How I Saved My Dad’s Life
One morning five years ago, I received a phone call that would change my life forever. My brother called to tell me that our father had slipped on ice, fallen and was at that moment being taken into emergency surgery. He continued to tell me our dad had suffered a severe traumatic brain injury, and his chance of survival was very small.
As miracles go, we were graced with a grand one when my dad survived the surgery. Unfortunately this was only the beginning of a long journey fraught with many experiences that were surreal. My father was in a coma and had been on life support since the surgery. It seemed that his medical team had given up on him. We were advised almost daily to pull the plug. In the bleak hours of the night, this was at the forefront of everyone’s minds and we did not need reminding.
We all felt it was getting close to the end. I started searching every corner of my memory for anything I could remember from my years of studying holistic medicine. There had to be something that might possibly help him that Western medicine could not offer. I then remembered a conversation I had with my acupuncturist a few years before. I have no memory of why we were having this conversation, but she told me about emergency points used in traditional Chinese medicine to bring people out of a coma.
First I asked permission to bring an acupuncturist into the hospital, but it was against hospital policy, and I was refused permission. I returned back to my home in a neighboring state to have my acupuncturist show me in detail what I needed to do to treat my father myself. This was not a comfortable thing for me to even think of doing. I had no experience with acupuncture, and my dad was in the intensive care unit, across the hall from the nurse’s station, in a room with many windows. However, I was desperate and willing to do anything.
The acupuncturist knew of my angst at the thought of treating my dad. The method of bringing someone out of a comatose state is to lance the tips of all 10 fingers and 10 toes. She suggested that first we try to do three of the emergency points using the eraser end of a pencil before moving to the lancets. She said to do this for five minutes every hour, 24 hours a day. Three days after using the noninvasive method, my father opened his beautiful brown eyes.
Although out of the coma, my father was still struggling and barely hanging on. One day, out of boredom, I picked up a can of the feeding tube formula that had been my dad’s primary source of nutrition for more than a year. I read the ingredients and could not believe what I saw. In my opinion, there was nothing in this “food” to heal my dad. It contained many different forms of sugar and a lot of chemicals, but not one ingredient was real food. We could certainly do better, I thought. I immediately began looking for an organic whole food feeding tube formula. To my amazement, I could find nothing. I searched the Internet, local health food stores and markets but came up empty handed.
I am a chef and have worked with organic whole foods my entire career. I felt perfectly equipped to make a feeding tube formula for him if that is what I had to do. I started figuring out a formula for him that would not only address the brain injury but also the numerous other secondary complications he was being treated for as a result of the injury. Thus began my immersion into food as medicine.
One day I picked up a copy of the book “Healing with Whole Foods,” by Paul Pitchford. His approach to healing was just what I had been looking for. Within the volumes of information contained in the book, I found exactly the foods that would specifically treat all of my dad conditions. I used grains, legumes and tons of veggies. I also added some Chinese herbs and supplements. We juiced daily with veggies specifically for each condition and gave wheat grass shots through his feeding tube. We started by slowly replacing his regular formula with Liquid Hope (as my family began to refer to my formula), slowing working our way to the point where he was getting only my formula.
My dad was nonresponsive when we began to give him my formula. Then to everyone’s amazement (except my own), he gradually started to improve. He became a different person than the one six weeks earlier that had been taken to a doctor’s appointment flat out on a stretcher unaware of anything in the outside world.
Weekly blood tests were used to monitor my dad’s condition; he had been a very sick man and was close to renal failure. We had been advised that he was probably headed for dialysis. The blood tests confirmed that he was getting better and his condition stabilized. Going into the injury, my dad (like many other folks) was on seven different medications for things such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc. After the injury he was on seventeen.
Throughout the process of giving my father the best diet he had in well over 40 years, he became physically healthier than he had been in a very long time. We were eventually able to get him off all but two of his medications. One of his doctors even phoned to tell me that it was a “miracle” what I had done for my father. “Not a miracle,” I replied, “simply nutrition.”
Robin Gentry McGee is a wellness coach, whole foods chef, bio-identical food ™ consultant and motivational speaker. She believes the in the innate healing power of the body and stood strong in this conviction when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006. She has just completed her first book “A Turn for the Worst,” a journey through her father’s traumatic brain injury and a search for answers that were not offered by traditional medicine. Functional Formularies™ line, a vegan meal replacement based on Robin’s feeding tube formula, will be available in fall 2011.
Photo credit: Jeff Cushner
49 Comments
What a wonderfull and inspiring story!! And indeed disturbing at the same time. What a deng shame regular health care providers don’t understand the power of nutrition!
Inspiring! I’ve long thought the foods hospitals serve patients were not helping them to heal, and in fact hindering them. It’s time the medical establishment embraced nutrition for the essential role it plays in our healing.
Beautiful story…one that I will share with others. Clearly, there is a lot of work to be done from the medical establishment on this topic.
