, DDS, MS (1925-2005)

William Donald Kelley, DDS, MS. the junk food and meat and instructed Malignancy. In 1970, Kelley was one of the most significant figures in the him to eat only fresh and raw fruits, convicted of practicing medicine history of alternative vegetables, nuts, grains and seed. After without a license, and in 1976 the treatments, passed away on January several months on this regimen Kelley courts suspended his dental license for 30, 2005, at the age of 79. The cause of began to feel better. He was even able 5 years. For a while in the late 1970s death was congestive heart failure. He to return to work. In a bealtb food store he worked in a clinic south of . had a long history of heart problems, be tben discovered the work of dietary Dr. Kelley's high point of fame came with severe rhythm disturbances, pioneer. Max Gerson, who had written in 1980, when he treated the popular beginning in the 1960s. the book, Cancer Therapy: Fifty Cases, US film actor Steve McQueen for Dr. Kelley was horn on November 1, whicb advocated a similar program. advanced mesothelioma, a form of chest 1925 on an 80-acre "dirt farm" in After six or seven months, bowever, and abdomen cancer generally caused Winfield, Kansas. His father had died Kelley stopped improving and by asbestos exposure. McQueen died young of a heart attack and, during the developed severe digestive problems, after undergoing surgery in 1980. Great Depression, his mother raised probably from the advancing cancer. He Kelley later claimed tbat McQueen bad three sons alone. Al! three sons went to tberefore began taking pancreatic actually been cured, but then murdered college, then graduate school, and enzymes, at first simply to aid bis because he "was going to blow the lid became successful professionals. digestion. He eventually increased tbe off of tbe cancer racket." In the public's William Kelley was an unusual dose to 50 enzyme capsules per day. He mind, however, this failure dealt a blow child. He once told me that when he was then discovered the work of the Scottish to all of Kelley's claims of success with three he had a vision of Jesus embryologist, Jobn Beard, DSc, wbo cancer. approaching him, as he was playing in early in tbe 20th century had In the 1970s, Kelley was reasonable a sandpile. He took him up into his postulated that pancreatic enzymes in his statements about medical arms and instructed him to become a were a natural control for cancer. He orthodoxy and, although he appreciated medical missionary. Kelley later moved also encountered tbe writings of Dr. tbe difficulties of cbanging America's to Texas and studied at Baylor Edward Howell, author of Enzyme lifestyle, looked forward to a fair and University. Under the influence of his Nutrition, and an early apostle of tbe proper evaluation of his method. As father-in-law, be became a successful raw plant food diet. In time, Kelley time progressed, however, he hecame orthodontist, working 12 to 14 hours healed from his own disease and went increasingly despondent that this could per day putting braces on tbe teeth of on to treat over 30,000 other patients. ever happen. the children of Grapevine, Texas. He Initially, Kelley discovered that He also became increasingly and his first wife adopted four cbildren while many people did well on tbis diet, paranoid. In tbe 19808, be moved to and lived the typical suburban others did not. His second wife, Susie, rural Washington state. His marriage existence of the 1950s, In what little was one of these. It turned out tbat she to Susie bad broken up, he lost control spare time he had he restored antique needed rare red meat in order to control of bis once-tbriving organization, and cars. Always a determined worker, be her severe allergies. Thus was born his mental and physical health hegan practically lived on candy bars and Kelley's concept of the Metabolic Type, to deteriorate as well. In the late 1980s, other junk food. in whicb different people, because of he and his then-companion, a Around 1960, his health began to genetic heritage and environmental cardiologist named Carol Morrison, deteriorate. The first thing he noticed factors, had different requirements for MD, whom he had allegedly cured of was diminishing eyesight. He also vegetarian or carnivorous diets, raw breast cancer, moved to rural developed muscle cramps and severe and/or cooked. Kelley was influenced in Pennsylvania. I visited them twice in chest pains and went into a severe his thinking about meat by tbe work of the small town of Saxonburg, north of mental depression. The culmination Vilhjamur Steffanson, the Harvard- Pittsburgb. I found tbis couple - a came in 1964, when he suffered a trained explorer who, among other former successful orthodontist and gastric distention and was hospitalized. things, had shown that the Eskimo board-certified beart specialist - living A series of X-rays showed the signs of remained cancer-free on a fatty red in a small rented bungalow