Category Archives: Testimonials

After Cancer, Alternative Cancer Treatment, Cancer Survivors, News, Testimonials

There is “Life” After Cancer

Life After Cancer
Life After Cancer

While it was once unlikely at best, surviving cancer has become reality for a steadily growing number of patients. According to the American Cancer Society, survivorship is defined from the point of diagnosis and extends through the balance of life.

The ACS teamed up with the National Cancer Institute for extensive reports on current cancer survivorship and treatment statistics. Here is a look at some numbers that reflect the positive results of integrative immunotherapy and other effective treatment methods.

Cancer rates are down while survivorship is up

While there has been a reduction in cancer incidence rates, the number of survivors has grown sharply over the last 40 years. The 3.3 million total in 1974 has become 14.5 million in 2014, with the number expected to reach 18.9 million by 2024.

Gender differences are minor

Female survivors outnumber male survivors by slightly more than 700,000, but percentages by age, type of cancer and post-diagnosis years are remarkably similar. More than 40 percent of survivors in both groups are aged 70 and older, due to the aging of the Baby Boomer generation.

Early detection makes a major difference

Statistics continue to show the importance of early diagnosis and treatment. The five-year survival rates for breast, prostate, colon and skin cancers range from 90-100 percent when diagnosed at the early localized stage.

Issels® has been successfully treating patients for years using non-toxic integrative immunotherapy. Visit our website to learn more about how our protocols are based on a patient’s individual needs, boosting the body’s own natural defense mechanisms.

Cancer Care Tips, Testimonials

The Secret Tips on Beating Cancer from Survivors

Its Good
Beating Cancer

For cancer patients, advice and knowledge from people who have experienced the same anguish, pain, and worry that they are currently experiencing can be some of the most important medicine they receive. It can make the difference between giving in to the disease or finding the necessary strength within themselves to overcome cancer. At Issels® Integrative Immuno-Oncology, part of our mission is to empower cancer patients by providing them with the information they need to make informed choices about their treatment and to live their life to the fullest.

UPLIFT

UPLIFT: Secrets from the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer Survivors is a collection of interesting and sometimes amusing anecdotes from women who have experienced and survived breast cancer. They are various ages and come from different backgrounds, but they are all part of the sisterhood that has faced a cancer diagnosis, dealt with the harsh side effects of treatment, and overcome this horrible disease. They share the same goal of empowering other women by sharing the strategies and tips that helped them find the right support groups, cope with hair loss, and manage their relationships with family and friends.

Remain positive

Well meaning friends and family often make it is easy to slide into a negative frame of mind and focus on the worst aspects of your situation. This book maintains a consistently upbeat tone. Each breast cancer survivor in UPLIFT serves up encouragement and inspiration. They know firsthand that wallowing in self-pity is a pointless waste of time and energy for every cancer patient.

View testimonials from our Issels® family of cancer survivors and contact us to learn more about our personalized immuno-oncology treatments.

Cancer Research, Living with Cancer, Testimonials

New Research Tackles Chemotherapy Side Effects

Tackling The Side Effects
Tackling The Side Effects

Researches at Wichita State University are delving into nanotechnology in an effort to decrease the negative side effects cancer drugs have on patients. The technology will be a huge boon to patients suffering the many side effects of cancer treatment: nausea, bowel issues, hair loss, infections, pain, anemia, and more, preventing patients’ bodies from being further weakened by the treatment of the disease.

Technology 100,000 times smaller than a strand of hair
The mighty but miniscule technology has been developed to magnetically target drugs with the goal of localizing treatment effects specifically to tumor sites, thus decreasing the spread and negative effects of the drugs throughout the body.

Positive results have researchers hopeful
Targeted for patients with skin and breast cancer, “in vitro” (petri dish/test tube) studies as well as “in vivo,” studies involving mice, have shown positive results. The group, including WSU professors Ramazan Asmatulu, Paul Wooley, Shang-You Yang, and several graduate students, is in the final stages of receiving a patent from the study, which will later be tried on humans.

How it works
Nanocomposite, magnetic microspheres were created which are capable of carrying protein-based chemotherapy drugs. The spheres are later incorporated with an albumin and biodegradable polymer and injected into the body. With the help of a magnetic field, the accumulation of drugs can be increased at targeted cancer sites.

Looking for cancer treatment options that help build your body without the weakening effects of traditional therapies? Issels® can help. Learn more about our individualized, comprehensive immunotherapy treatments today.

