cancer author carries a weighty obligation. I will never be able to explain that obligation better than a recent post one of my amazing readers put on my Facebook page:
”Don, I just wanted to let you know that my friend, whom I bought your book for, has been given 2 weeks. His liver has started to bleed and the hospital has sent him home to be with his wife and 2 boys. Your book will probably be the last that he reads, but he wanted me to thank you. We have all noticed a real change in his demeanor that has transferred his angst and attitude into one of peaceful hope.”
I commented to Amy.“I have an immeasurable responsibility to my readers not to “pitch” products. My goal is to help as many cancer patients, survivors and loved ones as I can in my lifetime. That being said, I HAVE to keep an open mind to something that can boast this strong of a health content. I know what I’m going to do. If this juice is such an animal when it comes to cleaning up free radicals in the body, I’m going to put it to the ultimate test. I’m gonna put it up against chemo!”
So that’s exactly what I did. My next chemotherapy appt with Dr. Jeff was June 10. Prior to leaving my house, I took a normal dose of the MonaVie juice. When I came home from chemo, I took another dose. And finally, just before going to bed, I took a third dose.
The next morning, I woke up about 2 hours earlier than I normally do following chemo. I was feeling pretty alright. However, I wasn’t willing to give the juice any credit yet at this point. Not by a long ways. But I did take the recommended 4 oz. throughout the next few days, as recommended.
Thursday came and went. Friday came and went. Saturday came and went. But the confounding thing was that I didn’t feel like I had had chemo. To clarify, I mean I experienced ZERO side effects. For those that don’t know my story, this is my fifth time with lymphoma. I’ve been having chemo for almost 10 years, on and off, at this point. Suffice it to say, I know chemo side effects. I dare say few know them better than I.
Amy and I were at a loss as we tried to reconcile what we both had just witnessed. “Are you sure they put chemo in the I.V. bag this week? Maybe they messed up?” she questioned out loud.
“I seriously doubt it, but something strange is going on here. Let’s not say anything to anyone and I’m just going to repeat the test again next week.”
We agreed. We had to rule out some sort of “fluke” explanation.
So on June 17th, I went in to Dr. Jeff’s office for my next chemo treatment. I used the identical protocol with MonaVie that I had the previous week. To our amazement, I got the exact same results!
Let me paint you a picture of what June 18, 19, 20 and 21 held for me. That weekend Amy and I were having a humungous garage sale to raise some cash and get rid of many duplicate items that we had brought back from the cottage we used to own. The sale was from 10a.m.-4p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Thursday, the day after chemo, I spent approximately 7 hours doing presale sorting, pricing, arranging and rearranging. Friday was the same thing, and we were up till 1a.m. finishing all the last-minute pricing.
Saturday morning we got up at 6a.m., knowing that most folks pay zero attention to advertised garage sale hours and they just start showing up whenever they want. We were not even done setting everything up when our first customer walked in around 7:30a.m. Throughout the day Saturday, we had over 200 customers! I lifted, ran, slid, carried and grunted heavy sale items for 11.5 hours. Sunday, we had approximately the same amount of customers show up and we repeated the previous day, this time for 12.5 hours!
I’m not at all trying to brag, but I need to make my point very strongly here in favor of MonaVie. Who else do you know that received chemotherapy on a Wednesday afternoon and then enjoyed a weekend like I just described? We were simply floored by the confirming results.
I pondered what this miracle juice could mean to my friends, my family, and cancer patients everywhere. I got choked up over dinner as I tried to count how many chemo treatments I have had to have without MonaVie. It was a bittersweet thought. But eventually I settled on feeling blessed that at least I’ve found it now and I will never be without it again. “I have to share this with the world Amy!” She just nodded; she already knew that would be the case.