The Treatment of Stage IV Cancers Chapter 1: Introduction to Treating Advanced Cancers

Written by Webster Kehr, Independent Cancer Research Foundation, Inc. | Last updated on | Filed under: Cancer Articles, Orthodox vs Alternative Medicine

Chapter 2 – Key Issues
Chapter Index

Chapter 1: Introduction to Treating Advanced Cancers

What Causes Cancer

Every adult has some cancer cells in their body and they routinely develop new cancer cells. This is usually no big deal because the immune system is usually perfectly capable of dealing with a routine number of cancer cells.

A person “gets cancer” when there is an imbalance between the number of new cancer cells and the strength of the immune system. Cancer is caused by an abnormally high number of cancer cells being formed or the immune system is weaker than it should be, or both.

Thus, when you see some substance being mentioned as a “cause of cancer,” it is almost always something which either causes more than a normal number of cancer cells to form (e.g. exposure to asbestos) or suppresses the immune system (e.g. excessive alcohol consumption). In other words, the things that “cause cancer” disrupt the balance between the number of cancer cells in the body and the strength of the immune system.

However, neither the number of cancer cells in a person’s body nor the strength of their immune system has anything to do with the actual formation of new cancer cells.

We can compare this to an infestation of cockroaches in your basement. You hire an exterminator to get rid of cockroaches (e.g. your immune system) and the number of cockroaches in your basement is a function of how fast they breed (e.g. the number of cancer cells in your body).

But neither your exterminator, nor how fast the cockroaches breed has anything to do with why the cockroaches got inside your basement in the first place.

Learning what causes a normal cell to revert into a cancer cell can be equated to learning how the cockroaches originally got inside your basement. Once inside your basement, the battle between the exterminator and the breeding begins.

You might wonder why knowing how a normal cell changes into a cancer cell is important. It is important because cancer treatments can be designed to revert cancer cells back into normal cells.

But also, it is important to understand because an understanding of how cancer cells form in the first place can help you understand why some alternative cancer treatments are better than others.

How Normal Cells Revert Into Cancer Cells

The formation of new cancer cells is caused by a very special type of microbe called a “cell wall deficient bacteria.” This bacteria is highly pleomorphic, meaning the bacteria can be smaller than a virus (e.g. a somatid state) or as large as an amoeba (e.g. the size of a trichomonad). This bacteria frequently changes it shape and its size. It can do this because it is “cell wall deficient.”

These bacteria, which can be “filterable” (i.e. as small as a virus), can actually get inside of a normal cell. Once inside a normal cell it blocks the formation of ATP energy inside the mitochondria and this is what turns the cell “cancerous.” It is this microbe which is actually what causes cancer cells to form. See this article for details on how cancer cells form:
The Theory of Cancer

Thus, we have two main players in the formation of cancer:

  1. The cell wall deficient, highly pleormorphic bacteria, which is actually what causes cancer cells to form and determines how many cancer cells there are, and
  2. the strength of the immune system to deal with the quantity of cancer cells.

Thus, curing cancer can be perceived as doing one or more of three things:

  1. Killing the microbes inside the cancer cells, which allows the cancer cells to revert into normal, non-cancerous cells (this reduces the number of cancer cells),
  2. Killing cancer cells (which also reduces the number of cancer cells), and/or
  3. Building the immune system.

Of course, there are multiple ways of doing each of these things.

But there are other problems in treating cancer. A very high number of cancer cells in the body can do severe damage to the non-cancerous cells because cancer cells literally “steal” glucose and nutrients from non-cancerous cells.

Thus, we need to add the protection of non-cancerous cells and key organs to our list of things we need to do.

Another problem for cancer patients is that 95% of all cancer patients who seek out alternative cancer treatments have had extensive chemotherapy, radiation and surgery. All three of these things also do severe damage to the non-cancerous cells, the ability to digest foods and supplements and can damage the immune system.

Actually, most cancer patients die because of the damage to non-cancerous cells and/or key organs.

