Health Benefits of White Tea

White tea has impressive anti-bacterial and anti-viral qualities, which means it can deactivate bad bacteria, viruses, and fungi. In fact, white tea is even more powerful than green tea in disarming bacterial viruses! White tea also kills the bacteria that cause plaque, tooth decay, and bad breath.

• The health benefits of white tea include weight management. White tea has caffeine, which may enhance weight loss, and white tea's high levels of antioxidants can help to boost your metabolism and curb your appetite. Even better, research about white tea and weight loss has shown that white tea can prevent new fat cells from developing and encourage the breakdown of fat in existing fat cells, as well. (Just remember, if you're thinking of adding white tea to your overall weight loss plan, be sure to check with your healthcare provider first.)

White tea fights the effects of aging (like wrinkles and loss of skin elasticity). Time, too much sun exposure, stress, and poor dietary choices can damage our skin, causing it to age - sometimes prematurely. White tea's antioxidants and anti-aging properties protect and help reverse this damage to skin, and can even help skin build resistance to stress. For healthy, firmer, radiant skin, sip white tea - and consider adding it to your skin care routine, too (research has shown white tea to have topical benefits for skin, as well)!

• The benefits of drinking white tea extend to bone health - regular intake of white tea can improve bone density and strength, and may provide relief from the symptoms of osteoporosis.
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• http://www.theteatalk.com/health-benefits-of-white-tea.html

Papaya leaf recipe for cancer

Papaya leaf recipe for cancer

Papaya Leaf: The anti-cancer treatment

 

Papaya Leaf Papaya TreePapaya/Pawpaw apaya (Carica papaya) originates from tropical American countries. Today Papaya is cultivated in most tropical countries around the world.The Papaya with the Latin name carica papaya is called Paw Paw in Australia and New Zealand. This is in no way related to the Paw Paw in North America that has the Latin name asimina tribola, though both are medicinal plants.Papaya leaf juice is claimed to have reversed cancer in many people living on the Gold Coast in Australia . Harold W. Tietze in his book Papaya The Medicine Tree, describes how to make the juice and tells the stories of many cancer survivors who reportedly used the juice to get rid of their cancer.The book contains the the following report that was published in the Gold Coast Bulletin. “PawPaw Cancer Plea Bears Fruit". Gold coast gardeners have responded to an appeal by cancer victims desperate to find supplies of pawpaw leaves. And the Gold Coast man who, 14 years ago, first exposed the leaves as a possible cure for cancer has been tracked down to a Labrador (Gold Coast) nursing home.

 

The story of how Stan Sheldon cured himself of cancer by drinking the boiled extract of pawpaw leaves was first told in the Gold Coast Bulletin in 1978. Now research in the United States has given scientific support to his claim, isolating a chemical compound in the pawpaw tree which is reported to be a million times stronger than the strongest anti-cancer drug. Mr Sheldon, says the discovery does not surprise him.

“I was dying from cancer in both lungs when it was suggested to me as an old Aboriginal remedy” he said.“I tried it for two months and then I was required to have a chest x-ray during those compulsory TB checks they used to have. They told me both lungs were clear.” “I told my specialists and they didn’t believe me until they had carried out their own tests.”

 

“Then they scratched their heads and recommended I carry on drinking the extract I boiled out of the papaw leaves.”
That was in 1962. The cancer never recurred. Since then Mrs Sheldon has passed the recipe onto other cancer victims.

“Sixteen of them were cured,” he said.

