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Issy and the Spider Leg “You requested that I look into Dr. Revici’s treatment of cancer. This I did, and find it far beyond my wildest expectations…. His results are amazing…” Louis E. Burns, M.D., 1955
“We can cure this disease if we can get a national effort behind it” Sam Donaldson, ABC News, 1996, in an interview with Larry King about cancer.
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wo weeks before little Issy was taken to see Emanuel Revici, M.D., in Manhattan, her doctors at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) had estimated she had two or three weeks left to live. Five hundred thousand dollars of prior medical treatments had not cured her because a grapefruit-sized tumor pressed against the fouryear-old’s large intestine and liver. Meanwhile, the malignant growth had sprouted a six-foot predatory spider leg that wrapped itself around her spine. In addition, one of her chemotherapy sessions at CHOP had injured her kidneys and bladder, according to her father, Vernon Morin.
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The Morins were cautioned by Issy’s doctors that their daughter would probably die a painful death, although they would prescribe some narcotics to try to reduce her pain. V ernon said the only “good” news they had to offer was that the end would come quickly. Her parents would not give up, however. Two days after starting Dr. Revici’s treatment, Issy’s pain disappeared, so she no longer needed any pain killers. The first office visit cost less than $200. The medicine was free. Issy spent that summer playing and swimming in the river behind her parent’s home. As her treatment continued, she gained weight, began to grow, returned to preschool, and started ballet classes. Her sweet and playful disposition returned as well. After nine months of Revici’s care, Issy’s grapefruit -sized tumor was smaller than a golf ball. The dangerous spider leg was dead. Where tests had previously shown 98% cancer cells in her peripheral blood, now there were none. Meanwhile — when no one else could help Issy Morin — the state of New York yanked Dr. Revici’s medical license. Nor was Issy’s battle over. The long-term effects of her kidney damage caused her to go into shock. But the people who said Issy would only last a few weeks had not referred her to a kidney specialist. Issy could overcome the cancer, but like Revici, she was no match for the medical establishment. Five months after her first coma, Issy surrendered for the last time. Was it just luck that caused Issy’s tumor to shrink so much? Why did the invasive spider leg shrivel up and go away? Well, consider that the 100-year-old Dr. Revici has had six decades of success with cancer patients who have benefited from his discoveries. Those patients were just as lucky and just as spontaneously healed as little Issy, for Dr. Revici is the doctor who cures cancer. More than thirty years ago, Dr. John Heller, who was then the medical director of Sloan-Kettering Memorial Cancer Center, privately
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ment that has fought him every step of the way. Who is Dr. Revici, what has he discovered, and why do his patients consider him to be a miracle worker? Furthermore, how did the forces of conventional medicine stop him from helping the vulnerable Issies of the world? Perhaps more importantly, what do Revici’s discoveries mean for the future of cancer treatment and other conditions, such as AIDS and drug addiction, and how can we personally benefit from his work? The answers to those questions — and more — start with an exploding ambulance.
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My Dear, My Dear Perhaps there is no better way to show the kind of person Dr. Emanuel Revici is than to let Revici, his friends and his patients tell it by way of an oral history. What follows are stories told to the author by some of the people who know him.
