Cancer Chronicles

Cardiovascular Fitness Not Affected By Cancer Treatment

2009-05-29T07:43:00.000-07:00

The cardiovascular fitness level of cancer survivors is not affected by many standard cancer therapies, say researchers from Georgetown University Medical Cancer. That is the finding of a new observational study to be presented today at the American College of Sports Medicine in Seattle.

"We know physical activity is a critical component of cancer survivorship, both during and after cancer treatment," says Jennifer LeMoine, PhD, a post-doctoral research fellow with training in exercise physiology at GUMC's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. "In order to prescribe an exercise program, it's critical that we understand our patient's fitness level and whether or not treatment has had an impact on their cardiovascular health."

For the study, the researchers conducted a chart review of 49 women who attended a physician-directed fitness clinic for cancer survivors, founded and run by Priscilla Furth, MD, the study's co-author. The data included demographics, physical activity levels and cancer treatment type, duration and time since their treatment. Fitness assessments were conducted using a three-minute step test during a clinic visit. The purpose of the study was to access the step test as a way of determining a patient's current cardiovascular fitness level.

LeMoine says, "Often, what people think they are physically capable of doing and what they can actually do are two very different things. Many have a better fitness level than they expect while some find they're not as fit as they thought. The step-test gives us a better idea of their exercise tolerance and cardiovascular-fitness."

All the patients in the study were women and were diverse by age and body mass index. Their cancer diagnoses and treatments varied. Overall, 33 percent of the survivors were sedentary and 67 percent reported being physically active. Thirty-five (71 percent) of the participants completed the step test. Test completion and heart rate recovery were not affected by treatment, BMI, or age.

"What's really exciting to us was that we found that cardiovascular fitness was not affected by the expected culprits -- cancer treatment, type, duration or time since treatment," LeMoine explains. "That isn't to say there aren't side-effects of some treatments that may hinder physical activity, but when it comes to actual cardiovascular fitness as measured in our clinic, many of the standard treatments didn't have a role."

"We've modified an in-clinic cardiovascular assessment tool , the three-minute step test, with the goal of finding a test that can easily and quickly be performed in a physician's office," explains Priscilla A. Furth, MD, a professor of oncology and medicine at Lombardi. "Having this kind of evaluation tool is critical for physicians, like me, who are interested in prescribing physical activity for this population."

LeMoine and Furth report no related financial interests. There was no external funding for this research.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090528110617.htm

Conflicts of interest found in many cancer studies

2009-05-11T03:01:00.001-07:00

WASHINGTON, May 11 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. study have found that nearly one third of cancer research articles published in medical journals have financial ties with pharmaceutical companies.

The study, published online on Monday in the journal Cancer, indicates that conflicts of interest may cause some researchers to report biased results that are favorable to pharmaceutical companies.

Reshma Jagsi of the University of Michigan and her colleagues reviewed 1,534 cancer studies published on eight medical journals, including Cancer, the New England Journal of Medicine and the Lancet.

According to the researchers, 17 percent of the studies declared industry funding while 12 percent had a study author who was an industry employee. Randomized trials with reported conflicts of interest were more likely to have positive findings.

"It's becoming increasingly clear that we need to look more at how we can disentangle cancer research from industry ties," said Jagsi. "If we wish to minimize the potential for bias, we need to increase other sources of support."

"Medical research is ultimately a common endeavor that benefits all of society, so it seems only appropriate that we should be funding it through general revenues rather than expecting the market to provide," she said.

Many medical journals now require researchers to disclose potential conflicts of interest in the articles they submit for publication, but the researchers urged that "journals should embrace both rigorous standards of disclosure and heightened scrutiny when conflicts exist."

Kidney disease may raise cancer risk

2009-05-11T03:00:00.000-07:00

Sunday May 10, 2009 (foodconsumer.org) -- Reduced kidney function may put men at a higher risk for cancers of the lung and the urinary tract, according to a new study published in the April 30, 2009 issue of Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

The study, led by Dr. Germaine Wong and colleagues at the Westmead Hospital in Australia, showed that 23 out of 1000 men who had chronic kidney disease were diagnosed with cancer during a 10-year follow-up, compared to 17 out of 1000 men without kidney disease. This association was not found among women with kidney disease.

