As I mentioned yesterday, here it’s that time of year again: October. Breast Cancer Awareness Month. While the topic of my post then was how antivaccine activists have tried to glom on to the attention that Breast Cancer Awareness Month gets in order to create their fake “awareness month” known as “Vaccine Injury Awareness Month,” unfortunately antivaccinationists are not the only quacks who take advantage of the various “awareness” months to peddle their quackery. Naturally, because Breast Cancer Awareness Month is one of the oldest and definitely the best known of these various disease awareness times, it’s not surprising that cancer quacks really like it. For instance, Mike Adams has been known to use October to attack various conventional cancer treatments. So has Dan Olmsted and promoters of alternative breast cancer cures.
This year, first off the mark (or at least first off the mark that I’ve noticed) is Leonard Coldwell. On his Facebook page, he writes:
My comment for today. I am just watching the criminals on the main stream news making billions for the international bankers ( owners of the pharmaceutical and medical industry ) with the breast cancer awareness hoax. Mammograms done prevent cancer they cause cancer. A breast tumor grows 7 to 12 years to a size that they can even find it. There is no need to any hurry and fast surgery and the murder via chemo, radiation and anti hormone therapy in my experience. I can cure every cancer in 2 to 16 weeks. ( not every person but every cancer ). There are over 400 natural cancer cures known today.
My first reaction reading this was: This dude really needs an editor. OK, I know. Sometimes I really need an editor, too. Even at my worst, when I’ve banged out a post at high speed because I was running out of time before I had to leave for work (or something like that) or rapidly written because it was getting late and I was fading fast, I’m more coherent than this guy. Not to brag or anything. It’s just a statement of fact, which means it can’t be insolent. Before I go on to discuss his claims, I do have to concede that there is one small grain of truth in the passage above. It does take between five and ten years for the average breast cancer to grow from a single cell to large enough to be detected clinically, and, in the vast majority of cases, there is no need for a huge rush to treatment. I reassure my patients every time I do clinic, telling them exactly that. There’s time to decide on a rational, science-based course of treatment that is right for them and consistent with what they want. I hate to say that this is in contrast to some surgeons, who scare patients into thinking that if they don’t undergo surgery right away they are throwing away their chance at curing their cancer, but I do occasionally encounter patients seeking a second opinion who tell me that the surgeon they had seen pressured them to have surgery right away.
But what about the claim that Coldwell makes that he can cure “every cancer” in two to six weeks. Elsewhere, Coldwell claims a 92% cure rate for all cancers and sometimes challenges doctors to match his cure rate, even though he’s never actually, as far as I can tell, document a cure rate in any medically acceptable manner. That’s one hell of a claim, wouldn’t you say? No doctor practicing science-based medicine would say that. Heck, even for a stage I breast cancer, most of which can be cured with surgery alone, I wouldn’t make that claim. (And quacks like Dr. Coldwell accuse docs like me of being “arrogant”!) Even though the five year survival for stage I breast cancer is around 95%, even I wouldn’t say that, because I recognize that, even for stage I breast cancer, not everyone survives, and I hate that. None of that stops Coldwell from referencing this video:
Notice how first he invokes the rare but real phenomenon of spontaneous remission from cancer, claiming that he can somehow access that process. If that were true, he’d deserve a frikkin’ Nobel Prize. Let’s just put it this way. What’s more likely? That he can induce spontaneous remission of cancer or that he’s full of…well, you know what? It also turns out that he’s into a form of quackery with which we are very familiar here on this blog. Yes, he seques right into a discussion of “alkalinization” and how the cure to “acid cancer” is to alkalinize. Next up, he talks about “oxygenation.” In other words, he’s talking about ozone therapy, which is one of the purer forms of cancer quackery out there. Next he segues to vitamin C injections, which, as I’ve pointed out many times before, represent the proverbial long run for a short slide.
So what is Coldwell’s recommendation for eliminating cancer “fast”? First off, he says he would recommend a raw vegan diet. Never mind that there is no evidence that raw vegan diet will cure cancer, even though its adherents claim that it it is more “natural” (it isn’t; humans are omnivores, not herbivores) and that it will fix virtually any chronic disease, even type I diabetes. Then he recommends drinking a gallon of water a day with half a teaspoon of sea salt added because without salt the body can’t make electricity, which is sort of true but not in the way he appears to mean. He does include a rather hilarious bit about how table salt is “one third” glass or sand. This leads to his explaining that the reason too much table salt (not sea salt!) causes hypertension is because the glass scratches the arteries and makes them bleed, leading to cholesterol to go there stop it from bleeding.
