Category Archives: Cancer Survivors

Cancer Survivors, Living with Cancer

Childhood Cancer Survivors at Risk of Adult Health Problems

Childhood Cancer
Childhood Cancer

In 2003, the U.S. Institute of Medicine released a report on the special challenges faced by childhood cancer survivors after they entered their adult years. While citing a remarkable 78% improvement in survival rates since 1970, the report noted that, “More than two-thirds of childhood cancer survivors will face complications, disabilities or adverse outcomes directly related to their cancer, its treatment or both.”

As we’ve been discussing in social media lately, childhood cancer survivors frequently face serious medical problems and chronic illnesses during their adult years that can significantly diminish their quality of life and even decrease their life expectancy. A new movement designed to call attention to the unique challenges faced by survivors of childhood and adolescent cancer is building steam. The Society of Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology (SAYAO) recently held its first annual meeting at the University of California at Irvine with the goal of building awareness and improving the quality of life for childhood cancer survivors.

Not long ago, we reported on a new St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital study that linked the use of chemotherapy to treat childhood cancers to the survivors’ development of chronic, life threatening diseases during their adult years. Increasing the severity of the threat, the St. Jude’s study found that 90% of the heart conditions and 55% of the lung problems that childhood cancer survivors developed went undetected until the condition had reached an advanced stage.

SAYAO is calling on the cancer community to address the long-term issues of cancer survival. Non-toxic immunotherapy treatment at an alternative cancer treatment center may offer an important avenue not only to effective initial treatment but also to improved lifelong outcomes.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Survivors

Amish Girl Who Fled U.S. to Avoid Chemo Is Cancer-Free After Alternative Therapy

Childhood Cancer
Childhood Cancer

That 11-year-old Sarah Hershberger is cancer-free after undergoing alternative cancer treatments is wonderful news. That Sarah and her family had to flee the country to obtain the treatment that has made her healthy and are being treated like fugitives by their own country is considered by many Americans to be a travesty of justice and a breach of personal liberty.

If Sarah were an adult, her desire to stop the chemotherapy that was making her horribly ill and pursue non-toxic alternative cancer therapies would be respected and considered her decision to make. However, because Sarah was 10 years old when she was diagnosed with leukemia, those decisions were made by her parents.

Perhaps unwilling to look beyond the limited cancer treatment options offered by traditional medicine, the hospital administering the chemotherapy sued to force Sarah to continue treatments they believed would save her life. Unwilling to subject their daughter to more unbearable pain and suffering, Sarah’s parents left the comfort and support of their family and Ohio Amish community and fled the country with their daughter to obtain the alternative treatments they were convinced would make her well. Shortly after the family went into hiding the court appointed the hospital’s attorney, who is also a nurse, Sarah’s legal guardian with the power to direct her cancer treatments. Sarah’s parents have appealed the ruling and remain in hiding, although they have reportedly returned to the U.S.

Despite the hospital’s warnings, Sarah’s grandfather reports that Sarah is doing well and the “treatments are working.” He recently told the Associated Press that “blood and imaging tests” show that Sarah is now cancer-free.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Research, Cancer Survivors

Which Cancer Is Most Deadly for Women?

Lung Cancer in Women
Lung Cancer in Women

If you answered breast cancer, you are not alone; but you would be wrong. Most women are surprised to find out that lung cancer is the deadliest type of cancer for women. Lung cancer accounts for nearly 40% of all cancer deaths among women, compared to 22% for breast cancer and 13% for colorectal cancer, the third leading cause of cancer death among women, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Perhaps because breast cancer receives so much press and is so obviously linked to women, many people assume that breast cancer poses women’s greatest cancer fatality risk. However, while it is the most common “female” cancer, breast cancer is only the second leading cause of cancer death among women and is one of the more treatable forms of cancer. (Among women of Hispanic heritage, breast cancer is the No. 1 cancer killer with lung cancer running a close second.) Particularly when discovered early, breast cancer frequently offers a high rate of successful long-term remission. As Issels treatment cases indicate, even when discovered late, integrated immunotherapy has helped many breast cancer patients achieve long-term remission.

November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month, an excellent opportunity to discuss risk factors and treatment options for the cancer that causes more deaths among women than breast, uterine and ovarian cancer combined! While smoking is the primary cause of lung cancer, the disease also strikes many women who have never smoked. As it has for women with breast cancer, Issels personalized immunotherapy has also helped numerous lung cancer patients achieve successful remission.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Survivors

Women Call Alternative Cancer Therapies “Empowering”

Happy young woman with a white background
Alternative cancer therapy use is on the rise.