Dr. Wong and his colleagues examined data on 3049 people aged 49 to 97 years to establish a correlation between kidney disease and prevalence of cancers of the lung and the urinary tract.

They found that nearly a third of the study participants had moderate kidney disease, but none were serious enough to have used dialysis and underwent kidney transplantation. The researchers suggested that prevention of chronic disease may be a novel and worthwile strategy for reducing cancer risk in the general population.

(By David Liu and edited by Will Levine)

City-dwellers susceptible to late-stage cancer

2009-05-11T02:59:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON: A new study has revealed that people who live in urban areas are at higher risk of developing late-stage cancer than those who live
in suburban and rural areas.

The findings indicate a need for more effective urban-based cancer screening and awareness programs.

To explore the rural and urban differences in late-stage cancer diagnoses, Sara L. McLafferty, Ph.D., of the University of Illinois and Fahui Wang, Ph.D., of Louisiana Sate University analyzed data from the Illinois State Cancer Registry from 1998 to 2002.

The researchers assessed late-stage cancer diagnoses of the four major types of cancer (breast, colorectal, lung, and prostate) throughout the state, comparing data from cities with those from less-populated regions.

They found that for all four cancers, risk was highest in the most highly urbanized area (Chicago) and decreased as areas became more rural.

However, in the most isolated rural areas, risk was also high. Risks were considerably low among patients living in large towns in rural areas.

For colorectal and prostate cancers, and to a lesser extent breast cancer, these disparities stemmed mainly from differences in the ages and races of individuals in the various geographic areas.

A high concentration of vulnerable populations and economically disadvantaged areas in Chicago and its suburbs accounted for the high rates of late-stage diagnosis found in these highly urban areas.

Among the different races, the black population was particularly vulnerable to late diagnosis. On the other hand, the lower rates of late-stage diagnosis in rural areas reflected the greater presence of elderly patients who have a lower risk of late-stage diagnosis, likely because of frequent doctors' visits and age-related cancer screenings.

Differences in age and race did not explain the geographic disparities seen for lung cancer, indicating that other factors-such as cancer awareness or diagnostic differences-account for the rural-urban differences in late-stage lung cancer diagnosis.

The researchers said that their study found a reversal of the commonly held view that late-stage cancer risks are highest for rural residents.

"The concentration of health disadvantage in highly urbanized places emphasizes the need for more extensive urban-based cancer screening and education programs, especially programs targeted to the most vulnerable urban populations and neighbourhoods," they said.

The study is published in the June 15, 2009 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.

Mathematical Model Helps Predict Cancer Tumor Size

2008-08-19T15:53:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, August 19, 2008; 12:00 AM

TUESDAY, Aug. 19 (HealthDay News) -- A mathematical model to find blood biomarkers that can help doctors estimate the size of cancer tumors has been developed by researchers at Stanford University.

The team says its work may help guide development of new tests to improve early detection of cancer. Currently, there's no reliable method of using the results of blood-screening tests to gauge tumor size.

The Stanford researchers developed their mathematical model using two common blood biomarkers: prostate specific antigen (PSA), which is often elevated in prostate cancer, and CA125, used as a marker for follow-up therapy in ovarian cancer patients.

Using this model, the researchers found that the minimum tumor sizes predicted by their calculations were close to what was actually seen in clinical practice.

"We're pretty happy that we came up with rather realistic tumor sizes. Although this is a very basic model, it should give researchers a tool to use when deciding if a particular secreted protein would be a good biomarker," radiologist Dr. Amelie Lutz said in a Stanford news release.

"Early cancer detection is a very challenging but important goal for the cancer field. This modeling work enables a very deep understanding of the problems that will have to be solved for blood-based cancer biomarkers to be successful in this effort," study senior author Dr. Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, a professor of radiology, said in the news release.

