14/01/2013 Inside Out West

Hello from Cheltenham, where we're investigating some outlandish

claims being made by a self-styled spiritual healer. Tonight we go

undercover to expose the special diet she claims will treat cancer.

It makes me feel the really angry when I hear what she wanted me to

do. The spirit guide told her what she wanted me to eat.

Also tonight, too old to get a mortgage. We follow a couple forced

to sell their business because of their age. We are not making a

fortune, but we love it, and I want to carry on if. And we meet a group

of women from Weston-super-Mare addicted to entering competitions.

I have been to Paris on Concorde. You win things you can buy.

I'm Alastair McKee, and this is Cancer. The search for a cure has

taken scientists to the edge of medical knowledge. But there are

those who claim they already have some of the answers - alternative

healers who say they have the power to treat cancer at a price. We're

investigating a self-styled spiritual healer who claims her

special diets hold the key to treating cancer. It's a very well-

tested formula. Our undercover team takes a cancer survivor to see for

himself what she offers. If I had followed the approach and advice

that she was suggesting, I just wouldn't be here now. And even our

real cancer expert is shocked by what he sees. If you want to stop

cancer, you have to get high doses of quality calcium. You know this

kind of thing goes on, but to actually see it happening is quite

scary. And it gets worse she believes her treatments used on

animals might have saved a woman who died from her cancer. I thought

that she would be like a dog. Unfortunately, it ended that way,

but even so she gained ten years. This is Dr Corascendea Cathar. Here

at her Cheltenham-based centre of healing, she sells a treatment

called Dhaxem. On her website, she says Dhaxem is the ultimate form of

healing and she is its sole master. But among her more outlandish

claims, we've discovered something disturbing. Dr Cathar claims she

can help heal cancer. In the past, she has claimed miraculous results.

It may sound ridiculous, but there are plenty of people who are

desperate to believe such claims. When you're told you only have a

few months to live, you are very desperate, and people go out

naturally to the internet as probably the first place now

looking for any cure, however crazy, however expensive. Chris Geiger is

a writer from Somerset. He uses his experience of cancer to give others

hope after being successfully treated in his mid-twenties. So I

was diagnosed with cancer, non- Hodgkin's lymphoma. I had a tumour

in my chest, the size of a dinner plate. It's wedged between my heart

and my lungs and, when you put it up here, you can see the real size

of this thing. I had two years' worth of treatment. I tried

anything within reason that would try and help me. Many sufferers

turn to internet medical forums for help, and that's where Dr Cathar

has touted her Dhaxem treatment. But much of what she's claimed is

just plain wrong. How can you say smoking does not cause cancer? On

this forum here we've got someone asking "My mum has got cancer - can

you help?" Oh my God, she's talking about her animal, "my dog". "I

healed her with food and natural remedies." So she's comparing her

treatment for her dog to this poor girl whose mother's got cancer.

