My Experience at The Truth About Cancer Ultimate Live Symposium

On a typical Sunday night back in August, a friend on Facebook posted a link to The Truth About Cancer website, where details were starting to trickle out in regards to a live event which was purported to be one of the biggest in the history of natural healing. Forty experts – many of whom I’ve been following for a number of years – were scheduled to present their best information in the area of cancer prevention and reversal, using natural approaches.

Now, I know there’s no shortage of natural minded conferences going on across the country, including the massive annual conferences put on by doTERRA and Young Living here in my home state of Utah which draw in tens of thousands of attendees – BUT – there was something about The Truth About Cancer Ultimate Live Symposium that struck a chord.

There was one particular statement about the event made by Ty Bollinger that resonated deeply within me. “I’ve gone on my quest – now it’s time for you to go on yours.” In Ty’s groundbreaking documentary series “The Quest for the Cures” he traveled the globe to interview the leading doctors, experts, and survivors on the subject of alternative cancer care.  Now I would have the opportunity to learn from those same doctors live and in person, and potentially even meet some of them and ask them questions of my own.

Having lost two of my own sisters to cancer, and having a brother who is currently dealing with late stage colon cancer – it’s an understatement to say that I have some “skin in the game”.  My desire to find meaning and purpose in the deaths of my sisters? Fierce. My desire to encourage and support my brother in any way that I can? Fierce. My desire to prevent cancer from striking myself or anyone else in my family? You guessed it.. Fierce. Yes, it was indeed time for me to go on my own quest.

Budgetary constraints and introverted, homebody tendencies be damned! Sometimes you’ve just got to go – and go I did.

From the moment that I stepped foot in the massive Gaylord Texan Hotel & Convention Center – I knew big, Texas-sized things were going to happen within the colossal halls of that structure. After hopping on and off two giant escalators, I found the registration desk and received a goodie bag and a badge.

I then noticed that there was a line of several dozen people waiting to meet Ty and his wife Charlene. Ah hah! This was the perfect opportunity to give them the custom gift that I put together to express my gratitude for all the work that they’ve done to further a cause that is so important to myself, as well as to millions of others. Plus they just seem like genuinely awesome people and I would like nothing more than to be their friend.

I also put together a similar gift for nine of the other presenters that I am most appreciative to for their contributions to the field. I’ve gleaned so much value from these people over the years and wanted to offer something of value in return. Sometimes a simple handshake and a ‘thank you’ just doesn’t seem like enough. Many of these people have suffered ridicule from their peers, or even harsh legal persecution because of their willingness to step outside of the confines of conventional medicine in order to better address the needs of their patients – and for this I consider them to be heroes. Thus a concept was born and I worked with an artist to have each of these individuals drawn in a comic book style; then I attributed superpowers to them based upon their area of specialization.

Here’s how they turned out:

As I approached Ty and Charlene, I excitedly held out the 5×7″ framed comic book portrait of them and asked “Do these people look familiar?” I was delighted when a giant grin and a laugh emerged from both of them – it was a hit! We talked for a moment and exchanged words of gratitude, then took a picture together.

As if the evening couldn’t get any better, my favorite radio show host Robert Scott Bell – who does a two hour program discussing natural healing and liberty – was setting up and preparing to broadcast live. I’ve been listening to his show almost daily for two or three years, so I essentially considered him to be a dear friend that I simply hadn’t met in person yet. I know, I know.. I can hear the “Stalker Alert!” bells sounding in your head – but don’t worry – he was happy to return the giant hug that I gave him and he was gracious enough to let me hang out at his make shift broadcasting booth while he did his live show. In fact, he even let me put on a headset to tell the listeners a quick story about how Ionic Silver helped me beat a stomach bug a week earlier. Nice!

I didn’t intend to, but by hanging out at Robert’s booth for the duration of the two hour show I had inadvertently stayed well past the attendee registration period and the VIP event for presenters only was now underway. Whoops! I felt a bit awkward once I’d realized what had happened, but Ty and Charlene were so gracious about it and came up to me to say thanks again for the gift, snapped another photo with me, and even offered to introduce me to some of the presenters. Those two are a real class act and as genuine as can be! Even in the midst of 1499 other people attending the symposium that weekend, they managed to remember my name after just one introduction and made me feel great about being there.

As the party finally came to a close around 10pm, I helped Robert pack up his booth and then I headed to my hotel room. I heated up some water in the microwave (ahhh! I hate using microwaves, but I was desperate!), mixed up some instant oatmeal and hemp seeds in a paper bowl and plopped down on the sofa to reflect on what an incredible night it was. I know how dorky it must sound to the uninitiated, but for someone as passionate about natural health as I am, hanging out with Ty, Charlene, Robert, and a number of other heroes of mine was akin to a TV fan hanging out with the cast of their favorite show, or a sports fan hanging out with their favorite team.

