We have passed through something amazing. We have witnessed something quite incredible. Now I feel it is my duty to share our experience, to share our knowledge. My hope is that in so doing we will be able to help another person

At 19 years of age our son became ill while travelling in Israel. He was hospitalized twice for dehydration, vomiting , diarrhea and fever. He was weak and dizzy and suffered abdominal pain. He returned to Vancouver in August 2005 not well, having lost 10 -15 pounds.

Upon his return to Vancouver we sought medical attention for his maladies. We know for sure that he contracted a nasty parasite. Had this parasite attacked an already compromised state of health ? That is possible since our son was complaining of upset stomach, acid reflux and general abdominal discomfort for a few years, ( perhaps from a visit to Mexico ). Regardless of a single or compound cause the result was his worsening condition of health.

The illness continued. Consultation with the family doctor lead to every and all tests possible: blood, urine, stool, x-rays, ultrasound, endoscope, colonoscopy. Numerous medications were prescribed. Nothing worked.

Our son’s health continued to decline. We were referred and forwarded to every specialist to no avail. We tried all manner of treatment, seeking help from traditional medicine and alternative paths; it was a troubled and anxious time. Acupuncture, herbs, naturopath, homeopath, general physician, psychological, gastroenterologist, immunologist; despite all the best efforts nothing was working.

By January 2006 our son had lost approximately 45 pounds. He was a mere 103 pounds. Blood tests revealed IgE (Immunoglobulin E) levels exceeding 6000. ( a normal range is 400 - 470 ) . IgE levels are indicative of the immune system’s ability and function. His immune system had crashed! He was unable to eat or digest any foods, unable to absorb any food nutrients.

He was house bound; unable to attend university classes. He had become allergic to everything, to all foods. His body was fighting itself. He was subsisting on a tablespoon of rice and a tablespoon of rice milk per day. Too weak to speak he had reached a serious and horrifying point. His vision was blurred he was freezing all the time, too lethargic to walk, he hadn’t spoken for weeks, from the lack of energy to do so. He suffered continuous abdominal pain passing out on the bathroom floor vomiting bile. His skin colour was no longer even a sickly yellow it was grey. He was seriously ill. It was scary. It was unbelievable. We had exhausted all avenues. We were watching our son disappear in front of our eyes and we were helpless ! It is sad to be desperate. It is painful to be helpless.

Then, while in Israel in January 2006, my husband read an article in a local newspaper about Dr. Reuven Yagil doing research with children with severe food allergies and camel milk. With only a day left before his return to Canada, I asked my husband to find this doctor, tell him of our son’s condition and see if he thinks the camel milk might help him.

The winds of will blew strong that day. With the assistance of brothers, sisters, work colleagues and their children, Dr. Yagil was located. With only hours to spare my husband met with Professor Yagil of Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel. They discussed our circumstances.

The next few days we corresponded by telephone and email. We read all the research papers that were sent to us as well as any information we could gather from the internet. Together we saw that we had no other options left and decided to try Camel milk as medicinal treatment.

Professor Yagil instructed our son to drink 2 glasses of room temperature camel milk per day. Looking at a kitchen counter overflowing with every prescription imaginable, I asked how long before we would know if this would agree with our son, and when we would see any effects. The Professor’s response was 2 days. I scanned the array of medicines that all required 2 weeks, 3 weeks etc. to begin to be effective. What was 2 days?

The results were simply amazing!! After the second day of drinking the unpasteurized camel milk; on the morning of the third day… I heard the most unbelievable sound. A musical sound that rang into my ears and held me stunned. Our son had ascended the stairs from his bedroom to the kitchen with a pace, with a slow but discernable rhythm. For the past month it was painful to hear him drag himself listlessly up those stairs – the trip taking almost ten minutes. That day there was a pace! He entered the kitchen and said to me “mom, I feel good “. This is where the journey began.

Under the supervision of the attending doctors and specialists we began our journey to health with treatment of unpasteurized camel milk. Our son drank ¾ of a cup of camel milk in the morning and ¾ of a cup at night , and we witnessed one staggering response after another. We were in awe. The effect on the IgE level was dramatic and immediate. IgE levels dropped and continued to drop with every blood test.

Then came the phrase, "We need more milk". This phrase was to be repeated many times over. Therein lay a whole other problem; how to get camel milk to Vancouver. I searched for ways to secure the camel milk. I contacted the government and inquired for a permit to ship some medicinal camel milk to our son. I was blocked at every turn.

