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'The Power of Infinity'- A Doctor's Journey of Overcoming Cancer

  • 14 Feb 2023 06:10 PM
  • Health & Wellness, SelfHelp, Books

'The Power of Infinity'- Health, Well Being and Anticancer Lifestyle:

Anupkumar Shetty MD FASN

In this book, author's semi-autobiography has been used to explain the science and logistics of living a cancer-free life. A sincere attempt has been made to bridge secular and spiritual life, the science of cancer, and the science of wellness.
This book conveys different ways to beat cancer and prevent cancer by systematically attacking the cancer cells with an anti-cancer lifestyle.

This Book is Available on Amazon at: https://a.co/d/hFj3D5q

The book has five sections.

The first and the fifth sections summarize the book for a busy reader.
The second section is on fighting cancer as the last game of your life by comparing this battle to world cup finals of any sport you like by diligent, unfailing team building and intelligent, blissful execution.
The third section is about the prevention of cancer. Cancer survivors have to prevent cancer to remain cancer free. All of us have to prevent cancer in our life to be cancer-free. This section is an amalgamation of the science of cancer, mathematics of cancer, an anticancer lifestyle, and appreciating and realizing the infinite power within us. It explains about surrounding the body with healthy five elements (earth, water, air, fire and space) as in healthy food, healthy liquids, healthy air, healthy level of stress, and healthy companions to heal from and prevent cancer.
In the fourth section, the author talks about the relevance of 'Infinity' in cancer and day to day living. Author describes 'Infinity' as the pure consciousness, witness consciousness which is the real being in us. "Infinity' is that fearless, all-compassionate being that transcends time, space and object and transcends birth and death. In other words, it is the 'immortal infinite you' that gives us power to beat the odd and heal us. Author shows different ways of a commoner experiencing that 'Infinity' in this life. Author democratizes spirituality. By democratizing spirituality, the author stresses that we all have access to Infinity, God, or Brahman in this life without waiting for it to be an afterlife experience. Some universal, mostly non-denominational, contemporary, non-dualistic and potent Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist texts have been quoted to efficiently describe these tools and methods. These are logical and contemporary and can be practiced by all citizens of this universe of all faiths and ethnicity including atheists.
According to the American Cancer Society one in two men and one in three women in the US will have cancer at some point in their lives. In addition, cancer has replaced heart disease as the number one killer of Americans under the age of 85. The World Health Organization determined cancer is the second leading cause of death globally, accounting for an estimated 9.6 million deaths, or one in six deaths, in 2018. It is believed that between 30% and 50% of cancer deaths could be prevented by modifying or avoiding key risk factors and implementing existing evidence-based prevention strategies and screening procedures. The cancer burden can also be reduced through early detection of cancer and management of patients who develop cancer. Prevention also offers the most cost-effective long-term strategy for the control of cancer. Those who don’t ever manifest cancer end up doing so because their immune system and lifestyle have managed to prevent cancer. Those who have survived a cancer and not developed recurrence of that cancer and have not developed another cancer have been successful in surviving and preventing cancer. Those who survive and prevent more cancers have to liberate themselves from cancer. This is a mental and spiritual process. I have survived cancer of the terminal part of the colon, also called the rectum, and I want to share my story of how I survived it. I also want to share how I prevented cancers after getting one and have liberated myself from cancer.

There are many books written on surviving and preventing cancer. I have not come across any books covering surviving, preventing and liberating from cancer. I have read some of them and believe that everyone has a unique story; all these stories are different and inspiring. I have mine which may be a little different, a little bit unique, a little bit sweeter, a little bit bitter, a little bit saltier, a little bit spiritual, maybe a little bit like yours and maybe a little bit not like yours. Every story is worth sharing. According to Charles Darwin, no two individuals are similar. Indeed no two journeys are similar in life. But I know that I am more like you than I am not, no matter who you are, no matter which part of the world you are in, no matter whether you have had cancer or not. My story may be like yours because I live in the United States. It may be like yours because I was born in India. It may be like yours because I live in the US. It may be like yours because I am a father, a brother, a son, son in law, brother in law, a co-brother, a friend, a scientist, a physician or simply a human being. It may be like yours because I did not eat much animal based food in my life. It may be like your story because I was only 41 years of age when I was diagnosed to have cancer, a little bit earlier than the usual age of presentation of colorectal cancer. I had no family history of cancer. The various other reasons why I may be like you is because I had cancer, I had spent 30 years of my life in India and eleven years in North America at the time of diagnosis of cancer. There are infinite ways why I am like you and infinite other ways why I am not like you. I am hoping that my story will resonate with many of you for good reasons and help heal and deal with cancer better. If you are a caregiver, I hope that this book will guide you to help a family member or a friend dealing with cancer. If you are suffering from cancer, the book will inspire and fill you with courage to conquer it by following certain methods, adopting a certain lifestyle and unveiling the infinite power within you. The book is also a resource to understand the factors that cause cancer and may hopefully help you prevent cancer.