Thus, an advanced cancer patient has a very, very weak immune system, a high number of cancer cells, and highly damaged non-cancerous cells.

In fact, the immune system is so weak that for advanced cancer patients there is usually not enough time to try to strengthen the immune system to the point it becomes a factor in the treatment. However, it is necessary to build the immune system for the long term.

There are many other factors (e.g. surgery to the stomach which interferes with the bodies ability to digest foods, as one example), but for now these are the key factors. Thus, when a person first seeks out alternative cancer treatments, there are almost certainly four things to deal with:

  1. A very high number of cancer cells,
  2. A very, very weak immune system,
  3. Severe damage to non-cancerous cells due to the high number of cancer cells and orthodox cancer treatments, and
  4. A significant level of cachexia (i.e. the lactic acid cycle).

Treating Stage IV Cancer

Since beginning to research alternative cancer treatments in mid-2002, my approach to treating cancer has changed several times. This is due to both feedback from cancer patients, feedback from vendors who work with cancer patients and feedback from other cancer researchers.

Before going on let me say that treating a typical newly diagnosed cancer patient versus treated an advanced cancer patient who has had extensive chemotherapy and other orthodox treatments is like comparing flying a model airplane to flying a B2 bomber!!

For example, when treating a typical newly diagnosed cancer patient, strengthening the immune system is critical because obviously the balance between the immune system and the number of cancer cells is out of balance.

However, for advanced cancer patients the immune system is usually irrelevant for the first few months of treatment. You might wonder why. The reason is that a person who has been on extensive orthodox cancer treatments doesn’t have an immune system. The first priority is keeping the person alive. This involves safely killing cancer cells and strengthening the non-cancerous cells and protecting the organs.

Another way to understand the treatment of cancer is to compare treating cancer to putting out a house fire. For example, suppose an electrical appliance in your house catches on fire. As long as only the electrical appliance is on fire, the fire is generally easy to put out. For example, a fire extinguisher can put this kind of fire out without the need to use a garden hose or call the fire department.

This scenario can be compared to most cancer patients when they are first diagnosed. Scores of alternative cancer treatments can cure most cancer cases when they are first diagnosed.

However, just because someone is recently diagnosed does not mean they have a simple situation. Some types of cancer need a fire hose right from the beginning, either because they are a dangerous type of cancer (e.g. squamous cell carcinoma) or the patient was diagnosed at a late stage.

For those who have had some chemotherapy and radiation, we can compare it to at least a fire which has spread to some kitchen cabinets. In this case a fire extinguisher may not be adequate to put the fire out. A garden hose may be necessary and the person may call the fire department just in case the garden hose is not adequate.

The reality is that if you are reading this article, and you have cancer, or if you are the caregiver of a cancer patient, you or the cancer patient has probably been through extensive orthodox cancer treatments plus have lost many months of treatment time.

This might be compared to a house fire where the fire is already consuming two or more rooms and the roof is on fire. In this case a garden hose is no longer adequate. It is necessary to call the fire department immediately.

This, in fact, is the situation of more than 95% of all cancer patients who seek out alternative cancer treatments!!

Think for a moment about an extensive house fire. The more extensive the fire is, the faster the fire is spreading.

Likewise, the more cancer a cancer patient has, the faster it is spreading, simply by virtue of the number of cancer cells that exist and are dividing.

However, just like a fire in some houses will spread faster than other houses (for example, a fire in a wood frame house will spread faster than a fire in a concrete and metal frame house), some types of cancer spread faster than others.

Thus, to treat advanced cancer you need to know several things:

  • How much cancer is in the body,
  • Where are the key locations of the cancer (e.g. brain, lungs, bones, etc.),
  • What kind of cancer is it (e.g. is it spreading quickly based on the type of cancer),
  • What are the tools you have to work with to “put it out.”

The last item might be somewhat confusing to the reader. Can’t any cancer patient choose any of the “Stage IV” alternative cancer treatments, meaning the fire hoses? The answer is absolutely NO!

