“i am a bit frustrated, because i’m going uphill convincing the doctors. doctors think it is a snake oil. this time i am really happy with oncologists so strongly supporting (us),” pandey said
if the lemon grass product does well as a supplement in the clinical trial, it is possible pandey and his team could, in the future, shift focus onto lemon grass extract as a natural, non-toxic treatment to replace chemotherapy.
the group is also studying white tea, rosemary, long pepper and lakshmi taru for potential cancer treating properties.
univeristy of windsor science alumnus lokanth chawla pledged $100,000 to the team’s cancer research on tuesday. the 71-year-old presented a cheque for $50,000 and said he would give a second cheque in august.
“maybe after 20, 30 years — you know how many people he’s going to be helping?” chawla said. “my mother died badly, with chemo and radiation. that’s the reason i’m doing this.”
the group began its work with dandelion root extract in 2010, funded in part by the family of kevin couvillion, who died that year at the age of 26 after a three-year battle with myeloid leukemia. the dandelion root research was named in his honour. pandey and his changing team of students provide an update on their research each year on couvillon’s birthday, feb. 18.