One of the first things I realized was that I owed myself and my family the best effort to get the best available care in this whole earth. I simply felt that I owed my family to get better. I also felt that the best effort had to come together the first time ever. I felt fortunate and grateful to be in a place where the best treatment was accessible to me. I felt fortunate and blessed that the USA has some of the finest cancer centers in the world. I also felt grateful that I had health insurance and other resources to afford the care that was necessary even though I grew up with very limited resources. I felt grateful that I had an amazing group of family and friends that I would never trade for anything else in life. I felt grateful that I learnt about the ‘infinity’ within me that gave me infinite strength to heal me.
This book focuses initially on ‘survival’ by building the finest team and coming up with the best plan and executing the best plan. Many chapters describe various logistics of cancer care. Most chapters are not unique to colo-rectal cancer and hence will benefit people with any kind of cancer and anyone whose family is affected by cancer. If you would like to help anyone with cancer, this book is for you. In fact the book is in many ways about problem solving and hence will benefit all the problem solvers of the world which includes all of us. There are some very important leadership lessons which can benefit the management students.


Third part of the book focuses on ‘prevention’ of cancer. Prevention includes prevention of recurrence of cancer and prevention of another cancer since having one cancer does not build immunity against other cancers. In fact, having cancer once and having chemotherapy and radiation increases the risk of developing a new cancer. This book may also inspire health coaches and students of ‘healthy living’. This book may inspire life coaches and students of life coaches as well because it is all about good values, setting goals, coming up with an action plan and executing it. There is reference to some very important teachings from the scriptures. These are in many ways universal teachings that are applicable to all of us irrespective of your faith.

In the fourth section, I am introducing the concept of ‘liberation’ from cancer and experiencing ‘infinity’. Liberation is somewhat a mental and spiritual process. One gets liberated by the power of knowledge. Knowledge involves the knowledge of the science of genesis and end of cancer. At a spiritual level, liberation involves the knowledge that what is permanent is only true and what is impermanent is untrue. In some ways I am conveying ‘democratizing God’ by stating that God belongs to everyone for you to experience in this life. Since my body and the cancer affecting the body is impermanent, it becomes untrue. The real ‘I’ will always be ‘I’ and hence true. The realization that I am not this body or mind is liberation. Knowing this, cancer is a transient experience and hence is not the real truth, even though the experience of having cancer is valid and real at the time of having it. By stating that cancer is a transient experience, I am not suggesting that you should not take care of it. In fact, you should, to make sure that it will be a transient experience. I would go to the extent that you should try to eliminate cancer as though there is no tomorrow. You should try to eliminate cancer as though it is the last game of your life. I did exactly that. I am hoping that this book will play a role in healing yourself or your loved one. I am hoping that this will help you survive cancer. I am hoping that this book will help you become a better problem solver. I am hoping that this book will help you become a better leader. I am hoping that this will help you prevent cancer. I am hoping that this book will help you find and experience the divine infinite strength in you. I hope this book will help you experience Infinity within you, right here in this life, right now, without having to wait to die to experience that heaven which is a mystery. I am not denying the presence of heaven that you may be hoping to go to after death. I am just confessing that I do not know if heaven exists and there are many like me in this world who do not know if there is heaven. My existence is unquestionable. My experience of my body is unquestionable. I hope that you will be able to realize the infinitely powerful infinity within you, that is divine, fearless, enemyless, birth less, deathless, self effulgent, eternally true and infinitely conscious, right now, right here. I would like you to unleash and unveil that ‘infinity’.

Even though survival, prevention and liberation are interdependent, focus is different in different stages. ‘Survival’ focuses on the ‘act’ of getting rid of cancer, in other words, it is focused on strategic ‘action’ (karma) of getting optimally treated. ‘Prevention’ involves understanding the biology of genesis of cancer and taking measures to prevent the genesis of cancer. ‘Liberation’ involves the path of ‘knowledge’ about ‘Who Am I?’. It is somewhat a spiritual process of experiencing the infinity that is part of each living entity in this universe including ‘I’ in me, but it also involves knowing the science of spirituality and keeping spirituality relevant to getting rid of and preventing cancer.

About the Author:

 

Anupkumar Shetty MD FASN is a cancer survivor, a public speaker, author, educator, a Certified Physician Executive and a nephrologist at Dallas Nephrology Associates and Methodist Dallas Medical Center. He studied at Kasturba Medical College, Manipal and furthered his training at KEM Hospital Mumbai, University of Toronto, and Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, Michigan.

He is an expert in Peritoneal Dialysis and has been a speaker for American Society of Nephrology, National Kidney Foundation, Annual Dialysis Conference, and the American Academy of Yoga and Meditation. He learnt yoga in his medical college in Manipal, India. Since then, he has maintained his interest in the field and he incorporates it in his medical practice when appropriate.

Dr. Shetty has excelled at all the levels of studying and has received multiple teaching excellence awards. He is the past president of the Texas Indo American Physicians Society (TIPS-NE Chapter) and has been endowed the prestigious TIPS Physician of the Year award in 2018 and The Greater Dallas Asian-American Chamber of Commerce Award in Medicine and Science in 2014.

He is the author of the book, Hinduism Simplified and over 25 peer reviewed medical publications. He has survived colo-rectal cancer since 2004 and likes to share his experience of surviving cancer, preventing cancer, and suggests that every commoner can experience ‘Infinity’ in every situation and be the ‘Infinity’.

 

Available on Amazon:

The Power Of Infinity: "Health, Well Being, and An Anticancer Lifestyle" https://a.co/d/hFj3D5q