:00:06. > :00:09.Hello from Cheltenham, where we're investigating some outlandish
:00:09. > :00:19.claims being made by a self-styled spiritual healer. Tonight we go
:00:19. > :00:20.
:00:20. > :00:26.undercover to expose the special diet she claims will treat cancer.
:00:26. > :00:33.It makes me feel the really angry when I hear what she wanted me to
:00:33. > :00:37.do. The spirit guide told her what she wanted me to eat.
:00:37. > :00:41.Also tonight, too old to get a mortgage. We follow a couple forced
:00:41. > :00:47.to sell their business because of their age. We are not making a
:00:47. > :00:57.fortune, but we love it, and I want to carry on if. And we meet a group
:00:57. > :01:04.of women from Weston-super-Mare addicted to entering competitions.
:01:04. > :01:14.I have been to Paris on Concorde. You win things you can buy.
:01:14. > :01:17.
:01:17. > :01:19.I'm Alastair McKee, and this is Cancer. The search for a cure has
:01:19. > :01:22.taken scientists to the edge of medical knowledge. But there are
:01:22. > :01:32.those who claim they already have some of the answers - alternative
:01:32. > :01:34.
:01:34. > :01:36.healers who say they have the power to treat cancer at a price. We're
:01:36. > :01:39.investigating a self-styled spiritual healer who claims her
:01:39. > :01:43.special diets hold the key to treating cancer. It's a very well-
:01:43. > :01:46.tested formula. Our undercover team takes a cancer survivor to see for
:01:46. > :01:49.himself what she offers. If I had followed the approach and advice
:01:49. > :01:53.that she was suggesting, I just wouldn't be here now. And even our
:01:53. > :02:00.real cancer expert is shocked by what he sees. If you want to stop
:02:00. > :02:03.cancer, you have to get high doses of quality calcium. You know this
:02:03. > :02:09.kind of thing goes on, but to actually see it happening is quite
:02:09. > :02:19.scary. And it gets worse she believes her treatments used on
:02:19. > :02:22.animals might have saved a woman who died from her cancer. I thought
:02:22. > :02:28.that she would be like a dog. Unfortunately, it ended that way,
:02:28. > :02:30.but even so she gained ten years. This is Dr Corascendea Cathar. Here
:02:30. > :02:34.at her Cheltenham-based centre of healing, she sells a treatment
:02:34. > :02:39.called Dhaxem. On her website, she says Dhaxem is the ultimate form of
:02:39. > :02:47.healing and she is its sole master. But among her more outlandish
:02:47. > :02:53.claims, we've discovered something disturbing. Dr Cathar claims she
:02:53. > :02:56.can help heal cancer. In the past, she has claimed miraculous results.
:02:56. > :03:01.It may sound ridiculous, but there are plenty of people who are
:03:01. > :03:04.desperate to believe such claims. When you're told you only have a
:03:04. > :03:07.few months to live, you are very desperate, and people go out
:03:07. > :03:12.naturally to the internet as probably the first place now
:03:12. > :03:15.looking for any cure, however crazy, however expensive. Chris Geiger is
:03:15. > :03:21.a writer from Somerset. He uses his experience of cancer to give others
:03:21. > :03:26.hope after being successfully treated in his mid-twenties. So I
:03:26. > :03:30.was diagnosed with cancer, non- Hodgkin's lymphoma. I had a tumour
:03:30. > :03:34.in my chest, the size of a dinner plate. It's wedged between my heart
:03:34. > :03:38.and my lungs and, when you put it up here, you can see the real size
:03:38. > :03:41.of this thing. I had two years' worth of treatment. I tried
:03:41. > :03:44.anything within reason that would try and help me. Many sufferers
:03:44. > :03:54.turn to internet medical forums for help, and that's where Dr Cathar
:03:54. > :03:58.has touted her Dhaxem treatment. But much of what she's claimed is
:03:58. > :04:01.just plain wrong. How can you say smoking does not cause cancer? On
:04:01. > :04:05.this forum here we've got someone asking "My mum has got cancer - can
:04:05. > :04:07.you help?" Oh my God, she's talking about her animal, "my dog". "I
:04:07. > :04:11.healed her with food and natural remedies." So she's comparing her
:04:11. > :04:14.treatment for her dog to this poor girl whose mother's got cancer.