Even more off-base, according to him, you die of too little cholesterol, not too much. I do note that it is true that low cholesterol levels are associated with increased all-cause mortality, for reasons that are as yet not fully understood, although it is thought that low cholesterol levels are a marker for poor health or an epiphenomenon. He even likens it to a patient in a burn unit getting 20 to 25 eggs a day, allegedly for the cholesterol. Of course, this is utter nonsense. I don’t know what burn units Coldwell is referring to, but I’ve worked in three different burn units, both very well-respected, during my training and never saw anything like that. In reality, what burn patients need more than cholesterol are calories and adequate proteins in order to replace the protein loss that occurs from the serum leaking out of their burn wounds and to contribute to production of new skin. In any case, Coldwell claims that everybody should have a total cholesterol of at least 250 mg/dL and delivers an amazing example of a “pot, kettle, black” insult by calling doctors who discuss LDL and HDL cholesterol levels “too stupid” to know that these are not cholesterol but rather lipoproteins. I suppose Coldwell is too stupid to know that total cholesterol levels measure almost entirely protein-bound cholesterol too because cholesterol itself is minimally soluble in water, meaning that by his definition it’s not measuring cholesterol at all. One wonders how he achieves that with a raw vegan diet.
I suppose this lack of knowledge of biology explains how Coldwell can say things like:
All these idiots on the News are talking about how they are cured since they are one year after the murderous procedures cancer free – here is some news for you idiots: no you can’t be cured from cancer via slaughter poison and burn! The cancer is only hidden because they killed all body functions and can do so for 3 to 5 years and than they are usually all dead as i experienced.
What a nice guy! Look at him bashing cancer patients who have survived as “idiots.” I can’t help but note how, for instance, supporters of Stanislaw Burzynski have demonized me as “attacking patients” when I go out of my way never to denigrate patients of his who honestly believe he cured their cancer. That doesn’t stop me from explaining why their belief that Burzynski had cured them is mistaken, but I don’t go around calling them “idiots” or anything insulting at all, the claims of certain Burzynski followers notwithstanding. The same goes for any cancer patients who fall victim to quackery. They are “victims,” not “idiots.” However, Coldwell’s contempt for patients who have chosen science-based medical treatment shines through, just as bad his contempt for doctors.
This leads him to finish:
Cancer is systemic the tumor is only the symptom not the cancer. To cure cancer you need to identify and eliminate the root cause of it. Cancer is cause to 86% by mental and emotional stress. If you don’t eliminate that energy draining stress that allows the body to malfunction you can’t eliminate the cancer. It is like pushing a splinter deeper into your skin and stating because you don’t see the splinter anymore it is gone! No it is not and the problem just got worst! The same is true with the symptom treatment and suppression used by the medical industry. Inform yourself www.DrLeonardColdwell.com and become a member of the www.IBMSMastersSociety.com to learn the truth about cancer cures and prevention based on my personal successes and experiences. Also find out why my books How to survive your illness and your doctor and The Only Answer to cancer are so successful. www.shopdrc.com ( I do not make any money on the sales)
Geez! Is there any cancer quackery to which Coldwell doesn’t subscribe? That bit about cancer being due to mental and emotional stress? That sounds an awful lot like German New Medicine or Biologie Totale. Go to his website:
Very often a correlation between cancer and fungus / Candida overgrowth is mentioned in the medical world. To make sure I dont suffer from this Candida overgrowth I would do the Candida Remediation Protocol from awesomesupplements.com which was also created after the producer researched my historical use of protocols with my patients in the past.
That sure sounds like a bit of a drift toward Tullio Simoncini “cancer is a fungus” territory.
What other quackery is there? Twenty-one day full body and colon cleansing? Check. Supplements? Yep, a whole boatload, sold by Coldwell. “Alkaline healing” a la our favorite quack Robert O. Young? Oh, yes. Laetrile? Yep, although Coldwell calls it vitamin B17.
Coldwell also promotes something he calls Instinct-Based Medicine. At least he’s honest that it’s not evidence-based medicine or science-based medicine, at whose basis is the belief that we can only heal when we are relaxed and that somehow the contents of the magic CDs sold by Coldwell can rewire your brain to achieve whatever you want:
The IBMS™ includes three highly advanced Audio CD’s each of which runs about 20 minutes in length. Lying comfortably in a dark room one listens to an Audio CD using stereo headphones. The highly advanced and coordinated sound frequencies resemble a very relaxing and pleasing type of music. As the frequencies change with precise timing you can feel amazing waves of relaxation, pleasure and peace flowing beautifully through your mind, body and emotions. After 20 minutes you feel as if you are floating on clouds.
After a 20-minute session most people feel as though they just had a restful night’s sleep, leaving them energized, regenerated and revitalized! It’s an experience that is very difficult to describe in words – most would describe it as unparalleled “musical massage” of the body and mind that induces a state of deep relaxation that gives your mind and emotions the critical time of rest that they need.
Note: The techniques, sounds and music used in the audio session are based on modern science, clinical research, and therapeutic experience and have no religious or organizational affiliations.
Good to know.
Not surprisingly, Coldwell is not a real doctor. He’s never, as far as I’ve been able to tell, earned an MD, although, like Robert O. Young, he has degrees from diploma mills. Actually, it’s not clear what, if any, degrees he has, although he’s referred to himself as an ND and having four PhDs. The truth behind his past is incredibly difficult to ferret out. He also appears to have once worked with convicted scammer Kevin Trudeau on a pyramid scheme known as the Global Information Network (GIN), which, or so Coldwell claimed, would make you “become a millionaire or rich beyond your wildest dreams.” Later, he cried victim and claimed that Trudeau scammed him too. What’s the real story? Who knows? Coldwell frequently relates that his mother had gallbladder cancer and that as a child he only remembers her crying in pain because she couldn’t take it any more. Maybe that’s what turned him to cancer quackery.
