Amazon Rainforest… Cure For Cancer?

By: Mackenzie Baucom Block: 3

IntroductionKiesha is a loving parent. She loves spending time with her family. Then one day everything changed with one

phone call from her child’s doctor. Her 8 year old daughter was diagnosed with a new form of cancer.

When no one could give her the answers she needed about cancer treatments, she turned it over to the

Lord. Within minutes she was on the internet researching the Amazon Rainforest. The answers she

gets are unbelievable. Who knew the rainforest had so much to offer? Read this inspiring and educational

story about one Mom’s determination to find a cure for her daughters illness.

The sun was hidden by dark gray clouds for the 3rd day in a row. Keisha sat at the computer desk with a pain in her heart no one could understand. She was searching the internet for cancer treatments. She had received the unbearable news that her 8 year old daughter had a new form of cancer. No one had ever heard of this new cancer and as of today there was no cure. No way was she giving up that easy. She had prayed and prayed for the Lords guidance. She knew that he would give her the answer when the time was right, but in the mean time she was drawn to the internet hoping for answered PRAYERS.

Every time she clicked on a new website an aggravating cookie would pop up on her screen. “Save the rainforest” or “Lungs of our Planet” the rainforest is one of the world’s greatest natural resources. One of the funniest was “Got Oxygen” If the deforestation continues because of logging; clearing for farm land or forest fires …you may need our new jaguar print oxygen mask. Make 3 easy payments of $99.99 and get this cute little Scarlet Macaw stuffed animal for absolutely nothing. Keisha made a note to call the computer guy to get rid of the cookies or viruses that just kept popping up. As she flipped on the T.V. Oprah was talking to a funny looking man with discs inserted into his lower lip. He said he was a Kayapo Indian. That is a tribe of native people who are indigenous of the Amazon Rainforest. A rainforest is earth’s

oldest living ecosystem. Plants and other photosynthetic organismns are the producers that provide the food. Ecosystems form a number of food webs.

A Rainforest can be described as a tall dense jungle. It is called a “rain”forest because of the amount of rain it gets per year. The Amazon Rainforest is the world’s largest remaining natural resource. It represents 54% of the total rainforests left on earth. It covers an area of 2.5 million square miles. The rainforest is in nine South American countries: Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia and the Guiana’s – Guyana, French Guiana and Suriname, or 2/3 of the South America continent. The climate of the rainforest is warm and humid. The

average temperature is 79 degrees.

The people who live in the rainforest adapt very well. They live off the land for everything, food, clothing, shelter, medicine, anything they need the rainforest provides. There are about 200,000 indigenous people left in the Amazon rainforest. Of those there are about 215 ethnic groups with 170 different languages. There is believed to be around 50 or so Amazon tribes living in the depths of the Amazon rainforest that have never had contact with the outside world. One of the tribes Oprah was interviewing was the Kayapo. As she was asking questions

the more Keisha’s heart began to beat faster. The tribesman was saying most tribes in the rainforest have a medicine man. He is like a doctor in our world. He knows all the secret plants that provide healing powers. One is the periwinkle plant. Vincristine is extracted from the plant and provides one of the world’s most powerful anticancer drugs. It has increased the survival rate for childhood leukemia by 80%. Another plant

used to make medicine is Foxglove. The really scary thing is most of these so called medicine men are in their 70’s and when they die all the secrets of the healing power in these plants die too. Keisha knew this was her sign from God. She had to learn all there was about the rainforest. She got a notebook and started taking notes of everything she felt was important information.

She learned there are 4 layers in the rainforest. The first layer is the emergent layer. It is the highest layer. Trees can be as big as 200 feet tall. Some animals such as the Macaw live in this layer. Many animals that live here have everything they need to survive and never leave this layer. The Macaw is a bright colorful bird that lives high in the trees. It eats nuts, fruit and seeds. It adapts well in this habitat because it has sharp, strong, hooked bills to eat nuts. It also has very strong grips to let then grasp easily while they are eating. The Macaw is an herbivore. That means it only eats plants. No meat. It is the prey for quite a few predators who would love to snack on a macaw. Its predators are the Harpy Eagle, Jaguar, Monitor Lizards, snakes

and Monkeys all hunt and kill the Macaw if they are hungry. Some animals in the rainforest are omnivores. That means they eat both plants and animals. The Howler Monkey is a good example of an omnivore.