The study was published in the Aug. 18 issue of the journalPLoS Medicine.

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about early detection of cancer.

SOURCE: Stanford University, news release, Aug. 18, 2008

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/19/AR2008081902116.html

Baby with massive tumor saved by liquor tycoon

2008-08-15T03:23:00.000-07:00

I Would like to share a story I read at CNN. As a cancer advocate I just hope that people will continue doing good deeds just like this. Here it goes.

Two-year-old Safa'a gently holds his mother's hand, a 12-pound tumor bulging from his frail body. The tumor is nearly as big as he is.
The Iraqi boy has come to Jordan for surgery with help from a most unlikely source: an 85-year-old liquor tycoon living on the other side of the world.
"There is a real chance that Safa'a may die during the operation," Dr. Iyad Sultan tells the boy's parents.
His mother, Manal, cradles her son's hand as she trembles inside the King Hussein Cancer Center. His father, Mohammed, struggles with his words.
"We are afraid," he says softly.

Safa'a was diagnosed in Iraq with Wilms' tumor, the most common kidney tumor in children. If caught and treated early on, the cancer has a high survival rate. But by the time Safa'a arrived in Jordan, Sultan says, it was a miracle the boy was alive.
"The tumor is massive," Sultan says. "The liver, kidney, intestines are all squished to the sides. His lungs are very small. It's hard to believe he is able to breathe." Watch Iraq baby gets second chance »
The tumor prevented him from developing like other children.
"Sometimes when we see other children play, he starts to cry," his father says. "I don't buy him certain toys like soccer balls. Because he looks at me and when he throws it far away, he can't go and get it. Even at his age, he understands."
Safa'a had received chemotherapy in Baghdad for a year, but the tumor kept growing, and doctors said there was nothing else they could do.
"You know, he is my first baby," Mohammed said from his modest Baghdad home at the time. "I used everything I have to rescue my baby. I tried to do something, but I can't."
The boy's treatment in Iraq became even more volatile as sectarian violence flared. The family is Sunni, and the hospital treating Safa'a fell under the control of the Mehdi Army, a Shiite militia loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Traveling to the facility for something as simple as picking up the child's medical records became impossible. Watch the struggles of getting help inside Iraq »
About 6,000 miles away, in Boston, Massachusetts, Safa'a came to the attention of Ray Tye. A liquor distributor and philanthropist, Tye runs the Ray Tye Medical Aid Foundation with his wife, Eileen. Their motto: "We will never stop caring."
With the help of their friends, the couple formed the foundation five years ago after their son died of multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cell that is incurable.
"I found out that all the money in the world couldn't save him, but I did realize that money could save lives," Tye says from Boston.
The foundation offered to foot the bill for Safa'a to travel to Jordan, even if the boy only had the slightest chance of survival. The foundation also is paying the medical expenses of at least three other Iraqis at the Amman cancer center.
"The mission is to bring people to hospitals who have life-threatening problems and don't have money. I don't care where they come from," Tye says.
The Iraqi family then began the journey to neighboring Jordan.
Safa'a is considered lucky to have a donor. Each month, about two dozen desperate Iraqis end up at the doors of the King Hussein Cancer Center with little or no money for treatment, officials say. See how you can make a difference
"The center is almost the only beacon of hope for patients seeking treatment for cancer," says Princess Dina, director-general of the hospital's foundation. "We said we cannot turn a blind eye to these patients. They are pleading, 'Please help.' So we cannot just ignore that. We don't have the millions to cover so many Iraqi patients, so we said let's try something else."
The scope of the crisis prompted the foundation to establish the Iraqi Goodwill Fund. It has raised more than $1 million and helped dozens of patients, but the need for such care far surpasses what the fund can do.
For many parents, the knowledge that their children didn't have to suffer so much is often too much to bear. Iraq's decrepit medical institutions can't deliver even the most basic health care, and the emigration of skilled medical professionals means that many curable diseases inside Iraq end in death.
"In many cases, children come with diseases who have just advanced to a level that you can't give any curable treatment," says Sultan, Safa'a's doctor. "If you saw the patients months earlier -- six, eight, 10 months earlier -- you can do many other things that now just aren't doable."
One patient is 2-year-old Mariam, who was born with an extreme and potentially fatal tumor on the side of her face. Her young mother, Rasha, 22, was deserted by her husband. She had to fight to get her daughter seen by a doctor in Iraq; the staff was too overwhelmed with the daily casualties.
"We tried to get her into a hospital in Iraq, and the doctor kicked us out," Rasha says. "There was shooting and firing outside. We fought with the doctor; we fought to get her in. I lost all hope."
The tumor grew to such a mass, it displaced Mariam's eye, broke her jaw and burst through her scalp. "I was watching my daughter die in front of me slowly, and there was nothing I could do," Rasha says.
U.S. troops discovered Mariam, and through a joint effort with the Jordanian government, she ended up in Amman. Now, little Mariam gurgles at her favorite nurse. Small smiles play across her deformed face as her mother tickles her.
Back in the operating room, Safa'a whimpers as his parents kiss him tearfully, fearing that it could be a final goodbye.
"We don't know what will happen when we open Safa'a's abdomen and we take this tumor out," the doctor says. "Safa'a has a chance of survival definitely, if he survives today. So today is the most critical day in Safa'a's life."
The surgery lasted five hours, and the doctors called it a success. The massive tumor was removed completely. Safa'a's parents could barely express their happiness and gratitude.
"I cannot put my happiness into words," his mother says, laughing.
The boy's father adds, "this is such a happy occasion. You brought happiness into the hearts of parents."
Safa'a has a lengthy recovery ahead of him, but his parents know he is lucky to have a chance at life, thanks to the kindness of strangers.
"I will tell you the truth. Tears come to your eyes. You're saving a life," Tye says after hearing about Safa'a's successful surgery.
"When you look at somebody that had a life-threatening problem and you could, with money, save that life, you've got to sit back and say you helped make this world just a little better, and that's what it's all about."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/08/13/iraq.baby/