on Water advancing pancreatic cancer, including meat diet. Street. Tbey were surviving on Dr. lesions in his lungs, hip and . His Kelley's montbly Social Security cbeck. surgeon refused to operate, saying that One Answer to Cancer Kelley was a shadow of his former Kelley had only four to eight weeks to Kelley was the author of several self Although he still did coffee live. The doctors were so certain of their books, including his self-help book. One every day, he had reverted to drinking diagnosis that they felt no need to take Answer to Cancer, first published in huge bottles of Coke, to wbicb be a biopsy of the tumor, an omission that 1967, and an updated edition. Cancer: ascribed health-giving properties. He was to bound Kelley in later years. Curing the Incurable Without Surgery, and Dr. Morrison seemed only Kelley was ready to give up, but his Chemotherapy or Radiation (2001). His tangentially interested in medicine. redoubtable frontier mother came from tests for cancer included the Kelley They were too busy running tbeir daiBy- Kansas to rescue him. She threw out Enzyme Test and the Kelley Index of wheel printer day and night, churning

TOWNSEND LETTER tor DOCTORS «• PATIENTS - APRIL 2005 out racist and antisemitic tracts! It was anything tbat could ever be said about school, his one goal, his one wish was hard to connect this bitter wreck of a anybody, good bad and indifferent, has to have his work properly evaluated and man witb the vibrant individual of been said about William Donald Kelley. tested, so that if it proved of value, it earlier decades. Regardless of bow true or untrue sucb could be integrated into the statements might be, my wish is tbat mainstream of orthodox medicine. That Enter Dr. Gonzalez he be remembered for wbat be truly was to me, whatever was to happen in It was around that time tbat was, a very brilliant man who sacrificed our own relationship, and whatever he Nicbolas J. Gonzalez, MD, a recent all personal happiness for what he was to say about me in recent years, graduate of Cornell Medical College, believed to be tbe truth. Like so many always an honorable goal, one which I first came to prominence in New York other brilliant men be fit in nowbere took seriously and continue to work as a practitioner of Dr. Kelley's and generated controversy, adulation toward. metbods. Gonzalez was always and scorn for mucb of bis adult life "In my estimation, Kelley, in his scrupulous in crediting Kelley for his wberever he went and whatever he did. scientific thinking, was light years contribution to bis own work. Yet the "The world certainly treated bim ahead of the rest of us, botb ortbodox Kelley tbat I met in 1990 seetbed witb poorly, and too often in bis later years and alternative. He deserves our anger at tbe world, and particularly at be responded in kind, His faults, like respect for bis accomplishments, for his those who had tried to help him, bis strengtbs, are legion and trials and severe tribulations, and our including Dr. Gonzalez. Soon extraordinary and be lived an eccentric forgiveness for bis foibles. Someday, I afterwards, Kelley even sued Gonzalez life, always on tbe fringe; at one point believe bis tboughts about the nature in a vituperative nuisance suit. Tbe suit during the early 1990s, I heard he was of cancer and human disease will was dismissed, with some unkind words scavenging food out of dumpsters. become tbe foundation of a new from the judge. After Morrison died, Despite all this, I have always remained medicine, not merely a fringe footnote, Kelley moved back to his mother's focused, and continue to remain so, on and the world will remember him at Kansas farm, where his "strange his unique ability to see a truth no one that time with well-deserved eventful history" bad begun almost 80 else could see, and stick with it appreciation. For now, let's remember years before. regardless of the cost. him kindly, with gratitude for what he Asked to sum up Kelley's "From the day I first met him, in a did and what he tried to do." contribution. Dr. Gonzalez wrote the chiropractor's office in Queens, in July following: "Over the years, just about of 1981, after my second year of medical Ralph W. Moss, PhD Ayush Herbs, Inc Formulated by Ayurvedic and Naturopathic Physicians. We manufacture our own extracts and essential oils. Our products are tested and standardized to assure quality and potency. AmIaPlex - restorative supplement Ashwagandha - kelps nourish and strengthen Boswe!ya-Plus - supports joints Carditone - Blood pressure supplement Livit-1 & Livit-2 - Liver care Macuna Plus - brain tonic Neem Plus - skin care Pursh - Male sexual Rentone- Kidneys/bladder support health supplement IVifal - digestive care Guggal-Lip - support for cholesterol balance Bacopa Plus - Specifically for Women: memory support Menopausal Young Fein - PMS symptoms FOR OUR CATALOG OR TO ORDER PLEASE CALL: 1-800-925-1371/FAX: 425-451-2670 rOWNSEND LETTER lor DOCTOflS & PATIENTS - APHIL 2005 17