Testimonial: Melanoma and Bee Stings

By Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

[From the BEE-L list.]

I had two bouts of malignant melanoma, one on my skin (face) about 12 years ago and the other in a lymph node in my neck, just below where the first was found, about five years ago.

I started stinging myself for arthritis a little after the time the first melanoma was removed. I tried it to help with the arthritis pain because of a talk by Charlie Mraz at our State meeting, and it worked.

Arthritis is an autoimmune disease, so it does have a correlation to the immune system. Charlie had you sting at the point of pain, so you were re-directing the immune system to the location where the system was not working properly (my, not his, guess).

My lymph node tumor was walnut sized and had been there for at least a year, as I started to feel something there. General consensus was it was a cyst, so no big deal, but my dentist thought otherwise so I had it removed (easier than a biopsy). It had not spread since something kept it in check.

I thought it might be the bee stings since they do kick up the immune system. Over the past several years, more and more has come out about the immune system and melanoma, that a strong immune system can keep it in check.

Today there is additional confirmation of that.

When I last visited my dermatologist, he told me that he has another beekeeper who had melanoma and his experience was almost identical to mine.

I take a lot of what is posted by the apitherapy people with a grain of salt, but in the area of bee stings and the immune system, there are at least two of us in the Portland, Maine area who do match the template.

Know of any other hobby that fights cancer?