Once considered the “gold standard” of cancer care by modern oncology, chemotherapy treatments have been steadily declining – especially in breast and lung cancer patients. And while the natural therapies are not as well known, due in large part to the Flexner Report of 1910, it’s a GREAT sign that the medical establishment is willing to move away from harsh treatments that offer little benefit to patients.
For decades, chemotherapy was considered “the rule, the dogma,” for treating breast cancer and other cancers, said Dr. Gabriel Hortobagyi, a breast cancer specialist at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. But data from a variety of sources offers some confirmation of what many oncologists say anecdotally — chemotherapy is becoming less common for many cancer patients.
Genetic tests can now reveal whether chemotherapy would be beneficial. For many there are better options with an ever-expanding array of drugs, including estrogen blockers and drugs that destroy cancers by attacking specific proteins on the surface of tumors. And there is a growing willingness among oncologists to scale back unhelpful treatments.
The diminution of chemotherapy treatment is happening for some other cancers, too, including lung cancer, the most common cause of cancer deaths in the United States, killing more than 69,000 Americans each year. Breast cancer is second, killing 43,000.
Still, the opportunity to avoid chemotherapy is not evenly distributed, and is often dependent on where the person is treated and by whom.
But for some patients who are lucky enough to visit certain cancer treatment centers, the course of therapy has changed. Now, even when chemotherapy is indicated, doctors often give fewer drugs for less time.
Dr. Robert Vonderheide, a lung cancer specialist at the University of Pennsylvania, remembers his early days on the job, about 20 years ago.
“The big discussion was, Do you give patients two different types of chemotherapy or three?” he said. There was even a clinical trial to see whether four types of chemotherapy would be better.
“Now we are walking in to see even patients with advanced lung cancer and telling them, ‘No chemo,’” Dr. Vonderheide said.
The breast cancer treatment guidelines issued by the National Cancer Institute 30 years ago were harsh: chemotherapy for about 95% of patients with breast cancer.
But 15 years ago, the creation of a drug called Herceptin changed all that. The drug was designed for patients who have a particular protein on their tumor surface. It was given along with chemotherapy and seemed to reduce the chance of a recurrence by half and the risk of dying from breast cancer by a third, “almost regardless of how much and what type of chemotherapy was used,” Dr. Hortobagyi said.
In a few studies, Herceptin and another targeted drug were even given without chemotherapy, and still provided substantial benefit, he added. That, Dr. Hortobagyi said, “started to break the dogma” that chemotherapy was essential.
At a 2019 conference in Colorado, healthcare leaders from across the globe gathered to discuss the biggest issues facing patients today. With over 175 speakers and panels, there was one clear message that stole the show:
Chemotherapy is toxic, and the immune system is our best bet in the fight against cancer.
Professor of Immunology Daniel Davis delivered a lecture lauding the benefits of the immune system in fighting chronic disease. Unlike chronic inflammation, he explained, acute inflammatory response allows the body to defend against microbial invaders, cancer-causing cells, and environmental toxins, and helps heal injuries and infections. He elaborated:
Our own body’s remedy, the immune system, is far more powerful than any medicine we have devised.”
Author of “The Beautiful Cure”, Professor Davis described how the body’s immune system is the most powerful weapon we have against disease. However, it can be damaged by things like environmental toxins, stress, and poor diet. If we can find ways to harness and support the power of the immune system, he believes it can be far more effective than any medicine.
And professor Davis was not alone.
The following morning featured a panel discussing the role of immunotherapy in cancer treatment. Experts in the fields of cancer and immunology described the harmful effects of chemotherapy and other toxic treatments as “a brutal and all-too-often unsuccessful way to treat cancer.”
Elizabeth Wayne, a professor of biological and chemical engineering at Carnegie Mellon and TED fellow, was a breath of fresh air:
“A lot of our drugs are warfare drugs that we’re just hoping people don’t die from afterward. It’s always fascinating to me that one of the first drugs we went to was mustard gas.”
Fellow panelist Miriam Merad, an immunology professor at Mount Sinai and extensively published researcher, agreed:
As an oncologist, I just couldn’t accept chemotherapy toxicity. We have an immune system that’s been shaped for millennia to fight against damage, and I thought that we should be able to use it to fight against cancer cells.”
A study of nearly 3,000 women treated from 2013 to 2015 found that in those years, chemotherapy use in early-stage breast cancer declined by over 46%, going from 26% to just 14%. For those with evidence of cancer in their lymph nodes, chemotherapy was used in 64% of patients, down from 81% (more than a 20% drop).
More recent data, compiled by Dr. Jeanne Mandelblatt, a professor of medicine and oncology at Georgetown, and her colleagues, but not yet published, included 572 women who were 60 or older and enrolled in a federal study at 13 medical centers. Overall, 35% of older women received chemotherapy in 2012. That number fell to 19% by the end of 2019.
The rate of chemotherapy use in these women has been nearly cut in HALF.
Chemotherapy is a “scorched earth” approach to defeating cancer; doctors are simply gambling that your body can survive longer than the cancer. Sadly, this is often not the case. Many cancer patients die as a result of the treatments, rather than the disease itself. This is what happened to dad, Graham Bollinger, and other family members.
But as attitudes shift and new protocols emerge, we can be happy that patients are being given more options for how to heal from cancer. That is our MISSION!
