Grace Gawler Media Blog Website

The Fallacy Of Relying On Anecdotes In Medicine
As someone who was intimately involved in the Gawler story as a 24/7 carer , then former wife of Ian Gawler (1974-1997); the recent publication in the IMJ (Internal medicine Journal) by Haines and Lowenthal came as a relief and a surprise. When assiting them with accurate timelines and dates from Ian’s previously published material – and my MJA 2010 corrections paper – they made an important discovery.

Quite simply, Ian’s diagnosis of metastases in December 1975 was a presumption, based on one previous biopsy (Jan 1975) which resulted in a full amputation of  his  right leg. It was a horrendous time for both of us – he was 24, I was 21 years of age. I was his his sole carer-married him when he given weeks to live and saw him through dark and difficult days.

 It is a a great pity that this current scientific reappraisal of what likely happened to Ian medically, has been promoted by his own ‘Out on a limb’ blog as a personal attack. Clearly the IMJ authors are seeking the truth because they, like my institute, see the groundswell of patients dissatified with modern medicine and looking for another way - diet, meditation and positive thinking, especially if appears to be rock solid, sounds like a much better option! We all hear cancer patients saying: “If Ian can do it – then so can I”: often foregoing conventional treatment. So if indeed Ian had advanced TB and not metastatic cancer – and if the numbers of cancer patients depending on that information are rising; even though many years have passed, isn’t it in the public interest to know. A question I always had; if Ian had successfully meditated his cancer away – then why did his TB remain?  And……..What about Meares report?

 When Ainslie Meares reported Ian’s story in 1978 in the MJA – there was one missing piece to the puzzle – Meares did not know Ian had been dignosed with advanced TB in June 1978 . Meares had written and submitted the abstract when the calcifications on Ian’s Chest disappeared – he too presumed the growths had been metastatic cancer – in the absence of  knowledge about the TB. However, undiagnosed and ignored ‘shadows’ on earlier lung x-rays - evident in February 1976 showed unusual markings on his lung - I remember we asked the radiation oncologist about this shadowy aberration on the x-rays and he was quite dismissive. Meares met Ian Gawler for the first time in December 1975 and then Ian began sessions January – mid February 1976.

After Meares and Gerson diet: Mid March 1976 – Ian Gawler

Meares sessions failed to assist Ian – he rapidly  deteriorated and was close to death with hydroneprosis of his right kidney and  unrelenting lower back pain,     sciatica and  exhaustion.  Weight loss was also associated with the intensive Gerson Diet. 

With current knowledge and the luxury of reviewing the entire timeline of his illness; these were not typical symptoms of osteogenic sarcoma secondaries – but more that of Tuberculosis! There is no “Spanish Inquisition” just a search for accuracy and truth.

The material below is reproduced from Science-Based Medicine  It is provided in the public interest to assist with understanding the complexities that surround the 2012 Haines & Lowenthal IMJ report.

January 6th, 2012 by Steve Novella, M.D. in Opinion, True Stories

Dr. Ian Gawler, a veterinarian, suffered from osteogenic sarcoma (a form of bone cancer) of the right leg when he was 24 in 1975. Treatment of the cancer required amputation of the right leg. After completing treatment he was found to have lumps in his groin. His oncologist at the time was confident this was local spread from the original cancer, which is highly aggressive. Gawler later developed lung and other lesions as well, and was given 6 months to live due to his metastatic disease.

Gawler decided to embark on an alternative treatment regimen, involving coffee enemas, a vegetarian diet, and meditation. Eventually he was completely cured of his terminal metastatic cancer. He has since become Australia’s most famous cancer survivor, promoting his alternative approach to cancer treatment, has published five books, and now runs the Gawler Foundation.

At least, that is the story he believes. There is one major problem with this medical tale, however – while the original cancer was confirmed by biopsy, the subsequent lesions were not. His oncologist at the time, Dr. John Doyle, assumed the new lesions were metastatic disease and never performed a biopsy. It was highly probable – the timing and the location of the new lumps following a highly aggressive cancer. But even a diagnosis that is 95% likely will be wrong in 1 patient out of 20 – which means a working physician will have patients with the 5% diagnosis about once a week. The standard of practice today would be to do a biopsy to get tissue confirmation of the diagnosis, and rule out the less likely alternatives.

Recently oncologists Ian E. Haines and Ray M. Lowenthal published a paper in which they advance a plausible alternative theory to the story Gawler has been telling for 30 years. Continue reading →