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THE RECENT YEARS: THE DON WILSON / JEROME GODIN CONNECTION
The late 1970's through the mid 1990's saw a great deal of action on The Project by Jim. During these same years, Jim had an association with Ed Sopcak, who manufactured Jim's formula under the name Cancell®, and was instrumental in giving it free of charge to many hundreds of people. It is also the time when Jerome Godin became involved.
Until the late 1990's, the Sheridan Family had been totally uncertain as to how Godin came to know any of the technology or how he became involved. It was only after Godin provided the Sheridan's with a set of letters from Don Wilson that they finally began to put the puzzle together. To put it bluntly, for years the Sheridans wondered whether Godin had somehow stolen the technology. No other answer seemed possible. We are now convinced that did not happen. However, the impression was based on a total lack of knowledge by any family member, including Jim, of who Godin was.
About 1982, Jim became acquainted with Don Wilson. Wilson befriended him and expressed interested in The Project for a number of reasons. During their times together Jim eventually disclosed the technology to Wilson with the understanding that Wilson would be keeping it confidential. There were several reasons for this, one of which was that Jim was in contact with a number of people who wanted to develop it world wide. Those other pending deals would have been rendered impossible if Wilson started telling others about the formula.
Unknown to Jim, Wilson then became involved with Godin. It is now clear that Wilson went to great lengths to make sure Jim never knew of Godin, yet Godin apparently believed that Jim was approving every step Wilson told Godin to take. If Godin had a question about the technology, Wilson would pass it on to Jim as his own, then pass on the answer to Godin as if Jim was fully aware of the interplay. This deception played a big role in the subsequent confusion over how the technology was passed on.
DID SHERIDAN "TURN OVER" THE TECHNOLOGY TO WILSON AND GODIN?
Godin has stated in his posting to Topica/Cantron of June 2, 2000, in answer to a posting by "John (Terresa's brother)": "In 1983, he (James Sheridan) was giving up and agreed to turn over the technology to Don Wilson and myself." Godin has also written, in his statement What Is The Difference Between Entelev, Cancell and Cantron™?: "In 1984 he (James Sheridan) agreed to turn the technology over to Don Wilson." These statements are preposterous.
When the Sheridan Family first read them we were surprised and angry. Obviously, Jim disclosed the technology to Wilson. However, there is a world of difference between "disclosing" something in confidence to a trusted friend, and "turning over" your life's work to be passed on to someone else. Despite our initial reaction we now know how Godin could have been so completely misled. It is clear from the letters of Wilson to Godin that Wilson was telling Godin that Jim was turning the project over to Wilson so Wilson could give it to Godin.
How do we know the scenerio is preposterous? First, in the period of 1983 through 1985, Jim was deeply involved in working with a pharmaceutical company with an eye toward developing Entelev and getting it approved by the FDA. For example we still have the letter dated August 15, 1983, from the company to Jim which starts off: "This letter will provide a basis for our initial working relationship..." The letter then goes on in eleven numbered paragraphs to lay out the contract between the company and Jim. In a later letter from the company dated April 27, 1985, it identifies the name of the doctor who will be acting as "our Chief Clinical Investigator." There were other letters describing an active relationship with many meetings and exchanges of information throughout 1984 and well beyond the letter of April, 1985.
The letter of agreement of August 15, 1983 brings home another point regarding the way Jim handled agreements with others in regard to Entelev technology. Jim was trained as a lawyer. He was licenced to practice law in both Michigan and Ohio, admitted to practice before the United States Patent Office and The United States Supreme Court. He had practiced law for nearly forty years by this time and written contracts for hundreds of clients. He knew all about contracts and never entered into any agreements to "give away" the technology representing his life's work without something in writing. Only a fool would enter an important agreement without a written understanding. Jim Sheridan was not only a genius, but he was a genius with legal training who had written many contracts over the years and fully appreciated the importance of written documents. The letter of August 15th with the pharmaceutical company, for example, was not the first draft. The Sheridan Family still has the preceding letter of August 2, 1983, from the company which also outlined an agreement, but which is marked up by Jim indicating the changes he was requiring before he would accept it.
Therefore, it is particularly significant that Don Wilson never received anything in writing from Jim. Godin has no written agreement with Jim. The reason is simple: There never was such an agreement to give The Project over to Wilson. This is especially true when The Project was being hotly pursued with an active partner. Such a "giving up" would have made no sense and been completely out of character for Jim.