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knew a woman whose husband had left her with two small kids. She
was so strapped, I would bring over food for her and the children. One of the children had asthma really bad, but her mother couldn’t afford to take her to the doctor. “So I went to Dr. Revici and explained the situation to him. He said to me, ‘Please, please! Never talk to me about money. Bring me the child. I beg of you, bring me the child!’ “Well, the child started to get better, but she needed a certain kind of
The Doctor Who Cures Cancer
tioned it to me in passing because she thought I knew. Of course, Dr. Revici had never told me.” — Ruth Spector, office volunteer “You could call him at home any day, at any time. We called him three times on Christmas day including at 6:41 in the morning and 9:14 at night, plus at 6:30 in the evening on Christmas Eve. I kept a tab on all the calls we made. It totaled 437 calls.” — Pierce and Allan Hamilton “During all those hearings when they were trying to take his license away, they were so mean. Well, I went to all of them [the hearings]. The doctors on the panel never took any notes. When it came time for Dr. Revici to testify, he was advised not to tell them anything about what he did. “His only response was, ‘The world must know, th e world must know.’ When he started to speak, all the doctors on the panel started to write down everything he said. “I talked to someone who worked in the governor’s office about all the scribbling. He said that they knew Revici had the answer, and they were trying to get it. “Then, during a later break, I was standing in a small hallway with Dr. Revici. By then I was furious with the whole panel and with what they were trying to do. I said to him, ‘I hope they all get it [cancer] and have to come to you.’ He looked at me and shrugged his shoulders. His lower lip came out. In disbelief, I said, ‘You wouldn’t!’ He answered me with his soft, gentle voice: ‘I’m 87. In all my life I’ve never refused to treat anyone. Would you want me to start now?’” — Ruth Spector “Dr. Revici was the person who treated my first wife when she died of cancer in 1969. “I’ve always been appreciative of what he did for her during the daily telephone calls to Jamaica, West Indies, where she died. After her death I again visited his office, this time to offer him a $5,000 check to
His Life
Revici told the following story on himself: “When I first started prac ticing I never charged. But some of the patients told me they couldn’t come to see me because of it. So I had to charge them, so they could get care.” — Dr. Emanuel Revici “Dr. Revici was offered an enticing opportunity to practice medicine in a Middle Eastern country to treat the royal family and other important people. Revici told those who invited him that if he were to go there, he would have to be able to treat all patients, not just selected people. When that condition wouldn’t be met, Dr. Revici turned down the offer.” — Marcus Cohen “A child who had been treated by Revici became hospitalized in Atlanta with a severe case of asthma. For two weeks the little girl failed to respond to the medical treatment given her by the hospital physicians. The mother decided to call Dr. Revici at home. He had given the mother his home number as he does with all his patients. It was midnight. “He answered on the first ring. He suggested a treatment over the phone and told her to call her back. The mother had already accumulated a number of Revici’s different medicines, so she was able to treat her daughter herself, even though she was in the hospital. She ended up calling Revici back at two in the morning and at three. He was awake for all the calls. By morning the woman’s daughter had recov ered and was able to be discharged.” — Ruth Spector “When Dr. Revici was running Trafalgar Hospital in New York, they had a problem with getting some of the patients to take their medicine. The treatments were totally free to the patients with all the expenses paid for by donations from wealthy benefactors. To get the patients to use the medicine they had to start charging them five dollars. It worked.” — Lawrence LeShan, Ph.D.
The Doctor Who Cures Cancer
dicted she would die within two or three months. Her recovery under Revici was swift and dramatic. She never returned to her other doctors. “Three months later one of her original physicians called her home to see if she was still alive. When she answered the phone, the doctor asked about his patient. He didn’t recognize the perky, energetic voice on the line. When the doctor had last seen her, the patient barely had enough energy to speak, breathily uttering one word at a time as if each word might be her last. When the doctor finally realized he was speaking to his former patient he exclaimed that he must meet Dr. Revici. “But when Revici was informed of the other doctor’s response, Revici refused to see him, ‘I will never see this man afte r what he did to you! He should have known after the third x- ray.’ The doctor had apparently used the patient like a lab animal, x-raying her repeatedly. He didn’t want to teach his method to someone who didn’t value human life and human dignity. “Ten years later the woman was handling multi -million dollar loan contracts for Fanny Mae. Revici has never seen the doctor.” — Ruth Spector “Once when Dr. Revici was in London, there was a machine that could apparently measure alpha, beta, gamma and delta brain waves. He was hooked up to the machine. According to the tester, Revici’s brain waves were complete in both hemispheres for all of the different brain waves, something that had previously only been seen with certain Eastern mystics. ” — Alice Ladas, Ed.D., author “Dr. Revici heard about a patient who was too sick to come and see him. He paid the man a house call, walking up five flights of stairs. — Marcus Cohen Revici was ninety- three.” “This being New York, we had a kind of boast in the hospital that made it different from any other hospital: every patient would be spoken to
His Life
didn’t speak any Japanese. So, that morning everyone went on rounds to see how he would handle it. The son of a [gun] did the examination in Latin. It must have been the first time a physical exam was done in Latin in a thousand years.” — Lawrence LeShan, Ph.D. “The patient was bedridden with AIDS, and his condition was consid ered terminal. A friend called to see how he was. The woman who answered the phone said, ‘I’m sorry, he’s gone.’ The caller asked when he had died. She answered, ‘He’s not dead. He went shopping.’ The patient had begun treatment with Revici one week earlier.” — Norman Carmen “We had a conversation with a couple outside the office. They were both members of Mensa, the club for people with extremely high I.Q.’s. They said Dr. Revici had taken the test, but his score was too high to be accurately measured.” — Allan Hamilton “After hearing my mother wasn’t doing well, Dr. Revici made a home visit. He spent two hours. On the second visit he spent the entire night. About three or four in the morning I saw him up. My mother died three or four days later. I felt a special closeness with Dr. Revici, but I believe he treated all his patients that way. I have a special warm feeling even now for Dr. Revici.” — William Rosenberg “One time I was in the office and was sitting next to a gentleman, a young fellow. I struck up a conversation with him. To this day I can still see that guy. He said, ‘You know, no one has ever given me anything in this life. Nobody has ever done anything for me.’ What happened to him is, he had cancer of the lung. He went to see Revici. He was out of a job. Revici said he would take care of him. He would treat him. ‘So, I told him I didn’t have any money.’ Revici said, ‘That’s all right, I’ll still take care of you.’ I can still hear that guy. He was sitting there,
The Doctor Who Cures Cancer
“There were never two minutes when the phone didn’t ring right through dinner. We expected it and understood.” — Nita Taskier, Revici’s daughter “He always said ‘My dear. My dear.’”
