I had the pleasure of speaking with Peggy Straus a few days ago. She lives in Italy and I’m in San Diego so the power of video chat is wonderful. She mentioned that the 10thof February was the first anniversary of her mother’s death. Charlotte Gerson lived a beautiful long and healthy 96 years. We should all be so blessed.
I wanted to share a few thoughts on who Charlotte was to us at Health Institute de Tijuana. Our medical director, Dr. Alicia Melendez, met Charlotte in 1977 and trained under her. Their long lasting friendship was founded in mutual respect and a desire to continue the work of Dr. Max Gerson.
Dr. Melendez mentioned to me that one of the most powerful moments she had with Charlotte was around the time they met. Charlotte taught Dr. Melendez the ins and outs of Gerson Therapy. They were doing rounds and were about to see a patient with malignant melanoma. Dr. Melendez was a little hesitant because in medical school she was taught that malignant melanoma equaled a death sentence. Whereas Charlotte said “Oh, this is easy.” What?!?! Dr. Melendez couldn’t believe that something she thought would kill the patient was actually something that the Gerson Therapy could help. The more time passed, the more Dr. Melendez saw what great results the Gerson Therapy had on diseases such as malignant melanoma, high cholesterol, fatty liver, prostate cancer etc.
Our own patient coordinator mentioned his time with Charlotte. He remembers how she would come down to the clinic once per week to spend time with patients. She would be kind enough to give a detailed presentation about the therapy to patients, enjoy a nice glass of juice, have lunch and then head home. Felix recalls that he probably witnessed about 30 of her presentations. Because he was lucky enough to sit in on these presentations Charlotte would ask him to answer questions at times. “She would sometimes talk about trophoblasts and call me out saying that I knew what she was talking about and that I could go ahead and explain what they were.” These times encouraged me to read A Cancer Therapy: Results of Fifty Cases written by her father, Dr. Max Gerson, and then I dove into her own Healing The Gerson Way. “I knew I had to be prepared. She was expecting me to be ready.”
Charlotte had a great impact on us all. Dr. Pedro Cervantes greatly admired Charlotte and said that she was the “Joan of Arc of Medicine.” She taught him about the therapy and for this reason alone he will always remember and honor her. Dr. Cervantes started his medical career working with his father who was a thoracic surgeon. However, after a few years Dr. Cervantes realized that his path was in nutrition. Charlotte was the one who guided him and influenced how he sees each patient. She taught him that the therapy is patient centric and not anything else.
We are all grateful for having met Charlotte. We think of her every day as her photographs are scattered throughout our facility. As Dr. Cervantes says “the world is a better place because of her.”
Thank you Charlotte for your strength, your independence, your strong determination and big heart.