 

Mr Sheldon’s involves boiling and simmering fresh pawpaw leaves and stems in a pan for two hours before draining and bottling the extract. He said the mixture could be kept in a refrigerator though it may ferment after three or four days. ““One man has been growing papaws and giving away the leaves to cancer victims ever since he read the Bulletin’s original 1978 story about Mr Sheldon. “I have no doubt that it works,” he said. “I know people walking around now who should have been dead according to their original cancer diagnosis. But the pawpaw treatment helped them to beat the cancer.” The recipe is as follows:-Wash and partly dry several medium-size papaya leaves. Cut them up like cabbage and place them in a saucepan with 2 quarts/ litres of water. Bring the water and leaves to the boil and simmer without a lid until the water is reduced by half. Strain the liquid and bottle in glass containers. The concentrate will keep in the refrigerator for three to four days. If it becomes cloudy, it should be discarded. The recommended dosage in the original recipe is 3 Tablespoons/ 50ml three times a day. It is recommended to read Papaya The Medicine Tree for the interesting stories of "incurable” people who have used this extract to beat their cancer, and for other medicinal uses of papaya. A letter from R.J.W.:“… I was inspired to send some leaves to a few people dying from cancer. The first, a banana grower aged 40, had two operations on his bladder for cancer which did not prevent metastasis. I placed him on a very simple diet consisting of zero junk food, fresh living food with no preservatives, white flour, sugar, colourings or additives and told him to “stuff a handful of pawpaw leaves into a saucepan and fill with water. Boil, simmer for one hour and drink it till it comes out of your ears.” He did so and five weeks had no trace of cancer whatsoever.”
The leaves have also been reported successful used when dried and ground. The astonishing effects of the pawpaw have also been proved in tests on mice. The results were very impressive; tumors found in humans were being injected in mice and during treatment with papaw were disappearing. Pawpaw twigs contain acetogenins - active compounds that modulate the production of ATP in mitochondria of specific cells - which affects the viability of specific cells and the growth of blood vessels that nourish them. A recent clinical study with over 100 participants showed that the pawpaw extract, containing a mixture of acetogenins, supports the body's normal cells during times of cellular stress. Acetogenins found in pawpaw have been shown to have dramatic biological activity, being active against worms, some viruses, fungi, and many cancer cell lines. When compared with conventional chemotherapy agents, they have worked comparably in cell culture and animal studies, but at far lower concentrations and with almost no toxicity to host animals. “Pawpaw is very effective on its own. It typically doesn't need any supporting supplements. There are however, products that may be used in increasing the pawpaw's effectiveness. The products are Noni, Immune Stimulator, Colostrums, and Protease Plus (especially when fighting a digestive tract or intestinal tumor). However, pawpaw should not be used with any kind of thyroid stimulators (e.g.: KC-X) or with CoQ10 (coenzyme Q10).For cancer patients taking Laetrile, it is important to consume pawpaw and pineapple each day, as the natural enzyme strips the coating on the cancer cells, so that the B17 in the kernels can work.”

 

5 Hidden Health Benefits of Spicy Foods

5 Hidden Health Benefits of Spicy Foods Friday, September 24, 2010
 at 11:00 AM |
 posted by Jenny Everett

 Spicy foods are a bit of a mystery. As an article in the week's New York Times wondered: Why is it that we find such pleasure in pain? I mean, these hot sauce bottles are plastered with words like "death" and "atomic"... and we like them. One theory is that it's simply for the thrill -- like riding a roller coaster or running a marathon. Humans, oddly, find pleasure in things that, on the surface, should be really freaking scary and painful. In these cases, it's mind vs. body, and mind wins.

 The other theory is that spicy foods have health benefits, and so our bodies crave them. Some of the most-studied bennies are:

1. Weight Loss: For one, the extra kick of hot sauce or a chopped jalapeno can make even the most bland diet food more palatable, causing you to be more likely to stick with your weight loss plan. In addition, they may jack up your metabolism. Studies show that the main compound in chilies, called capsaicin, has a thermogenic effect and may cause the body to burn bonus calories for 20 minutes post chow-down.

 2. Heart Health: Studies show that cultures that eat the most spicy food have much lower incidence of heart attack and stroke. Potential reasons: Chili peppers can reduce the damaging effects of LDL (bad cholesterol) and capsaicin may fight inflammation, which has been flagged as a risk factor for heart issues.

