Special Report: Healing Hands

It's a room full of people with terminal illnesses and debilitating diseases.

Carol Liotta, diagnosed with liver cancer
"They pretty much gave me six months to live."

It's also a room full of hope...Hope that this Quincy man and his dolls can heal them. Acupuncturist Tom Tam came up with this practice he calls tong ren. He says, using plastic dolls and small hammers, people can tap their way to good health.

Carol Liotta, diagnosed with liver cancer
"I've been stable for almost 10 months now."

Here's how it works: Group members hold acupuncture dolls and each person announces what part of their body needs healing. That's when the group starts tapping a hammer on a specific energy point on the doll. Tam says that sends healing energy to the person who needs it.

Dr. Shaw Sprague, tong ren practitioner
"What you're doing with the doll is your focusing your mind on those specific points."

Carol Liotta of Duxbury is fighting liver cancer and was given only a short time to live. Now one year later she says she's healthy because of tong ren.

Carol Liotta, diagnosed with liver cancer
"I've been stable, I feel well, even when I get my blood work results back it's perfectly normal."

Six years ago when Rich Cronin was the lead singer for the boy band LFO he had all the energy in the world...Then he was diagnosed with leukemia.

Rich Cronin, diagnosed with leukemia
"I was all skin and bones, I had absolutely no appetite, no energy, nothing."

He says tong ren helped him survive.

Rich Cronin, diagnosed with leukemia
"Everything was improved by going to tom."

But some doctors warn there is no medical evidence proving tong ren is effective, and say using it as a replacement for established medical treatments could be dangerous.

Douglas Comeau, DO, Boston Medical Center, department of family medicine
"The danger behind that would be if a patient does go off of their medicine it could worsen their medical condition without their knowledge."

The Massachusetts Board of Medicine has issued several complaints against tam after he advertised himself a "master".  The board says it is a violation to "make claims of professional superiority that you cannot substantiate." Tam did not want to be interviewed for this story. But he did tell 7News his only goal is to make people well.

Rich Cronin, diagnosed with leukemia
"At the end of the day if it makes you feel better...how can you argue with it"

Carol Liotta, diagnosed with liver cancer
"Something is working. I honestly look at life in a different way now...I think of it as a gift."

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