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Health and wellness are just some of the new ‘it’ trends. Many of us are inundated with wellness hacks and fad diets or weight-loss tricks what seems like each day of the week. However, are these tips and tricks actually doing anything substantial to improve our health?

Take ‘healthy water’ for example. Chances are, you’ve probably come across different types of water promoting what companies claim are beneficial to our health. To this, Astoria-born Marina Fakiris says not so fast. Some time ago, Fakiris was diagnosed with Stage 4 thyroid cancer, something which changed the course of her life as she knew it. However, she also began her journey to seeing just how much a holistic approach to treat her thyroid cancer could potentially help.

Fakiris, while being simultaneously monitored by her doctor at Memorial-Sloan Kettering, came to the agreement to approach her cancer diagnosis without invasive surgeries and additional therapies. If Marina could shrink her tumor using holistic methods, she was going to do so. One of the methods she came across during her health journey was the use of electrolyzed-reduced water, also known as ERW.

“I learned that there are two main reasons the human body gets sick: dehydration of cells or hormonal imbalance. When you hear imbalance of hormones, you think it’s because of the food we eat. Dehydration of cells, this water [ERW water] is the only water that is capable of hydrating your cells. An example, you’re thirsty and you drink two glasses of water back to back, but you feel bloated. Well, that’s because you’re still dehydrated. I drink two gallons of my water every day and never feel bloated”, said Fakiris.

Studies focusing on the benefits of ERW water have yielded results in the past, promoting cellular function to promote detoxification. Fakiris believes that the contaminants found in the water she used is the contributing factor to her diagnosis. She began conducting thorough research on the effects ERW water can potentially have on patients such as herself, as well as the general public.

Fortunately for Marina she notes that the use of ERW water, in addition to other holistic therapies, was enough to reduce the size of her tumor and prevent further spread. Upon realizing this, she decided her legacy was going to be making ERW water devices more accessible, beginning with the most vulnerable population: the elderly. From this idea, her non-profit organization known as the Pantelis K. Fakiris Foundation, in memory of Fakiris’ father, was created.

“As a cancer patient, I discovered in my journey in trying to heal myself, a lot of people tried to approach me selling crazy crap, people capitalize on this. I created a non-profit organization, which will be giving away free water devices to the elderly, specifically, because they are the most overlooked and most likely to be taking medication. We [the US] are leading in diseases such as Alzheimer’s, dementia, heart disease”, shared Fakiris.

As Fakiris explains: ”ERW is produced using your source water and goes through a process known as electrolysis, or simply mimics what occurs in nature in only 6 places in the world where people live until age 120 and die of old age”.

So, how does the average person find ERW water? Herein lays the work for Fakiris’ non-profit. In order to maintain its natural properties, ERW water cannot be bottled and therefore cannot be sold in supermarkets. One would need to purchase a medical-grade water device approved to filter their water. “Your source water has to be clean, meaning you have to have a filtration device. One company which I do represent is called Multipure, which is the pre-filtration company I use for myself”, according to Fakiris.

For those who are interested in learning more about Marina’s story, or who are interested in donating to her non-profit, you may visit the Pantelis K. Fakiris Foundation page, or donate to the non-profit’s GoFundMe. Proceeds donated towards the non-profit assist in Fakiris continuing her mission to provide ERW water devices to vulnerable populations, and ultimately, to the public.