A cancer diagnosis is the most frightening and devastating news than anyone including their families and friends can hear, but the horror of a stage 4 diagnosis cannot be described, the first question must be is stage 4 cancer terminal, am I going to die?
I know the horror well, as I have lived through the trauma with my mom, who I did not make it, my brother who is still alive and my husband who has been 7 years and 8 months tumour free and is fitter and healthier now than he was before his stage 4 diagnosis.
You may be surprised at the options which others have used successfully.
Cancer is classified into different stages, depending on the progression. Stage 1 is the earliest stage and has the best chance of survival but when the cancer has spread (Metastasized) to other parts of the body it becomes more difficult for the body to fight it and recover.
A metastasis is a tumour that has spread from the primary tumour to other areas of the body, causing damage and if the organ, or part of the body it has spread to is essential for life, or cannot be removed or treated, it may be terminal.
Having said that, many people have not only survived but thrived after being told they are going to die.
When dealing with cancer a good understanding of the hallmarks of cancer helps you make good decisions about which treatment plan is best.
The Hallmarks of Cancer
Cancer almost has a life of its own, it can change, mutate, and work itself round challenges and treatments making it difficult to beat
All cancers have ten hallmarks, six of which are related to genetic and epigenetic changes and four that are how they affect the surrounding microenvironment to enable them to grow.
- Tumours have uncontrolled growth.
- They are insensitive to signals that regulate normal cell growth.
- Can evade programmed cell death, (apoptosis).
- Have the ability to replicate indefinitely.
- Produce chemical signals to get blood vessels to grow towards them and provide them with a blood supply. (angiogenesis).
- Cells can break off the primary tumour, change shape and invade surrounding tissue or travel to distant tissues and start new tumour growths (metastasis).
- Cancer cells can hide from and suppress our immune system
- Reduced oxygen and reduced nutrition stabilizes the tumour and enables growth.
- They subvert the stroma, which are part of our connective tissue, to enable angiogenesis and tumour growth.
- Increase inflammation in surrounding tissue to enhance growth.
As you can see cancer is a clever monster and is not easy to kill and yet our immune system beats cancer every day, but at some stage, for various reasons, may not be able to eradicate it and so a tumour will grow.
Genetic composition of cancers
When they mapped the cancer genome they found over ten thousand genetic mutations in cancers, only 1% of cancers have only one mutation that is consistent throughout which makes them much easier to treat with targeted therapies, all the rest of cancers have multiple mutations, none of which are consistent throughout the tumour, and the metastasis have different mutations to the parent tumour making treating these types of cancer difficult to treat with gene therapy.
This study from done on the B-RAF mutation found in 70% of melanoma illustrates how ineffective these treatments can be as the B-RAF inhibitor is bypassed by the tumour mutating to get round the effect of the treatment.
The illustration shows the patient at the start, 15 weeks after treatment and 23 weeks after treatment.
What do we do when Mike was given his stage 4 terminal cancer diagnosis?
When Mike was told by the dermatologist he could not go sailing because he was dying it was a bit of a shock, but he did not believe the doctor.
The most important question he asked was if the various treatments he was offered would be curative or palliative.
He was told they were palliative, which means they may possibly prolong his life for a couple of months or hopefully years, but he could not be cured. He was on his way.
We looked up the side effects of the offered drugs and treatments, all of which were horrific. Dying of cancer is bad enough, without making it worse, were his thoughts, so we turned to seeing if there could be a natural way of keeping him alive without the side effects.
The natural way worked, but he was fortunate in that he could have his tumour load reduced by having them cut out. (excised)
What can you do if your stage 4 cancer is inoperable?
Your oncologist tells you there is nothing more they can do.
What have others done?
They have fought for their own lives with everything they have.
Do not give up.
The metabolic theory of Cancer
As the mapping of the cancer genome found only 1% of cancers have a definitive genetic marker, is there an alternative cause for cancer?
According to Otto Warburg who got two Nobel Prizes for his work, cancer is a metabolic disease.
Professor Thomas Seyfried took up the Baton from Otto Warburg and took the nucleus of a cancer cell and put it into a healthy cell and the cell remained healthy showing the genetic mutations in the nucleus did not cause healthy cells to become cancerous. Then he took the cytoplasm (the fluid between the nucleus and the cell wall) from a cancer cell, and put it into a healthy cell and the healthy cell became cancerous.
On investigation, he found that the Mitochondria (the organelle that make our energy) were damaged in all cancer cells.
This led him to believe that damaged mitochondria are the first drivers of cancer.
This is the theory we used to fight Mike’s cancer.
It was this video, where he explains how it works, that started me on the journey which has kept Mike tumour free for nearly eight years.
Natural treatment options for cancer.
One of the options is to go to an integrative oncologist or an integrative cancer coach who can guide you in your cancer journey, giving you individualized options for you health care as opposed to your disease management.
If you or the person you know can have the tumour or tumours removed then a dietary and lifestyle change can make a difference to the chances of it returning.
There are inexpensive, yet effective treatments, other than the ones we used, researching one with someone to guide you is the best approach.
Cancer tutor, a very well known natural cancer site gives a list of effective known treatments here https://www.cancertutor.com/treatments/
Should it be inoperable then it is best to seek help from a well known cancer clinic where they can give you many treatments that have been shown to be effective. This site has a list of cancer treatment centres in America https://www.cancertutor.com/clinics/
These are some of the clinics I have advised clients to go to in Europe
The Arcadia clinic in Germany https://www.arcadia-praxisklinik.de/en/
The Budwig centre in sunny Spain https://budwigcenter.com/
The Paracelsus clinic in Switzerland https://www.paracelsus.com/about-us
Your integrative cancer coach or integrative oncologist will be able to advise you as to your best approach.
I do not have the money for a clinic!!! What can I do?
We know this problem very well, it was the reason why we had to make diet and lifestyle changes work.
Those in the US have more options and Cancer tutor gives them here https://www.cancertutor.com/how_to_fund/
For those in other countries reading the cancer tutor page could give you some ideas.
I have very dear friends whose mother/grandmother was diagnosed with stage 4 inoperable cancer.
Kassie is mentioned in my book for all the help she gave me and continues to give. She is amazing with all the tech and marketing stuff that I, as a tech phobic, non marketing person struggles with.
I met the family I while still sailing and we because firm friends.
They came to me for advice, and although I could advise them on diet and lifestyle changes, which they did immediately, I could not offer them the amazing treatments the clinics can.
They too, had a dilemma I hope no one has to go through, how do we save a person who we love and means so much to us.
Exhausting all possibilities the decided to fund-raise.
If we all help each other, we can make a better world.
We all need help at some stage in our lives
I have always believed we are here to help others as much as we can, and have often taught sailing and helped people with their health without charging or charging according to what the can afford.
This has made me think that a page to post fundraisers for people who need funding for cancer treatment on my site, would be a good idea.
If you are in agreement, or not, please comment in the comments section.
It is a very empty and meaningless world without loved ones in our lives, and a very poor world if we cannot help others.
Sources
Spotlight On: The Stages of Cancer
https://www.medicinenet.com/targeted_therapy10_hallmarks_of_cancer/article.htm
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/A-graphic-representation-of-the-Hallmarks-of-Cancer-from-Hanahan-and-Wienberg-2011_fig7_303849336
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3157968/