— Pierce Hamilton
“There was a patient who had a front room in the hospital with a tele phone and a window with a view of some trees. After eight months, she ran out of money to pay the hospital bill. That meant she would have to go on state assistance and would have to be moved to the ward. She was upset by the prospect. I went to Dr. Revici and told him of the patient’s concern. Revici said he would see what he could do, and sure enough, she was able to stay in the front room until she died four months later. “After her death, I quietly looked into it to see what had been done. That’s when I found out that Dr. Revici had quietl y paid the difference in the woman’s bill so that she could stay in the front room with her telephone and her view of the trees.” — Lawrence LeShan, Ph.D. “During the eighties, the office was under a lot of financial pressure due to a number of la w suits and the resulting lawyers’ fees. We were in danger of having the electricity and the water cut off. Dr. Revici hadn’t received any salary for years. “It was during this time that he came out to the receptionist, who also collected payments from patients. He told her, ‘I don’t want to know who pays, and who doesn’t. I don’t want it to affect my treat ment.”’ — Ruth Spector “I talked to a doctor who was performing his own research on Revici’s method after hours at Sloan-Kettering. He told me it showed very promising results. As Revici’s lawyer, I told the doctor that we would need him to testify in Revici’s behalf. When he refused, I told him we
His Life
the people at Sloan-Kettering found out about it. The doctor was beside himself. I told him I really needed for him to come forward, not so much to testify regarding the results but to testify about the punitive climate that existed at the hospital regarding anything to do with Revici. Although the doctor begged not to be dragged into the case, it was my duty as Dr. Revici’s attorney to let my client know about the other doctor. The doctor’s testimony had the potential to show clear ly that Dr. Revici’s method was not being given fair consideration by the mainstream medical community. “Dr. Revici decided not to have the doctor subpoenaed. He didn’t want to risk the other man’s professional future— even if it was to his own benefit.” — Sam A. Abady, attorney at law “When Dr. Revici would read my charts, he was like a wise old turtle. He would submerge himself in the chart, sinking bit by bit. After a long while he’d slowly come up from the depths.” — Meade Andrews “I’d written down a phone number on a slip of paper while talking to someone on the phone. Dr. Revici was in the room at the time of the conversation. A couple days later I wanted to call the person back, but I couldn’t find the paper I’d written the number on. He became aware of my frustration. He asked me to wait a minute, and then he closed his eyes and went into what looked like deep thought. After about two minutes, he recalled the number. He was in his late eighties or early nineties at the time.” — A. R. Salman, M.D. “My mother had developed a severe, chronic angina. She had gotten it when we had to make a terrifying, two-mile run through a wooded noman’s-land to escape the Nazi soldiers who were patrolling the area. Her condition became so bad after six months that just raising her arm would bring on an attack. She was completely bedridden and at risk of having a heart attack.
The Doctor Who Cures Cancer
it for safety. We told him he didn’t have anything to lose, because she would surely die if something weren’t done soon. “So, he gave her an injection, and then another. Two days later she was up and around. Within a week or so, she was able to go out shop ping.” [Author’s note: She lived another 24 years] — Nita Taskier “He was like the finest European gentleman. ” — Charlotte Louise
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