Aratika Cancer Trust

Many organisations, both professional and voluntary, exist for research and treatment of cancer. However, most patients diagnosed with cancer are keen to do something for themselves about their condition. “What can I do?” is a common question put to doctors by patients desperate to do something more than rely upon conventional surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Research has shown that more than 80% of patients with a diagnosis of cancer will use some form of alternative or complimentary therapy. However, in the absence of a recognised path for such treatments, obtaining the information is often haphazard involving the internet, and the advice of well-meaning but poorly informed friends and family. Frequently the one person who is not consulted is the doctor, who, it is suspected, would ‘disapprove’.

This is frustrating for medical professionals since, among a number of totally useless alternative treatments, there is a group of therapies that have proven clinical value. These have recently been identified by Professor Shaun Holt of the School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University, in his book Complementary Therapies for Cancer. What works, what doesn’t… and how to tell the difference (Craig Potton Publishing, 2010). It is these therapies, in conjunction with the Gawler Foundation, that provide the basis for the programme offered by the Aratika Trust.