:04:14. > :04:17.Cathar uses these forums to steer people to her own website where she
:04:17. > :04:27.offers a healing session for �280, despite it being against the law to
:04:27. > :04:33.Chris has agreed to go undercover for us to find out exactly what Dr
:04:33. > :04:36.Cathar offers in person. I'm going under cover because I want to stop
:04:36. > :04:45.people like this taking advantage of sick, ill and desperate people
:04:45. > :04:49.who have been told their disease may kill them soon. In the meantime,
:04:49. > :04:54.we've done some more digging on our mysterious healer. Before she
:04:54. > :04:57.changed her name, Dr Cathar was Dagmar Ebster-Grosz. She is indeed
:04:57. > :05:00.a doctor and has worked in the NHS, but she's no medical expert. Her
:05:00. > :05:02.qualification is a doctorate in sociology and philosophy, and her
:05:02. > :05:10.work at hospitals in Gloucestershire was as a freelance
:05:10. > :05:13.Slovak translator. She is not qualified in any way to treat
:05:13. > :05:21.people with cancer. Dr Cathar claims her Dhaxem healing powers
:05:21. > :05:30.were given to her ten years ago by a spirit guide called Lysseus. This
:05:30. > :05:34.What he's taught Dr Cathar we're about to find out, thanks to our
:05:34. > :05:44.cancer survivor Chris. He's off to his appointment with our undercover
:05:44. > :05:45.
:05:45. > :05:51.Chris tells Dr Cathar his real medical history but, for our
:05:51. > :05:56.purposes, he's saying he's certain the cancer has returned. From the
:05:56. > :06:02.outset, it's clear this is far from a normal consultation. I had a
:06:02. > :06:07.tumour on my chest. I should have brought the X-ray, I've got an X-
:06:07. > :06:17.ray at home. No, I don't have to see that. The treatment itself is
:06:17. > :06:23.
:06:23. > :06:33.harmless if unusual. What are you But when it comes to Dr Cathar's
:06:33. > :07:02.
:07:02. > :07:12.dietary advice, things become even Dr Cathar also offers Chris a
:07:12. > :07:13.
:07:13. > :07:17.Medical experts have told us there's no scientific evidence this
:07:17. > :07:21.particular herbal remedy helps cancer patients. In fact it could
:07:21. > :07:27.be harmful to people with kidney problems. Chris has already told Dr
:07:27. > :07:31.Cathar he suffered from kidney Dr Cathar says she gave one patient
:07:31. > :07:41.the Dhaxem treatment after it had worked on her dog. Sadly that
:07:41. > :08:04.
:08:04. > :08:09.After two hours, Dr Cathar promises to draw up a Dhaxem diet for Chris
:08:09. > :08:11.and declines to take the �60 agreed for the session. Chris, who don't
:08:11. > :08:18.forget has battled cancer himself, has found the whole appointment
:08:18. > :08:23.deeply unsettling. I've just come back from a very interesting
:08:23. > :08:26.appointment. Two hours of listening to her. It makes me feel really
:08:26. > :08:29.angry when I hear what she was saying today, some of the
:08:29. > :08:35.suggestions she was saying, the diet her inner spirit told her what
:08:35. > :08:40.I should be eating. It just makes my blood boil. But what does the
:08:40. > :08:44.cancer expert think? This is Professor Chris Bunce. He's the
:08:44. > :08:54.research director for the charity Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research.
:08:54. > :08:57.