Targeted Radiation Therapy Can Control Limited Cancer Spread

2008-08-12T09:41:00.000-07:00

ScienceDaily (Aug. 12, 2008) — Precisely targeted radiation therapy can eradicate all evidence of disease in selected patients with cancer that has spread to only a few sites, suggests the first published report from an ongoing clinical trial.

In the August 15, 2008, issue of Clinical Cancer Research, (published online August 12) researchers from the University of Chicago Medical Center report that targeted radiation therapy had completely controlled all signs of cancer in 21 percent of patients who had five or fewer sites of metastatic disease.

"This was proof of principle in patients who had failed the standard therapies and had few, if any, remaining options," said the study's senior author, Ralph Weichselbaum, MD, professor and chairman of radiation and cellular oncology at the University of Chicago Medical Center. "We had encouraging results, including several long-term survivors, in patients with stage-IV cancers that had spread to distant sites."

In 1994, Weichselbaum and colleague Samuel Hellman proposed that there was an intermediate state between cancer that had not spread at all and cancer that had spread extensively. They named this phenomenon "oligometastases," meaning cancer that had spread to a few distant sites.

In some cases, surgeons have successfully treated such limited cancer spread, producing long-term survival by removing the primary cancer and one or two distant tumors, off-shoots of the original cancer--usually in the lung or liver. However, some patients are not fit for surgery or have cancer that is inoperable.

Recent improvements in tumor detection and precise image-guided radiation therapy, however, have made simultaneous treatment of multiple tumor sites with radiation feasible. So in 2004, Weichselbaum organized a clinical trial to test the ability of local radiation therapy to control a limited number of related tumors which colleague Joseph Salama, MD, assistant professor of radiation oncology at the University of Chicago has directed since 2005,.

Patients with stage-IV cancer with one to five distant metastases and no tumors bigger than 10 centimeters (about four inches) in diameter were eligible to participate in the study either before or after chemotherapy treatment.

