Worthy Christian News > Christian > “Prayer can help patients’ health” says respected cancer practitioner

“Prayer can help patients’ health” says respected cancer practitioner

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A well-respected cancer practitioner stated in a recent USA Today article that he believes prayer can have a significant positive impact on patients’ health, Christian Headlines (CH) reports. A medical director at the Center for Recurrent Cancer in Florida, Dr. Gary Onik said his belief is based on both personal and clinical experience.

In his piece for USA Today Onik related that, as a cancer practitioner for 30 years, he had met at least one terminal patient who was healed through worldwide prayer. “Rather than dismiss this miracle as inconsistent with my empiric and rationally based training, it made me consider how the new scientific knowledge of quantum physics and human consciousness might support the idea of prayer-facilitated healing,” Onik wrote. “… I accepted the reality that prayer can have a significant impact on patient outcomes,” he added.

When, in 2018, Onik himself was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer, he asked for prayer as he began a new immunotherapy treatment he had developed, CH reports. He made his request through a video posted to social media.

“The response was incredible. I received messages from people all around the world, in different languages, from different beliefs, who said they were indeed praying for my recovery,” Onik said.

According to Onik, prayer combined with immunotherapy treatment has resulted in his now being free of metastatic cancer. “My journey has taken me from being a scientifically based ‘empirical’ atheist to someone with a profound faith. … Would I be cancer-free without prayer? I don’t know, but I suspect not,” Onik said.