Spotlight on Our Diagnosed Members: April’s Story

After being diagnosed with cancer, I learned that there are about 80 something factors that contribute to developing cancer. Out of that 80 something number, it takes three factors to cause abnormal cell signaling. This made me reflect and identify which main three were mine. My pathology identified a gene that I was born with called ATM. That left two more. Since my birth, my childhood, teen years and early adulthood were extremely stressful. I was ignored most of my life. I went to a new school every few months and lived with various family members due to having a bipolar mother. I lived very scared and invisible. In 2013 my 22 year old son committed suicide. He told me that he didn’t want to live anymore, walked into his room and hung himself…while I was making him a cup of hot tea, thinking that would make him feel better. I live with that every day. So, that being said, I know that stress was culprit number two. Due to my journey up to my diagnosis, I used alcohol to escape. I only did it on weekends, but that was still too much. Culprit number three.

In January 2022, I went to my local emergency room because I was very sick for a couple of weeks and could not stop vomiting. During my visit at the emergency room I was given a pregnancy test because of the vomiting and that test came up positive. I had a hysterectomy and I was 52 years old at the time. The doctor told me my illness was due to Covid. However, he said he was not worried about the Covid. He was worried about the positive pregnancy test because that was an indication that I had cancer somewhere in my body. The doctor told me to follow up with my primary care physician to locate the cancer. I followed up with my doctor. He ordered a new pregnancy test and a mammogram. Once again, I had a positive pregnancy test and a negative mammogram. My primary care physician said that my HCG level, which was around 7000, was due to hormones and that I did not have cancer and put it out of my head and never think about again. I did my own research on this and discovered that the HCG test in women, due to hormones, is in the range of 3 to 5. I was then sent to a gynecologist who also performed a third pregnancy test and reviewed the findings of my prior mammogram and also said that it is due to hormones and to put this out of my mind and never think about it again. Word for word as my primary had said.

Feeling frustrated and trusting the original emergency room doctor, I fired my primary doctor and went in search of a new one. Luckily for me my new doctor was very intrigued about my pregnancy tests. She then ordered a complete blood panel and found that my liver enzymes were extremely high. She referred me to an oncologist who was also a blood expert. When I met this new doctor to have my liver situation checked out, I mentioned to him about the pregnancy tests. He ordered a pregnancy test being number four at this point, and he also chalked it up to hormones, he sent me for several scans to look for cancer and everything came back clean. I had mentioned to him in January when I was first told that I had cancer I had felt on my own a large lump in my breast and he asked me why I had not mentioned it to him during our visits. I told him that my mammograms kept coming back clean, so why would I? He sent me for an ultrasound which immediately indicated the breast cancer.

From there a biopsy was done and showed that it was triple negative Metaplastic breast carcinoma. At this point my doctor educated me on this particular type of cancer and said that chemotherapy was not helpful. He encouraged me to start chemotherapy and immunotherapy (Keytruda). This was because, in his exact words, “just in case there’s cancer elsewhere in the body that was not yet detected, the chemo would take care of it”. In mid October of 2022, I started chemotherapy and a immunotherapy.

Two weeks prior to starting chemotherapy, on October 1st, just to get something rolling towards my care I started the Gerson program. This is a vegan program that includes limited raw and cooked vegetables, apples, lemons, and greens. No salt, no sugar and 40 ounces of carrot/apple juice a day along with five coffee enemas every two hours. I did this for two weeks and stopped this therapy when I started chemo, because you cannot do both at the same time due to the massive liver detox that takes place. The chemo will filter through the liver at an accelerated pace and kill you.

In the middle of November I contacted an oncologist in Houston Texas who prescribes off-label drugs for cancer treatments. Omega Precision Oncology uses traditional chemotherapy and immunotherapy along side off-label/repurposed drugs, and encourages two styles of eating. Vegan or Keto are the two that are recommended, while he prefers vegan for a healthier and faster outcome. I had read a book called How to Starve Cancer by Jane McLelland, who also battled cancer and researched off labeled drugs and their effectiveness and the science behind the effectiveness. They were very successful in treating cancer. After I found the doctor who was part of the How to Starve Cancer website, I immediately included this protocol with my chemotherapy and immunotherapy.

Dr Paul Zhang, my Houston oncologist, did not hesitate to explain the drugs and why they are effective being repurposed. Metformin is a diabetic drug, but for cancer it works the same way by blocking glucose pathways to the cell. Cancer feeds and thrives on two main “foods”…sugar and fat. The proper terms are glucose and cholesterol. Which leads us into the introduction of Pravastatin, for cholesterol. This drug acts the same as Metformin, but for cholesterol. It blocks the pathway to the cell, thus starving the cell. This is what we want. All cancer cells under microscope have microscopic parasites, and they would have to be to be in a cell in the first place. Anti-parasite medications like Ivermectin or Mebendazole (the drug I took) have been showing powerful results and quickly. Parasites are a sign that your cancer is active and healthy. We don’t want that! Cancer is an inflammatory disease, so it is not uncommon to be prescribed an anti-inflammatory with any cancer protocol.

After five months of these drugs, Dr Zhang finished me off with an anti-fungal called Itraconazole. He said that it is how we kill the stem cell after starving the cells to death. At this point I was now receiving low dose chemotherapy, immunotherapy, off-label drugs, and on a vegan and juicing diet. In mid-December 2022 I had a follow up mammogram (why, I don’t know) and an ultrasound done again. Of course the mammogram showed that my breasts were fine And the ultrasound showed that the existing tumor had shrunk by half.

In March 2023, I finished my rounds of chemo and had a final ultrasound done on my breast, showing that the tumor was not detected. In the beginning of May 2023 I had a partial mastectomy on my breast and three lymph nodes removed for testing. All of my margins were clear and my lymph nodes were clean. I chose not to follow up with radiation per their urging, because I had been heavily damaged by the chemo and the Keytruda. Since my surgery I have adopted a 3000 calorie a day fruit intake, and for my dinners I choose to only use organic whole food and organic grass fed proteins. I’m no stranger to my organic morning coffee, the occasional dark chocolate and bowl of low ingredient ice cream!

Every three months since my diagnosis I have had blood work and it was only in December 2024 that my red blood cells returned to normal and my liver enzymes had finally returned to normal. I had tried several different supplements that have different benefits, and I have narrowed them down to a few now that I will use for the rest of my life. I do tribute my liver health to a few of those organic natural supplements that I have found. I do not drink alcohol, and I am very aware of the products that I purchase based on the ingredients, whether they be household supplies, hygiene, products, or food. I am doing very well and the only thing left to heal that is taking the longest is the interior of my vagina and the brain fog. I am not sure if the brain clarity will ever come back because I am in my mid 50s. My doctor said that I was a miracle in MY case. However, I attribute my vanished tumor to be from the work and research that I put into myself.

I look at this disease as a good vs evil. Fight it with the good. This includes good intentions…diet, positive mindset, only allowing clean and purposeful elements into your body and your life. If something isn’t working and working fast, try something else. I have adopted the motto, if it sounds too good to be true…it isn’t!