:08:57. > :09:00.And he's agreed to view our When her cancer came back, she
:09:00. > :09:04.decided to take all of her medication, and then it started to
:09:04. > :09:08.go very quickly down the hill. Chris you've seen all of the
:09:08. > :09:11.footage. What do you think about the advice she's giving? I think
:09:11. > :09:14.it's dangerous. Some of the alarming things in the footage that
:09:14. > :09:20.we saw was a total lack of understanding of the biology of
:09:20. > :09:24.cancer. I think the dialogue with the spirit whilst in the room I
:09:24. > :09:27.think that's very emotionally manipulative. And particularly in
:09:27. > :09:30.the case of relapsed patients, you've probably got the mindset
:09:30. > :09:33.that "the original treatment hasn't really worked as my cancer has come
:09:33. > :09:36.back" and the implication is when she's talking about the patient who
:09:36. > :09:39.took some of the medication there's a very strong inference that she
:09:39. > :09:48.believes that wasn't doing anything and her own therapy was stalling
:09:48. > :09:52.the progression of the cancer, and If Chris was as ill as he says he
:09:52. > :09:56.is in the footage, where would he be in a year's time following Dr
:09:56. > :10:00.Cathar's advice? It's difficult to tell, but the most likely outcome
:10:00. > :10:05.would be that his disease would progress to a stage where he was no
:10:05. > :10:10.longer recoverable, if he were indeed still alive. So would Dr
:10:10. > :10:16.Cathar's diet have been any good? You've got the diet sheet that Dr
:10:16. > :10:18.Cathar charged �90 for. What really stands out? At first sight, it
:10:19. > :10:21.looks a fairly unremarkable diet, but when you start to look into it
:10:21. > :10:24.there's more worrying things like the recommendation to drink white
:10:24. > :10:29.cabbage juice, a litre of it a day, because it beats cancer and
:10:29. > :10:33.supports kidneys at the same time. Claims to beat cancer? Yes, claims
:10:33. > :10:36.to beat cancer. That's a very dangerous claim. It's time to find
:10:36. > :10:39.out why Dr Cathar believes what she's doing can help cancer
:10:39. > :10:49.sufferers. We asked Dr Cathar for an interview on camera. She
:10:49. > :11:15.
:11:15. > :11:20.declined to talk to us, but she did We asked to speak to these clients,
:11:20. > :11:22.but Dr Cathar declined to put us in touch with them. Since we
:11:22. > :11:26.approached Dr Cathar, she has now stopped offering her Dhaxem healing
:11:26. > :11:29.treatment on the internet. Meanwhile, Chris hopes his
:11:29. > :11:39.undercover work will help encourage other cancer patients to look for
:11:39. > :11:41.I can totally understand how desperate people are. However, they
:11:41. > :11:44.should really take professional, qualified advice rather than just
:11:44. > :11:54.surfing the internet and believing the ludicrous stories and claims
:11:54. > :11:58.
:11:58. > :12:01.that they're reading on the It is a sign of the times that
:12:01. > :12:05.increasing numbers of people are working, running businesses and
:12:05. > :12:08.buying homes into their twilight years. But to support their
:12:08. > :12:12.lifestyles and plan for the future, all the people often have to
:12:12. > :12:22.rearrange their finances. So what happens if the banks take one look
:12:22. > :12:24.
:12:24. > :12:28.at your age and say no? Sam Smith has been finding out.
:12:28. > :12:31.For the Mawbys of Exmoor, these are still the salad days - a busy life
:12:31. > :12:37.of self-employment on the edge of Exmoor. Pulhams Mill is a bit of
:12:37. > :12:41.everything. Pauline runs a cafe and B&B. She even paints the china. Ian
:12:41. > :12:51.has his workshops, even an apprentice. It's a dream they
:12:51. > :13:01.literally built together. Everything we have done here, we
:13:01. > :13:09.
:13:09. > :13:16.We are not making a fortune, but I love it, and I want to carry on.
:13:16. > :13:24.So why is this man here? Michael Dukes, estate agent. Well, Ian and
:13:24. > :13:27.Pauline are being forced to sell. Pauline can't bear to watch.
:13:27. > :13:36.actually can't think about it too much or I get so upset cos it's
:13:36. > :13:40.obviously everything we've built up over last 32 years. And we don't
:13:40. > :13:47.want this situation to be. But we're being forced into it. I
:13:47. > :13:51.dont't know what else we can do. years of building this from what
:13:51. > :13:58.was a romantic ruin into a thriving little business with the lots of
:13:58. > :14:03.different Homs. Well, it's my life. The problem it's a life built with
:14:03. > :14:09.the help of interest-only mortgages. They total �250,000. And the deals
:14:09. > :14:16.are coming to an end. Ian's only options are to sell or re-finance.
:14:16. > :14:24.But at the age of 71, he can't find a lender. I phoned up every
:14:24. > :14:29.conceivable mortgage person and always the same answer. You
:14:29. > :14:39.wouldn't be able to pay it back because you are over 70 and you are
:14:39. > :14:40.
