Children's Hospital "Stronger" video

I know Seattle Children's Hospital (unfortunate to "know" any hospital, though fortunately, all is well now with that child) and found this video, made by a teen cancer patient there, rather touching. It went viral when Kelly Clarkson responded:

Wonderful. Thank you, Jocelyn.

We have a Children's Hospital here in BC too. My nephew had to go there and he had to have check ups from birth onward. He was born with a hole in his heart. He's fine now. No surgery, just drugs and time and it closed on its own. We were all nervous and fearful of what could be.

Kids are strong and they are just amazing about tests/ experiments/uncertainties.

Your nephew's story is heartening - literally and figuratively. Thanks for sharing Peony, and glad you liked the post.

I think none of these kids would not be sick if carcinogens were not so prevelant in our environment. I think that all of these kids are sick because they are "acceptable losses" for the profits of a few unethical people. To add insult to injury, I think those same people are profiting from the very expensive cancer treatment that these kids are going through.

This is my #1 driving force for quitting my job and dedicating my life to permaculture. Every podcast, every video, every article. How can you become aware of this stuff and not do something.

My arm is tired from wagging my finger at bad guys. I hope to fix all of this by building a better world one brick at a time. Every day. It is a difficult strategy, but I think it is the most effective.

Thanks Jocelyn. I'm refueled.

As an additional note to your comments, Paul, a couple of years ago, I took a home nutrition class from a woman who had been a dietician/nutritionist (I think she was an R.D., but don't remember specifically) for 40 years. She had started working in the hospitals in the 1960's, and, at the end of her talk, she said "when I started working in hospitals, there was no such thing as a pediatric oncologist - cancer was so rare in children then, that the specialty was not even thought to be needed. Today, cancer is the 3rd leading cause of death for children."

Note: updated stats: Cancer is actually the second leading cause of death now for 5-14 year olds (it is third for 1-4 year olds).

Makes you think.

We were already eating Organic foods when we had our daughter. Once I held that little girl in my hands something strange happened in my head. I couldn't sit around and say "some day" anymore. Today had to be the day and I was already far behind! All of a sudden, the wrongs in the world couldn't just be lived with. I knew then that I was going to do everything that I could to try to make a safe world for my little family and share what I knew with as many people as I could.

It's been six years and I've quit my job(s) too. I've spent nearly every waking moment of the day making our little world safer. Water filters, insulated attic, attic fan, growing healthy foods first organically and now permaculture, learning to cook, light animal husbandry, using less water, capturing rainwater safely for irrigation and now (thanks to permaculture) nearly only for drinking and washing, canning, ham radio, chopping wood, rocket mass heater, cob ovens, cob construction, earthship construction, weed identification/propagation, natural healing and herbalism. I really feel like I've barely started!

I've organized a group of people who put in zone one keyhole gardens for anyone who will have one. All of those who show up put their names in a hat and we draw for the next garden. I've done countless permaculture presentations to all kinds of groups ranging from garden clubs to schools. I read everything I can get my hands on (and hopefully to go to a PDC some day) and try my damnedest to apply it. I really feel like I've barely started!

I DO KNOW, that the toxins in our environment and the lack of minerals and nutrition in our food (even organics) is killing us and I DO BELIEVE, wholeheartedly that those in charge of the food production system and our environmental and health protection are not only the cause of it, but act as if they want to make it worse! The cancer and chronic disease rate has not only gone UP, but it's getting us younger and younger. The American Medical Association made the statement that our children aren't supposed to outlive us for the first time in history! I've never known anyone with cancer or who had died of any kind of disease until the last five or so years. Now I know about 10 who have it or have died from it. I hear from the medical community that the cancer scare is really just due to the fact that we can detect it better now. What?! How does record detection explain people being in the ground at the age of 3 to 80 by unnatural causes? Why is it we are not hearing everywhere of the phenomenal successes of the Gerson Clinic, Burzynski? Dr. Gabriel Cousens, etc. Any one of these organizations cure people who were told that they had a 100% chance they were going to die after chemotherapy! I have a family member who had "incurable" melanoma, did the chemo and was sent away to die! He did the Gerson Therapy and is alive 30 years later!!! No, let's make these guys out to be quacks.

I believe that the only way that we can get sanity back into our lives is by growing our own food and no matter where we live, make our lives less dependent on the systems that "provide" for us.

I believe that the only answer is through permaculture. When Paul said in a recent podcast that permaculture should become a religion, I said to myself, "I'm already there". Not in a bible thumping way, but in an "I think I've found the answers and will live this every day of my life" way.

Now, on to: Composting toilet, water features, living roofs, geothermal/convective cooling, thriving food production systems that live without human input, more perennials, more gardens around town, more spreading the word, more cisterns, a "cool house" that runs on convection and geothermal, running a vehicle on alcohol, another on veggie oil, running tools and kitchen appliances on pedal power, having a fleet of bikes that can be loaned out and used for daily transportation of cargo, compost heating and methane production...

Thanks Paul for Permies.com and all of your work for bringing our attention to people like Sepp Holser, Geoff Lawton, Ianto Evans, Mike Oehler, Jean Pain and the hundreds of others like the Wisners and Alexia Allen -I know I'm missing a bunch!

I'm off to pick up my daughter now. Homeschooling next year YAY! Spread the word before the massacre continues! Talk about Permaculture every day and LIVE PERMACULTURE EVERY DAY!!!

paul wheaton wrote:I think none of these kids would not be sick if carcinogens were not so prevelant in our environment.