I was blessed to have the opportunity to talk with more than a dozen of my favorite experts throughout the weekend, and as cliche as it sounds, I began to realize that they are just “regular” people like you and I, trying their best to have a positive impact on the world. It was quite cool to see many of them sitting (or standing, in the case of Dr. Mercola) throughout the crowd with the attendees during the various presentations, taking notes and furthering their educations just like the rest of us.

I was genuinely touched by the fact that almost every single presenter at the symposium could be found standing in the lobby areas and hallways after events, generously offering their expertise and encouragement to the swarms of attendees. I overheard one person say “You’ve been standing in the same spot for more than three hours!” to Chris Wark (ChrisBeatCancer.com) and it’s because he was there pouring his heart out to anyone that wanted to talk with him.

I also feel compelled to give Dr. Nuzem, Dr. Jockers, Dr. Buttar, Dr. Pai, Dr. Wolfson, Mike Adams, and A.j. Lanigan special recognition for the countless hours that I witnessed them ministering to attendees. Notice how I said ministering? That’s a particularly fitting word, because I can’t help but feel that the entire weekend was a profoundly spiritual experience.

I saw doctors embracing attendees and I saw attendees embracing other attendees, praying for one another and exchanging words of encouragement and hope. I would need more than two hands to count the number of presenters that preached (yes preached) on the importance of having a relationship with the Lord. Dr. Eric Z offered an especially poignant message of faith – reading numerous Bible verses on hope and healing in his presentation titled “Beat Cancer God’s Way”. I nearly became teary eyed when Dr. Z and Dr. Jockers had anyone in need of prayer come up to the front of the room so that they could be ministered to.

As a side note, I’m always amazed when I consider the correlation between faith and natural healing. I suppose that this shouldn’t be surprising though, considering that a good measure of faith is required for a relationship with the Lord, as well as for overcoming a disease naturally. While the world bows down to the altar of “science” and all but worships the patented man made chemicals that are continually burned upon that altar; a growing number of people of faith are trusting that God has provided miraculous healing resources through his creation and that he cares for and honors those who seek him while in the throes of their darkest tribulation. Does conventional medicine have it’s place? Absolutely – though I would argue that we would generally be better served if the Emergency Room was the only portion of the hospital that was utilized on a routine basis. In other words, I believe that conventional medicine excels at acute trauma, but largely fails at treating chronic disease through the life-long suppression of symptoms. Am I generalizing? Sure – but I do believe the trends are there.

Did I mention how great it was to be around so many like minded people? There were people from around the world, and yet we all spoke the same language – health-nut-ese. It was possible to walk up to just about anyone and have a passionate and meaningful conversation with them, simply by asking “So what motivated you to attend this event?”

Another bonus? I didn’t have to worry about packing any essential oils around, because there were plenty of people sitting around me who were applying the oils to themselves. A healthy and free whiff of Frankincense? Don’t mind if I do!

Getting back to the presentations themselves, I was blown away by the sheer quantity and quality of information being dished out. The effect of nutritional phytochemicals on the process of angiogenesis? You’ve got it. The role of a Ketogenic Diet in starving out cancerous cells due to their propensity to be obligate glucose metabolizers? Check. The basic easy to grasp essentials needed to live a healthier life? No problem. The impact that emotions have on developing or reversing cancer? You better believe it. Oh, and that mildly controversial topic of vaccines? Dr. Andrew Wakefield himself was there to share his views on the subject.

Being that there were forty different presenters, there was no shortage of information being exchanged and I was extremely happy to learn that us attendees will be receiving a copy of all the presentations. You can purchase a copy of your own by visiting The Truth About Cancer website, and I genuinely believe that you’ll get a tremendous amount of value out of it.

Though I can honestly say that I thoroughly enjoyed every presentation that I attended, these were a few of my absolute favorites. Bare in mind that because there were oftentimes three presentations going on at a time, there are still many presentations that I haven’t seen yet and I may update this list once I’ve had a chance to watch the Symposium in its entirety:

Cancer Killers- Getting to the Cause is the Only “Cure”! – Dr. Charles Majors
Unlock the Power to Heal: Your Gut Mission – Dr. Robert Scott Bell
Nutrition vs. Cancer – Chris Wark
7 Advanced Strategies for Healing Cancer Naturally – Dr. Josh Axe
Healing with Hydrogen ~ Paul Barattiero
Beat Cancer God’s Way ~ Dr Eric Zielinski

Just as quickly as it had all begun, the Ultimate Live Symposium had come to a conclusion. It was remarkable to see how jam packed the 1500 seat auditorium was during the closing ceremony. I don’t think I’m alone in saying that I was enjoying myself so thoroughly that I would have happily attended another three days of presentations.

Once the symposium was over, I sat quietly in my hotel room reflecting on what a life changing experience it had been and how grateful I was to have been part of history. I turned the TV on, but almost immediately turned it off again; not wanting to ruin the love, peace, and gratitude that filled my heart. I instead took to my knees in prayer and thanked the Lord for giving me the opportunity to be part of such a special event. As Robert Scott Bell would say:  “The Vitamin L” (Vitamin Love) was definitely flowing.