(Health Secrets) This is the third article in the series on oleander, and it describes how Doctor H. Z. Ozel discovered an age old remedy for cancer and other conditions in rural Turkey in the early 1960’s. After successfully treating thousands of patients during a 40 year time span, he patented the medicine and it was entered into FDA trials. Unfortunately, after passing phase I trials, the patented oleander medicine, known as Anvirzel, has languished for lack of funding. It may be many years, if ever, before this promising cancer fighter reaches the market as an FDA approved medicine. The good news is that you do not have to wait for the approved medication, because you can make your own oleander extract at home on your stovetop, based on the original patent by Doctor Ozel and the folk remedy that has been used for thousands of years.
Oleander is a naturally growing plant found all over the southern and southwestern United States and throughout much of the world, and if it isn`t growing naturally near you, you can order oleander plants from many mail-order nurseries on the internet.
You can make your own oleander remedy, known as oleander soup at home about as easily as making a large pot of beans. For that, you can thank a personal injury lawyer by the name of Edward F. Hensley, from San Antonio, Texas, who is known as the Father of Oleander Soup.
In 2002, Edward’s mother was diagnosed with liver and lung cancer, and his sister was diagnosed with Hepatitis-C. The sister, Catrina, began researching and networking with her friends for answers to the doctor`s prognosis that Betty Hensley only had a few months to live. After contacting one of her old friends, she was told about a clinic in Honduras she could contact and discuss a new cancer drug, which was being made in San Antonio. Cat made a few calls and found who to order the medicine from. It cost $1500.00 for a six-week supply of what was called Anvirzel. Cat, Ed, and their brother John put up the initial funds and the drug was ordered.
Betty had been seeing an oncologist in San Antonio, who advised of the risks of chemotherapy, and radiation therapy, and the fact that in her advanced stage, it would have only a small chance of extending her life, and a big chance of serious side effects, including destroying her immune system. Even so, she did try chemo for several weeks, with no result. When the Anvirzel arrived, she began injecting it with Catrina`s help, following the instructions provided by the medical doctor in Honduras. After three weeks she went in for new scans with her oncologist. The new films showed the tumors in both her lungs and her liver were shrinking. Her doctor could not directly participate in the injections, but agreed to research the medicine.
When the six week supply was about gone, and Betty was very sore at the site of her injections, Ed began researching what this new drug was made of, and what its long term usage was going to entail, and cost. The FDA had a letter posted on its site, warning about the drug, made from the oleander plant, saying it was unproven and should not be used. Yet, the clinic in Honduras was reporting many successful treatments of several types of cancer, including juvenile brain cancer.
Ed was determined to find out what was in the drug and went to the U.S. Patent office web site to research the term Anvirzel. After several searches, Ed found the patent. It was about 39 pages of legal jargon, written in the language of patent attorneys, who charge $400 per hour for writing patents, which only lawyers and scientists dare to read.
After several weeks of part time study, the patent began to make sense. It was simply a very confusing, overly detailed, and exaggerated method of making a soup out of the leaves and stems of a common plant, oleander. This was no problem because Ed had huge oleander plants in his back yard, which were very healthy ornamentals with beautiful flowers year-round.
Making the soup was as simple as getting a soup pot, some clippers, an electric hot plate, and a place to cook. Ed`s wife, Carol, would not permit him to cook it in her kitchen, so Ed was resigned to his outside store room – a 10×18 foot building storing yard tools and seasonal sports equipment. After burning several pots of soup because the heat was too high, Ed turned down the heat and boiled the water and oleander clippings for four hours. Then he took out the leaves and stems, and strained the remaining broth using paper towels and plastic strainers. Per Dr. Ozel`s method in the patent, he allowed the broth to cool before straining. He then slowly boiled the broth until only about one fifth of the original liquid was left in the bottom of the 12-quart pot.
Ed measured the specific gravity with an anti-freeze gauge, which showed the measurements on a small scale. He found that it was as Dr. Ozel recommended in the patent, about as thick as chicken soup broth. Next, 10 feeder mice were purchased and given the new liquid, which Ed named oleander soup, as their only source of liquid for two weeks, with all the mouse food they could eat. The mice gained weight, were kind of lazy, but remained alive and looking well.
Ed`s mother was about out of her supply of Anvirzel at that point, so Ed took a bottle of the soup to Betty`s house for a comparison with her drug. It looked the same. It tasted the same. The new soup was fresh, not freeze dried and re-constituted, and according to Betty, tasted fresher and better. She took oral doses three times a day with meals, with diarrhea the only side effect, which subsided after a week.
Her tests three weeks later were surprising, showing the tumors were still shrinking and were almost gone. A month later, she had no tumors at all. Betty quit taking the soup after another month, after her doctor declared she was free of cancer.
About eight months later, feeling healthy, and energetic, Betty flopped down on her bed for a nap, and felt her collar bone snap. Tests showed cancer in the bone, and it was aggressive. Her oncologist referred her to another doctor who recommended some strong new chemotherapy, and discouraged her from going back on the oleander extract.
In two months the chemo had slowed the bone cancer, but had also destroyed her kidneys. She died a month later of kidney failure, never taking another drop of the oleander soup or Anvirzel, which had previously saved her life. She trusted her oncologist, who appeared very nice and very persuasive
Catrina had been dealing with Hepatitis-C, a serious liver condition, which often leads to liver cancer. She began making her own oleander soup, hoping it would stop her condition. It did. In less than two months, her Hepatitis-C was gone. Her liver enzymes were normal. She has shared the recipe with doctors from Mexico who are treating poor patients with aids, cancer, Hepatitis-c, and psoriasis.
In 2003, Ed was online, looking for sites that referenced Anvirzel. He found the Minnesota Wellness Directory site, and read their remarks about how good the prospects were for this new extract made from poisonous oleander leaves. Ed e-mailed the recipe to the host of the site and included a short summary of his research. After getting opinions from his herbalist and medical friends, he published the recipe on the site in his June 2003 newsletter, with warnings about its use.
Not one of his friends reported a problem with the soup, and many of them reported that their cancers and other disorders were substantially improved.