October 2009 eBook all pages (free PDF, 36.6 - Latitude 38

Glove It
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Leave It
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Page 22 • Latitude 38 • October, 2009
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LETTERS
12 hours after she'd taken that fatal drink of MMS. Her body
was flown back to Port Vila the next day and put in the hospital
morgue. I brought Windcastle to Port Vila the next day.
"Since then, there has been — because Sylvie hadn't died a
natural death — a three-week-long police investigation involving
Vanuatu criminal investigators. For one thing, it's illegal
for anyone to promote or sell MMS as a medical remedy in
Vanuatu. Australian joint command investigators, who aid in
law enforcement in Vanuatu, also became involved. That led
to a court order and, eventually, a senior pathologist's being
flown from Melbourne to conduct a post mortem autopsy. That
was two weeks ago. Then Silvie's son and daughter agreed that
her body should be flown to New Zealand for cremation.
"Last week, I accompanied Sylvie's body to Auckland by
plane. I was present for the cremation and arranged to have
her ashes sent to her daughter Aretha in Mexico City. I'm now
back on Windcastle in Port Vila, where I await the results of
the autopsy from Australia's Victorian Institute of Forensic
Medicine in Melbourne. I'm also dealing with the need to secure
our boat against the approaching cyclone season, which
may mean having to sail her to another country.
"My heart has been absolutely crushed by the sudden loss
of my dear wife Silvie. It's so shocking I can hardly believe
it. I miss her immensely, and Windcastle is empty without
her presence. But with all of her relatives and friends, Silvie,
who brought so much joy and happiness into the world and
to us, will live on forever in our hearts and minds. I've been
told that the villagers at Epi, who had been so entertained by
Sylvie's dancing the night before she died, have built a shrine
to honor her.
"As for MMS, I wish I'd done a better job of preventing
Sylvie, who had become the love of my life, from messing with
it. I know now that it's a dangerous, toxic chemical which, if
ingested, can be lethal. MMS killed my wife, Silvie."
So ends Doug's letter.
John Nelson
Crew on Tres Estrellas, 35-ft Horstman tri
Cat Harbor
Readers — We feel terrible for Doug's loss.
We looked up MMS, which stands for Miracle Mineral Supplement
— oh boy! — at a site called the Alternative Medicine
Network. There we learned that the "miraculous" product, which
is actually chlorine dioxide, and which needs to be "activated"
by vinegar or lime juice, was accidently "discovered" by Jim
Humble. He's a gold miner rather than a chemist or physician,
and supposedly stumbled upon it while prospecting for gold
in South America. According to the literature, "the proof of the
efficacy of this simple protocol was in successfully helping over
75,000 people in several African nations — including Uganda
and Malawi — rid themselves, primarily of malaria, but also
hepatitis, cancer, and AIDS." As we continued to read, we began
laughing so hard we never got to the part that we're sure
claimed that MMS isn't generally available because of the vast
global conspiracy by the medical profession, big pharma, the
American Cancer Society and others. If it weren't so terribly
tragic, it would be hilarious.
We're not sure where the couple who sold Silvie the MMS are
right now, or if some authority will charge them with something
along the lines of wrongful death.
⇑⇓PUBLICITY STUNTS REFLECT POORLY ON SAILING
Your message about 13- and 15-year-old girls — Laura
Dekker and Abby Sunderland — being too young to sail
around the world is bang on. Or is it?