That is amazing. I hate how western doctors believe that only science can heal. There is so much more to the human body and experience than just “science”.
You are a hero! What an beautiful story. I am appalled at what hospitals think is the best way to heal patients. I have long thought that the garbage they call “food” in the hospital is doing patients no good. Thanks for providing evidence that the body can heal itself through nutrition!
RObin has helped me help others in dire health conditions with her Liquid Hope recipes tailored to the Individual. She is offering a gift to the world and one that is very badly needed. I recommmend her in the highest way.
Robin is one of my greatest teachers on many levels. She put into practice the quote “Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you, all they show are limitations. Look with your understanding and find out what you already know.” ~ richard bach
Keep swimming toward the shark baby!
XO
This is just incredible.
I hear stories similar to yours all the time, and for some reason no one has caught on to it yet!
I am a firm believer that the body is a strong and powerful thing, but it needs NUTRIENTS to function.
Maybe someday “western medicine” will catch up to this obvious fact :)
GREAT post =)
Such a great story…but let’s not be too terribly hard on hospitals. After all, this country doesn’t have a “medicine for everyone” policy or a sense of individualized treatment…with HMO’s and other insurance companies out of the way, this kind of treatment would be seen much more frequently. I don’t think its medicine that needs to catch up….its policy and society that have the work to do!!
YES YES YES YES!! Thank you for this inspiring story!!
I have a very similar story with my own dad!
My dad went into a coma and when he came out he was diagnosed with severe dementia coupled with psychosis and I was told that ‘at best’ he had 4 months to live. He spent 4 months in hospitals and care homes unable to walk or care for himself. We finally took him out of the hospital to a residential rehabilitation in Europe where they treat brain damage caused by lack of nutrients to the brain. The doctors immediately took him off all the drugs that the doctors in the US had given him. When he arrived in Europe he was in a wheelchair, wearing diapers, and hallucinating; within 1 month of proper nutrition and being treated like a respected adult he was walking, dressing himself and no longer hallucinating; within 6 months he was living in his own apartment in the US and basically made a full recovery. If we had listened to the doctors in the United States I firmly believe that he would have died within a few months. So thank you for another inspiring story!
Inspiring story. Is there anything available to hospitals along the lines of natural/organic foods for feeding tubes? Did the hospital have any issues with changing to your formula like they did with acupuncture?
Wow! Your story is moving and inspiring. I love the name Liquid Hope :) Thanks for sharing this important information with us.
This story is phenomenal. I am a dietitian, and it is absolutely amazing to hear stories of how proper nutrition can change the outcome of illness. So often, doctors overlook the importance of nutrition, and the impact it can have on the healing process. It’s pretty easy to prescribe a drug or place a tube feeding (trusting the company that makes them, as well as the candybars they produce as well-ugh), and even in dietetic internships they teach about the importance of medicine and not about total lifestyle change. Living in the NW I see more people foregoing traditional doctors for naturopaths and accupuncturists-I just wish the rest of the country would adopt this philosophy as well! This story made me burst with happiness for you and your family. You are such an inspiration!
Such an amazing story! So beautiful, thank you for sharing!
Thank you all so much for the kind words. Alli, good for you for realizing what you needed to do. Lauren, there is nothing that I know of. When I was faced with this I searched everywhere for a healthy alternative. I was not in the frame of mind to have to create Liquid Hope, as I was very distraught around his injury, but I had to. The hospital would have had huge issues I am sure with the feeding tube formula but luckily he was home w/24 hr. nursing care at the time and I was able to find a doc that would work with me and oversee the process and write orders for the formula. When he was in hospital, we were able to get them to put wheat grass and veggie juices into his tube w/an order from same doc.
Just one word! AMAZING!!!
Wow. What an amazing story! Kudos to you for taking your father’s health into your own (knowledgeable) hands and not passively sitting back and listening to what our health care system says. He is so lucky to have you. I hope one day our health system catches up to the rest of the world.
Great story! Thanks for sharing.
amazing, Robin. fun to get to know you a little bit more.
Along with my sister-in-law (post #7) I too have witnessed the amazing results of Liquid Hope. I do find it amazing that the world refers to “Conventional Medicine” as something that was created in a petri dish or labratory. And refers to “Alternative Medicine” as something that is natural, the way God made it and intended it to be. Shouldn’t we be using “Conventional Medicine” as the Alternative?
Robin, this is such a remarkable story, in so many ways… I am especially struck by both the power of your love for your dad and the fact that the Liquid Hope you concocted for him was better nutrition than he had been receiving prior to his accident. You are one resourceful and glorious person, Robin Gentry McGee!
robin, I have goose bumps reading your amazing story. What a great inspiration you are to all of us! Your father is a lucky man to have you in his life! Thank you for spreading hope around you and sharing the value of nutritional healing… Keep it up!
That is awesome! Liquid Hope. One day the whole world will be juicing :)
Woah – what an inspiring & incredible story. Thanks so much for sharing it!