 3. Cancer Prevention: According to the American Association for Cancer Research, capsaicin has the ability to kill some cancer and leukemic cells. One particular spice, turmeric, found in curry powder and some mustards, may slow the spread of cancer and growth of tumors. "It has the same effects on the body as certain cancer drugs do." says Gregory A. Plotnikoff, M.D., senior consultant for health care innovation at Allina Hospitals and Clinics in Minnesota. Pair it with black pepper to absorb 2,000 percent more turmeric. Fantastic on roasted veggies or kebabs, or in soups.

 4. Lower Blood Pressure: Vitamins A and C strengthen the heart muscle walls, and the heat of the pepper increases blood flow throughout your body. All of this equals a stronger cardiovascular system.

 5. Fewer Blow-Your-Top Moments: Spicy foods boost production of feel-good hormones, such as serotonin. So they may help ease depression and stress. http://www.self.com/health/blogs/healthyself/2010/09/5-healthy-benefits-of-eating-s.html

Dr Richard Teo Keng Siang

Dr Richard Teo Keng Siang Recorded
at the Dental Christian Fellowship , on 24 Nov 2011,
8 months after his diagnosis. Richard would have liked to share this with you.

We are doing this to continue his work. Please have a read and leave it behind for someone else to benefit from his sharing.

 If you would like a copy, please let any of his family or close friends know and we will be able to provide both the audio recording as well as the transcript.

 Thank you, and may God bless you richly. Below is the transcript of the talk of Dr. Richard Teo, who was a 40-year-old millionaire and cosmetic surgeon with a stage-4 lung cancer, sharing at a Dental Christian Fellowship Meeting. He would have liked to share this with you too.

 HIS BACKGROUND Hi good morning to all of you. My voice is a bit hoarse from the chemotherapy, so please bear with me. I thought I'll just introduce myself. My name is Richard, I’m a friend of Danny’s, who invited me here. I’d just begin to say that I’m a typical product of today’s society. Before this, I was talking about how the media influences us etc. So I’m a typical product of what the media portrays. From young, I’ve always been under the influence and impression that to be happy, is to be successful. And to be successful, is to be wealthy. So I led my life according to this motto.

 Coming from a poor average family, back in those days, I was highly competitive, whether in sports, studies, leadership. I wanted it all. I’ve been there, done that. But at the end of the day, it’s still about money. So in my recent last years, I was a trainee in ophthalmology, but I was getting impatient, cos I had friends of mine who were going out into private practise, making tonnes of money. And there I was, stuck in a traineeship. So I said, ‘Enough, it’s getting too long.’

At that time, there was a surge in protégés of aesthetic medicine. I’m sure you’re aware, aesthetic medicine had peaked over the last few years, and I saw good money in there. So much so that I said, ‘Forget about ophthalmology, I’m gonna do aesthetic medicine.’ So that’s what I did. The truth is, nobody makes heroes out of the average GP in the neighbourhood. They don't. They make heroes out of rich celebrities, politicians, rich and famous people. So I wanted to be one of these.

I dived straight into aesthetic medicine. People were not willing to pay when I was doing locum back in those days. Anything more than $30, they would complain that “Wah, this lo kun (doctor) jing qwee (very expensive)”. They made noise and they were not happy. But the same people were willing to pay $10 000 for a liposuction. So I said, ‘Well, let’s stop healing the sick, I’m gonna become a beautician; a medically-trained beautician.’ And that was what I did – liposuction, breast augmentation, eyelid surgeries, you name it, we do it. It was very good money. My clinic, when we started off, waiting time was 1 week; 1 month; became 2 months; became 3 months.

