April 2016 – CANCER STORY

Breast Cancer: Declined chemo and radiation – alive and healthy. Relatives who had chemo, died.

TA, a 40-year-old Indonesian, was diagnosed with breast cancer. This is her story.

Sometime in 2013, TA felt a lump in her right breast.
For about 3 months, she had pain along the back bone.
In November 2013, TA underwent a lumpectomy. Histology report indicated a mixed type of cancer — papillary carcinoma, DCIS, LCIS, CCL, UDH, intraductal papilloma, adenosis and fibroadenoma.
Her case was referred to Singapore and TA was told that it might be a cancer (?).
TA came to seek our help and was started on the CA Care Therapy.

Recurrence – Mastectomy

The surgeon did not do a good job of the lumpectomy. A small lump appeared at the operation site.
TA underwent a mastectomy in 2014.
Five of 10 nodes were involved. TA was asked to undergo 6 cycles of chemotherapy and 30 session of radiation.

No to Chemo and Radiation

TA’s sister had ovarian cancer and underwent 18 cycles of chemotherapy. She eventually died. So this is the lesson that TA learned about chemotherapy. When told to do chemo-radiotherapy, TA just flatly refused the treatments.

CA Care Therapy vs the deadly chemotherapy

TA had been on our therapy since she was diagnosed with breast cancer. After two years, TA came to our centre again – saying that she “missed” us and wanted to keep up.
TA told us that a relative in Palembang (Indonesia) also had breast cancer. This was after she (TA) was diagnosed with breast cancer. She shared her healing journey with this relative but unfortunately the patient’s husband did not believe in alternative medicine. This relative had 7 cycles of chemotherapy. After the 6th cycles, she was totally “down.” TA asked her to stop the treatment but her advise was ignored. After the 7th cycle, she went into coma and died. She died less than a year after her diagnosis.
TA had another 70-year-old relative in Jakarta. He had liver cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy. Initially the response was good but his condition “dropped” after more chemo. TA recommended that he tried our herbs. The patient agreed but his wife was against taking herbs. She is a rich lady! The patient died after more chemo.

TA took the right path

Seated next to her while relating these stories was TA’s husband. Initially, her husband also wanted TA to undergo chemotherapy as advised by the oncologist. But TA went on to search more literature and found CA Care. From then on, TA decided to take a non-medical path.
It has been 2 years and TA is still alive and healthy.
Our reminder to TA: Take care, don’t stress yourself. And don’t eat bad food! The cancer can come back again and we don’t have any “magic bullet” for you.

Watch this video.

To those reading this story, just ask what you can learn from TA’s story. This is what we often tell patients: To live or to die is your choice. So, chose wisely!

Perhaps you may want to soberly ponder these quotations:

Huge Kidney & Liver Tumours – No Surgery, No Chemo But Quality Life

CJ is a 75-year old Indonesian lady. A CT scan of her abdomen on 10 February 2015 showed:

1) a 17 cm x 13 cm x 15 cm lobulated mass in the left kidney.

2) multiple nodules in the liver, the largest with a diameter of 7.5 cm in the right lobe.

CJ and her son came to seek our help. According to the patient, she was already “old” and did not want to undergo surgery or chemotherapy. She requested that we help her in any way we could. Actually, with the CT scan images above, we did not think we could do much for CJ. But we could not send her home without being seen “to do something.” So, we prescribed Capsule A, B, C, and D. We also asked CJ to take Liver and Kidney teas.

The case of CJ was totally “out” of our radar. We did not think she would survive long. But to our amazement, one year two months later, the patient’s son came to our cancer and said “my mother is doing very well” — healthy and able to live a normal life at home.

Excerpts of our conversation:

Son: My mother is getting better!

Chris: Did she go and see the doctor and do chemo?

S: No, we did not do anything — she is now vegetarian, take your herbs and do meditation.

C: Very good.

S: Already more than a year. And she is doing very good.

