3 out of 4 stars
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Winning the War on Cancer: The Epic Journey Towards a Natural Cure by Sylvie Beljanski is, indeed, epic. Corrupt governments, dedicated scientists, greedy men harming the public to further their own wealth, and treacherous journeys through the indigenous Amazon rainforest seeking purpose and answers to life’s injustices; everything you would expect from a superhero novel. Except, this story is not fiction and the hero never wanted to be one.
Sylvie Beljanski is the daughter of researcher and scientist, Mirko Beljanski. She shares the story of her father’s research and her personal journey to keeping his work and findings alive after his untimely passing. The story begins right after the French government seize Mirko Beljanski’s laboratory under false accusations and make the claim that he was being fraudulent to the public and those who took his treatments. So, what did Beljanski discover that was worth condemning a brilliant man for? A natural treatment to cancer that was, in many ways, more effective than the harmful and toxic cancer treatments pharmaceutical companies offer the public today. As Sylvie Beljanski points out frequently, medical treatments that are present in nature cannot be patented and, therefore, threaten a pharmaceutical buget. Cutting into deep pockets can be a dangerous thing. Sylvie Beljanski must decide if she is going to face some of the most powerful people in the medical industry in an effort to give the public more options for their care or let her father’s work and research fade into history along with other works of brilliant minds who dared to think beyond the scope of profits into progression.
I was excited to read this book because holistic health is an important subject to me. Social justice is also important to me. This book discusses both. Living in the United States, I find the lack of affordable health care options frightening and infuriating. We are all one misfortune away from being destitute. I believe our health is no different than our wealth in this regard. I found Sylvie Beljanski’s storytelling of how one man’s quest for finding natural and affordable treatments led to unfair imprisonment and injustice both terrifying and conspiracy theory inducing. If there were ever a book that would give you the idea that your government is intentionally trying to make you sick and that the healthcare system cares more about its profits than your life, this book would be the one to make you believe it. Sylvie’s writing is engaging and thought provoking.
What makes this book most enjoyable is the adventure that Sylvie Beljanski describes in her effort to honor her father’s memory and work. Her dedication to providing us all with the truth about medicine, science, and government is courageous. While her journey is honorable, there were times when the plot was tedious to follow. What I disliked most about this book was that Sylvie did not always stay on topic while sharing her family’s story of defending science. There were several times when she would detour from the main plot to share a scientific discovery that did not have much to contribute to the overall story. While the detours were interesting, they were confusing in their story placement and significance.
I give this book 3 out of 4 stars. Sylvie Beljanski’s story and all her family have been through is inspiring. The depictions of how the government and scientists looking to cash in on research have cheated the public of amazing scientific inquiry is infuriating. Her journey and her fight for open access to holistic medicine and healthcare options deserves a rating of 4. What resulted in me giving this epic journey a 3 instead were her detours from the main plot that did not contribute to the overall story. I also discovered a handful of grammatical errors. The limited number of errors did not deter from the impact this book made in content, nor did it diminish its power to inspire action from its readers. The audience that I feel would be most impacted by this book are those who are passionate about holistic health and environmental medicine.
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Winning the War on Cancer
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