There is another problem with the statement that Jim gave the information to Godin. When Godin's name finally came to the surface, years after Wilson began feeding information to Godin, Jim was contacted by the FDA regarding Godin. Jim flatly denied having any knowledge of Godin. Later, when Godin became a subject of Family discussion, Jim insisted he had never had any dealings with Godin and, except for the inquiry by the FDA, had never even heard of the man.
Godin has speculated to the Sheridans that Jim's denial of knowledge was part of plan to keep The Project going without getting in trouble with the FDA. According to Godin, Jim would have to deny it to keep the ruse going. This makes no sense and, in fact, is insulting to Jim. First, during the period of 1980 to 1985, when the "ruse" was supposedly taking shape, Jim was actually on fairly good terms with the FDA and the National Cancer Institute. The FDA had granted Jim an IND number, without Jim even asking, and NCI had agreed to do some testing of Entelev. The FDA was also routinely granting compassionate exemptions to people who wanted to take Entelev. There was no reason for trying to set up a covert source with Godin. The problems with the FDA and Jim did not develop till years later. The Federal suit granting the injunction was not filed until February 21, 1989, with the injunction order not entered until June 15, 1989.
Second, such an action would have been a blatant violation of the contact Jim was entering into with the pharmaceutical company. It would have been grossly unethical and subject Jim to civil liability for damages. No lawyer, and certainly not one as smart and honest as Jim, would have made such a foolish and immoral move.
Third, Jim always had an exceptionally close relationship with his family. The Project was the subject of countless family discussions over the dinner table. All three of his children were in weekly contact in part to get all the "updates" about The Project. The idea that he would have set up a covert program and not told his family is ridiculous. Further, his wife, Estelle, has always been his alter ego. They just celebrated their 63rd wedding anniversary. Before Jim became ill, they could literally finish each others sentences. You might say that they were spiritually joined at the hip. She was present during most of the meetings with people who came to meet with Jim about the Project. She typed all his letters, and technical papers. If ever there was a couple where the Biblical precept of "the two shall become one" applied, it would be Jim and Estelle. Yet, she, too, never knew of Godin. To suggest that Jim would keep such information from Estelle is insulting and preposterous.
Forth, there is the issue of the Bahamas. At one point Ed Sopcak mentioned to Jim that some work was being done in the Bahamas. Jim and Estelle were regularly having lunch with Ed and after that comment by Ed, Estelle frequently asked what was happening with the work in the Bahamas. Ed would just shrug and say that it was really nothing. Only after receiving copies of the papers from Godin did the Sheridan family learn the rest of the story. It turns out there was, indeed, a Bahamas connection. Godin provided a letter from Dr. John Lunn, Nassau, Bahamas, dated May 3, 1984, addressed to Godin. The letter describes the steps necessary for a phase one trial of a new drug. Yet, this information was never told Jim or Estelle at that time!
Finally, Godin makes a fascinating statement in his writing, What Is The Difference Between Entelev, Cancell, and Cantron? He wrote of a meeting in 1984: "Mr. Wilson arranged a meeting in Michigan with myself and Orville Feathers. ... Mr. Feathers brought a friend Edward Sopcak.... Both Orville and Ed communicated directly with Mr. Sheridan and were successful at making the formula according to his specifications." The question we would then pose is: if this meeting took place in Michigan at a place convenient enough for these men to attend, why wasn't Jim Sheridan invited? If Jim was meeting regularly with Sopcak, Wilson and Feathers, certainly Jim could have met with Sopcak, Wilson, Feathers and Godin. The answer is simple. He didn't know of it. He was not to know of it. The Godin connection was to be kept from him.
Godin's comment that Sopcak and Feathers "communicated directly with Mr. Sheridan" is also interesting. When James Edward Sheridan, Jim's youngest son, met with Godin in September, 1999, Godin acknowledged that he had never spoken directly to Jim Sheridan during the entire decade of the 1980's. Everything he learned he learned through Wilson. Also, Wilson kept telling Godin that Jim knew everything. It was only on Wilson's word that Godin believed this.
