About

An Unexpected Remission is a cancer remission that occurs either without conventional medical treatment, after conventional treatment has failed to work, or when conventional and complementary methods are used in conjunction to overcome a dire prognosis. We believe that, given enough documented cases to research, the cause(s) of Unexpected Remission can be uncovered.  That is why we created this website – to build a database of medical cases that will help us to understand why some people beat cancer against all odds.

OUR MISSION

The URP’s mission is two-fold:

  1. To collect and verify as many Unexpected Remission cases as possible — This will help us to notice common threads and eventually launch research studies that can begin testing those common threads.  Collecting UR cases via this website will also help us to know more accurately how often Unexpected Remission happens.
  2. To socially connect unexpected survivors with cancer patients — Sharing unexpected remission stories through this website (and our books) will give current cancer patients much-needed hope, inspiration, and social connection.

 

OUR HISTORY

The Unexpected Remission Project was born out of Dr. Kelly A. Turner’s dissertation research on Unexpected Remission (UR).  As Dr. Turner began to research UR as part of her PhD from the University of California at Berkeley, she realized that the opinions of two groups of people were typically missing from the 1,000+ cases of UR published in medical journals – 1) the survivors themselves, and 2) alternative healers.  Because Western doctors do not currently have an explanation for why UR’s occur, Dr. Turner therefore decided to ask these two ignored groups what they think can lead to an Unexpected Remission.  Her dissertation research involved a year-long trip around the world during which she traveled to 10 different countries in order to interview 20 Unexpected Remission survivors and 50 alternative healers about their techniques for healing cancer.

The result of that research, her dissertation, is available here as a free download: KAT Final Dissertation.  She is also converting her research findings into a book for the general public, which will be released in the fall of 2013.  After completing her doctorate, Dr. Turner realized that what was needed now was a comprehensive, online database of all Unexpected Remission cases, so that she and other researchers could continue to research these cases of extraordinary recovery, and also so that the public could search for and read these cases.  Thus, the idea for the Unexpected Remission Project was born, and with the help of the URP’s Advisory Board, the URP website continues to grow.

> Read more about Who We Are.