10 Chicorn Ave.,
Toronto.

July 18 1937

To The Honourable Mr M. F. Hepburn,
Prime Minister of Ontario,
Parliament Buildings,
Toronto,
Ontario.

Dear Sir:
I am taking the liberty of writing you in connection with the work of Miss René Caisse of Bracebridge, nurse, who has developed a serum which is a cure for cancer.
As I am a sufferer from this Dreaded disease, I am most anxious that nothing shall prevent Miss Caisse from carrying on the good work she has been doing for some years past, but with a persistent rumour current at the clinic lately that has caused us considerable anxiety. It is to the effect that the Medical Association may cause the clinic to be closed, and thus deny us the benefits of these treatments. Personally I cannot conceive such an eventuality coming to pass. It would be utterly inhumane. It would not be British fair play.
I do ask in the name of all humanity that you will use all power and influence at your command, not only to allow Miss Caisse to carry on with her splendid work, but to let her do it in her own way - whatever the terms - let us even honour her for what she has already accomplished - which is, even at this time a greater service to her fellow-man than is within the power of most of us to render, and I am sure that in the years to come this province will have every reason to be grateful to, and proud of her.
There is no sane or intelligent person will do anything but encourage her in her line of action, for she is one of Gods finest gentlewomen in the highest sense of the word. She is not out to make money for her discovery, for she treats many of us gratis, and of course she makes no charge whatever.
I do hope it will not be asking too much of you to let me have some word, that will once and for all set our minds at rest that this great boon will not only be kept within our reach and our means, but may be available to all who need it.
Yours truly

May Henderson

10 Chicora Ave.,
Toronto

Nov 23 1937


The Honourable Harold J Kirby,
Minister of Health,
Toronto,
Ontario.

Dear Sir:
As a cancer sufferer myself, I was keenly interested to note the enclosed item of news in the "Toronto Daily Star" this evening.
May I Draw your attention also to another clipping enclosed, taken from the "Bracebridge Gazette" of Nov. 18th which needs no comment of mine.
I have been taking treatments from Miss Caisse for several months and am thankful to say I am also cured. But as you will realise it is quite a hardship for anyone in good health to journey up to Bracebridge once a week for those who are not well it is an ordeal, and of course in the more advanced stages of the disease it is impossible for the sufferer to make the trip. But why should it be necessary?
If there is money to spend to set up clinics, why not, in Gods name, set up clinics where people will be cured of cancer?
I took the liberty a short time ago of writing Premier Hepburn to urge that Miss Caisse be allowed to conduct a clinic here in Toronto. He replied, stating that a meeting would be called immediately on your return from a vacation, to go over this matter and make some definite arrangements. I am wondering now if this meeting has been held and whether we who need these treatments may look forward to having them administered here in Toronto, or do we have to make a tedious and expensive train trip to Bracebridge - stop at a hotel overnight - every week through the winter months?
As our Minister of Health you are surely sufficiently interested that it would not be asking too much of you to spend a few days in Bracebridge - attend a clinic yourself and see what is being done there?
Yours truly

(Mrs) May Henderson

10 Chicorn Ave.,
Toronto.

Miss René Caisse
The Cancer Clinic
Bracebridge,
Ontario.