C: I am indeed surprised. See, we never write anything in her file! When I do that, you know what does that mean? It means “just go home and die. Angkat tanggan — cubacuba saja (Surrender, just try only).

S: But she is better now, much much better. Last year I brought her to Japan to see the sakura flowers.

C: Amazing, just amazing.

S: The medical doctor also said, my mom cannot live more than one year. Now it is more than a year. If you want to see my mom, I can bring her here. She is very healthy. Now she is taking care of my father who has lung problems — asthma.

Watch this amazing healing story!

Comment: One lesson we can learn from this case: Do not play God! For every case that comes to us for help, I should give my “best shot”!

Study finds half of breast cancer patients don’t need chemo

The MINDACT phase 3 clinical trial involved nearly 6,700 women at 111 medical centers in nine countries.

In the clinical trial, researchers sorted breast cancer patients into four groups, based on whether MammaPrint testing or traditional clinical assessment recommended chemotherapy (from a tool that oncologists use called Adjuvant! Online).

The shocking results of the long awaited MINDACT clinical trial are in.

Many breast cancer patients have been receiving chemotherapy treatments they didn’t need.
And that chemotherapy made no difference in their survival.
After surgery to remove their tumors, early-stage breast cancer patients (0-3 positive nodes) with a MammaPrint score recommending against chemotherapy had a 95% survival rate.
“That’s very high, and we showed that it doesn’t differ between those who are treated and those who are not treated by chemotherapy,” said van ‘t Veer, leader of the breast oncology program at the University of California, San Francisco Diller Family Cancer Center.

“This study is telling us in a very clear way we can spare many women chemotherapy,” said Baselga, chief medical officer of Memorial Hospital at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, in New York City.

MammaPrint reduced chemotherapy prescriptions by 46% among the more than 3,300 patients in the trial categorized as having a high risk of breast cancer recurrence based on common clinical and pathological criteria, the researchers said.

Further, just over 2,700 patients who had a low MammaPrint risk score but a high clinical risk score wound up with a 94.7 percent five-year survival rate, whether they got chemo or not, the researchers said.

“If we can select those patients that don’t need chemotherapy, unneeded treatment can be avoided and we will be one step closer to making sure treatment for breast cancer is tailored to the individual,” said Dr. Stephanie Bernik, chief of surgical oncology at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

Young women have been more likely to receive chemotherapy in standard breast cancer care, even though it can destroy their fertility and leave them open to long-term health problems, Vogel said.

“In my training, if you had a young woman with breast cancer, she got chemotherapy,” Vogel said. “But now we can be selective, and we know there’s a very large number of young women with small hormone-responsive tumors who do not need chemotherapy.”

http://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/many-breast-cancer-patients-may-not-need-chemo-study/ar-BBrVgRR?li=BBnbfcL

http://www.cancertherapyadvisor.com/aacr-2016/breast-cancer-mammaprint-test-adjuvant-chemotherapy-treatment/article/490361/

Colon Cancer: Surgery and chemotherapy did not cure. Disease got worse.

SA, a 34-year-old Malaysian lady, was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2013. Her problem started with abdominal distension for about 2 weeks. She was unable to eat or drink and was vomiting.

A laparotomy and left hemicolectomy were done on 20 July 2013.
Fourteen out of 19 lymph nodes were affected.

CT scan on 16 January 2014 showed:

Multiple ill defined hypodense lesions in the liver. The largest at Segment 8 is about 2.9 x 2.3 cm.
Large mass in the anterior abdomen which extends into the pelvis, size 9.6 x 9.2 x 9.6 cm. likely to originate from the mesentery.
Gross ascites.

Impression: Disease progression.