Each patient received three doses, separated by at least two days, of precisely targeted radiation therapy focused on each metastatic tumor. Treatment was usually completed within one week. The first patients in the study received lower doses. As few side effects were seen, radiation doses were gradually increased in subsequent groups of patients.

"Previous studies determined the maximal radiotherapy doses for single organs," said Salama, lead author of the study, "but this technique has not been tested for simultaneous use on multiple organs. So we designed a dose-escalation trial to determine the optimal dose, starting with fairly low levels and increasing the dose in later groups of patients."

From November 2004 through February 2008, 29 patients, with a total of 56 cancerous lesions, enrolled in the trial. Of the 29 patients, 24 had progressed after at least one round of systemic chemotherapy. For the other five, there was no promising choice of therapy.

Six of the 29 initial patients had lasting tumor control, with no detectable evidence of disease 15 months after treatment.

Many patients had a complete response in at least one tumor. Thirty-one of the 56 treated tumors (55%) completely disappeared. Two tumors (4%) had a partial response, defined as reduction in tumor volume of more than 30 percent. Only three of the 56 tumors progressed (5%), growing in size by 20 percent or more during the treatment phase.

Tumor control improved as the radiation dose increased. Thirty-nine percent of the 31 tumors treated with 24 gray of radiation met the criteria for tumor control--a complete or partial response. That increased to 79 percent for the 19 tumors treated with 30 gray, and to 83 percent for the six tumors treated with 36 gray.

"This suggests that the initial doses were too low," said Salama. "We have seen improved response rates with higher radiation doses without an increase in side effects yet."

Typical treatment doses for a patient with breast cancer, for example, are in the range of 50 to 60 gray, spread over 20-30 sessions. The trend however, is toward delivering higher doses in fewer sessions.

Patients tolerated the treatment, the authors write, with "limited difficulty." All had some fatigue but few had serious side effects. The most severe included one patient being treated for abdominal tumors who developed vomiting that required hospitalization. One lung cancer patient developed a severe cough. One patient had gastrointenstinal bleeding three months after treatment that required blood transfusion and laser treatment.

Crucial to this approach is careful patient selection, distinguishing between patients who have a treatable number of tumors and those who have widespread metastasis, including multiple tumors too small to detect. Currently, there are no known genetic "signatures" to differentiate between widespread cancer versus oligometastasis, the authors point out. This is one area of active research. Only five of the 29 patients treated so far, however, had tumor progression in more than five sites.

The technique could also be applied after chemotherapy, the authors suggest, in cases where the drugs had eliminated most the smaller cancer, leaving only a few larger tumors behind.

The trial is still underway. "We now have about 50 patients," said Weichselbaum, "and several of them remain disease-free, one of them three years after treatment."

The Ludwig Center for Metastasis Research and the University of Chicago Cancer Research Center funded this study. Additional authors include Steven Chmura, Neil Mehta, Kamil Yenice, Walter Stadler, Everett Vokes, Daniel Haraf and Samuel Hellman, of the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Adapted from materials provided by University of Chicago Medical Center, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080812094526.htm

It Is Like A Nightmare When I Look Back

2008-08-12T09:37:00.001-07:00

Complex double cancers

In February 1997, I was diagnosed as suffering from bile duct cancer at the anus and rectal cancer at the upper part. I had catheter treatment on 3 parts but the operation can not be performed on the bile duct cancer and chemotherapy did not have any effect at all.

The doctor said that only other hope I had was radiation treatment. Thus, in January the following year, I was admitted into another hospital that could carry out radiation therapy. An operation was performed on the rectal cancer in April. In May, catheter treatment was stopped and I was released from the hospital. In less than two weeks, however, cancer struck again and I was sent to the hospital to undergo catheter treatment once more.

From then on, I began to drink Tian Xian liquid occasionally. I first heard of Tian Xian through the books and information sent by a friend. I was quite doubtful about the efficacy of the product but in July 1998, Dr. Wang Zhengguo came to Japan to give a lecture on cancer care. My family went to listen and recorded his lecture. After I listened to the tape, I decided to bet my life on Tian Xian liquid and drank it diligently.