My Dear Miss Caisse:
I am giving herewith particulars of my long and rather bad health history. Am arranging them in order according to the dates as it seems to me now that I try to set down the particulars that ever since I have grown up I have suffered growths in some part or other of my body. As a child I enjoyed splendid health and was really conscious of being unusually strong. I thoroughly enjoyed a tussle with my two brothers, both near my own age, and never remember any sickness to speak of until the first monthly periods appeared.
1910 At this time I was 14 years of age and a goitre appeared in my throat. From that time on I was never very well.
1931 At this time a condition appeared in my left breast which forced me to go to a doctor (Dr Isabella Wood). She told me she did not know what it was and to come back in a month's time. I was very frightened and went to see another doctor (Dr Charles B. Parker). He pronounced it "Chronic Mastitis" and gave me medicine to take internally and to apply to my breast. It relieved the condition for a time. He also discovered the goitre in my throat and advised an operation. I consented, and had it removed early in 1923.
1931 The mastitis continued to give me trouble, and by this time a "cystic mass" had formed, in the right breast a tumour as large as a hen's egg. In march of 1931 I went to five different doctors (Dr Charles B. Parker, Dr Shouldice, Dr Sullivan, Dr Robt. Gaby, Dr T. A. Robinson) all of whom agreed that there was nothing known to science which would clear up the condition. There was no alternative but to have both breastsremoved. I simply could not face it.
1935 At this time, and for some years prior I had a severe haemorrhage every month, until I was forced to go to a doctor. I went to the Women's College Hospital Clinic and was examined by Dr Helen Diack, and her co-worker Dr Barclay. I was quite surprised when they had me on the table for examination to see a lump as large as an ordinary grapefruit in my right side. They told me it was a fibroid tumour and would have to be removed at once. There was also a smaller long shaped growth in the left side close to the hip-bone. I asked Dr Diack particularly about this, as I was quite sure it was a very different growth to the other. She turned her head away and merely said "Well of course, it will have to come out too." Needless to say, by this time I was really sick.
1937 Early in the year a friend told me of the wonderful work being done in the Cancer Clinic at Bracebridge. Without any diagnosis or any letter to yourself, Miss Caisse, I came in a hurry. You told me that you had to have a written diagnosis from a medical doctor, and that I would have to undergo an examination by a doctor, who would be in the clinic the following week. This I did, and I have just lately (and by accident) found out that he considered my case too far gone altogether to respond to treatment. He did not examine my breasts or he would have found a small but well developed cancer at the top of the left breast. By this time it was all I could do to be up and around at all. I haemorrhaged so badly I thought I would die, and spent more and more time on the chesterfield or in bed and could lay down and sleep at any time of the day. My colour was a muddy yellow colour, hair thin and lifeless eyes - ordinarily blue - were grey and stoney looking. I simply couldn't stand up for any length of time as the feeling of weight and the weakness of the whole of the front of my body was unbearable. I did not suffer much pain, but occasionally a sharp needle-like stab would go through me around the growths. A movement of the bowels was frequently painful though not always. I have suffered from constipation all my life.
1938 And now for the happy ending: The growths have almost entirely disappeared, I have gained ten pounds, and I feel fine. I go to work every day in a very busy office, where the rest of the staff are unaware that there is anything wrong with me. Hours are from 8.30 to 5.30 and I get pretty tired at times especially when as at the end of the month I work an evening or two. Then on Sunday there is the long trip to Bracebridge and back. If only I could rest on Sundays I feel sure I would make even better progress. I am, however, deeply grateful for the treatments, and feel that I can never repay in money what they are worth to me. You have given me back my life Miss Caisse, but what means even more to me, I can confidently look forward to perfect health so that I will enjoy living.
I think I made myself clear from the foregoing how utterly futile operations would be in a case like mine. My earnest prayer every day is that this remedy may be made available to everyone who needs it.
Yours very truly

Mrs May Henderson

May Henderson is now 81, and lives in Toronto. She remembers journeying to Bracebridge every Sunday in 1937 with two other patients who drove her in their car. "We liked to get an early start," Mrs Henderson told us, "because the clinic was always filled. We tried to get our treatment before lunch , have a bite to eat at Bracebridge and then drive back. It only took a minute to get the injection and drink the tea, and the patients used to exchange progress reports while we waited." Over the years, May Henderson has written many letters and visited many public officials on behalf of Essiac. When she went to Rene, she had tumours in both breasts, and had been advised to have a double mastectomy. Then she was stunned to learn at one of her visits to a doctor that she also had a large tumour in the uterus. She was very weak and had been unable to work for some time-but she had a horror of surgery and refused it. My colour was a muddy yellow, my hair thin and lifeless and my eyes, ordinarily blue, were grey and stony. I haemorrhaged so badly I thought I would die, and couldn't stand up for any length of time," Mrs Henderson recalls. Dr J A McInnis, one of Rene's supporters, concluded that she was hopeless, and that it would be futile to treat her. Nevertheless, Rene began injections, and after a few months Mrs Henderson was back at work. "At first," she says, "the lumps seemed to grow harder, but then the turning point came and I discharged great masses of fleshy material." Still healthy in 1977, she has never had a recurrence.