After Cancer, Living with Cancer, Stress Management, Testimonials

Three Tips to Understanding your Cancer’s Prognosis

Understanding Cancer
Understanding Cancer

Cancer is the giant bugaboo that eventually invades everyone’s life if they live long enough. Still, if caught early and treated agressively, a prognosis of cancer is not necessarily an untimely death sentence. Here are the most important things to know about your prognosis once you have defintively been diagnosed with cancer:

It is Fact Based

Though it may mystify the patient to some extent, a doctor’s cancer prognosis is thoroughly grounded in his own and his peer’s medical experience. The doctor will look at such things as the type and location of the cancer, its metastatic stage – that is, how much it has actually spread – and the cancer’s grade – how abnormal it looks and how likely it is to spread even more.

It’s Mostly Statistics

While Mark Twain facetiously opined that there are “lies, damn lies and statistics,” the actual truth is that stats really do tell you a lot about your prognosis. By analyzing various factors such as the specific characteristics of the patient’s disease, the available treatment options and any other health issues, the doctor will make an educated guess as to what will happen.

It is Not Completely Certain

While your prognosis is your doctor’s “best guess” as to the likely course and outcome of your disease, it is by no means 100% certain. Remaining positive throughout the process is always the best medicine.

As you can see, a prognosis is as much art as it is science and the best doctors combine both when making a prognosis. For more detailed information, please contact us at Issels® or you can reach us directly at 1-888-437-7357.

Testimonials

Can You Save Your Hair in Chemotherapy

Save Your Hair
Save Your Hair

Others may see a cancer patient’s bald head as a badge of courage, but hair loss is the chemotherapy side effect cancer patients fear most. Our hair is such an integral part of our self-image that losing it is a traumatic experience.

Not all chemotherapy drugs cause hair loss, but many do. Hair loss typically begins a few weeks after chemotherapy begins and can range from mild thinning to total baldness. Hair usually grows back in 3 to 10 months; but it may be a different texture, fullness or color. Hair may also grow back unevenly, looking thin or patchy.

Why Does Chemo Cause Hair to Fall Out?

Chemotherapy drugs are designed to attack fast-growing cancer cells. Unable to differentiate between cancer and other fast-growing cells in the body — such as hair cells — these chemicals kill everything. And chemotherapy doesn’t just affect the hair on your head. Eyebrows, beards and body hair may disappear.

Can You Prevent Chemo Hair Loss?

There is little that can be done to prevent chemo hair loss. Applying minoxidil (Rogaine) to the scalp has not been shown to prevent hair loss but may encourage faster hair re-growth. Scalp cooling is another strategy for preventing hair loss (read one woman’s story), but results have been mixed.

The only sure way to prevent chemo hair loss is to avoid chemotherapy. Integrative immunotherapy is a holistic approach to cancer treatment that does not result in hair loss or produce the other painful and dreaded side effects associated with chemotherapy. Working with, not against your body, immunotherapy empowers your immune system to fight cancer naturally. Visit our website to find out more.

Alternative Cancer Treatment, Testimonials

What Do Our Patients Say About Our Treatment Program?

Positive Feedback
Positive Feedback

We could tell you all about the treatment provided at our alternative cancer therapy center. Our mind-body approach has made Issels Treatment® a leader in individualized immunotherapy for more than 60 years. But we’re proud and honored to let our patients speak for us.

  • In early 2007 Jacinta McShane arrived at Issels from her home in England. She had been battling recurring breast cancer with lung metastases, choosing to come here after refusing her doctors’ advice to begin radiation and chemotherapy. “Nothing really prepared me for the inspirational, loving atmosphere of this healing oasis. Here I was ‘cared for’ as Jacinta – a person first and foremost who happens to have breast cancer. At times, I felt more like an invited guest than a patient at all.” She continues to lead a happy, healthy life.
  • Joseph Momot came to us in June 2010 after being told his liver cancer was terminal and he had only a few months left. “It was a really, really rapid recovery for me so I call it a miracle place.” His liver is now functioning normally and he’s able to walk freely.
  • After round-the-clock chemotherapy for leukemia, Barbara Humphrey decided against a bone marrow transplant and came to Issels instead. “They care about you just like they would about someone in their own family … That’s what I love about the Issels clinic – you become empowered with so much knowledge.”

Nothing gives us more satisfaction than helping our patients to resume healthy and productive lives.  Please call 888.447.7357 or contact us online for more information.