Sorry to say, he died yesterday, taken by cancer. I can find nothing in the English press, but it is in all the French papers.
When I was first diagnosed in 2003 I read Jane Plant, took what I liked from her ideas and ignored the rest, but she gave me hope.
When I had my 2nd diagnosis in 2010 I read David Servan-Schreiber, and did the same, but now I feel really lost and sad.
Don’t know what else to say, but I thought you ought to know.
All the best to one and all
Maria xx
Oh dear, how very sad.
I think this news is going to make a lot of us feel a bit wobbly, especially those who’ve been following his advice.
RIP David.
Thanks for sharing the news with us Maria.
K x
Thats exactly it Hope444, I feel really wobbly. I am no fanatic, but his ideas gave a something to hang on to. At least I can give up the green tea now.
You made me smile there. I can’t stand green tea either!
K x
Maria,
I have been drinking Green Tea for longer than l can remember, and look where it got me!! The only thing l would say, as my Mum once said to me when l asked if the cod liver oil tablets she took did her any good! ‘well you don’t know how l would have been without them’ she is now 91 and shoots round M & S like a teenager (well almost)
xxx
Yes, I knew David S.S. was ill again with a relapse. I too follow his advice somewhat. But he did get diagnosed, I believe, almost 20 years ago with an agressive brain cancer, so he did do pretty well. Sad, though. Thanks, Maria, for posting.
Sarah x
This is a great shame, because I think he was one of the more sensible lifestyle guru’s. Yes he believed that a patient could support their immune system and help prevent cancer with changes in diet and lifestyle (and of course that is a subject of much debate), but he never suggested that diet/lifestyle could cure cancer. He made it clear that once you have cancer the only way you can get rid of it, is with conventional medicine, and of course that is how he dealt with his own cancer. For me, he deserves praise for encouraging people, while ensuring that he didn’t raise false hope, or promote dangerous ideas.
That’s a real shock to me. I hadn’t known he was ill again and only yesterday was reading an article in a dentist’s waiting room that he’d written.
I found his book gave me a lot of hope in the very darkest days of chemo as it was written in a personal and uplifting way. Some of what he suggested may be debatable but as Lemongrove says he had a sensible approach.
Maria, thanks for posting this. I’m not sure I would have found out.
David may you rest in peace.
Elinda x
Some of you may like to read this obituary from Carnegie Mellon University - I hadn’t realised the scope of his work.
cmu.edu/news/blog/2011/Summer/obituary-david-servan-schreiber.shtml
Maria
Thank you for sharing this sad news - his courage in openly sharing his illness and research with the wider public is something I really respect - but yes,the news does make me wobble…
RIP David
Fran
That’s such sad news, I don’t read cancer books as such, but his is one I have read from cover to cover.
I read his book on the anti cancer diet a couple of years ago and gave some info from it to a friend whose husband was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour about 3 years ago; sadly her husband died 2 weeks ago and we were at his funeral last week. I think Servan Schreiber did very well to live such a long time on the back of the cancer he had. My friend’s husband had the same type of tumour as Seve Ballesteros and he knew from the off his time was limited as they could not remove it all. I did read on the cancer research site that very few people with cancerous brain tumours make it to the end of 5 years remission, my friend’s husband was initially told he had 6 weeks. Sad to read this about David Servan Schreiber as I really agreed with some of his theories. I was particularly interested in the part where he said in his childhood they had holidayed in rural France when there was crop spraying going on; he went on to say 2 of his female cousins who holidayed with them had developed breast cancer.
For those interested, if you Google there is a very interesting obituary on him in the Los Angeles Times. Really amazing that he was diagnosed with something so aggressive at 30 and he managed to make it to 50.