:14:40. > :14:46.retired. I'm not retired, I'm It was all very different when Ian
:14:46. > :14:50.got his loans. Back in the boom times.
:14:50. > :14:55.House prices are up to 18 times the average income in some areas of our
:14:55. > :14:59.region. Figures from the National Housing Federation suggests that
:14:59. > :15:04.the average house price is 18 times the average income.
:15:04. > :15:10.By 2007, interest only deals like aeons peaked at almost a third of
:15:10. > :15:15.all mortgages sold. The very next year, the bubble burst. It is
:15:15. > :15:21.reckoned that 1.5 million interest- only deals will end over the next
:15:21. > :15:27.decade. 80% with no repayment plan. More than half of interest only
:15:27. > :15:32.borrowers are now in their fifties or over.
:15:32. > :15:41.It is potentially a time bomb. He have people that cannot refinements,
:15:41. > :15:50.so what will they do? They have no options, so it will potentially be
:15:50. > :15:56.a big problem. Broker Ronan Marrion has seen more and more banks
:15:56. > :16:00.changed their age limits for lending. Lenders have taken at a
:16:00. > :16:05.frantic approach. I agree with that to a certain extent, but we have
:16:05. > :16:14.some very creditworthy borrowers who could keep the mortgage going
:16:14. > :16:18.for as long as they still live. Back at Pulhams Mill that is
:16:18. > :16:23.exactly what Ian wants to do, but Michael Jukes can offer little
:16:23. > :16:31.comfort. In your situation, it is an age
:16:31. > :16:36.issue, it seems. I have come across two or three others like that. They
:16:36. > :16:41.have been interest only arrangements and they have to add
:16:41. > :16:47.to their equity of their book and they are calling a halt to
:16:47. > :16:53.interest-free deals. Ian's self- employment is another thing lenders
:16:53. > :17:01.are wary of. He has never missed a repayment and he has close to
:17:01. > :17:06.�500,000 of equity. The total amount of mortgage i o his 250, but
:17:06. > :17:13.it is worth about three times that. If not more. In three years' time
:17:13. > :17:18.it might be worth nearly 1 million. So I just can't see what the risk
:17:18. > :17:22.is? So why are the big banks turning their backs on older
:17:22. > :17:27.customers? They are facing tighter rules around lending and penalties
:17:27. > :17:31.for poor decisions. Particularly among self-employed people who
:17:31. > :17:35.often tend to work longer, there can be good reasons for still
:17:35. > :17:40.having a mortgage in later life. Having said that, from a lender's
:17:40. > :17:43.point of view, the world has changed and they have to take into
:17:43. > :17:48.account the new regulatory responsibilities and of what good
:17:48. > :17:52.lending looks like in the future. The regulator, though, says there
:17:52. > :17:56.is no reason for banks to impose blanket age limits.
:17:56. > :18:01.The rules will potentially be tighter, but we expect lenders to
:18:01. > :18:06.be fair to their customers and we also need to remember that equality
:18:06. > :18:11.legislation does require lenders not to discriminate purely on the
:18:11. > :18:15.basis of age. It is already happening, though,
:18:15. > :18:20.lenders are reducing the age at which they are willing to lend.
:18:20. > :18:25.Lenders, generally, are asking tougher questions about
:18:25. > :18:33.affordability and about risk. But that should be regardless of age.
:18:33. > :18:37.Age should not be the only criteria that they think about. Do you want
:18:37. > :18:42.to have a quick look in here? You walk through there. Back at Pulhams
:18:42. > :18:49.Mill, the Mawby's are wondering why they should pay the price of
:18:49. > :18:54.banking caution. It is just not fair, I mean, we
:18:54. > :18:59.have never defaulted on our mortgage. The property has a lot of
:18:59. > :19:09.money and we are still making money. Even if we were in our Nineties the
:19:09. > :19:10.
