Natural cure for asthma found in Fiji

Natural cure for asthma found in Fiji

The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 300 million people worldwide suffer from asthma, with nearly 10% of the world's population diagnosed with this lifelong respiratory disease. In the United States, around 70% of asthmatics also suffer from pollen and certain foods, particularly dairy products. The annual economic cost of asthma is $20 billion in medical and indirect costs, with prescription drugs representing the largest single direct medical expense at $6 billion. Almost 250,000 people die from asthma complications every year.

There is currently no known medical cure for asthma as asthmatics undergo a continuous treatment regimen of steroids, inhalers and nebulizers to relieve symptoms. But an 11-year-old Australian boy is different from medicine, claiming a traditional Fijian asthma remedy has cured him without a relapse in the last 12 months since he went through an incredibly moving and traditional Fijian ritual. At the age of five, Tanner Blessington from Sydney's North Coast, Australia, contracted Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) at the start of winter and was immediately hospitalized and treated with intravenous fluids and Ventolin. RSV is a major cause of respiratory disease in all age groups in almost all countries. However, school-aged children are particularly vulnerable in the colder months as colds and flu spread, putting their immune systems under enormous pressure. RSV was first discovered in 1956 and has since been recognized by the medical community as one of the most common causes of childhood illness.

The Blessington family visits Fiji every year for vacation, but during one visit they learned from a Fijian man who worked at one of the resorts that his mother claimed to have the gift of curing asthma. Tanner's mother Leanne simply shrugged off the comment as a Fijian myth, but remained curious for two more years when she met the same man at a second chance meeting. Still curious, but fully aware that it could just be a scam for money, she decided to take the next step and meet this mysterious mother. In pouring rain, the Blessingtons took a taxi into the village to meet the man's wife and three children. His elderly mother came straight to Tanner and said she had a dream that he was coming to visit her. After a few hours of politeness, Leanne and husband Adrian were asked to leave the room so the older women could concentrate on helping young Tanner. As night approached and it was still raining, the men of the family went to a Nuidamu coconut tree to get an orange-red coconut and get a medicinal tree root. Without any safety equipment, one of the men climbed a tall palm tree, carefully removed some coconuts, tied a rope around each bundle and lowered them gently to the ground. Nuidamu coconuts are highly regarded in traditional medicine and great care has been taken to ensure that they do not fall to the ground.

When the elderly woman returned to the house, she began shaving the skin of the root over the newspaper as if she were peeling the cassava root. The shavings were then bundled in the threadlike vau bark of the coconut tree to form a bundle and immersed in the coconut water to allow it to infuse and absorb. As the family continued to pray and sing, she ran her finger along Tanner's hand and the underside of his arm and told him, "This won't work if you don't have love in you." All negativity and stress had to disappear from his mind, as well as his parents who were sitting nearby. This was particularly difficult for his parents as they had just heard that their Sydney home had been robbed and most of their jewelry and possessions stolen while they were in Fiji. Leanne talks about the need to free herself from stress, but she was determined to do everything right to do this work for her son.

After the bark and shaved roots had absorbed most of the coconut water, they were squeezed by hand to extract the essential oils and tree sap back into a bowl, leaving only the dry bark and root in a bundle that she set aside. Tanner had his first drink of herbal water and said it didn't taste as bad as western medicine. After more ceremonies and prayers, Tanner had to perform one final ritual. He had to swim out to the deepest point of the sea and throw the dry bundle of bark as far as he could and say “goodbye to my asthma.” He was told that he needed to drink the rest of the mixture with more Nuidamu coconut water for the next seven days. He could not drink any other liquids, including water, juice or the sauce of his favorite curries - only the coconut medicine that had been prepared. This was likely because it may have diluted the potency of the herbal drink to ensure that the traditional medicine could do its job. Leanne was still skeptical, but no money was exchanged and the old woman simply asked if they had faith and put her heart and mind into making sure the treatment would work. On the eighth day, Tanner gathered the courage to put the treatment to the ultimate test. With his inhaler at the ready, he ordered the largest sundae. To everyone's surprise, there was no reaction. No wheezing, no constricted airways, his asthma had miraculously disappeared. Over the next 12 months, Leanne held her breath and constantly monitored her son's condition at home in Australia. She wasn't sure if or when his asthma might return. It wasn't like that. On their recent return to Fiji, Tanner fulfilled one of his greatest dreams, which his previous condition had prevented him from achieving. He learned to dive. "The dive application form asked if I had any medical condition. I checked no. I used to have asthma, but now it's at sea," young Tanner said.

In the book Secrets of Fijian Medicine, Dr. Michael Weiner, a professor at the University of California in the US, spent several years in Fiji in the 1980s, working with the government and the United Nations Development Program to document Fiji's ancient herbal remedies. Tanner's treatment is documented therein and known to many Fijian elders. Tree roots used to treat asthma include Vesi (Intsia Bijuga) and Vadra aerial roots (Pandanus). Both are common in parts of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. The sacred orange-red coconuts are also listed in his book. Native to Asia and Polynesia, the Niudamu palm grows to 100 feet tall and produces mostly yellow and orange-red coconuts. This unique tree belongs to the Cocos Nucifera L. family and is known in Fijian medicine to also cure a number of diseases such as fish poisoning, infected wounds and scabies. It is used as a general antibacterial agent.

Studies on coconut oil around the world show that pure coconut oil, cold pressed and not heat treated like that processed in Fiji's copra mills, is very rich in antioxidants, which are recognized worldwide to stop brain degeneration and life-threatening bacterial and viral diseases. MCTs (medium chain triglycerides) are found in high concentrations in virgin coconut oils and contain 60% of the good antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral properties of all known oils. Lauric acid also occurs naturally in coconuts and, like mother's milk, has antibacterial and antiviral effects, both killing germs and nourishing cells. Our modern diet, especially in Western cultures, lacks MCT, which has always been found primarily in coconut oil, and now it will be missing or non-existent in most cooking oils you use today. One of today's characteristic health problems is high cholesterol, mainly in the form of LDLs (low-density lipoproteins), with low HDLs (high-density lipoproteins) and high triglycerides. The interesting thing about coconut oil is that it increases HDL, reduces LDL and reduces triglycerides at the same time. MCT oil is also used in a number of applications in the United States to treat a number of viral diseases, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, asthma, eczema and HIV, as this ancient medicine found in a coconut is believed to be one of nature's gifts. A highly effective, non-toxic agent for killing viruses and bacteria in the body.

Does traditional medicine in Fiji hold the clues and secrets to curing asthma and other modern diseases? Medicine says no, but for one young Australian boy, the “Tree of Life” takes on a whole new meaning.

Inspired by Lance Seeto