I was advised to email my MP, and I did. Days were passing by and I needed help. One morning, while at the supermarket I was in tears when my neighbor, the neighbourhood Grandma asked about our son’s health. I replied that it wasn’t good and that we needed help. She patted my hands between hers and said “may the Lord help you “, and I responded, “ yes, may the Lord help me “. Not a few hours later in the midst of another conversation and plea for assistance with a CFIA official, my phone signaled another line calling in. While the CFIA agent searched his computer, I excused myself to take the other call. It was the MP’s office …inquiring how I was making out? I expressed my frustrations and told him I was stuck with the regulations. Ever so calmly he responded, ‘ oh that’s easy , you just need to speak with the manager of CFIA. Her name is Dr. Lord. “ With whom” ? I asked, my knees shaking. “Oh ,“ he repeated, “Dr. Lord. She’ll help you”. I began to laugh and cry at the same time. I’m sure he thought I was hysterical – but come on … I thought , yes – the Lord will help me.

Dr. Lord is a wonderful person. Her intelligence, patience and compassion were unfaltering. Her commitment to our aid is forever in our hearts. She understood my pleas and truly assisted us.

We were required to have the Israeli head of Agriculture attest with medical documents from their State Veterinary Doctor that the camels were healthy and had all their inoculations against Tuberculosis and Brucellosis. These documents then had to be passed to Canada’s head of Veterinary / Agriculture / CFIA Dr. S. Belaissouis in Ottawa for approval. Dr. S. Belaissouis had to certify that all medical requirements were met and in order. Doctors letters needed to be assembled attesting to the essential nature of the camel milk treatment and then on compassionate grounds the permit was granted. The permit processing went through Calgary CFIA with all documents then being faxed to Dr. Yagil to prepare a shipment of frozen litre bottles of camel milk for medicinal purposes.

The shipment is a chapter of adventure unto itself. Airlines will not accept the responsibility ( and the liability ) of shipping either dairy products or medicine. UPS , FEDEX and other delivery companies declined to ship the milk protecting themselves. Finally DHL agreed to ship 10 bottles to Vancouver.

We didn’t know what type of progress to expect. Professor Yagil’s experience was that patients responded and recovered in some weeks of treatment. The severity of our son’s illness dictated the course of treatment he required. Blood tests showed regular consistent improvement. Slowly foods were reintroduced to his diet. He began to tolerate a basic simple baby diet. He began to absorb food nutrients and to put on weight. His colour returned to normal. His activity levels and ability to focus and think began to return. We were on a road with successes and improvements. He continued to drink the camel milk.

As each permit was required we followed suit with all the necessary documents. The Israeli head of Agriculture , Dr. Haimovitch and the head of Veterinary Services , Dr. Ozeri and all the others who were involved in each scenario of shipping are all very special people (with very special wives). Dr. Yagil was tireless in his efforts to assist us and never asked for payment of anything throughout our treatment. DHL lost the second shipment of 15 bottles of camel milk. It was still winter and our shipment travelled all around Europe spending a night in the cargo holding area of London Heathrow airport. It continued its journey to Vancouver was offloaded and then reloaded to Belgium. Each shipment was a nightmare. The endless days and nights of transferring documents and the struggle to ship was unbelievable. One time, Air Canada had assured me that we could ship our precious cargo with them, however, this was not to be the case when professor Yagil tried to send our milk at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. However, the Air Canada Representative at Ben Gurion Airport did walk me through the airport while on his cell phone passing each company and repeating my requests until we were able to secure a shipment with World Wide Cargo.

Each shipment carried its own new dilemma to deal with. The freight charges were doubled while the milk was in flight. The shipment was left on the tarmac in Toronto for 12 hours. The journey to health was filled with hurdles. Each permit was a three week process of new Doctor’s letters, endless nights of communications with Israel, new pleas with CFIA as they insisted I find an alternate source of milk, a source from a country without FMD (Foot & Mouth Disease).I searched for sources from Australia and the U.S.A. –that constitutes yet another chapter of our story. I found a farmer who had been delivering camel milk to the preemie unit in Adelaide Children’s Hospital, unfortunately he had just suffered a stroke the week before, another farmer offered to get milk for me but I would have had to wait for pregnancy to term at 13 months. A very kind hearted man from Missouri tried to help me by milking his and his brothers camels for me and even getting the State Veterinary health certificate required, However, the baggies of milk labeled “ Daisy “ from his remote farm were sent as he had shipped hog semen. The shipping was difficult and the postal system took too long. The milk did reach me after a week, but it was spoiled by that time. ( one can legally bring 20 litres of camel milk from the U.S.A. for personal use with a state health certificate. I was unable to locate a reliable and hygienically proficient source at that time). Therefore I insisted that I receive my requirement of camel milk from Dr. Yagil in Israel as at least I was assured that his interests and experiences were of medical and beneficial aid. I relied on that assumption as a comfort with all the risks that we were taking with unpasteurized milk.

