Category Archives: Stage Four Cancer Treatment

After Cancer, Immunotherapy, Stage Four Cancer Treatment

Stage 4 Lung Cancer Patient 10 Years Cancer Free after Issels Integrative Immunotherapy

Lung Cancer
Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is the No. 1 cancer killer in the U.S. and the world, and small cell lung cancer is considered its most lethal form. Diagnosed with recurrent small cell lung cancer, Jim Gibson felt he was facing a certain death sentence when he sought treatment at Issels alternative cancer treatment centers in 2003. When standard cancer treatments did not work, Jim decided to try non-toxic integrative immunotherapy as a last resort. The decision saved his life. After just four weeks of exclusive Issels immunotherapy that included dendritic cell vaccine, Jim achieved complete tumor remission. Jim has now been cancer-free for 10 years and enjoys a healthy, active life. (Click to hear Jim’s story in his own words.)

As reported in the Sacramento Bee, “In recent years the surge of immunotherapy has given cancer sufferers new hope.” A leader in integrative immunotherapy for more than 60 years, Issels Integrative Oncology has been at the forefront of the immunotherapy movement that is now being embraced by practitioners of traditional medicine as “amazing” and “a game-changer” in the treatment of cancer. Many cancer researchers now believe that immunotherapy is the future of cancer treatment and our best hope for an eventual cure.

Immunotherapy enhances and harnesses the power of the body’s own immune system to target and destroy cancer cells. A non-toxic alternative cancer treatment, integrative immunotherapy does not batter the body with toxic chemotherapy or radiation so it does not produce the debilitating side effects that so many cancer patients fear. The non-toxic aspect and strong track record of immunotherapy is leading more cancer patients to consider it as a first choice for treatment rather than a last resort. As Issels patient Nicole Tupper says, “Try this first … it’s an amazing option.”

Immuno-Oncology, Stage Four Cancer Treatment

Moms with Cancer Leave Memories for Their Children

Momeries
Momeries

When you are a mother, receiving a cancer diagnosis is magnified by the effect it will have on your children and the possibility that cancer may take you from your children before either of you are ready to let go. Cancer is no longer the death warrant it once was. Great strides have been made in treating and arresting cancer. There is real cause for hope even when a terminal diagnosis is received or standard treatments fail.

Issels Integrative Oncology Centers in Santa Barbara, California and Tijuana, Mexico have had considerable success using advanced science-based alternative cancer treatments to achieve long-term cancer remissions in patients who had been considered “incurable.” (Click here to here Issels’ patients share their cancer stories.) But despite the very real possibility of remission, cancer outcomes are often unpredictable. Many mothers understandably choose to prepare for the worst while striving and hoping for the best.

The highly acclaimed little pink book When Mom’s Cancer Doesn’t Go Away: Helping children Cope with Loss and Beyond by Maryann Makekau, author, inspirational speaker and founder of Hope Matters, tackles the issue of loss with honesty and optimism. Written from the perspective of a child, it offers suggestions for creating memories of mom, or “momeries,” to help children grieve and heal.

Memories help us keep our loved ones alive in our hearts. You don’t have to face a terminal cancer diagnosis to find value in creating and compiling family memories. Even if you live to a ripe old age, your children, grandchildren and future generations will cherish the memories you leave behind.

 

Cancer Care Tips, Stage Four Cancer Treatment

Helping Children Cope when Mom Has Cancer

Children Coming to Terms With Parents' Cancer
Children Coming to Terms With Parents’ Cancer

To their children, mothers seem to be all-knowing, indestructible, invulnerable, the steadying rock that is always there, providing both rudder and anchor for young lives learning to navigate the world. Children can always count on their moms when they need a snack, a playmate, a bandaid and especially a hug. Moms banish monsters from closets, keep cookie jars well stocked, read bedtime stories, listen to prayers and kiss us goodnight. Unless they have cancer, then everything changes for their children.

Mothers with cancer are vulnerable. They are no longer indestructible and must be treated with care for cancer makes their bodies fragile. As Susan Grubar, a mother struggling with terminal ovarian cancer, shared recently on the New York Times Well blog:

“With varying degrees of fearful awareness, such children intuit that the mother who comforts by murmuring ‘I am here’ will not always be there. Under such circumstances, how to safeguard childhood or adolescence from anxious vigilance and dread? Mothers often stand at the center of their children’s orbit. How do you help children when mom has cancer?”

Grub is grateful that her ovarian cancer diagnosis came after her children were grown, though she mourns the fact that her relationship with her new grandson will be cut too short. Even as adults, she and her daughters are having difficulty with the finality of cancer and the separation anxiety terminal cancer produces. She is grateful that she has had many years to build precious memories with her daughters that will sustain them after she is gone — a gift many mothers with cancer are never given.

Next time: Leaving memories for your children