Cathar uses these forums to steer people to her own website where she

offers a healing session for �280, despite it being against the law to

Chris has agreed to go undercover for us to find out exactly what Dr

Cathar offers in person. I'm going under cover because I want to stop

people like this taking advantage of sick, ill and desperate people

who have been told their disease may kill them soon. In the meantime,

we've done some more digging on our mysterious healer. Before she

changed her name, Dr Cathar was Dagmar Ebster-Grosz. She is indeed

a doctor and has worked in the NHS, but she's no medical expert. Her

qualification is a doctorate in sociology and philosophy, and her

work at hospitals in Gloucestershire was as a freelance

Slovak translator. She is not qualified in any way to treat

people with cancer. Dr Cathar claims her Dhaxem healing powers

were given to her ten years ago by a spirit guide called Lysseus. This

What he's taught Dr Cathar we're about to find out, thanks to our

cancer survivor Chris. He's off to his appointment with our undercover

Chris tells Dr Cathar his real medical history but, for our

purposes, he's saying he's certain the cancer has returned. From the

outset, it's clear this is far from a normal consultation. I had a

tumour on my chest. I should have brought the X-ray, I've got an X-

ray at home. No, I don't have to see that. The treatment itself is

harmless if unusual. What are you But when it comes to Dr Cathar's

dietary advice, things become even Dr Cathar also offers Chris a

Medical experts have told us there's no scientific evidence this

particular herbal remedy helps cancer patients. In fact it could

be harmful to people with kidney problems. Chris has already told Dr

Cathar he suffered from kidney Dr Cathar says she gave one patient

the Dhaxem treatment after it had worked on her dog. Sadly that

After two hours, Dr Cathar promises to draw up a Dhaxem diet for Chris

and declines to take the �60 agreed for the session. Chris, who don't

forget has battled cancer himself, has found the whole appointment

deeply unsettling. I've just come back from a very interesting

appointment. Two hours of listening to her. It makes me feel really

angry when I hear what she was saying today, some of the

suggestions she was saying, the diet her inner spirit told her what

I should be eating. It just makes my blood boil. But what does the

cancer expert think? This is Professor Chris Bunce. He's the

research director for the charity Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research.

And he's agreed to view our When her cancer came back, she

decided to take all of her medication, and then it started to

go very quickly down the hill. Chris you've seen all of the

footage. What do you think about the advice she's giving? I think

it's dangerous. Some of the alarming things in the footage that

we saw was a total lack of understanding of the biology of

cancer. I think the dialogue with the spirit whilst in the room I

think that's very emotionally manipulative. And particularly in

the case of relapsed patients, you've probably got the mindset

that "the original treatment hasn't really worked as my cancer has come

back" and the implication is when she's talking about the patient who

took some of the medication there's a very strong inference that she

believes that wasn't doing anything and her own therapy was stalling

the progression of the cancer, and If Chris was as ill as he says he

is in the footage, where would he be in a year's time following Dr

Cathar's advice? It's difficult to tell, but the most likely outcome

would be that his disease would progress to a stage where he was no

longer recoverable, if he were indeed still alive. So would Dr

Cathar's diet have been any good? You've got the diet sheet that Dr

Cathar charged �90 for. What really stands out? At first sight, it

looks a fairly unremarkable diet, but when you start to look into it

there's more worrying things like the recommendation to drink white

cabbage juice, a litre of it a day, because it beats cancer and

supports kidneys at the same time. Claims to beat cancer? Yes, claims

to beat cancer. That's a very dangerous claim. It's time to find

out why Dr Cathar believes what she's doing can help cancer

sufferers. We asked Dr Cathar for an interview on camera. She

declined to talk to us, but she did We asked to speak to these clients,

but Dr Cathar declined to put us in touch with them. Since we

approached Dr Cathar, she has now stopped offering her Dhaxem healing

treatment on the internet. Meanwhile, Chris hopes his

undercover work will help encourage other cancer patients to look for

I can totally understand how desperate people are. However, they

should really take professional, qualified advice rather than just

surfing the internet and believing the ludicrous stories and claims

that they're reading on the It is a sign of the times that

increasing numbers of people are working, running businesses and

buying homes into their twilight years. But to support their

lifestyles and plan for the future, all the people often have to

rearrange their finances. So what happens if the banks take one look

at your age and say no? Sam Smith has been finding out.

For the Mawbys of Exmoor, these are still the salad days - a busy life

of self-employment on the edge of Exmoor. Pulhams Mill is a bit of

everything. Pauline runs a cafe and B&B. She even paints the china. Ian

has his workshops, even an apprentice. It's a dream they

literally built together. Everything we have done here, we

We are not making a fortune, but I love it, and I want to carry on.

So why is this man here? Michael Dukes, estate agent. Well, Ian and

Pauline are being forced to sell. Pauline can't bear to watch.

actually can't think about it too much or I get so upset cos it's

obviously everything we've built up over last 32 years. And we don't

want this situation to be. But we're being forced into it. I

dont't know what else we can do. years of building this from what

was a romantic ruin into a thriving little business with the lots of

different Homs. Well, it's my life. The problem it's a life built with

the help of interest-only mortgages. They total �250,000. And the deals

are coming to an end. Ian's only options are to sell or re-finance.