There was so much demand that people were literally queuing up to have aesthetic work done on them. Vain women – easy life! So the clinic grew. I was so overwhelmed, from 1 doctor, I employed 2, then 3, then 4 doctors, and carried on. Nothing is ever enough. I wanted more and more and more. So much so that we set up shop in Indonesia to lure all the Indonesian tai tai’s. We set up shop, set up a team of people there, to get more Indonesian patients to come in. So, things were doing well. I’m there, my time has arrived. Around some time in February last year, I said, ‘OK, I have so much spare cash, it’s time to get my first Ferrari. So there I was, getting ready for the deposit. ‘OK! There comes my first Ferrari!’ I was looking for land, to share with some of my friends. I have a banker friend who makes $5 million a year. So I thought, ‘Come, let’s come together. Let’s buy some land and build our houses.’ I was at my prime, getting ready to enjoy.

At the same time, my friend Danny had a revival. They were going back to church, some of my close friends. They told me, ‘Richard, come, join us, come back to church.’ I have been a Christian for 20 years; I was baptised 20 years ago, but it was because it was fashionable to be a Christian then. All my friends were becoming Christians then. It was fashionable! I wanted to be baptised, so that when I filled in a form, I could put there “Christian” – feels good. In truth, I had never had a bible; I don’t know what the bible is all about. I went to church for a while, after some time, I got tired. I said it’s time to go to NUS, stop going to church. I had a lot more things to pursue in NUS – girls, studies, sports etc. After all, I had achieved all these things without God today, so who needs God? I myself can achieve anything I want. In my arrogance, I told them, “You know what? You go tell your pastor to change your sermon to 2pm. I will consider coming to church.” Such arrogance! And I said 1 statement in addition to that – till date, I don’t know I’ve regretted saying that – I told Danny and my friends,

 “If God really wanted me to come back to church, He will give me a sign.”. Lo and behold, 3 weeks later, I was back at church. THE DIAGNOSIS In March 2011, out of the blues – I was still running around, ‘cause I’m a gym freak and I always go to the gym training, running, swimming 6 days a week. I had some backache, and that’s all I had, but it was persistent.

And so I went for an MRI to exclude prolapsed disc. And the day before I had my scan, I was still in the gym, lifting heavy weights, doing my squats. And the next day, they found that half my spine had bone marrow replacement. I said, “Woah, sorry, what’s that?” We had a PET scan the next day, and they diagnosed that I had terminal lung cancer, stage 4B. It had spread to the brain, half the spine, whole of my lungs were filled with tumour, liver, adrenals… I said, “Can’t be, I was just at the gym last night, what’s going on?” I’m sure you know how it feels – though I’m not sure if you know how it feels. One moment I was there at the peak, the next day, this news came and I was totally devastated.

My whole world just turned upside down. I couldn’t accept it. I have a hundred relatives on both sides, my mom and my dad. 100 of them. And not a single one has cancer. To me, in my mind, I have good genes, I’m not supposed to be having this! Some of my relatives are heavy chain smokers. Why am I having lung cancer? I was in denial.

 HIS ENCOUNTER WITH GOD So the next day, I was still in a state of denial, still unable to accept what was going on. There I was lying in an operating theatre in a hospital, for a needle biopsy (for histology). There I was, just completed the biopsy, and lying in the operating theatre. The nurses and doctors had left; told me I had to wait for 15 minutes to do a check X-ray to make sure there’s no pneumothorax (a complication). And there I was, lying on the operating table, staring blankly at the ceiling in a cold, quiet operating theatre. Suddenly I just heard an inner voice; it was not like coming from outside. It was inside. This small inner voice that I had never felt before.

And it said very specifically, it said, “This has to happen to you, at your prime, because it’s the only way you can understand.” I said, “Woah, why did that come from?” You know, when you speak to yourself, you’d say, “OK, what time should I leave this place? Where shall I have dinner after this?” You’d speak from a first person point of view. You don’t say, “Where should YOU go after this?” Whereas the voice that came spoke as a third party.

