Spontaneous remission has been known about for centuries. Unexpected recovery when a person was expected to die in the past was considered a miracle and many praised God for the intervention. The great majority of physicians now consider spontaneous remission or regression as an oddity which they can ignore as it falls outside of their explanatory models. Some deny the existence of spontaneous remission and regression, preferring to claim that the diagnosis was wrong in the first place.This is all very sad, especially for the person who seeks a miracle remission or regression from their terminal disease. They are told instead to face reality and come to terms with the fact that their time left on earth is limited and they must face death sooner rather than later.There has been very little research done systematically exploring what is different in the cases of spontaneous remission or regression (it is regression for tumors, remission for other conditions like leukemia). Strictly speaking any time a tumor reduces in size without treatment it is a spontaneous regression however the name has usually only been reported in the medical literature when the regression is both 'dramatic and long lasting'.A paper published in 1990 listed 44 types of cancer where there were reports of spontaneous regression however back then there was little known about the possible biological mechanisms behind the occurrence. There was the suggestion that these regressions and remissions were very rare and that those who are sick should not get their hopes up as such incidents could not be learned from, nor duplicated.However researchers in Norway suggested, in 2008, that breast cancer remissions were not rare at all. Their research indicated that about 20% of breast cancers regress to the point of disappearing and so did not need treatment. This has huge implications.We are not talking about one person here or there. We are talking thousands of people. One thing must be acknowledged. If it is physiologically possible for one regression to occur it must be physiologically possible for others to occur also. This study suggests that regression is so common as to be "normal". It suggests that the body has a way of dealing with the disease.Most researchers are interested in what occurs in the cellular and intra-cellular mechanisms that trigger such a regression. However most patients are more interested in what they can do which might help the regression to occur. Should they take some herbal remedy, or what?"Or what" is a good question. A change in what you do can trigger a change in hormones and the immune system. Positive changes can be an increase in exercise, taking up meditation, exposure to sunlight (and increased vitamin D3), or a change of diet to increase fruit and vegetables and decrease prepared foods and sugar. Think of these changes as just the beginning, not the whole answer. If it was as simple as these few changes then people need not undertake the severe treatments they submit to today.It is not possible to list everything you can do which might assist the immune system to deal with the cancer itself in a short article, but do be reassured that it is rational and reasonable to keep your hopes high. Much research has been done which shows that unreasonable and irrational hopes about longevity lead to longer lives than those who are rationally reasonable in their assessment of the time they have left. So keep your hopes of future health high and stay focused on enjoying each day as much as possible given your personal circumstances.