SA underwent chemotherapy and the following were the results:

From 24 September 2013 to 1 April 2014, SA had 8 cycles of palliative chemotherapy with Xelox (Oxaliplatin and Xeloda).
PET scan on 2 May 2014 showed no local and distant metastasis. All liver lesions completely regressed.
Barely 2 months later, in July 2014, follow up showed increasing trend in CEA level.
PET scan on 19 September 2014 showed a few active lesions in the pelvis and liver. Impression: disease progression.
On 19 November 2014, tapping done to remove the fluid in the abdomen.
On 24 December 2014, SA was again started on palliative chemotherapy with Xelox + Avastin, and then Avastin alone.
Post chemotherapy, SA developed very severe laryngomalacia on exposure to cold.

Note; Laryngomalacia (literally, “soft larynx”) is commonly found in baby in which the soft, immature cartilage of the upper larynx collapses inward during inhalation, causing airway obstruction and breathing difficulties.

Palliative chemo was continued with Xelox + Avastin until 26 March 2015. Progress: Initially before chemo, SA had to have abdominal tapping for ascites almost every week. But after the chemo, the last tapping done was in January 2015.
2 November 2015, CT scan showed:

Abdominal mass measures 10 x 14.1 x 15.9 cm (previously 9.4 x 6.4 x 7.1 cm).
Gross ascites.
Multiple liver lesions seen in both liver lobes which appears similar in number and size.
Hypodense thyroid nodule within the right thyroid lobe, similar to previous study.

In addition to the above treatments (done in a university hospital), SA also received treatments in a private hospital. She had 10 cycles of Ebitux (RM 12,000 per cycle). After the chemo SA developed severe rashes in her face.

SA also had chemo with Irinotecan and she developed cramps of her facial muscles. Her gum bled after brushing her teeth.

In spite of all the above treatments, SA ended up having to go for abdominal tapping once every 4 to 5 days.

The doctor wanted SA to under more chemotherapy. SA and her husband were not keen to receive more chemo. They came to seek our help. Unfortunately after a week on our herbs, her ascites and distended stomach still persisted. She still had to go for tapping. It appeared to us that we could not help her. So we told SA that there was no reason for her to continue taking our herbs.

Comments: It is indeed a very sad story. Perhaps we can learn a few lessons from this case.

From 24 September 2013 to 1 April 2014, SA had 8 cycles of palliative chemotherapy with Xelox (Oxaliplatin and Xeloda). The results showed all liver lesions had completely regressed. Bravo! Very effective, ya?

But how many people understand that this “victory” is short-lived — just a illusion that happen time and time again? A few months later, the cancer can come back again. That was exactly what happened in SA’s case.

Read what researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle, USA found out:

SA were subjected to many kinds of chemo-drugs. Fist it was Xelox, consisting of Oxaliplatin and Xeloda. Then later, Avastin, Irinotecan and Ebitux were also used. All these drugs are toxic and SA suffered devastating side effects. Surf the net and learn about the side effects of these drugs before you decide to use them.

Below is a long. long list of problems you can expect to encounter if you are treated with Erbitux and Irinotecan. (For the rest of the chemo-drugs you can do you own homework!).

At the end, Raymond Francis concluded that In fact, most people who die from cancer are not dying from cancer, but from their treatments!

Erbitux side effects Source: http://www.rxlist.com/erbitux-drug/patient-images-side-effects.htm

an acne-like skin rash or any severe skin rash;
redness, swelling, or puffiness under your skin;
eye pain or redness, puffy eyelids, drainage or crusting in your eyes, vision problems, or increased sensitivity to light;
sudden chest pain or discomfort, wheezing, dry cough, feeling short of breath, coughing up blood;
chest pain spreading to your jaw or shoulder;
a light-headed feeling, like you might pass out, slow heart rate, weak pulse, slow breathing;
symptoms of infection–fever, flu symptoms, mouth and throat ulcers, rapid heart rate, rapid and shallow breathing, fainting;
symptoms of an electrolyte imbalance–leg cramps, constipation, irregular heartbeats, fluttering in your chest, extreme thirst, numbness or tingling, vision problems, muscle pain or weakness;
kidney problems–little or no urinating; painful or difficult urination; swelling in your feet or ankles; or
severe skin reaction–fever, sore throat, swelling in your face or tongue, burning in your eyes, skin pain followed by a red or purple skin rash that spreads (especially in the face or upper body) and causes blistering and peeling.