It said, “This has to happen to YOU, at YOUR prime, because this is the only way YOU can understand.” At that time, my emotions just overflowed and I broke down and cried, alone there. And I knew then, subsequently, what it means to understand that why this is the only way. Because I had been so proud of myself, my whole life, I needed nobody else. I was gifted with things that I could do, why do I need anybody else? I was just so full of myself that there was no other way I could have turned back to God. In fact, if I were diagnosed with stage 1 or 2, I would have been looking around busily for the best cardiothoracic surgeon, remove a section of the lobe (do a lobectomy), do preventive chemotherapy…

The chances of it being cured is extremely high. Who needs God? But I had stage 4B. No man can help, only God can. A series of events happened after that. I wasn’t sold after that, because of the inner voice, I became believing, prayers, all that. No I wasn’t. To me, it was just ‘maybe there was a voice; or maybe that was just me talking to myself.’ I didn’t buy the story. What happened next was that I was being prepared for chemotherapy. I started off with a whole brain radiation therapy first; takes about 2 -3 weeks. In the meantime they prepared me for chemotherapy, supplements etc. One of the things they used for chemo was a thing called Zometa. Zometa - they use it to strengthen the bones; once the bone marrow (replacement) is cured of cancer cells, it becomes hollow, so we need Zometa to strengthen the bone to prevent compression fractures.

 One of the side effects of Zometa is that it can cause osteonecrosis (bone death) of the jaw, and I had to have my wisdom teeth removed. Years ago, I had my upper wisdom teeth removed, cos it was giving me trouble. The lower ones didn’t give me trouble so I said, “Forget it, just leave it.” So of cause, Danny volunteered to remove it for me. So there I was, lying there in a dental chair, asking myself, suffering all the side effects of radiotherapy, and now I have to go through wisdom tooth surgery. As if I’ve not had enough to suffer! So I asked Danny, “Eh, bro, is there any other way? Can I not go though this?”

He said, “Yes, you can pray.” I said, “What’s there to lose? Ok lah, pray lah!” And so we prayed. And we did an X-ray after that. Everything was all there, all the appliances and everything. And lo and behold, the Xray showed that there was no wisdom teeth in the lower jaw. I know most people have 4 wisdom teeth, maybe some have none, but to be missing one or 2, as I understand – I’m not too sure, as I understand – is not that common. Still I was, “Nah, I don’t care about that.” To me, as long as I didn’t have to take out the tooth, I was happy. At that point, I still wasn’t sold on prayers. Maybe it was just a coincidence – for whatever it’s worth.

 I continued meeting my oncologist, asking him, “How long do I have?” I asked him. He said, not more than 6 months. I said, “Even with chemotherapy?” About 3 – 4 months, he said. I couldn’t grasp that. It was difficult to come to terms. And even as I went through radiotherapy, I was struggling everyday, especially when I wake up, hoping that it’s just a nightmare; when I wake up, it’s all over. As I was struggling, day after day, I went into depression, which is the typical denial, depression blah blah blah that you go through. But for 1 reason, I don’t know why, there was this specific day that I was supposed to meet my oncologist. At about 2pm, I felt this sudden surge of peace, comfort, and in fact, a little happiness. It was just overflowing.

For no rhyme or reason, it just came about 2pm, as I was getting ready, dressing up to meet my oncologist. So much so that I whats-apped all my friends that, “Bros, I just feel so good suddenly! I don’t know why, it just came!” And it was only days, or was it weeks after, that Danny revealed to me that he had fasted for 2 days for me, and he was bargaining with God, and fasted for 2 days, and he ended his fast at that exact same point, about 2pm thereabouts, that this surge of sensation came to me for no rhyme or reason. And I didn’t know that he was fasting for me. And when he ended the fast, I felt that sensation! Whoa, things were getting a bit too coincidental. I was starting to buy a bit of the story, but still I wasn’t sold. As days passed by, I completed my radiotherapy, about 2 weeks plus. Getting ready for chemo, so they let me rest for a few days. See, the mortality rate of lung cancer : Lung cancer has the highest mortality rate.