But at the age of 71, he can't find a lender. I phoned up every

conceivable mortgage person and always the same answer. You

wouldn't be able to pay it back because you are over 70 and you are

retired. I'm not retired, I'm It was all very different when Ian

got his loans. Back in the boom times.

House prices are up to 18 times the average income in some areas of our

region. Figures from the National Housing Federation suggests that

the average house price is 18 times the average income.

By 2007, interest only deals like aeons peaked at almost a third of

all mortgages sold. The very next year, the bubble burst. It is

reckoned that 1.5 million interest- only deals will end over the next

decade. 80% with no repayment plan. More than half of interest only

borrowers are now in their fifties or over.

It is potentially a time bomb. He have people that cannot refinements,

so what will they do? They have no options, so it will potentially be

a big problem. Broker Ronan Marrion has seen more and more banks

changed their age limits for lending. Lenders have taken at a

frantic approach. I agree with that to a certain extent, but we have

some very creditworthy borrowers who could keep the mortgage going

for as long as they still live. Back at Pulhams Mill that is

exactly what Ian wants to do, but Michael Jukes can offer little

comfort. In your situation, it is an age

issue, it seems. I have come across two or three others like that. They

have been interest only arrangements and they have to add

to their equity of their book and they are calling a halt to

interest-free deals. Ian's self- employment is another thing lenders

are wary of. He has never missed a repayment and he has close to

�500,000 of equity. The total amount of mortgage i o his 250, but

it is worth about three times that. If not more. In three years' time

it might be worth nearly 1 million. So I just can't see what the risk

is? So why are the big banks turning their backs on older

customers? They are facing tighter rules around lending and penalties

for poor decisions. Particularly among self-employed people who

often tend to work longer, there can be good reasons for still

having a mortgage in later life. Having said that, from a lender's

point of view, the world has changed and they have to take into

account the new regulatory responsibilities and of what good

lending looks like in the future. The regulator, though, says there

is no reason for banks to impose blanket age limits.

The rules will potentially be tighter, but we expect lenders to

be fair to their customers and we also need to remember that equality

legislation does require lenders not to discriminate purely on the

basis of age. It is already happening, though,

lenders are reducing the age at which they are willing to lend.

Lenders, generally, are asking tougher questions about

affordability and about risk. But that should be regardless of age.

Age should not be the only criteria that they think about. Do you want

to have a quick look in here? You walk through there. Back at Pulhams

Mill, the Mawby's are wondering why they should pay the price of

banking caution. It is just not fair, I mean, we

have never defaulted on our mortgage. The property has a lot of

money and we are still making money. Even if we were in our Nineties the

place would still run. Very unfair. 30 years is a long time to work and

be faced with the fact we might have to sell it. Eventually we are

going to pop our clocks and will have to sell it anyway, or

something, but we need to do it when we want to do it rather than

being forced. These are tough times, but there

Mawby's are still hopeful they will find a backer of some sort he will

help end the uncertainty that is dogging them now.

None our final film tonight, we follow the comedienne Tom Craine as

he takes up comping, the entering of numerous competitions to win

anything from an all-expenses holiday, to a box of chocolates. As

Tom discovers, it is not as simple as it looks.

We all love getting something for free, but unlike these guys, I am

not one of life's winners. I have been to Paris on Concorde. I raced

with Nigel Mansell. A trip to Russia. I have been to China.

weekend in a posh hotel in China. won singing lessons. You win things

that she could not buy. By entering hundreds of

competitions, these ladies have one life-changing experiences. My

interest in competition started in my teens when a school friend won a

ridiculous amount of money. My mum entered a competition on Ness lace

cereals and there were five when has he got to select someone to

take penalties at half-time of a big championship match. It was QPR

versus Sheffield United. Half-time came and onto the pitch I went.

Three penalties later, I had won a fair bit of money. How much? It was

1 million French francs which was about �100,000. In front she would

have been a millionaire? Indeed. Ever since Bob won his million, I

have been intrigued by extreme competition entrants. I guess I got

my 15 minutes of fame and became a local celebrity for a short amount

of time and everyone was asking me for a 10 at school. Has that

stopped cents? No. Can I have a tenner? No. My friend Bob who as a

young team have won a ludicrous amount of money, 16 years later I

am still jealous. On my deathbed I think a small part of me will still

hate him. Despite his joy, there is a darker side to comping.