Common Erbitux side effects may include:

mild itching or rash;
changes in your fingernails or toenails;
dry, cracked, or swollen skin;
headache;
diarrhea; or
infection.

Irinotecan side effects Source: http://www.drugs.com/sfx/irinotecan-side-effects.html

More common

Anxiety
black, tarry stools
blood in the urine or stools
blurred vision
changes in skin color
chest pain or discomfort
chest tightness or heaviness
chills
clay colored stools
cold hands and feet
confusion
constricted pupils
cough or hoarseness
dark urine
diarrhea with or without stomach cramps or sweating
dizziness
fainting
fast, slow, or irregular heartbeat
fever
full or bloated feeling or pressure in the stomach
headache
increased production of saliva
increased tear production
itching
lightheadedness when getting up suddenly from a lying or sitting position
loss of appetite
low blood pressure or pulse
lower back or side pain
nausea or vomiting
numbness or tingling in the face, arms, or legs
pain
pain in the chest, groin, or legs, especially calves of the legs
pain in the shoulders, arms, jaw, or neck
painful or difficult urination
pale skin
pinpoint red spots on the skin
redness or swelling of the leg
runny nose
severe headache of sudden onset
shortness of breath or troubled breathing
skin rash
slow breathing
slurred speech
sore throat
stomach pain
stopping of the heart
sudden and severe weakness in the arm or leg on one side of the body
sudden loss of coordination
sudden vision changes
sweating
swelling
swelling of the abdomen or stomach area
temporary blindness
tenderness, pain, or swelling of the arm, foot, or leg
trouble with speaking or walking
ulcers, sores, or white spots on the lips or in the mouth
unconsciousness
unpleasant breath odor
unusual bleeding or bruising
unusual tiredness or weakness
vomiting of blood
warm, red feeling over the body
yellow eyes or skin

Less common

Bleeding gums
coughing up blood
decreased urination
difficulty with swallowing
dryness of the mouth
increased menstrual flow or vaginal bleeding
increased thirst
nosebleeds
paralysis
prolonged bleeding from cuts
sneezing
wheezing
wrinkled skin
Rare
Decreased amount of urine
decreased frequency of urination
fast, irregular, or troubled breathing
hives
increased blood pressure
puffiness or swelling of the eyelids or around the eyes, face, lips, or tongue
rapid weight gain
Incidence not known
Abdominal or stomach pain and tenderness
agitation
bloated or full feeling
burning, crawling, itching, numbness, prickling, “pins and needles”, or tingling feelings
coma
constipation
depression
heartburn or indigestion
hostility
irritability
lethargy
muscle pain and cramps
muscle twitching
pain in the stomach, side, or abdomen, possibly radiating to the back
pain or discomfort in the arms, jaw, back, or neck
rectal bleeding
severe abdominal or stomach cramping or burning
severe and continuing nausea
stupor
swelling of the face, lower legs, ankles, fingers, or hands
tightness in the chest
unusual tiredness or weakness
vomiting of material that looks like coffee grounds

More common

Acid or sour stomach
belching
blistering, peeling, redness, or swelling of the palms of hands or bottoms of the feet
cracked lips
excess air or gas in the stomach or intestines
feeling of constant movement of self or surroundings
numbness, pain, tingling, or unusual sensations in the palms of hands or bottoms of feet
passing gas
right upper abdominal or stomach pain and fullness
sensation of spinning
sleepiness or unusual drowsiness
sleeplessness
stomach discomfort, upset, or pain
trouble sleeping
unable to sleep
weight loss

Incidence not known

Hiccups

Colon Cancer: Surgery but declined chemo: “My mother is doing good!”

