Can Macular Degeneration Be Reversed?

1.  Tell us about yourself, your background and your profession.

I'm 76 years old. I've been a professional, self-employed artist for more than 51 years with no other source of income. 

I specialize in painting the early history and beauty of western Canada. I've produced and sold more than 1200 paintings plus many limited edition prints. Because of some vision issues which still remain from a botched cataract operation some six or so years ago, and then being diagnosed with macular degeneration a few years after that, I've taken up photography and writing books. I may paint again sometime, we'll see. This continues to be a very exciting time for me.

A bit emotional as well. It's been about 23 months since my Ophthalmologist stopped the Avastin injections for macular degeneration and I started my protocol. My vision is still improving even though I've been off my full protocol for some time.

2.  When were you first diagnosed with macular degeneration and what kind of vision changes did you notice?

I was diagnosed with wet macular degeneration in my right eye in November, 2011, a surprise to both my Ophthalmologist and me because neither of us saw it coming. He immediately started Avastin injections but it didn't help. Three months later, on February 27, 2012, I was completely blind in that eye. Not only could I not see the big H on the Snellen Chart, I couldn't even see the chart.

The botched cataract operation caused swelling (binocular vision) and bruising (distortion) that have become permanent although my Ophthalmologist says that this too is improving because of my Protocol. I had 20/50 right eye vision with glasses prior to the diagnosis of macular degeneration. I now have almost the same vision in my right eye and the bleeding has of course stopped. I have solid 20/20 vision in my left.

3.  What did the eye doctors tell you about your condition and your prognosis?

I was told there was nothing that could be done and that I had to accept the fact that I would never see again with my right eye.

I had also been told that early indication of macular degeneration had started in my left eye. So things didn't look very promising.

4.  After much research, including consults with many different health professionals, as well as implementing complementary medicine, tell us about the status of your macular degeneration now.

As I write this, on August 4, 2015, a little less than two years after I started my protocol, on a good day I can read the 20/50 line on the Snellen chart. Some days are better than others though. Last time I was tested I could only read the 20/60 line. I was told to expect this.

Here are the results from the commercial VEGF inhibitor injections compared to my protocol as shown by Dr Ma’s records and my Optometrist’s tests:

Avastin - 9.7 letters gained (in 52 weeks)

Lucentis - 11.2 letters gained (in 52 weeks)

Eylea - 13.3 letters gained (in 52 weeks)

Crittenden Protocol - 35 letters gained (in 11 weeks)

Crittenden Protocol - 40+ letters gained (as of today)

5.  Explain what you've learned about mineral deficiency, how this deficiency impacts our health and how to restore our mineral levels to one that will support good health.

I can only speak from my own experience and the existing science. First, we need to get tested to see what our deficiencies are, then address those deficiencies. The western diet is lacking many essential minerals because of factory farming practices. In the absence of minerals, vitamins have no function.

Mineral deficiency also impacts the body's attempts to heal itself by creating new healthy cells.

This is the basis of my protocol. So we need to supplement the minerals we're deficient in. In the second edition of BLIND FAITH I've added five chapters and one of them is about a modified protocol I'm now taking.

It includes a balanced diet that gives me a good number of the minerals and vitamins and lists the supplements I'm now taking. I believe we need to stay away from highly processed vegetable oils and fish oils. I use only Coconut Oil, Evening Primrose Oil and Flax Oil. I believe that proper digestion is very important. To quote Dr Tennant, "making stomach acid requires iodine, zinc, and vitamin B1 as well as water, salt, and CO2". Many people are deficient in some of these, especially iodine, selenium and zinc, and should supplement. We can be tested for these.

6.  Introduce our readers to the concept of oxygenating our cells.  What does that mean and how does one do that?

A huge problem is the bad oils in our diet. I never understood this until I'd completed my research. I learned that the presence of oxygen in the cell interior is vital.

To help ensure our cells are optimally oxygenated thereby increasing their immunity to disease, we need to avoid eating oxygen-resistant oils (processed vegetable oils and fish oils to name two) and consume instead oxygen-enabling oils that Professor Brian Peskin, author of PEO Solution - Conquering Cancer, Diabetes and Heart Disease with Parent Essential Oils calls Parent Essential Oils (PEOs).