:19:10. > :19:16.place would still run. Very unfair. 30 years is a long time to work and
:19:16. > :19:20.be faced with the fact we might have to sell it. Eventually we are
:19:20. > :19:24.going to pop our clocks and will have to sell it anyway, or
:19:24. > :19:30.something, but we need to do it when we want to do it rather than
:19:30. > :19:35.being forced. These are tough times, but there
:19:35. > :19:41.Mawby's are still hopeful they will find a backer of some sort he will
:19:41. > :19:45.help end the uncertainty that is dogging them now.
:19:45. > :19:52.None our final film tonight, we follow the comedienne Tom Craine as
:19:52. > :19:56.he takes up comping, the entering of numerous competitions to win
:19:56. > :20:01.anything from an all-expenses holiday, to a box of chocolates. As
:20:01. > :20:05.Tom discovers, it is not as simple as it looks.
:20:05. > :20:11.We all love getting something for free, but unlike these guys, I am
:20:11. > :20:17.not one of life's winners. I have been to Paris on Concorde. I raced
:20:17. > :20:23.with Nigel Mansell. A trip to Russia. I have been to China.
:20:23. > :20:28.weekend in a posh hotel in China. won singing lessons. You win things
:20:28. > :20:34.that she could not buy. By entering hundreds of
:20:34. > :20:38.competitions, these ladies have one life-changing experiences. My
:20:38. > :20:43.interest in competition started in my teens when a school friend won a
:20:43. > :20:47.ridiculous amount of money. My mum entered a competition on Ness lace
:20:47. > :20:55.cereals and there were five when has he got to select someone to
:20:55. > :21:00.take penalties at half-time of a big championship match. It was QPR
:21:00. > :21:07.versus Sheffield United. Half-time came and onto the pitch I went.
:21:07. > :21:12.Three penalties later, I had won a fair bit of money. How much? It was
:21:12. > :21:17.1 million French francs which was about �100,000. In front she would
:21:18. > :21:24.have been a millionaire? Indeed. Ever since Bob won his million, I
:21:24. > :21:29.have been intrigued by extreme competition entrants. I guess I got
:21:29. > :21:33.my 15 minutes of fame and became a local celebrity for a short amount
:21:33. > :21:42.of time and everyone was asking me for a 10 at school. Has that
:21:42. > :21:46.stopped cents? No. Can I have a tenner? No. My friend Bob who as a
:21:46. > :21:51.young team have won a ludicrous amount of money, 16 years later I
:21:51. > :21:58.am still jealous. On my deathbed I think a small part of me will still
:21:58. > :22:03.hate him. Despite his joy, there is a darker side to comping.
:22:03. > :22:07.Some compers are a far cry from Bob and his cereal box. At the moment,
:22:07. > :22:12.Elizabeth Shaw is running a competition to win a hamper of
:22:12. > :22:16.chocolate. We have had entrants from Russia, Australia, even though
:22:16. > :22:21.it is only open to residents in the UK, we have entrants from all over
:22:21. > :22:26.the world. After our first competition we had 2000 entries on
:22:26. > :22:31.a Monday and on Tuesday we had 25,000 entries. There goes my
:22:31. > :22:36.chance of winning chocolates. Composer of paying websites to
:22:36. > :22:40.enter hundreds of competitions and pay up to �30 per month for the
:22:40. > :22:44.privilege. Elizabeth Shaw's terms and conditions state that inches
:22:44. > :22:48.from automated sites are not allowed. We have to go through the
:22:49. > :22:53.database and look at various e-mail addresses and sift them out. We
:22:53. > :23:00.have spent over �2,000 trying to improve security and clean up the
:23:00. > :23:07.database. What were people trying to win here? No holidays, no houses,
:23:07. > :23:12.no cars, we are talking free chocolate. 25,000 people have paid
:23:12. > :23:17.up to �29 a month to win chocolate? I am going to see if I get bitten
:23:17. > :23:22.by this comping bug. At home on my computer the competitions I come
:23:22. > :23:26.across are not what I expect. It seems a lot of them are asking
:23:26. > :23:32.for personal details or for you to like their Facebook page. I am
:23:32. > :23:37.trying to avoid those things. A quiz on line is a bit pointless.