Previously, the doctor had told me that the cancer had already metastasized to the liver and had become incurable. The cancer cells had cause ascites so the possibility of a cure is very, very minimal. I thought to myself that if I did not go home right there and then, I will never be able to do so anymore. So, I hurriedly left the hospital.

On the second month after I had started taking Tian Xian liquid, not only did the jaundice minimize, the ascites also disappeared. Catheter treatment became unnecessary and was stopped on the fourth month.

Now, a small tumor still exists in my body. Recalling my frequent visit to the hospital for cholangitis and weakening of the liver function, however, is really like replaying a terrible nightmare.

Chiba County, Mr. Oshima, 62

http://www.cancer-central.com/rectum-cancer/rectum-cancer-2.htm

I Am Surprised At The Effects Of Traditional Chinese Medicine

2008-08-12T09:35:00.000-07:00

Early this year, I felt a hard lump in my nose. I regarded it as a simple inflammation and did not pay much attention to it. Soon, I had increasing difficulty in breathing so I was forced to go to the hospital. The doctor’s diagnosis was nose cancer.

The doctor suggested radiation treatment for 35 times. My friend recommended Tian Xian liquid to me after hearing of its effects. I, therefore, began to drink Tian Xian liquid one week before going through the radiation treatment. My physical condition improved after seven days and I felt the tumor become softer than before and my breathing unblocked.

I continued to drink Tian Xian liquid while undergoing radiation. I also took Tian Xian pills to help alleviate the side effects of therapy. I did not feel thirsty and could still attend to my work during the treatment.

What struck me most was the tumor really shrunk after the tenth radiation treatment. After the 28th session, the doctor examined me and said that the cancer cells disappeared completely and that the treatment course will be immediately terminated.

Of course, the doctor was amazed at the drastic change in the behavior of my disease. I am convinced that my recovery was not due to radiation but Tian Xian liquid.

Thailand, Putlachatta, 62

http://www.cancer-central.com/nose-cancer/nose-cancer-1.htm

The Story of Don Wells: Cancer Survivor

2008-08-12T08:53:00.000-07:00

For most people, the news that they have cancer is an emotional body blow, conjuring up visions of unbearable pain and ultimate death. But when Don Wells doctor told him he had prostate cancer, he took the news in stride.

In March of 1999, Don went to his doctor for an annual physical. As is customary with men his age, the physical included a PSA test and prostate exam. The test results were not good. Don had an elevated PSA (5.6) and his doctor had felt an abnormality when she examined his prostate. To be sure, she referred him to a urologist who took five biopsy cores.

The biopsy confirmed the worst: Don had cancer.

According to the test results, Don had a Gleason Grade of seven. This meant his cancer was growing at an aggressive rate. His "Partin Coefficient" (a calculation that estimates the likelihood that the cancer has spread beyond the prostate) indicated he had a better than even chance the cancer had spread.

Most people would be devastated by the diagnosis. But Don Wells wasn't most people.

Don had known Neal and Kathleen Deoul for years, and had spoken with them frequently about cesium, aloe and the High pH Therapy. They had also discussed the experiences of people who had tried the therapy, and how their results compared with others who had relied on conventional treatment.

Armed with this knowledge, Don knew what he was going to do. He would use cesium and highly concentrated aloe vera to battle the dread disease.

But Don also felt he should let his urologist know what he planned. When he revealed his intentions, he was surprised at the reaction.

The urologist said " There are a lot of things out there that we know can help, but we can't discuss them because they aren't approved."

"You've got nothing to lose by trying what you're trying." he continued. "If it doesn't work, you can always go back to more conventional methods."

With this remarkable expression of support, Don continued his High pH Therapy.

Don would soon discover, however, that the receptive attitude his urologist had shown was the exception rather than the rule.

When Don went back for a follow-up visit he learned that the urologist who had initially treated him had been transferred. His replacement had a very different attitude.

