Marion’s Magic Blanket!
UPDATE: 2023 – To date over 500 patients have used our “Magic Blanket” and report that they are thrilled with the results and have told other patients about their experience. We have been making custom blankets for men having throat cancer radiation, with excellent results and we also make them for other types of cancers.
This material has helped to either stop completely or minimize the burns.
I know this will sound absolutely crazy to you, but this is the story of what has become known as “Marion’s Magic Blanket“. While I was in treatment in 2000, my oncologist suggested I contact a company in Massachusetts, I became friends with one of the girls there and she told me that she and her associates at a cancer center in Massachusetts had found that they were able to almost eliminate the radiation burns, by using a product that she could get for me. It was still in the testing stage, but they had first tested it on guys in their building who would go to Cape Cod for the weekend and come back with severe sunburns, after using the fabric the guys did not blister, or peel, and the heat from the sunburn would be almost gone within a day.
The way it was described to me was as follows, however, I have not been able to find anywhere any actual documentation of this story, but all I know is that I am a blue-eyed, fair-skinned woman, who sunburns after 15 minutes in the sun at the beach, and living in Florida for 25 years, I had plenty of sunburns to know the pain that lasted for days.
The story as I was told and my experiences:
NASA was trying to develop a material that could be used for underwear for the astronauts, that would protect them from the unknown amount of heat that they would experience outside the spacecraft. If the body temperature rose to dangerous levels, this material had to dissipate the heat and spread it over the fibers (Far Infra Red fibers) in the material, thereby reducing the body’s temperature for survival.
***This blanket cannot be washed, because it would destroy the fibers, it must be professionally dry cleaned only.***
The folks who were dealing with the “sunburned guys”, came to the conclusion that maybe it would work the same way for radiation burns, so they began looking for a cancer patient. Since they had been dealing with me they asked if I would like to be the first actual cancer patient to try this theory.
Of course now you all know that I said YES!!!.
I had 35 radiation treatments and my doctor, at first looked at me like I was insane, but after 3 weeks of treatment, he was absolutely shocked that I was “not even pink”.
He soon became a skeptical believer, that something had made the difference, since my fair skin, should have had burns by the time I finished radiation treatment – 7 weeks later.
At no time during this whole treatment did I develop burns, except thru my own carelessness.
I had to wear my bra one day, and the rubbing of the elastic against the lower part of my left chest, caused the skin to break down, and blister. I am positive that if I had not done that, I would have been free of all burns due to the radiation treatments I received. After every treatment, I would come home, use large quantities of Aloe & Vitamin E cream, on the radiated area, then I would put on a very lightweight t-shirt, then put the “magic blanket” on over the t-shirt, and secure it with a 6″ ace bandage. I would wear this blanket every day for a minimum of 4 hours. Since the material is not washable, the T-shirt absorbed the cream and allowed me to use the blanket without constant dry cleaning, since I needed it every day. I continued to wear the blanket for several weeks after my treatment, as my doctor advised me that the radiation will continue to “accumulate” for several weeks after finishing treatment.
I am not egocentric enough to name the blanket after myself, my Radiation Oncologist named it for me, and he was amazed at my experience with it, when I would see him he always said, “Oh I remember you didn’t burn – Marion’s magic blanket” and I tell him YOU BET!!!
This blanket has been used by many women and a man who had abdominal surgery for Colon cancer, none of whom burned. The gal in Massachusetts is still working with the group and more experiments are being conducted on other uses of this product.
I KNOW that this sounds really weird to a “traditional medical doctor”, but unless you see it work for yourself, you will never understand what it means not to suffer radiation burns after treatment. Some brave open minded doctors are now seeing the results and are telling their patients about it.
The best results have been obtained when the fabric is worn for several hours after each treatment some of my “girls” tell me they wear it to bed and that it also helps with “hot flashes”, and then continued to wear it after the treatments end – as radiation still has the capability of burning for days or weeks after the last treatment. One patient purchased a blanket for her mother who finds it releaves hot flashes when she sleeps.
This product is NOT sanctioned by any doctors, as it is NOT approved by the FDA, and therefore no medical doctor will suggest that it be used.
We have been able to obtain the very expensive fabric and we custom-make the blanket to accommodate the radiation fields that are being done. Because we custom make each one along with a cover that must be used each time, we are able to provide a size and configuration to accommodate just about any part of the body that is being externally radiated. These are not commercially produced, Marion makes each one herself and will advise you personally if you have any questions or concerns about configuration or size. We do not give medical advice, we can only tell you what has worked for us and our many patients who have used the blanket. We have many patients worldwide using the blanket, for many types of cancer radiation treatments, including prostate, salivary gland, brain, throat, esophageal, and lung, as long as it is external radiation the blanket can be used. It is not helpful for Internal seed implants.
Any questions, please email Marion at breastcancerdiy@earthlink.net