Beyond Health―Our Story―The Book

When people get sick, their first concern is generally getting well so they can “get back to their lives.” But sometimes a serious illness catapults you into a whole new life you never could have imagined. Such was the case with our company founder and president, Raymond Francis.

Three decades ago, Raymond had parlayed his MIT-education in engineering and chemistry into a career many would envy. As a corporate turnaround consultant and an expert in industrial quality and productivity, who was called in to make failing businesses profitable again, Raymond had established an impressive record of international success. He had even been called in to advise the governments of China and Fiji.

However, a life-threatening illness changed all that. When doctors not only failed to help him, but only made things worse, he saw that getting well was going to be his greatest challenge yet. It would require digging deep into his reservoirs of strength and hope and working simultaneously on every level—physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. He would also have to fully utilize his scientific knowledge and contacts in the medical world.

As part of his quest for wellness, Raymond attended various support groups in the San Francisco Bay Area. As his understanding of health and disease began to take shape, and he began getting well, people he'd met in these groups wanted to know what he was doing. He started meeting with them one-on-one and in groups, and getting them the high-quality supplements he knew were so important to getting well.

As more and more people began getting well using Raymond's inspiration, ideas and supplements, he was urged to write a book. Although he'd never written—or even thought about writing—a book before, it seemed the next logical step in being able to help even more people.

Also, as he learned more about our medical system and why it isn’t working, Raymond became concerned as a citizen about the rising costs of healthcare which threaten to bankrupt our country. We could turn this situation around, he reasoned, if more and more people received correct, science-based information on how to be healthy and prevent disease, and became proactive in their own self-care.

Now highly motivated to write a book, he struggled to complete four chapters in rough draft. Not very satisfied with the results, he set it aside. But then he was asked to lecture at the San Francisco Ballet and began consulting with the members to help them prevent infections and injuries, or recover rapidly from them. Here, he developed a friendship with Kester Cotton, a member of the ballet company who coincidentally had an interest in writing and editing. Kester so believed in the importance of Raymond's work that he volunteered to help write the book. With Kester's help, Never Be Sick Again was written.

Synchronicity was at work again when, at a dinner party, Raymond found himself seated next to a vice president of the publishing company Health Communications, Inc. By the end of the meal, Never Be Sick Again had a publisher.

Published in 2002, Never Be Sick Again was nominated for the prestigious Nautilus Award, the book industry’s equivalent of an Academy Award. An international bestseller, around the world, Never Be Sick Again is changing the way people think about health and disease and the way medicine is practiced. Enthusiastic medical doctors have told him that Never Be Sick Again is one of the best health books ever written, and that they recommend it and even give copies of it to their patients.