The Next layer in the rainforest is the canopy layer. It is the main layer. Scientist believes it may contain half of the world’s species. Many flowers

and fruits grow in this layer. The sloth also lives in this layer. It is a very slow moving animal that lives its life in a tree. It can live up to 30 or more years. It is a small creature about the size of a small dog. It has a short flat head and has grayish brown hair.

The sloth is a nocturnal animal. It sleeps during the day usually curled up in a ball for protection. He looks camouflage, likes he just part of the tree to keep safe from its predators like the jaguar. The sloth is also an herbivore, unlike the jaguar that is a carnivore which eats meats. The Jaguar is a major predaitor in the rainforst.

The 3rd layer in the rainforest is the understory layer. It is under the canopy layer. Only about 2% to 5% of sunlight is available in the layer. Plants adapt by their solar –collecting leaves growing large and turn a dark green

color. There is very little air movement so they rely on insects and animals to pollinate.

The last layer in the rainforest is the forest floor. It is the lowest layer. The Foxglove plant is found on this level. It is about 3 feet tall with purple foliage otherwise known as leaves on the plant. It is a widely used in many medications. The floor is covered in decomposing vegetation and organisms that are broken down into useable nutrients. A decomposer is the organism that breaks down the cells of dead plants and animals into simpler substances.

While Keisha studied and researched all she could about the rainforest she continued to pray for guidance in the specific areas of how to best help her daughter. She started reading about ecotourtist and ecotourism. That is the tourism to places having unspoiled natural resources with minimal impact on the environment being the primary concern. Conservation was also a very important factor as she researched because the rainforest is disappearing at an alarming rate because of deforestation. We need the rainforest for so many things but we must conserve and only use what we must have or need to survive. We must protect the environment at all cost.

As Keisha continued her research she came across an interesting group of natives called the Yanonami. Some of their tribes have 400 people in them. They live in a structure with an opening in the middle. This tribe is a perfect example of conservation. They only use what they need and do not disturb the harmony of the rainforest. They believe strongly in equality. They are hunters not gatherers. The Yanonami live solely off the land. An interesting tidbit she read said they even make their own gloves using rubber from trees. But the most important fact is that this tribe also makes their own medicine from the

plants in the rainforest. If only she could fly out and meet all the different tribes of the rainforest. She could get all their secrets for making medicines. She knew this is something really looking into and quickly, because most of the medicine men left in the rainforest are in the last stages of their life. Surely between all the many indigenous people especially the tribal medicine men from each tribe she could gain the knowledge of making a perfect match to cure her daughter’s cancer.

How do people, ideas and goods move and interact within the rainforest? For every action there is a reaction. That’s why it is so important to protect the flora of the rainforest. That is the plant life that lives in a particular region. The fauna which is the animal life of any particular region or time also is in danger if the rainforest isn’t protected. Humans live off the land in the rainforest. It provides food, shelter, clothing, sugar, rubber, medications and the list goes on and on. The animals and plant life depend on humans to keep the circle going. Plants depend on the animals to help pollinate and spread seeds, etc. Animals depend on the plants to survive etc. If anything changes in the ecosystem it could have drastic effects on each flora and fauna. A forest fire for example in the rainforest could whip out a species of flora if it is only found in that one region of the rainforest. Then the animals that needs that plant to survive could become extinct and further more affect the environment and entire ecosystem by throwing everything out of balance.

Keisha had no idea how important the rainforest was until she started searching for a cure for cancer to save her precious little girl. The possibilities are endless when it comes to the benefits of the rainforest.

Conclusion:Within three months Keisha started a foundation to not only save the rainforest but more importantly educate others about conservation. Her foundation also sponsers scientist and medical personal to journey deep into the rainforest in hopes of one day finding a cure for her daughters cancer and many other life treatning illnesses.

Citations:www.Srl.caltech.edu

www.Everyculture.com

www.Indian-Culture.com

www.Dictionary.com