:23:37. > :23:41.Surely all they are asking there is if you can Duggal, nothing else. At
:23:41. > :23:49.this point I am looking to win a year's worth of dog food, I don't
:23:49. > :23:53.have a dog. Let's be honest, competitions are
:23:53. > :23:58.not just run for our benefit, they are there for companies like
:23:58. > :24:04.Elizabeth Shaw to get our details and sell to us. For small
:24:04. > :24:09.businesses with a limited marketing budget, automated comping sites are
:24:10. > :24:14.an expensive interest. The vast majority of competitions these days
:24:15. > :24:21.are to gather information. Rebecca James is a marketing expert with
:24:21. > :24:24.Big Leap. What would you tell someone, for
:24:24. > :24:29.example Elizabeth Shaw have had problems with thousands entering,
:24:29. > :24:34.how can you avoid that? It is about getting the matrix of the campaign
:24:34. > :24:40.working. Making sure that whatever price is you are going to give a
:24:40. > :24:44.way, you can afford to do. That always helps. But that there are
:24:44. > :24:49.very strict guidelines around who can enter, how many times they can
:24:49. > :24:54.enter. These ladies from the Compers Mentis grip hate automated
:24:54. > :25:01.sites. They meet every month to talk comping and they prefer a more
:25:01. > :25:11.traditional form. When I started, I concentrated on slogans. So you won
:25:11. > :25:12.
:25:12. > :25:17.a car with the slogan? What was it? I was motivated by the name and
:25:17. > :25:23.checked into buttery claim. regards to competitions Elizabeth
:25:23. > :25:28.Shaw are having, what is your feeling on that? If I was a small
:25:28. > :25:34.company with a limited budget and I wanted to make people aware of my
:25:34. > :25:40.company, I would not do anything on the internet competition related
:25:40. > :25:44.because you will get thousands of entries. If they had done the old
:25:44. > :25:49.fashioned way, entry form, there would have had far fewer entries,
:25:49. > :25:54.but all entries would have been valid. I you aware of website where
:25:54. > :26:00.people pay money and then thousands of competitions are entered on your
:26:00. > :26:08.behalf? De have a feeling on that? I don't think it is right at all.
:26:08. > :26:13.As he said, it has taken the scale out of doing competitions. The old
:26:13. > :26:17.style competition and tourists are disappearing, pretty much like us.
:26:17. > :26:24.There are lots of competitions on the internet. So I have been
:26:24. > :26:34.looking on line and found this website. Wines, cream eggs, fashion,
:26:34. > :26:40.jury, let's have a look. Trying to win a wedding dress. Let's do this.
:26:40. > :26:44.Website that lists competitions are big business. Oxfordshire press
:26:44. > :26:51.publishes two magazines and has a website. All of them list different
:26:51. > :26:55.competitions. The company has more than 15,000 paying customers. These
:26:55. > :27:00.services are all very different to automated services Elizabeth Shaw
:27:00. > :27:03.has encounter it, but Dave Gibson helps to run one of these website
:27:03. > :27:08.when customers paid to be entered into competitions.
:27:08. > :27:15.It is becoming far more difficult to do as promoters have realised
:27:15. > :27:22.they'd may not be achieving what they wanted out of the service. If
:27:22. > :27:27.I'm honest, I don't see along, I don't see it lasting for a long
:27:27. > :27:33.time. Dave is keen to point out that they limit automated entrance
:27:33. > :27:38.to 2000. I'm interested to hear that automated comping website are
:27:38. > :27:42.becoming less popular as businesses to run competitions start to close
:27:42. > :27:47.the loopholes. This will be music to the ears of Compers Mentis, the
:27:47. > :27:52.lovely group of ladies in Weston- super-Mare, but can I impress them
:27:52. > :27:56.with my comping success? I have entered pretty much every
:27:56. > :28:00.competition the internet has to offer. The prize I am hoping for
:28:00. > :28:05.most is a kaleidoscope, which is something I wasn't aware I wanted
:28:05. > :28:08.until now. Now why just wait so fingers crossed, we will see what
:28:08. > :28:18.happens. I still haven't heard anything, but
:28:18. > :28:20.
:28:20. > :28:25.here is hoping the postman will That is just about it this week,
:28:25. > :28:35.but don't forget you can keep in touch with what we are up to on
:28:35. > :28:41.
:28:41. > :28:44.Next week, and Inside Out West special looks at the impact of the
:28:44. > :28:48.biggest ever changes to the National Health Service.