There was also a time when I could not get a permit to bring the milk from Israel due to an outbreak of FMD . Although the camels that were being milked were not near the area of concern I was denied a permit. Dr. Yagil put me in touch with a fellow scientist in Dubai, a Doctor Ulrich Wernery. Dr. Wernery and his son Dr. David Wernery were very supportive of our circumstances and were as helpful as they could be. They responded to my call for help immediately and tried to forward information to the CFIA regarding their research with camels and their apparent ability to thwart off FMD and indeed to not be carriers of the disease at all. They submitted to CFIA their work of injecting sublingually a group of 17 camels with 10 times the amount of FMD virus necessary to cause sickness. They were impressed that neither the camels nor the sheep placed in close proximity were affected or infected with FMD. They repeated this experiment 3 times with the same results. Unfortunately CFIA in Calgary did not feel the need to recognize this work and would not allow them to send fresh frozen milk to me. They did however allow Dr. Wernery to ship, courtesy of the Sheik of Dubai some freeze dried pasteurized powdered camel milk. Medical , agricultural and political documents were organized and effected. What an experience that was! Pasteurized powdered milk has a reduced effectiveness. The process of pasteurizing and powdering draws off the potency of the milk.

The hurdles were many, large and very, very real. The necessity of the milk was larger! We needed permits because we needed milk. Again and again, 20 bottles, 40 bottles. Each permit was its own mission. We resorted to travelling personally to bring the milk back to Vancouver as our luggage allowance. Every ounce of effort, every minute was so worth it. Our son regained his health. His immune system continued to heal.

Month by month we saw improvements in his ability to handle different foods. Slowly he was able to reintroduce a more balanced and varied diet. Our son drank camel milk twice daily, sometimes three times a day, to kick start the medicinal benefits of the milk. He drank camel milk for approximately 1 ½ years – the longest anyone has required this treatment.

He was able to re-enter his university studies. He completed a year abroad on student exchange during which time he continued to bolster his immune system by drinking camel milk when necessary. By spring 2008 he felt confident of his healthy status and has not required the milk since then. After his return to Canada in August 2008 he was again submitted to blood tests, ultrasounds etc. and all his results came back normal. We are so very grateful to all the doctors, veterinarians, government officials and lay farmers etc. whose efforts and well wishes sustained us through this difficult time.

I am compelled to share this to my utmost ability, to offer this knowledge as a possibility for others to consider. There were so many obstacles that were surmounted by the sheer tenacity of love, the power of one mother’s expression to another, the continuous line of help and rescue at the 11th hour by the office of the MP to help expedite the permits that were so vitally necessary to our son.

Locating the various necessary government heads of state and bringing all the components together was indeed extraordinary. Seeking out individuals by getting the phone office to search in an outward radius from the office of the individual through expanding circles of residential listings until we were able to speak to the desired party ( or their wives ). I felt many times as the nights floated into days, phone calls to Israel, Australia, Dubai, Tel Aviv and Heathrow airports, cargo companies etc. that I was being lead by the hand ever forward on a journey for our son’s health. That was all that mattered.

Each request for permits brought with it a renewed search around Australia and the U.S.A. to find milk. Going to get milk was a totally different experience for our family. The journey was filled with hurdles but our son’s health is restored. Our gratitude to the doctors, our MP and all who helped us is immense and unending.

We have been very fortunate in so many ways, in each and every step. The compassion and medical attention paid our situation and circumstances is embedded within each member of our family. The trauma remains in differing degrees, at different times. Each of us has realized a thankfulness for health and opportunity. Each holds each other as dear as can be. We are a stronger more sensitive unit now and forever grateful. When our son graduated from university, I bought him a case of beer and spelled U.B.C. with the bottles. Many parents consider a nice pen set or a watch or signet ring perhaps to mark the occasion; but a case of beer? To me the beer symbolized all that we are grateful for –our son is healthy again and able to eat pizza and enjoy a beer ! What a success !!

This is what compels me to speak out about the potential health benefits of camel milk. An element of our world so simple, so basic, so important to our son’s well being and perhaps to another’s as well. It is my sincere hope to expose this issue and let the potential of camel milk emerge and help another person, another family. If this can help one child it is worth it. If camel milk can help more than one person… there is no Lottery winning that large.

I believe it can. I believe that clinical trials could provide the academic data necessary to promote the benefits of camel milk and bring it closer to those who may benefit from its treatment. I would like to encourage and facilitate a connection between Dr. Yagil and U.B.C. medical for the benefit of countless children and adults who are suffering and need not!

The research and the innumerable success stories of amazing authority are blaring loud. I am compelled to reach out and share this information with those who could most effectively assist others in need of this most simple yet miraculous medicine. Crohn’s, IBS, IBD, food allergy, gastrointestinal diseases, stress, diabetes, auto-immune disorders, autism , AIDS, these are areas of great interest. This could be a medical breakthrough to alleviate not only the suffering of thousands of children with chronic needs for medicine and also relax the heavy burden of such medicine costs on the medical system.

Please help me to push this phenomenal issue to the ears that can make a difference.

Dina Amouyal