When Ben Carson recently tested positive for the Wuhan Coronavirus, the world-renown Seventh-day Adventist neurosurgeon, who has been serving as President Trump’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, decided to try an unproven, experimental remedy promoted by “My Pillow” entrepreneur Mike Lindell.
“I heard about the oleander extract from Mike,” Carson said in an interview.
Reportedly, Carson, Lindell, and Andrew Whitney, director of Phoenix Biotechnology, met with President Trump in the oval office last summer. Preliminary in vitro testing showed that the oleander extract, oleandrin, “significantly inhibited replication” of the coronavirus, which perhaps is not surprising given that oleander is toxic.
Carson was symptomatic with coronavirus and took the extract; within hours his symptoms disappeared. But unfortunately, his symptoms returned, accelerated, and soon he was “desperately ill.”
President Trump, who was monitoring his condition, approved Carson for the monoclonal antibody cocktail produced by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, which had been so effective in treating the president. It worked for Carson, too, and he reports that he is now “out of the woods.”
His Face Book post states:
Thank you everyone for your support and prayers as Candy and I battled COVID-19. I was extremely sick and initially took Oleander 4X with dramatic improvement. However, I have several co-morbidities and after a brief period when I only experienced minor discomfort, the symptoms accelerated and I became desperately ill. President Trump was following my condition and cleared me for the monoclonal antibody therapy that he had previously received, which I am convinced saved my life.
President Trump, the fabulous White House medical team, and the phenomenal doctors at Walter Reed have been paying very close attention to my health and I do believe I am out of the woods at this point. . . . Together we will be victorious. God is still in charge.
Bottom line: 1) even brilliant, highly educated scientists and doctors like Dr. Ben Carson will sometimes take a chance on an unproven folk remedy, even though they should know better, and 2) it is good to be friends with the president of the United States.