NURSE RENE CAISSE: Part I

In the mid 1020's, Rene Caisse worked as head nurse at the Sisters of Providence Hospital in a northern Ontario town. One day she noticed one of her nurses bathing an elderly woman who had a shrivelled and shrunken breast. Upon asking the woman what had happened to her breast, this is what Rene heard:

"I came out from England nearly 30 years ago. I joined my husband who was prospecting in the wilds of northern Ontario. My right breast became sore and swollen, and very painful. My husband brought me to Toronto, and doctors told me I had advanced cancer and my breast must be removed at once. Before we left camp a very old Indian medicine man had told me I had cancer, but he could cure it. I decided I'd just as soon try his remedy as to have my breast removed. One of my friends had died from breast surgery. Besides, we had no money."

The woman and her husband had returned to camp. The medicine man had shown her certain herbs to harvest. He told her how to dry them and make a tea, which she was to drink daily. When Nurse Caisse met the woman, she was in her late 70's. The cancer had disappeared years before.

Nurse Caisse was very interested in the woman's story. She wrote down the names of the herbs and the recipe on how to brew the tea. At that time, cancer was always fatal. Nurse Caisse wanted the recipe in case she was ever diagnosed with cancer.

A year after securing the recipe, Nurse Caisse visited an elderly doctor. While walking in the garden, he lifted a weed with his can. "If people would use this weed," he said, "There would be very little cancer in the world. When he told Nurse Caisse the name of the weed, she realized it was one of the weeds in the recipe.

A short time later, Nurse Caisse was told her aunt, who lived in Brockville, had been diagnosed with stomach cancer. Nurse Caisse travelled to Brockville. She contacted her aunt's doctor, Dr. R.O. Fisher of Toronto. Nurse Caisse had worked with Dr. Fisher and knew him well. She told Dr. Fisher about the recipe she had in her possession and asked him if she could administer it to her aunt while she was under his care. Because there was nothing he could medically do, Dr. Fisher agreed. Nurse Caisse walked into the countryside in search of the herbs she would need to brew the tea. After much difficulty, she found them. She brewed the tea and administered it to her aunt.

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