Finally, now that we have seen Wilson's letters to Godin, we have become convinced that Godin accepts the Wilson version as an article of faith - ungrounded, but believed in any event. We reach this conclusion because Godin was the one who actually gave the Sheridan Family copies of the letters Wilson wrote to Godin, believing they supported his position. However, those letters became the final proof that Wilson was not acting above board with Jim. If Godin had been acting in bad faith, he would never have given up letters which the Sheridan Family did not even know existed prior to September, 1999. (During the course of a number of phone calls and the subsequent meeting in September, 1999, between Godin and Jim's son, James Edward, Godin mentioned the letters. At the meeting he was kind enough to offer to provide the Sheridan Family with copies of the letters. If it were not for Godin's information and offer, we would never have learned of them, much less seen them.)
FURTHER BACKGROUND ON WILSON'S DEALINGS WITH GODIN
The Sheridan Family has two other reasons for believing Wilson was stringing Godin along. In Wilson's letter of November 17, 1983, he wrote to Godin: "Just a note to let you know that I have not been able to reach Sheridan, yet -- apparently he and his wife extended their Connecticut vacation through Thanksgiving which they talked about doing." That was a lie.
Few of us have reason to remember the events of a particular season seventeen years ago. Jim's daughter, Marge, however, has good reason to remember. Her first husband, Gordon, died in Connecticut on October 17, 1983. Needless to say the whole family attended the funeral which was the following Thursday, October 20, 1983. Jim would never have described this particular trip to Connecticut as a "vacation." Moreover, he and Estelle returned to Michigan on Monday, October 31, after staying for their granddaughter's confirmation the day before. (Jim and Estelle dropped Gordon's sister, Lynn, off in Cleveland, on their way back to Roseville.)
These are events vividly etched into Marge's memory. Jim was home in Roseville, Michigan, on November 1st, well in time for Thanksgiving that year. (In fact Jim and Estelle have never spent a single Thanksgiving at Marge's home, because Marge always made it a practice to be at her parent's home for Christmas.) Indeed, he was home at least two weeks before the letter by Wilson to Godin of November 17th. Clearly then, there was no reason at all for Wilson not being able to contact Jim prior to writing the letter. Moreover, stating that they might be staying for Thanksgiving "which they talked about doing," was pure fabrication. Since they were going for a funeral and had responsibilities to return to, such a statement is not possible.
The second reason involves Godin's statement, again in What Is The Difference Between Entelev, Cancell and Cantron? He writes: "Knowing that the success and popularity of his formula could command large sums of money on the open market, Mr. Sheridan requested that we keep the price affordable (some business men wanted to sell this for $1,000 or more per bottle). The price of $170 for a 6 month supply was agreed upon. Mr. Sheridan refused to receive any financial remuneration." Part of this statement rings true, as Jim was giving Entelev® away at the time. He would not accept any payment.
However, in a larger sense, Godin's statement does not ring true. While Jim never wanted to profit, he was always happy to receive funds to cover the costs of the tests needed for getting Entelev approved by the FDA. In fact, the Eden Foundation had been established prior to 1983 to receive such funds. If this "agreement" with Godin had been entered with Jim's knowledge (which he would not have done because of the obvious breach of contract problems) he would have (1) insisted on a written contract; (2) insisted on royalties being paid so that further research could be done; and (3) insisted that he be given complete copies of any testing which Godin might be involved in. The insistence on providing copies of any research or testing results was part of the contract with the pharmaceutical company in 1983, as well as other agreements thereafter. The fact is Wilson never offered royalties to Jim.
One of the running jokes in the Sheridan Family was the number of times people would show up at the house, assuring Jim that they could "easily" raise "a million dollars for the project." Jim had a standing response: "Write the check. We'll take it." He was more than happy to accept money for research.
Jim's willingness to accept money for research is also revealed by his involvement in several fund raisers for The Project. As early as the middle and late 1970's there were several spaghetti dinners put on by a group of local supporters, which were attended by Jim and Estelle. The money raised was all donated to pay for Jim's research and testing. It is incredible to suggest that Jim would be happy to sit through spaghetti dinners to raise money for his work, a few dollars at a time, and refuse to sit back and receive royalties for the same purpose.