It also turns out that Leonard Coldwell is not his original name. He was born in Germany as Bernd Klein and changed his name to Leonard Coldwell in the late 1990s after arriving in the US. Prior to that, he was involved in cult activity in Germany.
The bottom line is that Leonard Coldwell is a cancer quack of the most despicable sort. There’s no evidence he can cure cancer. There’s no evidence that he even knows what he’s talking about with respect to cancer and lots of evidence that he is utterly clueless about cancer biology. If there’s one thing I always dread about Breast Cancer Awareness Month is that it always brings quacks like Coldwell out of the woodwork.
57 replies on “And so it begins: Breast Cancer Awareness Month brings out the cancer quacks”
So he sells supplements, he sells CDs, and he calls people like Orac “pharma shills”. Classic projection. He’s also tripping a few warnings in the Crackpot Index, despite the index having been designed for physics cranks.
Coldwell- as a child experienced- a truly helpless situation wherein his mother suffered from cancer and was not assisted by SBM of that period. I wouldn’t be surprised if this emotionally set up his current mode of employment – although he takes advantage of others’ helplessness.
Curiously, at least two accomplished charlatans report family members who suffered from cancer and were not helped by SBM: Mike Adams and Gary Null:
Mike noted that several family members suffered and died of cancer. Null’s case involves his brother- and possibly another person- who failed to follow his nutritional advice, developing cancer and dying.HOWEVER more interestingly, he continuously speaks about his mother- a gifted medical intuitive like himself- who foolishly listened to doctors and made use of HRT which led to a heart attack at a rather young age. Of course, she never followed his advice either.
He sounds like a sociopath, constantly telling lies and blaming other. This kind of people are just frightening.
Maybe they lived a difficult enfancy but I don’t feel like it’s an excuse to anything.
To clarify, the woo-meister’s mother died and he blamed SBM for killing her. The three I discussed may attribute family members’ deaths and suffering to either medical neglience or all-out malfeasance which may have been the seed that grew into their eventual ( and seedy) careers.
The G—le translation isn’t all that good, but NAP – which seems to be similar to NLP – doesn’t strike me as much as far as cults go.
FOUR PhDs? FOUR? At minimum, for the fastest of fast track students, that is 16 years of coursework and research.
I wish I had the disposable income to get the bulk buyer discount from a diploma mill. Must be nice.
This isn’t exactly relevant to the topic, but I wish we had Breast Cancer Followup Month. My wife was diagnosed 3A in 2010. She underwent SBM- surgery, chemo and radiation and was declared NED in Novermber of that year. Last August 12, a CT scan (for a possible clot in the lungs) showed evidence of 3 lesions in the liver, lung and bone. She died September 9th. She was not outwardly symptomatic.
In three years her oncologist did nothing outside of the friendly visit. No scans, CT or PETS. We lost years because of that.
Curiously, at least two accomplished charlatans report family members who suffered from cancer and were not helped by SBM: Mike Adams and Gary Null
When the grifters lie about everything else, there is no particular reason to accept their claims about medicine-related family tragedies.
I find it easier to believe that they monitor one another’s performances for good ideas to steal, and have collectively adopted a “Cancer-killed-my-mother (so now it’s personal)” Origin Story — styling themselves after Batman, motivated to fight crime by the death of his parents.
I’m terribly sorry about your wife. I understand to some extent in that my mother-in-law died of breast cancer.
However, as hard as it might be for you to hear, there’s a reason most oncologists don’t do routine scans after treatment anymore. There is no evidence that doing such routine followup scans after treatment for breast cancer results in better outcomes or increased long term survival rates as compared to followup and directed studies based on symptoms if and when symptoms occur. All that routine scans of asymptomatic women do after treatment for breast cancer is to find abnormalities that usually turn out to be nothing, cause scares, and result in unnecessary biopsies of incidentalomas. Also, there’s no evidence that finding metastatic disease earlier results in improved survival and outcomes. I know it’s counterintuitive, but it’s true.
Woo Fighter mentioned “Coldwell” in a RI thread last year:
https://www.respectfulinsolence.com/2013/08/29/a-cancer-quackfest/#comment-277865
Coldwell frequently relates that his mother had gallbladder cancer and that as a child he only remembers her crying in pain because she couldn’t take it any more.
His story varies (shocking, I know). His mother’s illness is variously described as cirrhosis, Hep C, and liver cancer… in the more recent versions of the story she is alive and well today because he cured her with his literally God-given healing power. As well as curing his sister’s cervical cancer.
In other news , searching for “Kenneth Coldwell” + “sexual predator” returns 36700 hits.
Orac: “Also, there’s no evidence that finding metastatic disease earlier results in improved survival and outcomes. I know it’s counterintuitive, but it’s true.”
So Noreen Fraser is on year 10 at stage 4, two of my friends wives go four and seven respectively (both deceased) and my wife got 21 days? Luck of the draw?