 If you add up breast, colorectal (colon) cancer, and prostate cancer (the top few cancers in Singapore for men and women), if you add up the mortality rate of these 3, it still doesn’t add up to lung cancer. Simply because, you understand, you can remove the prostate, the colon, the breast, but you cannot remove your lungs. But there’s about 10% of lung cancer patients who do pretty well for some reasons, because they have this specific mutation; we call it the EGFR mutation. And it happens, only 90% of the time, in Asian ladies who never smoked in their lives.

Me, first of all, I’m male. 2ndly, I’m a social smoker. I take one a day after dinner; weekends, when my friends offer me, I take it as well. I’m a light smoker, not a social smoker. But still, my oncologist was still not hopeful for me to have this mutation. The chances of it happening for me was maybe 3-4% for me to get it. That’s why I was being primed to go for chemo. But through all the intense prayers, friends like Danny, people that I don’t even know, it turned out that, during my waiting for chemo, the results came back that I was EGFR positive. I was like, “Woah, good news!” Cos now I don’t have to undergo chemo at that time, because there’s this oral tablet that you can use to control this disease. Just to share with you some idea – this is a CT scan – thorax – of my lungs, before treatment.

 AFTER BEFORE Every single dot there is a tumour. You can see all the mets (metastasis) there. This is just one single plane. Literally I had it in both lungs, and I had literally tens of thousands of tumour. That’s why the oncologist told me, even with chemo, at most 3-4 months. But because of this mutation, they have this oral medication. This is what happened after 2 months of treatment. As you can see over here; this is what God can do. And that’s why I’m still here having this opportunity to share with you. As you can see over here, the difference between before and after treatment. At that point, I said, “Well, it’s to be expected, isn’t it? The medicine is good.” I’m still not buying the story. Well, the guys prayed for me and the tumour markers started to come down. 90% of the tumours were wiped out, and the tumour markers came down to more than 90% over the next few months. But still, you know, once you have the clinical knowledge, you know the statistics.

One year survival, two year survival; having all this knowledge is not a good thing. Cos you live with the knowledge that even with all this, the cancer cells are so unstable, they keep mutating. They will overcome and become resistant to the drugs, and eventually you’re gonna run out of medication. So living with this knowledge is a huge mental struggle, a huge mental torture. Cancer is not just about a physical struggle, it’s a huge mental torture. How do you live with no hope? How do you live with not being able to plan for the next few years? The oncologist tells you to bear with it for the next 1 – 2 months. So it’s a lot of struggles as I went through: March, then April. April was my lowest point, in deep depression, struggling even as I was recovering. HIS ACCEPTANCE & PEACE And one of those days, I was there in bed, struggling in the afternoon, asking God, “Why? Why do I have to go through this suffering? Why do I have to endure this hardship, this struggle? Why me?” As I fell asleep, in my dreamy state, a vision just came, that says Hebrews 12:7-8. Now mind you, at this time, I had not read the bible. I have no clue what’s Hebrews, I don’t even know how many chapters there are. Totally clueless. But it says Hebrews 12:7-8, very specifically. I didn’t think too much of it. I just continued sleeping.

Then I woke up, and I said, “What’s there to lose? I’d just check it out lah!” Danny had bought me a bible; it’s still quite new. I said, “It’s ok, just try.” So I flipped to the Old Testament. Hebrews to me sounds like something ancient, so it should be in the Old Testament right? So I flipped through the Old Testament. No Hebrews there. I was so disappointed.

 Then I said, “Maybe New Testament, let’s have a look!”. WOW – New Testament, there’s Hebrew’s!! It says Hebrews 12:7-8. It says, “Endure hardship as discipline as God is treating you as His children.” I said, “WAH!! Where did that come from?” I was getting goose pimples all over my body. I said, “This can’t be, right?” I mean, what’s the chance of somebody, who has never read the bible, to have a vision of a chapter of a specific verse, that answers my question directly?

