TRIBAL BEGINNINGS

The story of Flor-Essence as we know it begins in Canada within a tribe of Ojibway Indians. The Ojibway (or Chippewa) Indian nation is one of the largest in North America, with nearly 150 tribes throughout the northern United States and southern portions of Canada. And it was from one of these Canadian tribes that a young Englishwoman learned of the powerful herbal tonic that was a part of the Ojibway healing history and culture.

The year was 1892, and this woman, the wife of a local nickel miner, was diagnosed with breast cancer; her only treatment option was a complete mastectomy, which then was a near barbaric act of amputation. However, the woman had a close friend who died from cancer even after having this radical surgery. She was not convinced by the male-dominated medical establishment that it was the right option for her. Thus, she sought the help of the local Ojibway medicine man. Over time, he taught her the eight original herbal ingredients, proportions and brewing instructions for a tonic elixir that the Ojibway had used for generations to treat her condition. Over 30 cancer-free years later, this woman met Rene Caisse, the head nurse at a hospital in Haileybury, Canada. This is where two national heroes were born—the remedy and, of course, the nurse.

CANADA’S HEROIC CANCER NURSE

Rene Caisse was fascinated by the Englishwoman’s story and learned all that she could about the Ojibway tribe’s life-saving tonic. Two years later, Rene’s own aunt, Mireza Potvin, was diagnosed with terminal stomach and liver cancer. Mireza’s doctor, Dr. R. O. Fisher, told her there was nothing he could do and recommended that she get her affairs in order. Rene asked Dr. Fisher for permission to treat her aunt with the Ojibway’s herbal remedy. She gathered the herbs and brewed a tea just as the Englishwoman had done. Her aunt drank the remedy every day, and within a few months she was feeling remarkably better. Within a few years, Rene’s aunt was cancer-free. She lived another 21 years.

As could be expected, news of this remarkable case spread like wildfire throughout the patient and medical community. Before long, doctors began to send their terminally ill patients to Rene for treatment.

A NURSE WITH A MISSION

Rene saw only patients who were referred to her by a physician and who were diagnosed as terminal by more than one doctor. Her local town council provided her with an old hotel to use as a clinic to treat these “hopeless” cases. At the height of her caseload, Rene and her assistants saw up to 600 patients a week. She was not paid for her efforts. In fact, she continued to work as a hospital nurse by day, brewing her formula and seeing patients in the evenings and on weekends.

In 1926, eight doctors sent a petition to Canada’s Department of National Health and Welfare requesting that Rene be given an opportunity to test her remedy on a large scale. The petition stated, “We believe the treatment for cancer by Rene Caisse can do no harm, and that it relieves pain, will reduce enlargement and prolong life in hopeless cases. To the best of our knowledge, she has not been given a case to treat until everything else has been tried without effect, and even then she was able to show remarkably beneficial results.”

In addition, 55,000 North Americans signed a petition supporting Rene, and 483 of Rene’s patients gave testimony to her work. Still, Rene was under intense scrutiny from the Canadian government and the medical community. Threatened with imprisonment, Rene closed her clinic doors in 1942. Fortunately, the story does not end with the closing of Rene’s clinic. The formula, which came to be known as essiac (Caisse spelled backward), had already taken on a life of its own and people were discovering what she and her patients already knew: It improved the quality of life and prolonged survival.

PASSING THE TORCH

Patients, doctors, and reporters continued to talk about the work of Rene Caisse and the amazing results of her formula. In 1958, the story of Rene’s work came across the desk of Charles Brusch, M.D., a well-known and well-respected physician who was at one time the personal private physician to President John F. Kennedy. Dr. Brusch was impressed with Rene’s work and he convinced her to meet with him at his Cambridge, Massachusetts clinic.

