Reporter: Tim Noonan
Broadcast Date: October 05, 2010
From life-threatening wounds to cosmetic complaints, patients around the country claim Tom McArthur's creams and tonics have cleared up everything from eczema to arthritis and even baldness.
For years he's been laughed at by sceptics, yet praised by thousands of sufferers.
Tom puts himself in harm's way to attempt to prove he is in fact a miracle maker.
"I've cut myself, I've burnt myself, and I've made myself ill. It takes about four to five seconds and the pain just dissipates," says Tom.
"We've seen cellulite disappear in 24 hours, we've seen ulcers that have been classified as stage four and in twenty minutes then said to be stage two.
"We've actually had quite a few cases where they've come in with skin cancer and yes, we've gotten rid of it," he claims.
It all sounds like the spiel of a snake-oil salesman - fruit extract that heals when pharmaceuticals fail.
He has reportedly cured hundreds and helped thousands.
The evidence so compelling some of Australia’s top professors are now becoming believers, commissioning intense scientific and medical research into Tom's secret formulas.
Professor Michael Woodward is a clinician and researcher for the University of Melbourne's School of Medicine and Austin Health.
"This could be a breakthrough in wound management for millions of people around the world," says Professor Woodward.
Diabetic, Gerard Clinch, is dancing once again. No small miracle considering the bad blow life dealt him.
"Doctors told me they wanted to amputate. I didn't know who to turn to," says Gerard.
Having already lost three toes to gangrene, he was about to have his left foot amputated. Then, Gerard met Tom.
"It went from the whole of his toe into his pad."
After just two treatments, the results were remarkable claims Tom.
"Healed, totally healed in nine weeks, without scars. Gangrene, I mean that's supposed to incurable," says Tom.
"The doctors could not do what Tom could do," says Gerard. "Got me back on my feet and I can think positively now and put a smile on my face!"
With only a high school education, Tom McArthur spent decades making natural medicines in his kitchen - using fruit in ways no one could imagine.
"I'm not scientifically trained, I'm not a doctor," explains Tom.
His love of experimenting with lotions and potions began in the 60’s in the jungles of Borneo while serving in the British army. He witnessed the villagers using natural medicines, namely pawpaw, to heal their wounds.
"If nature has created the disease, I do believe that nature will also provide the cure," says Tom.
"I started thinking good God, if we could unlock the liquid gold out of this one, we'd be on a winner, and we could help a lot of people."
He then chemically modified paw paw extract using simple ingredients from his local supermarket like baking powder and lemonade.
"What I was looking for was a way of changing the molecular structure to produce something that wasn't there."
Incredibly, after decades of trial and error, he struck. He called it, Opal-A.
Professor Michael Woodward, a world expert in wound management, is hoping Opal-A will help cure chronic wounds - a national epidemic he dubs the elephant in the room.
"This is a product that could lead to wound healing to those who are otherwise destined to have their wounds forever," says Professor Woodward.
"I've seen some remarkable individual success stories but then I apply my scientifically rigorous mind to make sure that the product actually works. It's very promising from what I've seen."
Such results include Darren, who suffers from debilitating migraines.
"I just thought for the rest of my life I'm going to be living off pain killers. Definitely for the last 20 years I had a migraine at least one or two days a week. Sometimes it's a lot worse."
He took eight headache tablets a day to keep the pain at bay until Tom arrived with a special pawpaw-based cream.
"I put it on, gave it a go! It's been now four weeks since I've had a headache. I've done nothing different, the only thing that I've done different is put the cream on," says Darren.
Norm had psoriasis, a severe skin disease on his face.
"At first I was a pure sceptic and I said no, nothing bloody works and it didn't. But Tom's cream did.
"When he put his lotions on me, you could see it breaking up on my face, this one big, red mass on the side. It just broke up into three or four pieces.
"So that's the thing that really shook me and I've had absolute faith in the man since."
After studying the results, Professor Woodward is so hopeful, he has decided to head up a double-blind clinical trial into Tom's secret formula at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital in Melbourne.
"Double blind trials provide the most rigorous scientific evidence," says Professor Woodward.
"We have people who are being treated with the active product and people who are being treated with the inactive product - what we call the placebo.
"The patients we are using this study have had wounds often for many, many months. We are only allowing people into this study if their wounds are hard to heal."
All eyes are now waiting on Professor Woodward for medical proof.
"It is amazing that natural products have so many ways of working. I guess that's why they've been around for hundreds of millions of years," believes Professor Woodward.
While clinically, there's still a way to go before Opal-A is proved to be the real deal, a therapeutic cream containing the formula, Optiderma, will be released later this month.
A cosmetic range, Only Papaya, has already hit the pharmacy shelves.
Tom doesn't believe he is a miracle maker, saying he just wants to help people.
"I'm not Jesus Christ or anyone else, I just believe it's a miracle that I found it."
"This product, Opal-A could be a breakthrough that leads to improvement of the health of many, many millions of people around the world," says Professor Woodward.
Tom says: "I believe antibiotics will fail in the future because the viruses are getting stronger and immune to what we're producing now so eventually we will have to go back to the jungle to find a replacement.
"We've only unlocked the tip of the iceberg."