 I think God called to me directly as I was there sleeping, struggling with it, asking God, “Why do I have to suffer? Why do I have to suffer this?” And God says “Endure hardship as discipline as God is treating you as His child.” At this point, the chance of that happening is even lesser than my EGFR being positive. There’s just no way; there’s so many millions of thousands of verses in the bible, how can I just conjure up something like that? So at that point, I was sold I said, “YOU WIN! YOU WIN!!”

 Ok , I was convinced. And so from that day onwards, I started believing in my God. And the last time I heard that inner voice was the end of April. And that inner voice, same thing, in the afternoon, as I was sleeping (this time I wasn’t struggling, just going to sleep). In a dreamy state I just heard Him say, “Help others in hardship.” It was more like a command, rather than a statement. And that’s when I embarked on this journey, helping others in hardship. And I realised that hardship is not just about being poor. In fact, I think a lot of poor people are probably happier than a lot of us here. They are so easily contented with whatever they have, they’re probably pretty happy. Hardship can happen to rich people; it can be physical hardship, mental hardship, social, etc. And also over the last few months, I started to understand what this true joy is about. In the past, I substituted true joy with the pursuing of wealth. I thought true joy is about pursuing wealth. Why? Cos let me put it to you this way, in my death bed, I found no joy whatsoever in whatever objects I had – my Ferrari, thinking of the land I was going to buy to build my bungalow etc, having a successful business. It brought me ZERO comfort, ZERO joy, nothing at all. Do you think I can hold onto this piece of metal and it’s going to give true joy? Nah, it’s not going to happen. True joy comes from interaction with other people. And at a lot of times, it is a short term pride, the past. When you pursue your wealth, Chinese New Year is the best time to do it. Drive my Ferrari, show off to my relatives, show off to my friends, do my rounds, and then you thought that was true joy? You really think that those guys who sold you your Ferrari, they share their joy with you?

And your relatives, wow, they share this joy with you? In truth, what you have done is just to illicit envy, jealousy, and even hatred. They are not sharing the joy with you, and what I have is that short-term pride that wow, I have something you don’t have! And I thought that was joy! So what we have is basically a short-term pride at the expense of somebody else. And that wasn’t true joy. And I found no joy at all on my deathbed, thinking of my Ferrari – to hold on to it, sayang it?!? True joy I discovered comes from interaction. Over the last few months I was so down. Interaction with my loved ones, my friends, my brothers in Christ, my sisters in Christ, and only then was I able to be motivated, able to be uplifted. To share your sorrow, to share your happiness – that’s true joy. And you know what makes you smile?

True joy comes from helping others in hardship, and because I’ve gone through this, I know what hardship entails. In fact, there’re some cancer patients who tell me a lot of times, people come up to them and tell them, “Stay positive. Stay positive.” Yah, right. You come in my shoes and you try to stay positive! You don’t know what you’re talking about! But I have the licence. So I’ve been going out to meet other fellow cancer patients, to share with them, encourage them. And I know, because I’ve been through it, and it’s easier for me to talk to them. And most importantly, I think true joy comes from knowing God. Not knowing about God – I mean, you can read the bible and know about God – but knowing God personally; getting a relationship with God. I think that’s the most important. That’s what I’ve learnt. So if I were to sum it up, I’d say that the earlier we sort out the priorities in our lives, the better it is. Don’t be like me – I had no other way. I had to learn it through the hard way. I had to come back to God to thank Him for this opportunity because I’ve had 3 major accidents in my past – car accidents.

You know, these sports car accidents – I was always speeding , but somehow I always came out alive, even with the car almost being overturned. And I wouldn’t have had a chance. Who knows, I don’t know where else I’d be going to! Even though I was baptised it was just a show, but the fact that this has happened, it gave me a chance to come back to God. Few things I’d learnt though: 1. Trust in the Lord your God with all your heart – this is so important. 2. Is to love and serve others, not just ourselves. There is nothing wrong with being rich or wealthy. I think it’s absolutely alright, cos God has blessed. So many people are blessed with good wealth, but the trouble is I think a lot of us can’t handle it. The more we have, the more we want. I’ve gone through it, the deeper the hole we dig, the more we get sucked into it, so much so that we worship wealth and lose focus. Instead of worshipping God, we worship wealth. It’s just a human instinct. It’s just so difficult to get out of it.