Four British women with cancer called their use of alternative cancer therapies “empowering” in interviews published in The Telegraph. As is true in the U.S. and Canada, more cancer patients in the United Kingdom are seeking alternative cancer treatments either instead of or in conjunction with standard chemotherapy and radiation treatments. The British breast cancer charity The Haven told the Telegraph that “89% of its service users found that non-medical, complementary therapies (including herbal medicine and nutritional, energy, touch and mind-body therapies) were ‘essential’ to their recovery.”

Surprisingly, despite considerable evidence to the contrary, the UK’s National Health Service has so far failed to recognize the importance of diet in boosting the immune system and fighting cancer, prompting an outcry from UK cancer patients. Like the other cancer victims interviewed, Alyssa Burns-Hills, a health specialist, cited diet change as integral to her successful fight against stage one invasive carcinoma. Carefully planned diet change is recommended by the immunotherapy and cancer experts at Issels Medical Center in Santa Barbara, California. Now 50 and cancer-free for 12 years, Alyssa credits her diet for playing a major role in her recovery and continued good health.

Alternative cancer therapies evoke much discussion, and there are all kinds of alternative treatments. But many cancer treatments that were once considered “out there” have proven to be reliably effective, including immunotherapy and diet, and are now embraced by traditional medicine. As the four women interviewed discovered, keeping an open mind about alternative cancer therapy could save your life.

Cancer Survivors

Same Genetic Mutations Appear in Multiple Cancers

Image of cells
Same Genetic Mutations Appear in Multiple Cancers

Researchers working on the Cancer Genome Atlas have identified a number of genetic mutations that commonly occur in 12 different types of cancer. The discovery supports other recent findings on the nature of cancer tumors and the importance of the tumor microenvironment. As scientists expand our knowledge of cancer tumors, there is increasing evidence that tumors are defined less by where they occur within the human body than by their own biology and the microenvironment that contributes to their growth. Issels alternative cancer treatment center is unique in using immunotherapy to treat both cancer tumors and the tumor microenvironment.

As research into the cancer genome continues, scientists expect to discover additional commonalities between tumors located in disparate areas of the body. Scientists believe an estimated 200 to 400 gene mutations could govern all cancers. Eventually, cancers may be identified by tumor type rather than body location; for example, squamous cell cancer rather than uterine cancer or breast cancer. Such a change in our approach to cancer holds promise for the development of common therapeutic strategies that could be used to treat multiple types of cancer.

The search for tumor commonalities is just beginning. A recent report published in Nature, identified genetic mutations that trigger tumor development and progression that are shared by 12 distinctly different types of cancer. For example, breast, head and neck and ovarian cancer were found to share the same cluster of mutated genes. In most cases, tumors contained just two to six genetic mutations, leading researchers to believe that only a small number of genetic abnormalities are necessary to provoke cancer development.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Survivors

Celebrity Cancer Choices Shouldn’t Influence Your Treatment Decision

Celebrity Sunglasses
Celebrity Cancer Choices Shouldn’t Influence Your Treatment Decision

The stars are coming out for cancer this month in support of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Television stars are appearing in public service announcements to promote cancer awareness. Celebrities from movies, TV and music are appearing on talk shows and granting interviews to share their personal stories about cancer. But celebrity cancer support can be a two-edged sword.

When celebrities such as Angelina Jolie, Sharon Osbourne and Wanda Sykes share their personal cancer stories, people listen — and they start talking about cancer. “When a celebrity comes out about their experience with breast cancer, it really invigorates the conversation,” Nancy Healey, executive director of the Central and South Jersey Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, told the Asbury Park Press.

The downside is that the public often places undo importance on celebrity statements which can lead people to base their own cancer treatments on celebrity experiences. After Angelina Jolie discovered she carries the BRCA gene linked to increased breast cancer risk and went public with her decision to have a preventive double mastectomy, cancer treatment centers noticed an increase in mastectomy requests.

But, as Healey points out, “Breast cancer is different for everyone. It is really a question of finding out what works for you.” In other words, just because a certain cancer treatment worked for your favorite movie star or your best friend or your sister, doesn’t mean it’s the right choice for you.

A leader in individualized immunotherapy, Issels Integrative Oncology creates personalized cancer treatment programs that are as unique as each patient’s response to cancer.