CONTACT INFORMATION
To contact Tom McArthur, please email: tom@myljs.com.au
Broadcast Date: October 05, 2010
From life-threatening wounds to cosmetic complaints, patients around the country claim Tom McArthur's creams and tonics have cleared up everything from eczema to arthritis and even baldness.
For years he's been laughed at by sceptics, yet praised by thousands of sufferers.
Tom puts himself in harm's way to attempt to prove he is in fact a miracle maker.
"I've cut myself, I've burnt myself, and I've made myself ill. It takes about four to five seconds and the pain just dissipates," says Tom.
"We've seen cellulite disappear in 24 hours, we've seen ulcers that have been classified as stage four and in twenty minutes then said to be stage two.
"We've actually had quite a few cases where they've come in with skin cancer and yes, we've gotten rid of it," he claims.
It all sounds like the spiel of a snake-oil salesman - fruit extract that heals when pharmaceuticals fail.
He has reportedly cured hundreds and helped thousands.
The evidence so compelling some of Australia’s top professors are now becoming believers, commissioning intense scientific and medical research into Tom's secret formulas.
Professor Michael Woodward is a clinician and researcher for the University of Melbourne's School of Medicine and Austin Health.
"This could be a breakthrough in wound management for millions of people around the world," says Professor Woodward.
Diabetic, Gerard Clinch, is dancing once again. No small miracle considering the bad blow life dealt him.
"Doctors told me they wanted to amputate. I didn't know who to turn to," says Gerard.
Having already lost three toes to gangrene, he was about to have his left foot amputated. Then, Gerard met Tom.
"It went from the whole of his toe into his pad."
After just two treatments, the results were remarkable claims Tom.
"Healed, totally healed in nine weeks, without scars. Gangrene, I mean that's supposed to incurable," says Tom.
"The doctors could not do what Tom could do," says Gerard. "Got me back on my feet and I can think positively now and put a smile on my face!"
With only a high school education, Tom McArthur spent decades making natural medicines in his kitchen - using fruit in ways no one could imagine.
"I'm not scientifically trained, I'm not a doctor," explains Tom.
His love of experimenting with lotions and potions began in the 60’s in the jungles of Borneo while serving in the British army. He witnessed the villagers using natural medicines, namely pawpaw, to heal their wounds.
"If nature has created the disease, I do believe that nature will also provide the cure," says Tom.
"I started thinking good God, if we could unlock the liquid gold out of this one, we'd be on a winner, and we could help a lot of people."
He then chemically modified paw paw extract using simple ingredients from his local supermarket like baking powder and lemonade.
"What I was looking for was a way of changing the molecular structure to produce something that wasn't there."
Incredibly, after decades of trial and error, he struck. He called it, Opal-A.
Professor Michael Woodward, a world expert in wound management, is hoping Opal-A will help cure chronic wounds - a national epidemic he dubs the elephant in the room.
"This is a product that could lead to wound healing to those who are otherwise destined to have their wounds forever," says Professor Woodward.
"I've seen some remarkable individual success stories but then I apply my scientifically rigorous mind to make sure that the product actually works. It's very promising from what I've seen."
Such results include Darren, who suffers from debilitating migraines.
"I just thought for the rest of my life I'm going to be living off pain killers. Definitely for the last 20 years I had a migraine at least one or two days a week. Sometimes it's a lot worse."
He took eight headache tablets a day to keep the pain at bay until Tom arrived with a special pawpaw-based cream.
"I put it on, gave it a go! It's been now four weeks since I've had a headache. I've done nothing different, the only thing that I've done different is put the cream on," says Darren.
Norm had psoriasis, a severe skin disease on his face.
"At first I was a pure sceptic and I said no, nothing bloody works and it didn't. But Tom's cream did.
"When he put his lotions on me, you could see it breaking up on my face, this one big, red mass on the side. It just broke up into three or four pieces.
"So that's the thing that really shook me and I've had absolute faith in the man since."
After studying the results, Professor Woodward is so hopeful, he has decided to head up a double-blind clinical trial into Tom's secret formula at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital in Melbourne.
"Double blind trials provide the most rigorous scientific evidence," says Professor Woodward.
"We have people who are being treated with the active product and people who are being treated with the inactive product - what we call the placebo.
"The patients we are using this study have had wounds often for many, many months. We are only allowing people into this study if their wounds are hard to heal."
All eyes are now waiting on Professor Woodward for medical proof.
"It is amazing that natural products have so many ways of working. I guess that's why they've been around for hundreds of millions of years," believes Professor Woodward.
While clinically, there's still a way to go before Opal-A is proved to be the real deal, a therapeutic cream containing the formula, Optiderma, will be released later this month.
A cosmetic range, Only Papaya, has already hit the pharmacy shelves.
Tom doesn't believe he is a miracle maker, saying he just wants to help people.
"I'm not Jesus Christ or anyone else, I just believe it's a miracle that I found it."
"This product, Opal-A could be a breakthrough that leads to improvement of the health of many, many millions of people around the world," says Professor Woodward.
Tom says: "I believe antibiotics will fail in the future because the viruses are getting stronger and immune to what we're producing now so eventually we will have to go back to the jungle to find a replacement.
"We've only unlocked the tip of the iceberg."
CONTACT INFORMATION
To contact Tom McArthur, please email: tom@myljs.com.au