As with his previous urologist, Don wanted to be sure the doctor knew that he was pursuing an alternative therapy. But when he attempted to tell him about the High pH Therapy, his new doctor dismissed it out of hand.

Not even looking up from the lab results he was reading, the urologist scoffed "That can't possibly work!"

Annoyed at the doctor's arrogance and condescending attitude, Don asked him what he knew about cesium and cancer or about the High pH Therapy.

Still not looking up from the paperwork he was reading, the doctor admitted he knew nothing about cesium or its use against cancer, but again asserted that it couldn't work.

That was enough for Don.

Big Medicine always claims that advocates of alternative therapies make assertions that aren't backed up by factual data. But that was exactly what this doctor was doing. He was asserting that cesium "couldn't possibly work," even though he admittedly knew absolutely nothing about it!

But that's not all.

Included in the sheaf of paperwork and lab results the doctor was studying so intently were the results of Don's latest blood tests. Had he bothered to look closely he would have discovered that among them were the results of his PSA test, showing it had dropped from 5.6 to 3.9!

The doctor could insist that "it couldn't work" all he wanted, but the blood tests showed it did!

Thoroughly disgusted with the urologist's refusal to even consider the evidence right under his nose, Don vowed never to see him again and never has. Fortunately his family doctor was willing to continue monitoring his case.

Over the next several months, Don continued to have his PSA checked regularly. In these tests, it remained within normal limits, rising and falling slightly from time to time.

As the first year anniversary of his diagnosis approached, Don decided to take a four-week course of cesium as a precautionary measure.

One of the points Neal had always stressed in their conversations was his belief that the cesium therapy was not a "cure." The reason Neal felt this way was that the cause of prostate cancer was unknown. How could there be a "cure" Neal argued, if you didn't know the cause, and therefore could not be sure it had been permanently eliminated.

There was sound medical evidence behind Neal's belief as well.

Even in cases where conventional therapies claimed to have eliminated prostate cancer, it often returned. This fact, Neal believed, was tangible proof of his point.

In March of 2000 Don began his four-week course of cesium. After its completion, he continued to have his PSA tested regularly, and it continued to remain within a normal range.

In October of 2001, however, Don's PSA was slightly elevated (5.0) and so, in consultation with a new urologist, he decided to have a battery of tests to make sure the cancer had not returned.

Leaving nothing to chance, Don was given a wide range of tests including a CAT scan to make sure any cancer present would be detected. The news was all good.

Despite the slight elevation of his PSA (not uncommon among men over 40) the tests showed conclusively that no cancer remained in Don's body.

To Don this was a vindication of his insistence on using cesium and aloe rather than conventional therapies to treat his cancer. Especially since he had seen with his own eyes what harm those conventional therapies can do.

A friend of Don's was diagnosed with prostate cancer at about the same time he learned of his own disease. Don had told his friend about cesium and suggested he consider using it before trying more traditional measures. His friend's doctor, however, talked him out of trying alternatives warning that they were unproven and that he could die if he failed to follow a conventional course of treatment.

Under enormous pressure from his physician, Don's friend acquiesced to the demands to go the conventional route and had surgery. Unfortunately, like one in ten men who have prostate surgery, his friend wound up incontinent and now has to wear a diaper for the rest of his life. Had he followed Don's advice he might not have had to live with this daily embarrassment.

Indeed, while doctors may make patients generally aware of the side effects of conventional treatments, they rarely make clear the likelihood that a particular side effect will occur. To put this in perspective, among men who have prostate surgery:

10% lose control of their bladders and will have to wear a diaper.

22% develop chronic diarrhea.

80% become impotent

For those who choose beam radiation:

4% lose bladder control.

37% develop chronic diarrhea.

63% end up impotent.

But what's most important: 40% of men who have surgery will have their cancer return!

By choosing the High pH Therapy, Don avoided the prospect of any of these serious side effects.

Today, more than three years after being diagnosed, Don Wells is cancer free. He continues to take highly concentrated aloe vera on a daily basis, and lives a normal, active life.

Source: http://www.cancer-coverup.com/cancer-success-stories/