'Health Godmother' claims to cure cancer
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Xinhua, June 30, 2011
A Chinese woman calling herself the "Health Godmother" claims that she has cured diseases ranging from cancer to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) through a variety of unorthodox treatments. However, suspicions surrounding her medical practices have risen along with her fame.
Ma Yueling, 48, first made her name back in 1996 as a part-time host on a televised health program. Eleven years later, she published her first book, "The Wisdom of Being Healthy," which soon become a bestseller.
Ma claims that she has cured patients suffering from liver cancer, breast cancer and ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, by prescribing treatments such as injections of Chinese angelica herbs and the consumption of live loaches, a type of fish.
Ma refuses to disclose the names of her patients, citing privacy concerns, the Beijing News reported on Tuesday.
Ma previously worked as a nurse at the No. 2 Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University in Jiangsu Province from 1982 to 2005.
"She used to be a nurse here, but that's it. She never had the right to prescribe treatment here," said a hospital employee.
Ma has reportedly admitted that she has no certifications or qualifications that allow her to practice medicine, the Beijing News said.
However, this has not seemed to stand in the way of her popularity. Her website has 220,000 registered members. Her four books, as well as her monthly magazine, have been read by millions of people.
TREATING ALS
Li Kai is flat on his back, tightening his face in pain as he is injected with Chinese angelica. Ma, his doctor, has prescribed the treatment, specifying 180 acupuncture points that must be treated with the herb. Yellow liquid oozes from the injection sites after the treatment is over.
A doctor who was hired to administer the shots says that he has never done anything like this before. "Don't blame me if the treatment has bad consequences," he was quoted as saying by the Beijing News.
Li Kai, 45, is a businessman from the municipality of Tianjin and an ALS sufferer. He is now Ma's patient, receiving weekly injections of Chinese angelica, according to the newspaper.
ALS is a disease of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement. Its causes are not yet clear to doctors, and there is no cure for the disease.
Ma claims that ALS is caused by the body gradually "freezing up" after running low on energy and being exposed to cold temperatures. "It's like the body is entering its own winter season. It just needs to be warmed up," she says in a signed article posted on her website (www.mayueling.com).
Li Kai's daughter, Li Ke, seems to be both hopeful and skeptical of the treatment.
"We have taken my father to many hospitals, but no one could cure his disease. When we met Ma, she said she could cure him. She has become my father's only hope. However, we have yet to see any results," she was quoted as saying by the Beijing News.
Li Kai has even taken to eating live fish to cure his disease.
"We have several live loaches at home. When my father starts coughing, I chop up loaches to feed to him, just as Ma advised," Li Ke was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
Fan Dongsheng, vice president of the Peking University Third Hospital, says that eating live loaches is quite dangerous, as the fish may have parasites or bones that could infect or injure patients.
Ma has said that her medical knowledge largely comes from the many battles she has waged against her own sicknesses in years past. She treated her previous bouts of mumps, chronic headaches and malnutrition with folk remedies. These remedies formed the basis for her own medical practices.
BUILDING AN EMPIRE
Ma has taken advantage of her popularity by creating the Mayueling Health Group. Her group has four subsidiaries, including a food company, a trade company, a health consulting firm and a catering company, according to Ma's website.
However, for every fan, there is a detractor. Niu Qing, the head of a support group for ALS sufferers, was once incorrectly diagnosed with the disease himself.
As a doctor previously employed at the Beijing Shijingshan Hospital, Niu has devoted his time to providing support and care for ALS patients.
"Ma said that she treated her first 12 cases of ALS for free, but I think she just wants to gain publicity and get more people to buy her products," Niu says.
But Ma insists that she is trying to help people rather than practicing medicine. "I am just doing researches on how to keep people healthy, which needs no medical qualifications." "What I am after is not material things, but a path that can lead people to healthy living," Ma was quoted as saying in previous reports.
However, health experts with the Beijing Municipal Traditional Chinese Medicine Administration said that Ma's practices may be illegal, since she has treated her customers with dietotherapy or injections, according to the Beijing News.
An official with the health inspection bureau in Nanjing, where Ma's website was registered, told Xinhua Thursday that the bureau has began to investigate Ma's practices.
But the investigation is difficult since they do not even know where Ma is, the official who declined to give his name said.
Ma's story is not unlike that of Zhang Wuben, a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine who became famous for his "food therapy" television program, as well as his practice of prescribing mung beans for nearly every disease and affliction that came his way. Zhang's book "Eat Out the Diseases You Have Eaten" subsequently became a bestseller on zhuoyue.com, a popular online book retailer.
However, his medical qualifications were later found to be false and his medical theories were refuted by medical experts.
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