Some compers are a far cry from Bob and his cereal box. At the moment,

Elizabeth Shaw is running a competition to win a hamper of

chocolate. We have had entrants from Russia, Australia, even though

it is only open to residents in the UK, we have entrants from all over

the world. After our first competition we had 2000 entries on

a Monday and on Tuesday we had 25,000 entries. There goes my

chance of winning chocolates. Composer of paying websites to

enter hundreds of competitions and pay up to �30 per month for the

privilege. Elizabeth Shaw's terms and conditions state that inches

from automated sites are not allowed. We have to go through the

database and look at various e-mail addresses and sift them out. We

have spent over �2,000 trying to improve security and clean up the

database. What were people trying to win here? No holidays, no houses,

no cars, we are talking free chocolate. 25,000 people have paid

up to �29 a month to win chocolate? I am going to see if I get bitten

by this comping bug. At home on my computer the competitions I come

across are not what I expect. It seems a lot of them are asking

for personal details or for you to like their Facebook page. I am

trying to avoid those things. A quiz on line is a bit pointless.

Surely all they are asking there is if you can Duggal, nothing else. At

this point I am looking to win a year's worth of dog food, I don't

have a dog. Let's be honest, competitions are

not just run for our benefit, they are there for companies like

Elizabeth Shaw to get our details and sell to us. For small

businesses with a limited marketing budget, automated comping sites are

an expensive interest. The vast majority of competitions these days

are to gather information. Rebecca James is a marketing expert with

Big Leap. What would you tell someone, for

example Elizabeth Shaw have had problems with thousands entering,

how can you avoid that? It is about getting the matrix of the campaign

working. Making sure that whatever price is you are going to give a

way, you can afford to do. That always helps. But that there are

very strict guidelines around who can enter, how many times they can

enter. These ladies from the Compers Mentis grip hate automated

sites. They meet every month to talk comping and they prefer a more

traditional form. When I started, I concentrated on slogans. So you won

a car with the slogan? What was it? I was motivated by the name and

checked into buttery claim. regards to competitions Elizabeth

Shaw are having, what is your feeling on that? If I was a small

company with a limited budget and I wanted to make people aware of my

company, I would not do anything on the internet competition related

because you will get thousands of entries. If they had done the old

fashioned way, entry form, there would have had far fewer entries,

but all entries would have been valid. I you aware of website where

people pay money and then thousands of competitions are entered on your

behalf? De have a feeling on that? I don't think it is right at all.

As he said, it has taken the scale out of doing competitions. The old

style competition and tourists are disappearing, pretty much like us.

There are lots of competitions on the internet. So I have been

looking on line and found this website. Wines, cream eggs, fashion,

jury, let's have a look. Trying to win a wedding dress. Let's do this.

Website that lists competitions are big business. Oxfordshire press

publishes two magazines and has a website. All of them list different

competitions. The company has more than 15,000 paying customers. These

services are all very different to automated services Elizabeth Shaw

has encounter it, but Dave Gibson helps to run one of these website

when customers paid to be entered into competitions.

It is becoming far more difficult to do as promoters have realised

they'd may not be achieving what they wanted out of the service. If

I'm honest, I don't see along, I don't see it lasting for a long

time. Dave is keen to point out that they limit automated entrance

to 2000. I'm interested to hear that automated comping website are

becoming less popular as businesses to run competitions start to close

the loopholes. This will be music to the ears of Compers Mentis, the

lovely group of ladies in Weston- super-Mare, but can I impress them

with my comping success? I have entered pretty much every

competition the internet has to offer. The prize I am hoping for

most is a kaleidoscope, which is something I wasn't aware I wanted

until now. Now why just wait so fingers crossed, we will see what

happens. I still haven't heard anything, but

here is hoping the postman will That is just about it this week,

but don't forget you can keep in touch with what we are up to on

Next week, and Inside Out West special looks at the impact of the

biggest ever changes to the National Health Service.