AWESOME! Great job Robin!
Robin, Thank you for sharing your story. Your love and dedication to providing the very best for your father says a lot about you. God gave us wonderful, self healing bodies and all of the resources to take care of them. God knows what is best for us. He provides. God Bless and thanks again for sharing.
What an amazing story!! Thanks for sharing!!
Thanks so much everyone for the amazing positive response to my journey. I feel I have lived this story for so long, I forget how powerful it is and just how much so many people need this…I am so honored.
What a beautiful story. You are incredibly brave and determined in the most positive way. Thankyou for sharing such a personal life event. so inspiring in so many ways. Much love!
What a truly amazing story.Your courage and bravery were awesome. Where do we get your Liquid Hope?
Thank you for sharing. Linda
Thank you so much for sharing this incredible story! This is such an awesome example of the power of good nutrition.
Alli what residential rehab did you take your Dad to in Europe? thx a
Linda~We are still trying to bring Liquid Hope to market but have been running into roadblocks finding a co-packer to produce it. If there are any organic whole food co-packers out there reading this…please contact me @jstgrtfood@aol.com
In the meantime, I work with a holistic RD who does nutritional assessments on clients and I then write custom recipes for Liquid Hope based on each persons conditions if one wants to create this product. It is an undertaking but totally doable and have had great results….see Kristine’s and Christine’s posts above attesting to the power of Liquid Hope.
Amy, my dad went to a place called Carenza Care in Wales. Sadly the residential portion closed about 6 months after opening because they were unable to get funding from the health authority in the UK. Carenza continues to do amazing work with a daily local program.
It turns out that my dad has a disease called Korsakoff’s Syndrome and that this disease is quite prevalent in people with English/ Irish or Scottish heritage, but doctors are rarely willing to make the diagnosis. The brain becomes starved of thiamine because of a genetic predisposition coupled with alcohol consumption, eating disorders, malnutrition or chemotherapy. Many young people with Korsakoff end up in residential psychiatric treatment and the elderly often end up in nursing homes diagnosed with dementia. Since my dad’s experience, I have run into several people with parent’s who have the same illness and it wasn’t diagnosed. The disease must be caught early to be treated with success. I had so much frustration with the doctors in the US trying to get them to prescribe thiamine (vitamin B1) to my dad. You cannot overdose on thiamine, but doctor after doctor after doctor would not listen as it just wasn’t in their training. They had him on narcotics like Temazepam and Diazepam and an anti-psychotic and blood thinners and even with his medical power of attorney I could not seem to get the doctors to take him off any of the drugs!
On a wing and a prayer, my brother took my dad to Wales hoping that we hadn’t found the only QUACKS in the world claiming to be able to treat him. The doctor in Wales said it was ridiculous how much medication they had him on in the US and that long term it would have likely damaged his liver. The transformation with my dad was quick and miraculous, but he still has to eat a vitamin rich diet and take thiamine daily or his symptoms come back. He is 69 now and mentally quick and physically strong.
Robin,
Thank you for sharing this incredible story! Hospitals are very dangerous places and I feel like a warrior when I enter one where a loved one is being held hostage. You have to be vigilant and question everything. And whole food – the most basic medicine of all – is non-existent.
Your father is so very lucky to have had you fighting for his life!
thank you Alli
Inspiring! I hope that as a result, the hospital has changed the food they provide for patients.
I highly recommend my patients to consult with Robin when they need to tube-feed as a result of cancer. No other canned formula can replace what food provides. Thank you Robin for your hope in Liquid Hope!
Thank you Jackie, I am honored. For those of you who do not know, Jackie is an RD at the Block Integrative Cancer Center. It is simply amazing that there are finally RD’s who are recognizing that canned sugar water cannot facilitate healing in the way that organic whole foods can.
I don’t really leave comments on blog entries but your post was pretty insightful for me. I like it so much that I just had to let you know. Please allow me to copy your article on my website with a link back your site. My readers would love this article.
This post really helped me fill the gaps I had in this subject. Been looking for something like this for ages but since this topic is so obscure, not many people are knowledgeable in it. Excellent work.
Hi Mendy,
By all means, fee free to copy the article, and thank you.
Robin
Looks like my search for informative blogs on this subject has finally come to an end! Even though I recognize that you have a life, but I would definitely like to see this blog updated more often.
May I ask what the difference between blogengine and wordpress platforms is? I have been visiting a number of blogs lately and note that some are blogengine and some are wordpress. What’s the difference between these two and which platform would be better for a celebrity related blog? I am planning on starting one.
May I ask what the difference between blogengine and wordpress platforms is? I have been visiting a number of blogs lately and note that some are blogengine and some are wordpress. What’s the difference between these two and which platform would be better for a celebrity related blog? I am planning on starting one.
This is definitely great. Thankyou for making this offered
WOW. I am so disturbed by our medical system. Your father is lucky to have you.
September 7, 2010