That IS counterintuitive.
@jeffM – My condolences….and sometimes it is the luck of the draw.
JeffM: Yes. It is almost certainly the “luck of the draw.” I’m very sorry to say that, but it is. It isn’t fair. It isn’t intuitive. But there it is, and it sucks.
In my mind, Leonard Coldwell is not a quack. He is a scammer– a con-man, plain and simple. Whether he believes anything he says, which I doubt, is irrelevant. He is not in any way trying to help people, other than to lighten their wallets.
@ herr doktor bimler:
Oh, I think that there’s a grain of truth hidden within his collected oeuvre of stories because
older people frequently die of heart attacks and of cancer.
HOWEVER the virulence with which these tales are delivered repeatedly shows perhaps a point of rejection of reality: someone died-
and then doctors and meds were blamed for it OR the family member refused to follow their resident woo-meister’s orders. It denies reality.
USUALLY additional tales about their long-lived vegan, athletic, organic farmer great-aunt follow. People who live correctly can survive until 140 or so, we’re told.
Jeff, I am so sorry that your wife died from breast cancer. Please accept my condolences.
Wow, it’s like a whole buffet of quackery.
Also: ‘ It’s just a statement of fact, which means it can’t be insolent.’ – I love it when Orac references ORAC.
There may be something to eggs and alkaline.
Eggs contain lots of biotin and choline. From what I’ve learned recently, supplemental biotin is worthless.
I’d recently stumbled upon the realization that my greatest risk from a 2-can-per-day wet snuff habit was far more dangerous to my kidneys, liver, and bowels than teeth and gums cancerwise.
For the past 15 years, I have had a dip in 24/7 when not drinking. Yes, people; I hit the cup in my sleep. Most of the time.
I thought my kidneys had failed. I discovered the ‘nicotine patch’ is no longer prescription and immediately went to 2 cans per day to 1 per 3 days (5-htp, p-5-p is great also).
Now, studying up on the 28 nitrosamines in my chosen product to include the ones made endogenously from my own saliva nitrates and other stuff in tobacco I stumbled upon an interesting factoid — That these nitrosamine conversions happen in an acidic environment.
The ‘dip’ I take is treated with slaked lime (it’s why it busts cop breatholizers because they really measure pH and not alcohol; The same as a diabetic in insulin shock is left to die in a drunk tank with a positive reading — he blows acidic).
^^ I can’t help but think that alkaline environment and futher added to the fact that I eat sodium bicarbonate like candy may have protected me from cancer (at least, of the bowels). Anectodal(??) I guess. I’m just saying I had all the highest risk factors — if a dip wasn’t in then the alcohol was…
This dude really needs an editor.
What he really needs is a prison cell.
Jeff – I’m so sorry for your loss. It isn’t fair.
People like you deserve to get cancer, I’ll laugh my ass off when you’re having the chemo you’re such a big fan off and die 🙂
Stay classy.
This is pretty amusing. John Waterstache decided to sue SaltyDroid for libel and named the wrong defendant. (The case was dismissed May 23; apparently Coldwell couldn’t find another attorney after his dumped him.)
FSM knows why I typed ‘kenneth’ instead of ‘leonard’ in comment #10.
The rationalWiki entry on Coldwell is entertaining and link-rich:
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Leonard_Coldwell
Yes, naturalhealing, cancer is terrifying, and I’m sorry you live in such terror of it that you’ve lost your humanity. That’s worse than cancer and much harder to treat.
Also worth of noting, he peppers his spiel with set up for victim blame. First the part about treating “every cancer but not every person” seems like just typical ass-covering, but then comes the best part.
So, the cancer develops due to mental and emotional stress according to Leonard. I suppose that if his “cures” fail to help it means the person was too stressed and that made her cancer return. Poof, all responsibility shifted to the patient, how convenient.
The above raises the question about internal consistency of the scam. I presume that there is some quack explanation, but it seems strange to me that one would need all the supplements, laetril, vitamin C or whatever quackery du jour is being sold, if all that is required is overcomming mental stress.
What the hell does electricity have to do with curing cancer?
Halfway through reading I went looking for info on his credentials and am not surprised to learn that while he claims some, there’s no proof of them (as Orac says later on). Coldwell really writes like he never graduated primary school, let alone has several doctorates. Even counting English as a second language, I can’t imagine him being a peer-reviewed author anywhere in the US.
Continuing from this and @HDB #10, one site I read suggested that it was Hep C that he cured for his mother, only that instead of when he was young as described by Coldwell, it occured in 2008.
cosmicconnie.blogspot.ca/2014/08/leonard-coldwells-medical-lackground.html
@The Smith if Lie #26
If you look at Rational Wiki it’s pretty clear he’s a conman tapping into whatever thing is currently faddish
@JeffM
Please add my condolences to the list.
Why is it always the Natural Peace loving Hippy types that are always so venomous? is it because they are incapable of understanding anything that is written here? because frankly anyone that takes 50% of it on board and understands it would be hard pressed to disagree with anything written above
The above raises the question about internal consistency of the scam.
