Nose (NPC) Cancer: Eleven Plus Years on Herbs Part 1: My Radio-chemotherapy Experience

The story of Dr. Peter Ooi (currently Professor) was kept untold for a decade. But as 2012 set in, I thought it would be wonderful to share his cancer experience with you all. So I wrote Peter telling him about this and below is his e-mail reply on 26 January 2012.

Dear Chris,

The Lord be with you and indeed thanks to you. Dr. Chen, the ENT specialist that I consult annually from Glenagles, Singapore confirmed that I am indeed healthy. He suggested that I continue with my diet and the herbs I take from you … Dr. Chen also shared with me his views that 11+ years is a good sign for remission. You may know that I am now tasked with setting up the Department of Agriculture and Food Sciences … I took up the professorial chair as I wanted to share my belief in the God given richness of our agro-biodiversity and the need to help students understand that we can have profitability without sacrificing the environment and play God … I have no objection to you using my name in your video clip. Yes, I am proud to say that I believe in a more holistic approach to healing as it is in the good hands of the Lord. You may refer to me as Peter Ooi to confirm that I am a Christian and a Hokkien as NPC is more common among the Hokkiens and Cantonese. Once again, thank God for people like you. God bless.

Dr. Peter Ooi was 51 years old when he was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC – nose cancer) Stage 2/3 in 2000. At that time he was with the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations) in Bangkok. Later Peter became the Director of the Asian Regional Centre of the World Vegetable Center, also based in Bangkok. Peter “immediately took up the aggressive procedure of both radiation and chemotherapy.” He completed 35 sessions of radiation treatments and at the same time received chemotherapy. He gave up chemotherapy after four cycles – the treatment made him too sick!

Let him tell you what it was like to be at the receiving end of radio-chemo treatments.

Part 1: Radiotherapy Experience

The treatment burnt my whole throat – like it was on fire.
My wife cried, because I couldn’t drink even a drop of water.
I could not walk by myself.
I was not told about the side effects of radiotherapy.
I have no more salivary glands (that is why in the video you see Peter having to taking sips of water very often when talking to us).

Part 2: Chemo Experience

I was not told about the side effects of chemotherapy – the only thing mentioned was hair loss.
I stopped chemo after the fourth cycle – I was too weak.
I developed a phobia for “needle”. The veins in my hands just “disappeared” when I see a needle!

Part 3: Treatment Satisfaction

Doctors should have told patients more about the expected side effects of the treatments
The oncologist could not answer the questions I asked, such as why use this or that drugs? It is always the standard answer that they give – “standard regimen or protocol”.

My Comments

It is indeed our privilege to be able to help Peter at the time when he needed us and also to be able to share with you his cancer experience. This video recording was made in Bangkok, in 2007 – about seven years after Peter started to take the herbs. I hope those reading this story will benefit from Peter’s experience as much as I benefited and enjoyed our conversation that day.

There is this common perception that only the “uneducated, kampong folks” who opted for alternative medicine – and they go to the “quacks”. Is that right? Far from it – here is Dr. Peter Ooi – a fellow scientist – realising that the standard fare dished out to cancer patients is not good enough and is not the answer to our present-day cancer problem. In fact the reverse seems to be true – those who know or are knowledgeable enough turn to holistic, alternative treatments when they get cancer. Why?
People with “thinking” mind will see the deficiencies of modern medicine when it comes to cancer. Chemo drugs injected into patients are toxic drugs. Dr. Glenn Warner, a medical doctor put it this way rather aptly:

One lesson we can learn from Peter’s experience is that cancer doctors do not tell their patients the whole truth – only half truth. It is left to patients themselves to learn (and often through the hard way) the other untold half of the whole truth. Why are they so evasive about the “bad” effects of their treatments? Do they ever admit that most of the time their treatments do not work or may even kill patients? Read the story of LCC – he died within six months while undergoing chemotherapy for his nose cancer. Click this link: https://cancercaremalaysia.com/2012/01/26/nose-npc-cancer-chemo-and-he-was-dead-six-months-later-why/ Peter’s experience is not much different – he was drained of his energy and unable to walk by himself during his treatment. But he was wiser – he abandoned his chemo after the fourth cycle. Of course to the chagrin of his brother-in-law, a medical doctor.
Take note of what Dr James Forsythe, an oncologist, wrote:

Peter went into chemo and radiation with full confidence – gung-ho spirit but he came out of it almost half dead. And his confidence in his doctor shattered. I often wonder why oncologists (some or most?) don’t come clean with their patients. Why withhold information that is important to patients? Is it because they fear that patients will run away from them? Let’s not deny that many patients may do so if they know the whole truth. In the book, Severed Trust, Dr. George Lundberg, M.D. wrote: