Terry Thompson’s Blog

Yesterday’s post about radio waves and nanoparticles illustrates just how broad the spectrum of potential cancer treatment options really is.  Not only do we need to look deeply into ancient medicine and reconsider certain previously rejected remedies.  We also need to search for the unimagined, like John Kanzius did.  Radio wave and nanoparticles technology applied to cancer is intriguing, but it may prove to be invalid for humans in a few years.  Nevertheless, we must keep searching, keep experimenting, and keep believing.  If a radio guy can discover a non-intrusive complementary therapy possibility that ignites serious research by top medical research institutions, what could be next?  The problem is that this is not a common story.  It does not happen very often.  There are many people like John Knazius out there who need many professionals like Dr. Steven Curley with connections to many resources like those of the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.  If enough recognized medical researchers and institutions start paying attention to the potential of natural, less invasive treatment options, I believe a cure for most types of cancers will be forthcoming.  Such a new strategy for cancer therapy research is dependent on the grass roots demand for it.  Learn more about it, get involved, and support such organizations as the Connie Thompson Foundation.  Together, we can make a difference.

There are many unique possibilities for cancer therapy that are not being seriously considered and tested.  A recent discovery developed from a seemingly coincidental merging of particular people and situations.  John Kanzius is not a doctor or scientist. He is a retired radio station owner who knows something about radio technology.  A cancer patient who suffered through extensive chemotherapy, Kanzius built  a radio wave machine in his kitchen.  He was convinced that the machine had the potential of targeting cancer cells and destroying them with microscopic precision.  A garage-based laboratory and a personal $200,000 investment supported complex experiments that involved injecting hot dogs with copper sulfate as the catalyst to super-heat a cell-sized area.  Temperature would rise sharply in the area where the metal solution was without affecting the surrounding area.

Dr. Steven Curley, Kanzius’ doctor at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, teamed with Kanzius to research  the concept with various materials and techniques of heating cells laden with metals by radio waves.  Dr. Curley told Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutesthat this was the most exciting thing that he had seen in his 20 years of research.  As research progressed, it became apparent that space-age nanoparticles would have to be used in the cells that received the heat, and they would have to discriminate between tumor cells and healthy cells.  Enter Rick Smalley, Nobel Prize winner for the discovery of carbon nanotubes, hollow cylinders of pure carbon measuring about a billionth of a meter.  Smalley was also a patient of Dr. Curley.  Using this therapy on tumor injected rats and rabbits has proven it very effective.  Rice University and M. D. Anderson are presently collaborating in the development of the technique.

Clinical trials for this technique are said to be three or four years away.  The clinical trial process in our country is much too slow, especially for more exotic concepts like radio waves and nanoparticles.  In a medical environment where improvements in conventional treatments are the priority, anything outside the mainstream is extremely difficult to gain momentum.  A new strategy in the cancer war is needed where ideas outside the box are as seriously pursued as those that fit the paradigm of the 20th century.  The American approach to cancer must be refocused. 

Monday’s post highlighted the plight of 13-year-old Daniel Hauser who, with his mother, fled Minnesota to avoid chemotherapy treatment.  Now, both are back and have agreed to receive the treatment.  Much could be written about the issue of rights to reject medical treatment, minority and parental medical rights, freedom of choice over one’s own body, and laws that force infusion of toxic chemicals into the body.  However, I believe the real issue in this case and others like it is the lack of options made available to anyone who suffers from cancer.

The court gave Abraham Cherrix (see yesterday’s post) the right to choose a reduced level of conventional therapy complemented by natural immune strengthening therapy which proved successful.  This ruling came only after a lengthy and expensive court battle.  Indications are that Daniel Hauser received no such compromise offer.  It was either stop seeking alternative therapies and submit to conventional therapy exclusively or face serious legal consequences.  Now that the family has agreed to the conventional therapy, there is no apparent plan to consider any other therapy to complement it. 

The best scenario for the Hausers dilemma would have been for the medical and legal advisers to have consulted with the family about reducing the chemotherapy to a tolerable level along with natural immunotherapy, mind-body and spiritual counseling, physical therapy, and a host of other proven integrative practices.   That would likely have satisfied all concerned from the beginning.  And, remission, like that of the Cherrix experience, would likely come sooner with much less pain and agony.  Unfortunately, the doctors and the lawyers probably didn’t even consider this option. 

How long will we continue to tolerate the myth that aggressive chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery are the only way to fight cancer?  A wide and virtulally harmless array of modalities have proven themselves in clinical trials and other experiments to make conventional treatment much more effective and less debilitating.  Yet, the cancer care community generally pays them little attention.  Integrative oncologists are working hard across this country and around the world to provide this new strategy for their patients.  They are overwhelmed with patient load.  I urge you to seek them out.  Find out what they are doing.  And, if you need an oncologist, choose one of them.  The sooner demand for integrative therapy increases, the sooner conventional oncologists will get the message and train in that practice.

Yesterday’s post regarding 13-year-old Daniel Hauser who refused chemo brought to mind a very similar case a couple of years ago.  Remember Abraham Cherrix, the 16-year-old who also went to court in 2006 to fight for his right to opt out of chemo treatments?  Like Hauser, he also had lymphatic Hodgkin’s disease.  Initial therapy had left Cherrix bald, racked with fevers, and so weak he couldn’t walk.  He and his parents agreed to discontinue the conventional treatments and choose the Hoxey natural therapy not legal in the U.S., but used routinely in Mexico.  At that point, the social agency took the family to court, accused them of medical neglect, and requested that the boy be forced to undergo chemo and radiation.  The highly visible court case resulted in a judicial compromise that allowed the Cherrixes to forgo chemo if they would consent to treatment by an integrative oncologist which included radiation therapy concurrently with natural innovative immunotherapy.  Supplements were used to bolster the immune system.  So, why did all the news media stop reporting on the case at that point?  Have you heard any more about Abraham Cherrix?  Probably not.

Well, Abraham is about to celebrate his 19th birthday next week.  He is completely cancer free!  No chemo, reduced radiation, and an aggressive protocol of immune system strengthening allowed his body to fight the disease virtually by itself.  Granted, the radiation was probably key to the remission, but the complementary natural therapy allowed less dependence on it and no further reliance on chemo.  Plus, the case spawned a state law named after Cherrix that gives Virginia teenagers and their parents the right to refuse doctor-recommended treatments for life-threatening ailments.

If our country had the right mind-set about cancer treatment, families like the Hausers and the Cherrixes would not have to suffer such excruciating upheavals to avoid exclusive conventional treatment and to find integrative oncologists.  Integrative therapy should be the rule in America rather than the exception.  It is proven, it is legal, and it works.  We must move in the integrative direction and move quickly.  Please get on board. 

You’ve probably heard in the news by now about 13-year-old Daniel Hauser who has Hodgkin’s lymphoma and has refused conventional cancer treatment.  At this writing, he and his mother, Colleen Hauser, are on the run from law enforcement and believed to be heading for Mexico.  Diagnosed in January, Daniel received one chemo treatment and subsequently decided to opt for an alternative treatment of herbs and vitamins.  A federal judge ordered that the teen continue to receive the chemo.  Defying that order, Colleen fled with her son from their Minnesota home and was last seen in California.  She had stated that injecting poison into Daniel’s body was against her religious beliefs.  The father claims no knowledge of their whereabouts.  The judge has now ordered the boy placed in foster care when found and has issued a warrant for his mother’s arrest.

What a tragic dilemma.  The rights of both Daniel and his parents are at stake.  However, the government’s case is bolstered by the fact that this type of cancer is highly curable with conventional therapy and that Minnesota law requires parents to provide their children with medically necessary care.  Few, if any, would argue that the government should intervene on behalf of a minor if his parents refused the cure-assured treatment for a snake bite, acute internal bleeding, or a deadly staph infection.  But, making a crime of refusing treatment known to be harmful to the body and with a 50-year history of questionable success at least leaves room for debate.  What if Daniel had been diagnosed with Stage IV terminal cancer and refused treatment?  Would he still have been ordered removed from his family and forced to undergo the treatment?  We also wonder whether the oncologist offered the Hausers any options for complementary therapy that would enhance the conventional treatment, make it less debilitating, and shorten its duration.  Were they informed of any other treatment centers that specialize in legally approved, but less toxic, treatment methods?

The Hausers are not the first family to be caught in this Catch 22, nor will they be the last.  Until our society becomes convinced that we need a new strategy for the war on cancer–a strategy that includes proven options that complement conventional therapy–we will always have to deal with cancer issues that place its victims in untenable, no-win situations.  The “either-or” option between exclusively conventional therapy and exclusively natural alternatives continues to relegate us to deciding on the lesser of two evils.  A new strategy of integrative oncology is long overdue.  I invite your comments.  

Well, did you watch it?  With all of the American Idol hype, what should have been one of the most import human interest/human impact programs on television may have largely gotten suppressed in the shuffle.  Don’t get me wrong, I am into American Idol, especially since one of the two finalists is from my home state.  However, the Farrah Fawcett documentary last Friday evening deserved and needed everyone’s attention.  It depicted the physical, emotional, and spiritual struggle of cancer in a way that is rarely revealed in our society.  It was not comfortable.  It was agonizing.  Although most of us have experienced the disease directly or indirectly, being drawn in to the personal battle of a Hollywood icon captures us in a different way.  Those who watched it should find it a little more difficult to shield themselves from reality.  We need to be reminded of it daily.  We need to internalize it, personalize it, and do something about it. 

Farrah’s last words in the film included (paraphrased), “Why can’t America accept and approve the alternative (cancer treatment) methods that have been proven successful in other countries.”  It is a tragedy that our great nation has not found its way to research and develop much of anything other than the toxic, debilitating drugs and damaging radiation procedures that comprise the conventional treatment modalities for cancer treatment.  Ms. Fawcett had to travel to Germany and coordinate the collaboration between German oncologists and her American doctors in order to have the advantage of anything outside of conventional treatment.  We must progress beyond this quagmire.  Our country and our medical scientists can do better than this.

I regret that this blog post will be my only one for this week.  I will be participating in a conference all week.  See you next Monday.  Keep up the fight in the new strategy for the war on cancer. 

I believe everyone should watch the Farrah Fawcett documentary tonight at 8 Central/9 Eastern on NBC.  I am not promoting Farrah Fawcett, but her celebrity brings the cold hard facts of cancer to the public media.  After I watched Saving Private Ryan, I felt that every American citizen over 12 should be required to watch that movie.  It depicted the shocking reality of war that everyone should have as a backdrop to all social and political thinking.  Likewise, the Farrah Fawcett special may just awaken enough of us to how debilitating and devastating this disease is that we will be re-inspired to do something about it.  I understand that Farrah’s interviews will be heart rending, and the depiction of her struggle for almost three years will be painful to watch.  But, we need to let our hearts be rent, and we need to feel the pain.  One in three of us will be there someday.

Ms. Fawcett credits her treatments in Germany with allowing her to live even as long as she has.  These are treatments not approved in the U.S.  Many proven therapy complements not allowed in our country are routinely practiced in Europe, Latin America, and the Far East.  Farrah could afford to travel to Europe and receive treatments that are uninsured.  I don’t fault her for that, but few can afford such care.  It’s well past time for America to wake up and renounce the status quo by demanding integrative cancer treatment from our oncologists and cancer centers.  We must also demand recognition of these treatments by the health insurance industry.  Please help the Connie Thompson Foundation and other like organizations in pursuing this end.

Used for centuries in Europe to treat various diseases, hyperthermia causes a pronounced increase in white blood cell count.  The white blood cells are the core of the disease fighting antibodies of the body.  Hyperthermia is the heating of the body to temperatures well above normal for short periods of time.  It can be induced by injection or by external heating such as a hot bath.  In 1984, the FDA approved this practice as a valid cancer treatment.  Five years later, the National Cancer Institute stated that heat therapy increases the effectiveness of other treatments by 25 to 35 percent.  In phase III clinical trials, when hyperthermia therapy was added to radiation therapy, significant improvements were reported for certain tumors, approximately doubling the rate of tumor response for some cancers.  Research is currently evaluating the effectiveness of hyperthermia in supporting drug delivery by enlarging tumor pores.  A recent Boston Globe article observed that traditional therapies offer little to help shrink cancerous tumors.  The article went on the say that, according to clinical studies, when tumors are treated with radiation therapy and hyperthermia in combination, they tend to shrink, sometimes dramatically.

This is yet another classic example of how complementary cancer therapy by integrative oncologists can greatly enhance conventional treatment.  How many conventional oncologists practice hyperthermia with their radiation or chemotherapy?  Hardly any of them.  We must organize a grassroots initiated strategy of integrative oncology if we are ever to win the war on cancer.  Join the Connie Thompson Foundation and other organizations pursuing this end.  Public awareness and support for the new strategy is our purpose for being.   

The concept of chelation is to introduce a substance into the body that will bind harmful impurities to itself and remove them through bodily functions.  As part of cancer therapy, this detoxifying process frees up more of the immune system to fight the cancer.  Chelation was first used in 1950 to treat lead poisoning in factory workers. It was highly successful in removing lead and certain other metals that produced free radicals in the body.  Since then, the therapy has been used extensively in integrative cancer treatment and by naturopaths in cancer prevention protocols.  It has yet to find its place in the practices of conventional oncologists although it is legal, safe, and considered effective by many integrative oncologists.

It is difficult to understand why chelation is not a high priority in cancer research and seemingly of little or no interest to conventional oncologists.  Shouldn’t anything that helps our immune system fight the cancer be a part of the overall treatment?  It could mean higher potential of remission, longer survival, and less toxic treatment.  The goal of integrative oncology is to treat the whole person, not just the tumor.  A new strategy  of cancer treatment is absolutely necessary to win the war on this disease.  The Connie Thompson Foundation and my upcoming book are dedicated exclusively to this end. 

Numerous nutrients that are not essential to our diets have been found worthy of further testing for use in cancer therapy.  One such “accessory” nutrient is animal cartilage.  Bovine, or cow, cartilage got the attention of researchers about a half-century ago.  Bovine tracheal cartilage, or BTC, was administered topically and through injection to a stage IV breast cancer patient.  The cancer was healed completely.  Shortly thereafter, Dr. William Lane experimented with shark cartilage in anti-angiogenesis therapy (restricting the blood flow to tumors).  Dr. Lane’s book, Sharks Don’t Get Cancer, started the use of shark cartilage as a major option among alternative cancer therapies.  Subsequent research by Dr. Robert Langer of MIT and Dr. Judah Folkman of Harvard resulted in published works indicating that animal cartilage can in fact stop angiogenesis in cultured tumors.

After an abundance of credible studies supported the case that bovine and shark cartilage killed or slowed the growth of cancer tumors by anti-angiogenesis, Dr. Patrick Quillen, a noted nutrition specialist, said, “Of all the impressive healing agents in nature’s “pharmacy,” none is more safe, cost-effective, versatile, and promising than BTC.”  The new strategy for the war on cancer, supported in part by the Connie Thompson Foundation, seeks to increase research in animal cartilage and other promising natural substances as complements to conventional therapy.  It is critically important that integrative oncologists have these new options available for use.  They need your support.