Even the American Heart Association now agrees with him.

I take 4 grams of Omega 6 (to compensate for the bad processed oils in the foods we eat) and 1 gram of Omega 3 every day. The body makes the derivatives it needs from these. My research shows that PEO Omega 6 does two things:

a) scavenges for oxygen and carries that oxygen into the cells and

b) supports the transfer of oxygen into the cells from the blood. It also crosses the blood/brain and blood/eye barriers.

7.  Highlight some of the things you have done in your diet to promote good health that benefits the eyes.

I've come to believe that our eyes are no different from any other organ in the body. Of course I eat Kale plus several other vegetables and fruits, which benefit the whole body, but I really don't do anything specifically for my eyes. Even though I eat a very good diet it's still deficient in magnesium, zinc, selenium, iodine and vitamins B12, C, D3 and E. I supplement those and also include vitamin B Complex.

All organs are made up of cells that are living things that need to take in food and oxygen and get rid of waste. Our eyes are no different.

The Smithsonian Institution tells us we have about 37.2 trillion cells in our body. That's trillion with a "T". Our body is constantly replacing these cells for every organ. I believe that we need healthy food that has all the essential minerals so the body can make the vitamins, amino acids and antioxidants it needs to create new cells that work.

To quote Dr. Tennant: "Your body grows new retinal rods & cones every two days, new skin in six weeks, a new liver in eight weeks, new nerve cells in a period of months, etc. As each new cell is built, the body seeks proper building materials from which to construct the cell. To make new cells [that work properly], the body must have raw materials [nutrition] and sufficient cellular energy [voltage and pH] to use the materials. If it cannot find good, healthy materials, it will use whatever is available."

The science now says that chronic disease is really nothing more than the body being unable to create new cells that work because of a poor diet and lack of "good, healthy materials". I initially developed two protocols that addressed diet and I listed all supplements I took plus dosages and the reasons why I took them.

This has now become one protocol that I list in the second edition of my book BLIND FAITH. It begins with sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) to keep my pH at a high of 8.0 when I need healing (when I'm having problems with my eyes or any other disease). Our body will replace cells that work if its voltage is -50 mV which is equivalent to pH 7.88. So I shoot for 8.0. This is explained in my book.

Please note what Dr Sircus says: “For some people baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) may supply too much sodium so they can substitute potassium bicarbonate or mix the two.”

This needs to be discussed with a Naturopathic Doctor who has a BSc degree.

I should note that several doctors told me I needed to take zinc because it's important to eye health. They didn't tell me that for our bodies to adequately metabolize zinc we require magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, vitamins A, E, D & B6 to be present in sufficient quantities in addition to sufficient stomach hydrochloric acid. It's a team game.

It's very important to do our own research. Incidentally, the body makes sodium bicarbonate to compensate for the acidic hydrochloric acid the stomach needs for digestion. But as we age the body becomes less efficient at these things, so I just make sure it has enough.

8. Do you believe that others can duplicate what you've done?

That depends on several things. First, they must use the services of a Naturopathic Doctor who can arrange the necessary tests to determine their deficiencies as well as their medical history and current medical issues. I had many medical tests, a genetics test and a panel test for deficiencies.

Then I believe that my protocol may be able to be modified to suite the needs of some (not all). But changing your diet and lifestyle is not an easy thing to do. I did it years ago to reverse prostate cancer which included six months of nothing but vegetable juicing with another six months of raw vegetables added plus the juicing. It takes determination.

9. You have written a second edition to your Kindle book that outlines your diagnostic tests and the steps you have taken to reverse your AMD. How can a reader access this e-book?

The second edition of BLIND FAITH is now available as a Kindle book from Amazon and as a printed book and soon to be audio book.

You can access the print and Kindle version of the second edition at Amazon here:

BLIND FAITH: The Incredible Story of a Professional Artist Who Reversed Macular Degeneration Through Diet & Nutrition

Go from Can Macular Degeneration Be Reversed to Macular Degeneration Treatment

Return to WebRN Macular Degeneration Home