“Internal consistency”? Ha. The main credential he offers to his fans is his claim to have cured his mother of $LIVER_DISEASE using nothing but faith-healing and the power of prayer, when he was 13 (or 12, or 8). Therefore his fans should use laetrile, or his knock-off version of Burzinski-woo, or an alkiline diet, or whatever else he happens to prescribe on the spur of the moment, because that is SCIENCE.
Is it around about now that we slot in the story about Sharyn Ainscough and what happens when you completely eschew evidence-based treatments for unproven woo?
https://www.respectfulinsolence.com/2013/10/17/sharyn-ainscough-dies-tragically-because-she-followed-the-example-of-her-daughter-the-wellness-warrior/
And lets throw in for good measure an update on her daughter’s cancer as a lesson in what happens when you do the same for other cancers:
http://rosaliehilleman.wordpress.com/2014/09/20/how-not-to-do-transparency/
Thank you for the kind words, to those that did.
@Naturalhealing: . I watched my wife (who I met in high school) die. It was horrible. I wouldn’t wish that death on anyone.
Congratulations on becoming a monster.
@janerella #30, I noticed Jess is dropping out of public events citing health issues. So sad.
@Jeffm I wish we could offer more than words because it is heartbreaking to watch your beloved die.
@JeffM,
I watched my sister-in-law die of cancer three years ago, and you truly have my sympathy as well.
@ JeffM – my sincere condolences – it is a very unfair lottery
yes I agree it seems counter intuitive but there is at least consistency between health professionals
I was Dx stage 2B BC nearly 18 months ago and NEVER gave alt rems a look in, cut, poison and tamox were my ‘go to’ Tx and it still feels strange to only have an annual mammo but I have complete confidence and faith in my BS and Onc and their protocols – I have to –
@orac – would love to hear your incisive thoughts on Thomas Rau, Paracelsus clinic and leptotrichia buccalis…. all of which strike me as Swiss Uber Woo rather than Mexican
Oh-holy-mother-of-God.
To give you an idea of the pics you’re about to look at (FB needed) here is the first line of this woman’s post
“It’s now just over two weeks ago since I removed my large breast tumour using black salve”
https://www.facebook.com/ann.devlin.184/posts/10204632086860364
Ditto Janerella
OMG ……now I KNOW I made the right choices – who can seriously do that /believe that !!!!! Is that for real and what has been left behind ?????
Folks, don’t miss out on a fabulous “broadcast” event coming to your computer screens later this month, that will teach you all you need to know about preventing and treating cancer.
“28 Doctors, 11 Scientists, 9 Survivors And 1 “FDA Dragon Slaying” Attorney** Break Their ‘Code Of Silence’ And Expose The
TRUTH About Cancer And Exactly How To Prevent,
Treat And Beat it 100% Naturally”
This Expert Panel includes some of the truly great we have come to know and love, such as Stan “My Pharmacy is Cheaper, Honest” Burzynski, Nicholas “Coffee Enema” Gonzalez, Rashid “I Can’t Believe It’s Not” Buttar, Sherry “Vaccines Are Hiding Under My Bed” Tenpenny, G. Edward “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion Accurately Describe What’s Happening In The World Today” Griffin and many many more.
http://www.thetruthaboutcancer.com/fall_quest2.php#sthash.AnQTABjW.dpuf
If I wasn’t loathe to give my contact info to people who likely would spam the living daylights out of it, I would totally subscribe to these free broadcasts. The Cure is at hand!*
*G. Edward Griffin also thinks cancer is a “nutritional deficiency” disease curable simply by supplying the missing nutrient, “vitamin B17”, a.k.a. laetrile. Skeptics might wonder, if it’s that simple, why do we need to listen to all those other “experts” – just take your laetrile, and voila.
But skeptics are just a bunch of shills for Big Logic.
**it’s not obvious who this might be, but however he may be feared at the F.D.A., it’s not enough to keep the group from posting a Quack Miranda Warning on their site.
Wait…..how could they possibly put people together that, fundamentally, believe in completely different means, methods and cures for Cancer – almost all of which are diametrically opposed to one another?
how could they possibly put people together
“How” is not the question; it’s not as if there is a problem finding these people, or as if they argue about the radical differences in their snake-oil recipes. The question is how their customers can view this buffet of alternative, mutually-condradictory Truths without seeing a problem. Personally I blame post-modernism.
Break Their ‘Code Of Silence’
So they’re comparing themselves to the Mafia? OK, that seems fair enough.
Going back to Leonard Coldwell of the “hands-on” therapy, imagine my surprise to learn that he is best buddies with Rima Laibow.
My condolences as well. I lost my mom to breast cancer (a lung metastasis that figured out resistance to Herceptin and did its thing in the space of a month, after nearly five years of things being kept well under control) the day after.
@ Narad:
I’m very sorry to hear of your loss.
Thanks, Denice. It was pure luck that I was there, as she had tried to get away with putting me off for a week to get the (basically immaculate) house in order. But I’m more commiserating with TimM, who didn’t have the luxury of as much time as I did.
^ Sorry, JeffM.