Jim was against personal profit, but not funding for The Project. Indeed, all the work Jim did at the Detroit Cancer Institute and later at Battelle in Columbus was paid for by private foundation money he had attracted. He also was glad to accept funding from public corporations. (His first request for money was to Dr. Willard Dow, head of the Dow Chemical Company.) Now, it is being implied that funding for research and testing would not have been accepted from Godin, despite Jim's willingness to accept money for that purpose both before and after Wilson's claim that Jim would not take any royalties. Again, this is simply incredible.
The implication that Jim approved of $170 per bottle as a sales price is also simply not true. Wilson may have told Godin that Jim gave his approval, but it never happened. Sopcak began manufacturing Entelev® under the name Cancell®, and giving it away. If Jim had approved of $170 per bottle with Godin, it makes no sense that he would not have, likewise, approved the same price for Sopcak. Moreover, if Jim had intended Godin to "take over the project" he would not, at the same time, have been working with Sopcak or the pharmaceutical company.
THE QUESTION OF PROFITS AND ROYALTIES
The obvious question becomes, what possible motive did Wilson have in keeping Godin and Jim from ever meeting and keeping Jim from knowing about the deal with Godin? The answer comes near the end of Wilson's letter to Godin, dated December 7, 1983. Wilson wrote to Godin:
"What will I get for all my efforts. How about the same deal that we got on our other consultantship -- 20% for those I am primarily responsibly contributing in addition to the formula but ideas, articles, sales pitches, list of cancer society names, etc. Ten on the rest. Let me know what you think. Of course my contribution I think will be considerably over with the formula and then the books, booklets, articles, promos, appearances, lecturers, etc. By the way what do you think the European deal will net us? That might be a lucrative one if it catches worldwide -- more rest put together. What do you think?" (NOTE: in the original letter, this quote appears as three short, successive paragraphs at the end of the same letter.)
Wilson's motivation apparently was clearly profit. Indeed, he was after riches. This quote comes from a letter the Sheridan Family had never seen until Godin gave it to them in September, 1999. In effect, Wilson was charging Godin for the formula. Indeed, he was asking for "20%" based on his primary contribution of "the formula." Wilson's statement that his "contribution ... will be considerably over with the formula and then the books, ... articles, promos, appearances, lectures," is fascinating. The formula and all the information upon which "the books, ... articles, promos appearances and lectures" were based were obtained from Jim free of charge, yet Wilson charged for it. Wilson received 20% for what he did not do and what he did not create. Jim received nothing for all his work. Nothing to help pay for future work. Nothing to help pay for his own publications.
This raises another question: if Jim did, indeed, not want any money for the formula and did, indeed, want Entelev sold as inexpensively as possible, on what possible basis could Wilson charge "20%"? He had done no work to develop the formula, unlike Jim who had poured nearly 50 years into the effort. If Wilson had waived any "20%", the product could have been sold for 20% less, to meet Jim's purported desire.
The Sheridan Family first became aware of Dr. Tony Bell's interest and curiosity about Entelev in early 1993. His interest was spurred on by the fact that his brother, who had cancer, was taking Entelev® (actually, CanCell® from Ed Sopcak). We approached Dr. Bell. We wanted to see if he, as a chemist, would be willing to serve as a technical advisor as well as a friend of the family, in light of the beginning of Jim's declining health. This was clearly to be an unpaid role, one Dr. Bell would assume out of his very real interest in the project, and desire to contribute in some way. He has continued in this role to the present time. At no time has Dr. Bell asked to be paid for his contributions, nor has he been paid anything.
The Sheridan Family has lived with this project for over 75 years. So far we have yet to be reimbursed for thousands of dollars of expenses incurred over the years, much less paid for our time. There have been many others, including Tony Bell, who have also put in an incredible amount of time. No one has made any money. (At one point for technical reasons we were talking with our lawyer about whether we had to file certain papers as a profit making organization. The lawyer simply laughed and said the IRS does not consider a group which has been working for over 70 years without any income, only expense, to be a "business." They consider it a "hobby.")
Indeed, over all the years, to the knowledge of the Sheridan Family there are only two people who have ever made any real money from Jim's work: Don Wilson and Jerome Godin. Godin is the only person in the history of The Project to realize a profit from Jim's work and Wilson is the only person to receive a royalty from Jim's work. To suggest that anyone associated with the Sheridan family is in it for the money is insulting and ignores the facts.