Dr. Brusch was a brilliant medical leader who started the first acupuncture clinic to collect and research data, the first polio clinic, and first free clinic to help those who could not afford medical care. He could foresee a time when complementary medicine would flourish in all of its healing potential, and he worked with Rene to learn everything about the formula’s use, validate her results, reproduce the formula, and make it available in the United States. Dr. Brusch was quoted in Homemaker magazine as saying that her remedy “has tremendous merit to supplement any therapy a cancer patient may be using. I can’t call it a cure, but it definitely has had and still has important merit. I regard it as essential to back up any other therapy.” Rene worked with Dr. Brusch for several years before passing away in 1978 at the age of 91.

Now we come to the present and the future of this amazing eight-herb remedy. Dr. Brusch continued working with the formula Rene had taught him, even using it to treat his own cancer. In the early 1980s, he was invited to speak on a Canadian radio program called Staying Alive, produced and hosted by Elaine Alexander. The show was enormously popular and the radio studio was flooded with requests for more information. Dr. Brusch appeared on Elaine’s show a total of seven times, each time with more success than the last. Dr. Brusch was impressed with Elaine’s genuine interest and research into this story, and he eventually passed on the torch to her so that she would be able to take the Ojibway formula to the next level of public acceptance— into the U.S. health market where it could do so much good for so many millions, he thought.

In 1992, Elaine met with Thomas Greither, founder of Flora, Inc. of Washington State and the grandson of Dr. Otto Greither who founded Salus Haus in 1916. Elaine and Thomas worked together to commercially produce the original eight-herb formula of the Ojibway Indian tribe. Thus, 100 years after the Ojibway medicine man passed along the formula for the tribe’s powerful herbal tonic, Flor-Essence was born and entrusted to Flora. Since Flora is partnered with Germany’s fabled Salus Haus, perhaps the world’s greatest producer of classic European liquid herbal preparations (such as Floradix and Kinderlove) and an acclaimed ecological company, Rene Caisse’s fabled tea is in good, trustworthy hands now.

After Elaine passed away, the torch was passed once again—to Leda Fair, Flora’s product information specialist. Leda was Elaine Alexander’s former secretary. At Flora she has taken on the mission of spreading the word about this incredible herbal tonic and keeping records of enormously powerful, unsolicited letters from people whose lives were saved and improved by knowing about Flor-Essence.

According to Leda, “Major health issues do not happen overnight. It takes time for the body to break down.” Flor-Essence gives the body the tools it needs to maintain healthy cells, improve elimination, and restore a balanced pH, reducing the buildup of toxins that can lead to illness.

Flor-Essence contains the eight herbs used in the Ojibway’s original formula: burdock root, sheep sorrel, slippery elm, Turkish rhubarb, red clover, blessed thistle, kelp and watercress. According to Leda, it helps by maximizing the body’s ability to cleanse itself and detoxify so that the potential for illnesses to develop is greatly diminished.

Flor-Essence is a product that can help your body function at its best, and fend off diseases in the process. “It doesn’t matter WHAT the health issue is, Flor-Essence can help!” says Leda.

Mrs. Charles B. of California began using Flor-Essence several years ago to improve her general health. Since she started using the tea, “Her arthritic pains have completely disappeared. She has eliminated her constipation problems and her stomach discomfort. She appears much stronger and a whole lot more active. The side effects of her required medication have been decreased. The tea has done a whole lot more for her then the $10,000 worth of medical treatment given her during 1999,” says her husband.

Lyle M. and his wife Sarah Marie of Utah had a similar experience with Flor-Essence. Lyle began taking Flor-Essence in 2001 to help alleviate a painful prostrate condition. After taking the herb for a short time and feeling remarkably better, he recommended it to his wife for her headaches and arthritis. “It has helped us immensely, beyond our expectations,” says Lyle.

Resources

Flor-Essence can be found throughout North America at stores that specialize in highquality natural health supplements. For more information about Flor- Essence, check out Flora’s website at www.florahealth.com or call 800-446-2110.

Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.