Good to see Orac tackling this nut job at last. Due originally to Coldwell’s deep involvement with Kevin Trudeau and GIN, but subsequently to Coldwell’s personal attacks on me, I’m pretty much an expert on this strange little man, having written several blog posts about him over the past couple of years.
His most common story is that his mom had liver cancer, liver cirrhosis and hep C and that he cured her of all of these things by the time he was either 12 or 22, depending upon the site or book you’re reading. In some of his narratives he clearly states she was diagnosed with all of these conditions — including hep C — back when he was a lad (either 5, 7, or 12, depending on the story). He was born in 1958 and I believe that hep C wasn’t clearly identified by medical science until 1989. (Also in his earlier narratives he didn’t mention the hep C at all; only in more recent years did he add that to his impressive list of accomplishments.)
As for the gallbladder, he has said his mother contracted hepatitis from a blood transfusion while undergoing gallbladder surgery. But he boasts that she is still alive and healthy today, thanks to his diligent efforts, although he has also accused me of putting her in danger because I mentioned her in a couple of my blog posts. (He also falsely accused me of killing his pit bull dog, though I’m a dog lover who lives in Texas, and he’s in South Carolina and I have no idea where he lives… but that’s a whole other bag of crazy.)
Coldwell was into self-help/motivational stuff back in Germany and for a while had a company called NAPS — not exactly a cult, but he did use some of those “motivational” techniques that cult leaders and self-help leaders like Tony Robbins use. Some of it was apparently close enough to being culty that he aroused the interest of a cult researcher in Germany. He sued her and lost. If I spoke better German I could tell you more, but there’s a lot on my first blog post about Coldwell on my hobby blog Whirled Musings; Google “Paging Dr C: Bernd bridges…” and you’ll find it. I did consult with a friend who speaks fluent German and he reviewed the documents on that German web site — in the original language.
Also, if you want to know about Coldwell’s degrees and credentials, Google “Leonard Coldwell’s medical lackground.” If nothing else you’ll see why he hates me so much that he accused me of poisoning his dog (and published my address and private cell phone number, inviting his lunatic fans to “get in touch with me”). He’s truly a disturbed individual and I am convinced that he is actually dangerous.
FYI: Coldwell appears to be gaming the search engines by hiring cheap SEO services to plaster the Interwebz with poorly written blogs about how wonderful he is. Curiously, most of the blog posts bear the tag “sexual predator,” although not one of them is about sexual predation.
“Google “Leonard Coldwell’s medical lackground.”
Nice, I like the term “lackground” to describe deficient credentials.
Janerella, I am in awe at the professionalism of the doctor in that FB posting. He must have been inwardly wanting to scream and break things.
Should you choose to give yourself chemical burns with “herbal remedies”, there is really no point in preserving the resulting giant scabs in vodka for later examination.
@Elizabeth A, I think janerella is as appalled as you are. Notice that her comment starts with “Oh-holy-mother-of-God.”
FYI: Leonard Coldwell is going to be the keynote speaker at a health expo in New York on Sunday, October 26. It will be at the Huntington Hilton in Melville NY…
http://www.navelexpo.com/expo.php
Cost of admission: $10, although free tickets are available at select local retailers such as Vitamin Shoppe.
Here’s a PDF of the speaker lineup…
http://www.navelexpo.com/new/images/NAVELExpoLectureListOctober-2014.pdf
Here is the description of Coldwell on the speaker lineup:
6:00 PM
INSTINCT-BASED MEDICINE SYSTEM: The Only Answer to Cancer
Identifying and Eliminating the Root Cause of all Disease by Discovering the Answer Within Negative emotions such as worry, fear, doubt, helplessness, and lack of self-esteem can lead to a host of health issues, including asthma, rheumatism, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and cancer. Fortunately, this physical stress is just a temporary condition that can be easily controlled. Join renowned naturopath Dr. Leonard Coldwell, who is the author of 19 bestselling books, including The Only Answer to Cancer, who cured his own mother of Stage IV Liver Cancer when he was only 13 years old, as he shares how to regain power and control over your health and learn how to manage and eliminate pain in the most effective way.
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The first thing I thought when I saw that was, “Hmmm…. whatever happened to Mommy’s hepatitis C?” There is no mention of it on the blurb. Has he been called on that one too many times, and is now trying to slink out of it? For that matter… whatever happened to Mommy’s cirrhosis? Or is the point just to emphasize cancer?
I have been part of a discussion about Coldwell on the expo’s Facebook page. I did not initiate the discussion but participated. The participants all shared information about Coldwell that is contrary to the glowing picture painted by the expo promotional copy, but the man behind the expo, Alex Lubarsky (who also seems to be a big Kevin Trudeau fan) defended his choice of a keynoter. If you have Facebook access you can read the entire exchange here, as it is on a public page:
https://www.facebook.com/NAVELexpoLI/posts/1479739912313795
Coldwell took umbrage and after that thread appeared (it’s on one small corner of the page and doesn’t even show up on their main timeline), he let loose with a new round of attacks on me (though not on the other participants). On his own Facebook page he once again published my home address and (very private) cell phone number, as well as a couple of my email addresses, and asked his fans to help “stop” me. He lied (as he has done before) that I am only writing about him because I am sexually obsessed with him, and that his having to deal with me and some other critical bloggers has taken up too much of his precious time, and has prevented him from curing more cancer patients. That’s why it’s so important that I be “stopped,” says he.