 We are all professionals, and when we go into private practise, we start to build up our wealth – inevitably. So my thought are, when you start to build up wealth and when the opportunity comes, do remember that all these things don’t belong to us. We don’t really own it nor have rights to this wealth. It’s actually God’s gift to us. Remember that it’s more important to further His Kingdom rather than to further ourselves. Anyway I think that I’ve gone through it, and I know that wealth without God is empty. It is more important that you fill up the wealth, as you build it up subsequently, as professionals and all, you need to fill it up with the wealth of God. I think that’s about it. It’s good to share. Thanks. http://www.heavenaddress.com/Dr-Richard-Teo-Keng-Siang/424153/379719/content (transcript of his testimony) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umLkfADe17s

Aspirin sharply reduces cancer risk: study

Aspirin sharply reduces cancer risk: study

PARIS (AFP) - – A small, daily dose of aspirin significantly diminishes the risk of death from a wide range of cancers, according to a landmark study released Tuesday.
Earlier work by the same team of scientists showed that the century-old remedy for aches and pains, long a staple of family pharmacies, can help ward off colon cancer.
The new study, published in the British medical journal The Lancet, reveals for the first time that aspirin also helps protect against prostate, lung, brain, and throat cancers, among others.
"These findings provide the first proof in man that aspirin reduces deaths due to several common cancers," said Peter Rothwell, a professor at the University of Oxford and lead author of the study.
Rothwell and colleagues reviewed eight previous clinical trials involving a total of more than 25,500 patients. In each, some subjects took aspirin and others look-alike placebos.
None of the studies were originally designed to measure the impact of the drug on the incidence of cancer.
During the trials, which lasted four-to-eight years, doses of aspirin as low as 75 milligrams -- a fraction the normal dose for a headache -- cut cancer deaths overall by 21 percent.
Risk was especially reduced after five years of treatment with the drug, by 30 to 40 percent depending on the type of cancer.
Three of the eight trials ran long enough to examine the impact of aspirin over a period of two decades.
The 20-year risk dropped on average by a fifth: 10 percent for prostate cancer, 30 percent for lung cancer, 40 percent for colon cancer, and 60 percent for oesophageal cancer.
For cancer of the lung and throat, the protective effect was confined to adenocarcinomas, the type typically seen in non-smokers.
"Perhaps the most important finding for the longer term is the proof of principle that cancers can be prevented by simple compounds like aspirin, and that 'chemo-prevention' is therefore a realistic goal," Rothwell said.
The length of time before the benefits of taking aspirin kicked in also varied: five years for throat, pancreatic, brain and lung cancer, about 10 years for stomach and colorectal cancer, and 15 years for prostate cancer.
The reductions in stomach and brain cancers, however, were more difficult to quantify because of the smaller number of deaths recorded.
"These promising results build on a large body of evidence suggesting that aspirin could reduce the risk of developing or dying from many different types of cancer," said Ed Yong of Cancer Research UK in commenting on the study.
"This tells us that even small doses reduce the risk of dying from cancer provided it is taken for at least five years."
Many doctors recommend regular use of aspirin to lower the risk of heart attack, clot-related strokes and other blood flow problems.
But daily use of the drug, available without prescription, may cause stomach problems, including stomach bleeding. Alcohol use can aggravate these symptoms.
"We encourage anyone interested in taking aspirin on a regular basis to talk to their doctor first," Yong said.
Aspirin is believed to have a preventive effect because it inhibits an enzyme called COX-2, which promotes cell proliferation in cancer tumours.
In rich nations, the lifetime risk of developing cancer is about 40 percent, with rates in the developing world increasing.