The following detail is interesting in light of an event which happened shortly before Wilson's death, while he was in the hospital. Jim spoke to Wilson, who was crying and begging Jim to "forgive" him. Jim told Estelle, then the rest of the family, about this strange encounter, made stranger still because Wilson never did say what he was asking forgiveness for, and Jim could not think of any wrong that Wilson had done. It was not until years later when the Sheridan Family finally learned of the Godin / Wilson connection and the "20%" Wilson was asking for and the fact that Godin did, indeed, pay a royalty to Wilson for years, without Jim ever knowing of the deal or receiving any money for further research, that suddenly the begging for forgiveness made complete sense.
A FEW REMAINING ISSUES NEED TO BE ADDRESSED....
1. Mr. Godin has stated: "Cantron is the identical formula of James Sheridan's Entelev®," in What Is The Difference Between Entelev, Cancell and Cantron? Godin has answered this himself in his more recent postings. Over the years dating from the early formula KC-49 to the current Entelev®, the formula was changed many, many times. These changes continued through the 1980's. Jim finally formulated what he viewed as his best product about 1989. In fact the Sheridan Family recalls him proudly showing off his graph and pointing out how the latest formula had come much closer to reaching the peak of the theoretical model than any other formulation. The formula Wilson gave to Godin in 1983 was good but by no means "the best" of the formulas. In fact, based on the tests run on behalf of our family, it appears that the Godin formula was a variation of one evolved by Jim in the early 1980's. It is our feeling that the change creating this takeoff was probably made by Orville Feathers, the chemist.
2. The Sheridan Family has been in contact with Godin during two time periods since 1994. On both occasions the Family attempted to see if any possible cooperative effort could be worked out. It was always the feeling of the Family that Godin was simply too demanding, in effect wanting to control the entire process, freezing out not only the Sheridan Family from the Project it had lived and breathed for 45 years before Godin was ever on the scene, but also the other people who have supported The Project with their time, talent and resources ... also without any remuneration.
3. There seems to be some impression that the Sheridan Family harbors feelings of animosity toward Godin. Before they learned the details of Wilson's involvement, that was true to some extent. It is no longer.
4. Godin has emphasized that the Sheridans are prohibited from producing Entelev® due to the Federal injunction. The implication is that Godin is not effected by the court order and is producing Entelev® lawfully. That statement creates a contradiction. The injunction itself states: "That the defendant, James V. Sheridan and each and all of his agents, servants, representatives, employees, successors, assigns and attorneys, be perpetually restrained and enjoined..." If Godin did, as he claims, obtain the formula from Jim with Jim's knowledge and consent, that would make Godin one of Jim's "assigns" and subject to the injunction. The only way Godin would not be effected by the injunction is if in June, 1989, Jim knew nothing of him. Thus, if Godin is saying the injunction does not apply to him, he is also effectively admitting Jim knew nothing of Godin as of the date of the injunction.
It should also be noted that the manufacturers of Protocel® have been provided with a copy of the injunction order. It is a specific term of the agreement that the group will do nothing that constitutes a violation of the terms of the injunction.
5. After a great deal of discussion, the Sheridan Family entered into a formal agreement with the group that manufactures Protocel®. The Sheridan Family and those working with them have complete confidence in them. They have agreed to pay a royalty to the corporation to which Jim assigned the formula and technology, which will allow for the testing needed so that the Family can reasonably attempt to eventually have the injunction set aside. They also agreed to meet rigorous quality control standards both in the method of production and the quality of the product itself. By the terms of the agreement these standards will become increasingly strict. These standards were specifically set to meet the quality standards Jim established through his formulation in the late 1980's.
Sincerely,
The Sheridan Family
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a cure for cancer, based on some new insights he had about how cancer cells might work. (note: the Sheridan family makes no such claims, this is simply a statement of Jim's original goal.) Jim began working on the product eventually named Entelev in the 1930's while employed at Dow Chemical Company. It was an after hours project done out of his home. He tried to interest Dow, but the company did not choose to become involved. The work was based on a theory which had been brewing with Jim for years, all the way back to his college days, and even earlier to when he was in highschool. While Jim was at Dow Chemical he also studied law and passed the bar exam. He was admitted to practice law in May, 1943. When he left Dow in 1946 it was to practice law in Detroit.