Shortly after he posted that screed I got an email from a sender who asked me if I was worried that my house would burn down in the middle of the night as a result of the “ridiculous things” that I write about “Dr.” C. (All duly reported to law enforcement.)
Fortunately Facebook took the post down after several people and I complained, but I suspect it’s just a matter of time before more abusive content appears. I’m sure that Coldwell is very angry that his post was taken down, and he’ll redouble his attacks, claiming that I have “connections” with Facebook and so forth (as he has done before).
Spread the love, Lenny.
Anyway, this is just a heads-up, in case any of you will be in the area — again, that’s Melville NY, Huntington Hilton — on October 26, and wish to drop by and see the daft little man in action.
Here’s a great chance to make a little extra pocket money to help pay for that frauduct or flopportunity you have your eye on but can’t quite afford. Leonard Coldwell, the world’s greatest cancer curer and the most loved, highest-paid motivational speaker on the planet (according to him, anyway) is offering reward money again, as he often does for various projects. He has a standing offer of $1 million to the first medical doctor who can prove that he or she has a higher cancer cure rate than Lenny (he says he has offered this through his “Foundation” for more than 20 years and that no doctor has stepped forward so far). At various times he has also offered big money to his readers to give them information about his critics (he recently put a $10,000 bounty on me, for instance). And now — via a couple of his Facebook forums, and using the name “Annette” — he is offering “high rewards” to anyone who can provide graphic photos of suffering cancer patients for Coldwell’s new book on cancer “cures.”
In case you can’t access the links I have provided below, here is the text of Coldwell’s November 10, 2014 post on The Only Answer to Cancer page and the IBMS Master’s Society page.
“Reward: We pay high rewards for pictures of suffering Chemo or Radiation patients that show their physical damage and decay that we can use in Dr Leonard Coldwell’s newest cancer cure book. Pls send emails to dr.leonardcoldwell at gmail dot com thank you very much Annette”
I think that’s about the lowest he has gone so far. I wonder if he will even require any sort of consent or release forms. What a potential legal/ethical can of worms this is.
And re “Annette”… I find it remarkable that all of his “assistants” and even his “brother” have the exact same mangled-English writing style as he.
https://www.facebook.com/theonlyanswertocancer/posts/315949588613732
https://www.facebook.com/IBMSMastersSociety/posts/653737978074513
It seems that “Annette” forgot to mention high rewards for pictures of patients who have had surgery. In any case Coldwell has actually claimed that his cancer “protocol” does not work if people have undergone any type of establishment cancer treatments — i.e., surgery, radiation, chemo. So basically what he is doing is telling people not to even consider those options, or else he can’t do anything for them. It does give him an escape clause, though.
http://drleonardcoldwell.com/only-answer-to-cancer/
(As touched on in the discussions above, the other reason he claims that his “protocol” might fail is that the patient just doesn’t WANT to get well.)
And he just keeps on with this shtick, though when called on it he claims he is being suppressed and censored.
Possible Cancer Quack Tour alert…
You mentioned Tullio Simoncini, Orac. Coldwell recently announced that in 2015 he will be “touring” Europe with two other “cancer cure heroes,” Stanislaw Burzynski and Tullio Simoncini. He has been spreading the word via his personal Facebook timeline and some of his other Facebook pages, most notably The Only Answer to Cancer. For those who can get to it, here is a permalink to one of the threads on The Only Answer to Cancer page (November 25, 2014):
https://www.facebook.com/theonlyanswertocancer/posts/321850711356953
As far as I can see, Coldwell has given no details regarding the “tour” dates, or what exactly is involved. On an earlier (Nov. 20) Facebook post about the upcoming “tour,” Coldwell had written, “We will tour: Germany, Prague, London, Amsterdam, Rome etc To teach people how to cure cancer.” This implies an actual physical tour rather than some Skype event, but with Coldwell, as always, it’s nearly impossible to tell truth from fiction. It’s probably not very risky to assume fiction until proven otherwise, although not surprisingly he has defended and promoted both Burzynski and Simoncini as cancer-cure heroes who are as oppressed as he is.
In other threads Coldwell has indicated that one purpose of the Euro-tour will be to promote one of his new books, but I seriously doubt that either Burzynski or Simoncini would be building any of their own live events around this daft little C-list motivational speaker’s work. It may just be Coldwell’s ego talking again. It does a lot of talking.
In any case, cursory Internet searches have revealed nothing from either Burzynski or Simoncini about this “European tour,” so this could be another lie, misrepresentation, or delusion from Coldwell. I’ll keep an eye out in case any more info shows up.
his other Facebook pages, most notably The Only Answer to Cancer. …
he has defended and promoted both Burzynski and Simoncini as cancer-cure heroes
So Coldwell has The Only Answer to Cancer except for all these other answers to cancer?