AB is 77-year-old lady from Indonesia. In early 2015, she had pains on the left side of her abdomen. Then she developed constipation. She was brought to a private hospital in Johor. Colonoscopy indicated a 4 cm tumour in the sigmoid colon. A CT scan showed the following:

a diffuse circumferential thickenings of the sigmoid colon with narrow lumen.
masses in the uterine wall measuring about 2.5 x 2.6 cm and 2.1 x 2.7 cm.

AB was brought to the colorectal department of the university hospital in Singapore where she underwent a surgery on 5 May 2015.

The colon tumour and the uterus and its appendages were removed. Nine of the 27 lymph nodes were with metastatic carcinoma. This was considered a stage 3 cancer.

AB stayed in the hospital for 12 days and the cost of the treatment came to about SGD 28,000.

After the surgery, the doctor suggested a follow-up chemotherapy but AB and her family members refused the treatment. In March 2015, AB’s son came to seek our help.

AB had the following complaints:

Pain at the operation site — scale of 4 out of ten.
Unable to sleep well. Most of the time lying in bed day and night, feeling awake most of the time.
Not much energy.
Poor appetite. After the surgery, suffered intestinal paralysis and was unable to eat.
Bowel movements many times. Always feeling wanting to move bowels but only little came out — soft and watery stools.
Coughs with yellowish phlegm and itchy throat.

AB was started on the herbs for colon and lymph nodes. She also took herbs for appetite. AB’s conditions improved significantly. Her son said, “My mother is doing good!”

AB’s progress was regularly monitored by the following blood tests.

	30 May 2015	8 Sept 2015	7 Dec 2015	1 March 2015
CEA	0.97	0.82	0.97	0.88
CA 19.9	6.76	10.50	6.49	9.52
CA 125	38.8 H	5.1	4.9	4.7
Alkaline phosphatase	91	57	69	68
GGT	48 H	19	22	20
SGOT	26	33 H	30 H	21
SGPT	21	39 H	46 H	33

Note: From September 2015, AB took additional herbs for her liver.

Lessons we can learn from this case.

After surgery, AB was asked to undergo chemotherapy. What would you do if this 77-year-old lady is your mother? What could have happened if AB were to go for chemotherapy?

Read what a colonel of the US Air Force and Sara Shane, a movie star wrote about chemotherapy ….

Herbalists are often called snake oil peddlers, quacks, etc., and herbs are condemned as “unscientific and unproven”. To AB’s son herbs did a lot of good to his mother! What do you want to believe — text-book knowledge or personal experience?

Often we are told that herbs can cause damage and are toxic to the liver, kidney, etc. This is often the mantra held by the noble profession that only prescribes chemical drugs. Have a close look at AB’s blood test results again. From the beginning after her surgery, certain liver enzyme were elevated — GGT = 48 in May, SGOT and SGPT were elevated in September 2015. What could be the reason? We know that colon cancer can spread to the liver rather soon. Could this be a beginning of liver spread? Or was this because AB took herbs?

Realizing that AB’s liver function was out of range, we prescribed herbs for her liver. Not long afterwards, her liver function enzymes were back to normal. If herbs damage the liver, taking more herbs means more damage done to the liver, right? You don’t need to go to a university to understand this logic. But in this case AB’s liver became better not worse.

In May 2015, before taking the herbs, AB’s CA 125 was at 38.8. After taking the herbs, her CA 125 dropped to around 4.7 and 5.1. One would expect that her CA 125 would have risen higher and higher if she was just taking useless “snake oil.” Is this not a simple logic too?

Many years ago this was what I wrote in our book, Cancer Yet They Live.

Related story: If this is a “happy” story, the next upcoming post is a sad one. A 34-year-old female with colon cancer had surgery and rounds after rounds of chemo. The treatments failed to cure her.