It took only 20 minutes for the chemo drugs to kill my wife and I watched her die and couldn’t help her.
Sad to hear that. Chemo has killed many in my family and many friends.
Ty and Charlene,
I often do not read what you send because it is often just too controversial for even me or I have been a convert since my 30’s. (I’m a 70 year old x hippy who has chosen bombarded with TV or media for decades – so I’m skeptical of a lot and do deep dives into what is behind stories all the time). Regardless the heading on this got me. I have a great personal experience with ivermectin that cured a suspicious rather large breast lump about 10 years ago. If you’d like to hear it please contact me. Even the breast specialist was amazed but did say “no one really knows what breast cancer is”. Thanks, Rebecca
Hi Rebecca, I am very interested to hear about your success with Ivermectin for your breast lump. Was it confirmed as breast cancer via biopsy? What Ivermectin protocol did you use? I have read numerous studies on how Ivermectin can successfully treat breast cancer, so if you can elaborate, I’d be most appreciative! Thanks so much 🙂
I want to know, too!
Please tell me about your ivermectin use for cancer. My husband has esophageal cancer and we are definitely not going with chemo or surgery.
Thank you!
Margie
This was inevitable and good news. I was strongly coerced into doing chemotherapy about 30 years ago. I was a young woman with BC, and it damaged my organs, especially my kidneys. So I’m in my early 60s now slowly losing my life because of the chemo damage which I should not have had because I had no spread. I was against doing it, and have been angry at myself for letting them scare me into it because my health has been bad ever since. I think I’m only still living now because of natural remedies I’m using.
In my research over 30 years, i have found over two hundred or more, natural cures that exist that are verified by many medical specialist , including Dr. Linus Pauling’s cure in 1920 using vitamin C IV 10000 mcgs. His cure was 18 out of 19 patients (one died before he started treatment) and these were patients that were told they couldn’t be helped. They all survived and live long and prosperous lives. He won the Nobel prize for that cure.
Also an Italian doctor, Dr. Simoncini used baking soda and organic maple syrup as a totty drink to cure cancer. Look up this info on you tube or fact check for real truth.
In over 50 years, I have known only 1 or 2 people to ever survive chemo and radiation. Dozens have died from acquaintances, to family and friends. I would never get any chemo and would seek natural healing including herbs and supplements.
I have had breast cancer for 7 years, I’m 78 now. I made my Dr. so mad cause I wouldn’t let her slice and dice and give me Chemo. So I fired her, lol, got a different Dr. The lumps were quit big, but I done research and went with herbs to build my immune system up. Then I started Castor Packs, 5 days then rest 2. No it didn’t cure me over night, but here I am 7 years later, the lumps are very small. So think I will just go on the way I am. Thank God for the things he created.
Hi! I heard the castor oil packs can spread the breast cancer to the lymph nodes. Is this true? Is it safe for use with breast cancer? Do you have resources about castor oil packs and breast cancer?
What are castor packd
What would be recommended for 47 yr old female with colon cancer ? Chemotherapy is so brutal she has completed 3 treatments and sicker longer every time .
Is there any natural treatment for neuroendocrine tumor?
What is the best treatment for High Grade T-cell Lymphoma? Chemotherapy is not working!!💔
Bile Duct cancer patient here. Went thru 2 sets of chemo, one for 19 rounds, one for 5. I quit after the second set. I don’t want to spend what ever amount of time I have sick and my hair falling out. That’s not living.
what is the natural treatment for multiple myeloma?
I have Metaplastic Sarcoma, squamous cell, with skeletal muscle involvement. A 5.4 cm tumor was removed from best . No cancer was found in lymph nodes or margins around chest muscle or breast. Skin & nipple had no cancer either. I am 75 years old in good health. They want 8 treatments of chemo & 30 treatments of radiation. Don’t I stand a better chance of doing nothing with thin I invasive cancer?
Very interesting article. In late June, Cel-Sci Corporation announced top-line results of a phase III head and neck cancer trial that showed tremendous benefit to those patients that received the company’s “Multikine” treatment before surgery and radiotherapy. However, in another arm of the trial where chemotherapy was administered, the harsh nature of chemo appeared to negate any benefit from the delicate cytokines that make up the Multikine immunotherapy mixture.
Can anyone tell me if chemotherapy is used when cancer is spreading, to stop it, and if radiation is used when it’s in one spot? Many thanks.
my sister was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma she lives in the Seattle area. Do u know any Dr in the area that can treat her naturally without chemo. They are pushing chemo. i am desperate to find an alternative approach heidabeth13@gmail.com. 858-585-2858
Hi all,
Just about a month ago, I had something called a “complete molar pregnancy” – an abnormal pregnancy. I had to do a D&C almost immediately once I knew about it. Since then, my beta hCG (pregnancy hormones) is supposed to reduce to zero. This shows that that hormone is not lingering in my body. I have been taking blood tests on a weekly basis. Over the last month, it’s been dropping but last week, it went up by a little. And the doctor says that if it goes up again next week, she will order for chemotherapy as it shows that the hormones are lingering and need to be killed completely.
Certainly, I’m not ready for chemo. And for one increase in hormones to lead to a need for chemo is too much of a rush for me. I really believe there are natural methods to do so. I wonder if anyone out there had molar pregnancy and was able to bring your beta hCG back to normal through natural methods? Really desperate to find an alternative approach.