I suppose the only answer to cancer accoding to Coldwell is: “reject anything mainstream and use anything that is rejected by science”.
On November 27 Coldwell posted this long Thanksgiving screed on several of his Facebook pages. Among other things he boasts that “new studies” show that his cancer cure rate is even higher than 92.3% — AND there is going to be a major Hollywood motion picture about him, “Life of a Healer.” He says that despite the mentally ill women [sic] who killed his dog Blue, and the four co-conspirators being paid by Big Pharma to defame him, he’s still going strong and will just keep getting better.
==BEGIN MESSAGE==
A heart felt “Thank You” to all of my dearest friends:
It is time to say thank you to all my dear friend and supporters. This year was a great year for me and my team. We had a lot of success. I have been on 209 Radio or TV shows this year.My books are now in 9 different languages and my videos have been watched over 229 million times. I have 3 new books coming out and my book The Only Answer to Cancer is in its 10th edition with the new publisher ( 29th Edition all together ) updated and with 90 more pages. I am touring Europe with my personal Heros Dr Simoncini and Dr Bryzinki [sic — he can’t even be bothered to spell his hero’s name correctly] next year spreading the truth about cancer cures. My newest book in German will be available in January. Our IBMS Masters Society is growing and we are having our next ( 4th ) event this weekend in the most luxurious southern Mansion https://ibmsmasterssociety.com/megaseminar/
It was my most successful year yet and I will always get better. I am so grateful for the huge success of my radio show http://www2.gcnlive.com/JW1D/index.php/showinfo?showCode=71 I am reaching now millions of listeners from over 150 countries. New studies show that my cancer cure rate is even higher as the 92.3% that was the conclusion of 3 independent studies done before. My book the Only Answer to Cancer in now officially named the most sold book of its kind. My newsletter subscribers are now over 3 million and I will am booked next year for 23 mega seminars and keynote speeches already and of course my Europe tour with the leading cancer cure authorities is so exiting. I won an Award for one of my books and there is a movie in the making about my life called: Life of a Healer! It is a real Hollywood production and will be in Theaters. Yesterday I was on a huge TV show for a 1 hour interview. ( will let you know when it airs ) I am so grateful for my team, my friends and my family.
All of this is only possible because of your loving support and care. Please sit down today for a moment and reflect on what you are grateful for and if you like put it here as a comment.
Again I am so grateful for all your support, loving comments and emails and your care. I am so thankful for all you caring loving support and uplifting words when a mentally ill women ( paid by the pharmaceutical industry to harm my reputation,) was responsible for murdering my loving dog, Blue. Even that 42 million dollars have been spend to destroy my name and reputation and 4 co conspirators ( paid by big pharma and the medical industry ) bombarded many of you with lies and defamation, you my dear friends stood even stronger with me and supported me even more. That is the proof of what I always say: Success is always the result of effective teamplay! So my dear friends know you know why I am so blessed: Because I have the love and support of my friends and family and the hundreds of thousands of thank you emails, letters and texts. Yesterday I got a thank you not from a Medical doctor and Professor for Medicine stating that he used the information from my book The Only Answer to Cancer to cure himself from prostate cancer. That my dear friends is what I am living for. Thank you for being there for me when I needed you and to help to spread my message that Every Cancer Can Be Cured withing weeks. Love your Dr C
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Here’s a link to the thread on The Only Answer to Cancer page. He indicated that he welcomes comments, so…
https://www.facebook.com/theonlyanswertocancer/posts/322296761312348
Well Connie, you are just jealous because you were not invited to Coldwell’s $199-a-plate Thanksgiving dinner (non-GMO!) at the be-a-champion seminar in Charlotte this weekend. I bet you also made excuses as to why you couldn’t attend the ($99) seminar either, forfeiting an opportunity to “get wealthy financially, physically and spiritually”.
As Dr. Coldwell reminds us: “One thing I always says is that the winners do whatever it takes to attend seminars, with no excuses. Losers are home justifying why they could not attend.”
Darn right. They’ve each got an extra $298 in their pockets, but they’re losers in the game of Life!
Darn it all, Dangerous Bacon, you discovered my secret. Coldwell has known it for a long time, though, maybe because he is a trained and qualified expert in mental as well as physical ailments, or so he tells us. Last year, when he was still merely referring to me as an AIDS-infected former prostitute instead of a mentally ill dog killer and nympho (where he’s concerned, anyway), he (falsely) declared that I had also contracted cancer because I am so envious of him and his “champions.”
Meanwhile, I’m still trying to find out more about that so-called “Cancer Heroes” Euro-tour with Lenny, Stan, and Tully, but I have seen nothing about it yet except the boasts on Lenny’s own Facebook pages, so that tour may be as imaginary as his cancer cure rate, his medical credentials, and my lust for him.
Connie is often the voice of MANY people who who wouldn’t be caught dead in his presence, because we have ethics and morals and we care about the women he lied to and took advantage of sexually, using his “clout” as a “doctor”. If you were to see the police reports from the MANY women, you might distance yourself from him, too, while still believing in alternative medicine. When someone challenges you to find out the truth, it’s kindof up to you to do it without bias.