For some reason, people are still so much in denial about this, despite the scary trend that Janet illustrated so well. It's as if there is still this trust that "the authorities" have "approved" the herbicides, pesticides, frankenfoods, hormones, etc., etc. so they must be safe.

These chemicals and mutants are carcinogens. If you don't want cancer, minimize (and work to eliminate) your exposure to cancer-causing agents. It's not a difficult concept and there are alternatives.

I am so glad you are putting those bricks out there, Paul. And replies like Alex's and all the other folks who post about what they are doing to live a better life are even more bricks.

Thanks guys.

I'm FAR FROM THERE when it comes to getting where I want to be permaculturally, however, I do try to do more every year. Unfortunately this year the weather has NOT been cooperating with me as it froze all of my fruit tree blossoms with 80s in February which made the trees think it was spring...and then two months of hard freezes..but at least I'm putting forth some effort to get farther down the right track..and also sharing with others so they can also head down the right path.

I'm a little less "over the top" today, but I just wanted to mention that in this country, things like BPA and Phthalates are legal and they are put IN OUR CHILDRENS CHEW TOYS routinely despite the reports that they are harmful and despite the fact that they are illegal in the rest of the world. I'm also surprised to find that the manufacturers of these toys actually have to make a separate, toxic batch for the U.S. rather than just keep the machine rolling when they make the same stuff for the rest of the world. WTF?!

Most people it seems aren't even on the first page of this. I asked a guy if he had any organic ice cream when he was offering it to us on the street and he said, "I have sugar free"! When I asked what the sweetener was he happily told me it was aspartame! Aspartame that is a known neurotoxin. Read Dr. Russell Blaylock. He's a brain surgeon that invented many procedures still used today. Watch Sweet Misery. Shows how Aspartame was even legalized.

I have friends who work for the American Cancer Society and they won't listen to the first thing I have to say about any of this despite the facts. They are inside the system being told how hard it is to cure cancer and that it's some epidemic we can't explain and that this great new technology we are "marching" for will allow them to detect it sooner and save lives.

The point is, I can't feel good about giving my family anything to eat or drink that comes from outside my little world. I just can't trust it. I only buy Organic foods and don't feel wonderful about that.

Urban Homesteading means that I can take the control back into my own hands and if I decide to buy something, I buy it because I want to support it not because I have to. I am compelled to share this info with those who are willing to ask in the hopes that they will in turn share it with others. Let's work for a day when people understand that cancer and other chronic diseases are totally avoidable and curable within our own four walls.

Of at least 10,387 great reasons to "do permaculture", the health of all children is number One... or, as William McDonough put it, "How do we love all the children of all species for all time?". The answer to that question is in all the stuff Paul is doing, and Alex, and Jocelyn, and all of us here. I get really frustrated sometimes (especially when I compare my accomplishments to something like Alex's list - WOW!), but the most important thing is to remember why we are doing it. Thanks for the love, Jocelyn!

Chris Lumpkin wrote:Of at least 10,387 great reasons to "do permaculture", the health of all children is number One... or, as William McDonough put it, "How do we love all the children of all species for all time?". The answer to that question is in all the stuff Paul is doing, and Alex, and Jocelyn, and all of us here. I get really frustrated sometimes (especially when I compare my accomplishments to something like Alex's list - WOW!), but the most important thing is to remember why we are doing it. Thanks for the love, Jocelyn!

Chris, I really wasn't trying to toot my own horn, but with all that I've done in two years, I'm still using the city water (with a filter), running a water heater, I haven't used the A/C yet (my one proud accomplishment since it's been in the '90s here), I'm still using the city's electricity, I'm still shopping for organic foods (95% of what we eat).

A journey of 1000 miles begins with one step! -Lao-tzu

I just fear that too many people are thinking, "I'll start figuring this out tomorrow." Tomorrow is a day too late! -Gandhi

It's taken me loads of hard work and lots of time so far (not much money, thankfully) and I'm still too far away from my goal! You have to really enjoy the journey though and I DO!
Back to my work

Alex Ojeda wrote: It's taken me loads of hard work and lots of time so far (not much money, thankfully) and I'm still too far away from my goal!

That has been one of the ways that I have been able to get people to start listening "This is cheap! And it supplies you with the highest quality food that exists"

For some reason this seems to hit home with people even more than the health impact. (I don't understand why but - as long as it works?)

For some reason this seems to hit home with people even more than the health impact. (I don't understand why but - as long as it works?)

I believe that people generally are somewhat short-sighted. We seem to put more importance on the "here and now" than on the future.

"I can save $100 on my grocery bill this summer." seems to out-weigh "I might live a few years longer."

A podcast where I talk with Helen Atthowe about her breast cancer

http://www.richsoil.com/permaculture/1896-194-surviving-cancer/

This little girl from my community was in the hospital when they made the "Stronger" video in the original post. I heard about that video through her family, actually.



What was horrendous about her trip to New York is that while she was touring, her shopping bag with her new American Girl doll and money for a new gadget (ipad or ipod--I can't recall what exactly) was stolen. Then, what was cool is that the American Girl store replaced the doll for her and her parents had the means to replace her stolen cash.

I agree with Paul that if we had less toxic food and less toxic environments we would not have so many children going through this.