There are many situations where a specific treatment would be dangerous to use. For example, in some cancer cases the slightest swelling of a tumor, even temporary swelling, may cause a serious and even fatal result. Thus, it is critical to know how much swelling and inflammation can be tolerated and which alternative cancer treatments may cause temporary swelling and inflammation. This is one example of why some alternative cancer treatments should not be used in certain situations, or should be used only under expert supervision.

As another example, with lung cancer (including cancer that has spread to the lungs), if there is congestion, this is almost always the primary concern when treating the cancer, no matter what other concerns there may be. If the cancer patient has to go on oxygen, in the past it was almost impossible to save the patient because of how far the cancer had already spread. However, new alternative cancer treatments, such as the Cellect-Budwig protocol, have overcome the cancer of people who were on 18 liters of oxygen a day because they are powerful treatments and the treatment did not add to the existing congestion!!

Another issue is whether the patient is taking any prescription drugs, including chemotherapy or any other prescription drugs. Some alternative cancer treatments cannot be used while a cancer patient is still taking any type of prescription drugs.

Brain cancer can also be a number one priority. If there is brain swelling it can slow the heart rate down even to the point the heart completely stops beating.

Another issue is bone cancer (including cancer that has spread to the bones). When bones become brittle and start breaking it can create severe depression in the cancer patient, especially if the bones that are breaking are in the spine. This fact will elevate the importance to treat the bone cancer first (though lung cancer that includes congestion is almost always the highest priority).

As other examples, some cancer patients cannot digest or consume supplements (e.g. they are fed through an I.V.). Many alternative cancer treatments require the ability to take and digest supplements.

The point is that there are many issues that affect which alternative cancer treatment(s) can be used in a specific case and which cannot be used. Once this list is known, it then becomes an issue of which one is the best, based on the priorities.

In one individual case, even the slightest swelling would cause potentially fatal problems for the patient (a tumor was wrapped around an artery). This alone eliminated almost all alternative cancer treatments because almost all alternative cancer treatments create temporary swelling and congestion. However, the man also had had 5 feet of his intestines removed, thus he could not digest supplements very well (fortunately he was not on a feeding tube). That eliminated some of the remaining treatments. But he was also on several powerful pain killers. That eliminated the rest of the powerful alternative cancer treatments. When the analysis was done, there was not a single powerful alternative cancer treatment that was available to him. The only option was to pick a treatment that did not cause any swelling, modify it slightly so more of it could be digested, then add a couple of treatments that are rarely used to insure there was not even the slightest swelling.

There are many factors to consider before a treatment can be chosen. This article will discuss many of these issues, and the chapters will link to other articles, in some cases, which go into more detail if they apply to your situation.

These things are mentioned to prepare you for the fact you are going to have to do a lot of reading. While it is always best to work with a vendor or a clinic, you should do your homework before (and after) you pick a vendor!!

A vendor will probably take your business even if they are not the best choice for your situation. This is because the vendor probably doesn’t know about other alternative cancer treatments (i.e. they may only know about their treatment) and probably doesn’t know which treatment is best for your situation. They will just do the best they can with their treatment. It is up to the patient or their caregiver to do the best they can to pick the best treatment the first time. The purpose of this article is to help them do just that.

Also be aware that due to massive persecution of alternative medicine by the FDA, vendors are no longer allowed to tell you how effective their treatment may be in your situation.

For example, a vendor may know that his or her treatment will cure your cancer, based on extensive experience. However, this vendor may have to do a “tap dance” with their words to make sure they do not say things the FDA doesn’t want them to say.

The goal of the FDA is to separate the truth (i.e. how potent an alternative cancer treatment or device may be) from the product.

This is not because the FDA cares about your health or survival, it is because the FDA executives want to retire to a vastly profitable job funded directly or indirectly by the pharmaceutical industry.

Because there are unscrupulous vendors and because the honest vendors cannot tell you everything and cannot use certain words, it is really up to the patient, or their caregiver, to do the bulk of the research.

Chapter 2 – Key Issues
Chapter Index