What type of cancer did you have and when were you diagnosed?
Colon cancer. December 22, 2003. Stage IIIC T3 N2 M0 adenocarcinoma.

What were your symptoms?
Sharp and aching abdominal pain a few times per day, low energy, slight anemia, some rectal bleeding, dark stool. I didn’t feel well.

Did you have surgery?
Yes. I had surgery on December 30th, 2003.  I had a right hemicolectomy and resection of terminal ileum. 18 cm of my ileum and colon was removed along with a golf ball sized tumor (4.5 x 4 x 2 cm) and 49 lymph nodes. Four lymphs nodes tested positive for adenocarcinoma. I did not need a colostomy bag.

Didn’t surgery cure your cancer?
Colorectal cancer is the #2 cause of cancer death in the U.S. today. In the vast majority of cases, surgery alone does not cure advanced-stage solid-tumor cancer, because cancer is a systemic disease affecting the entire body, and circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and circulating cancer stem cells (CSCs) are already in other parts of the body. This is why new tumors form after surgery, and why doctors recommend chemo and radiation after surgery. They recommended 9-12 months of chemo for me. My surgeon and my oncologist didn’t think surgery cured my cancer, and I don’t either.

According to one study, published the same year I was diagnosed, the recurrence rate of cancer after curative colon resection was 100% after 4 years.

The 5-year relative survival rate for stage IIIc colon cancer is 53%. Young adult patients (under 40) also have a 28% higher risk of cancer progressing and spreading during a one-year follow-up and are 30% more likely to die from cancer. Many 5-year survivors still have cancer and eventually die, which is why the 10-year survival for stage IIIc colon cancer is less than 20%.

Multiple randomized trials have found that the adjuvant chemo recommended to me (5-FU-leucovorin) only increased 3-year overall survival by 4-6%. Translation: Between 71-74% of patients are still alive (not necessarily cancer-free) 3 years after surgery. With 5-FU-leucovorin treatments that percentage increases to between 75-84%.

According to the National Cancer Institute, stage III colon cancer patients with one to three involved lymph nodes have significantly better survival than those with four or more involved nodes. I had four.

Furthermore, a meta-analysis of studies found that colon cancer patients with tumors on the left side, have better survival rates. Mine was on the right.

So the odds were stacked against me in every way possible.

I did not end up in the 10+ year survivor group because I am “lucky”.
I got here because I radically changed my diet and my life. I removed all the toxic inputs of the Western diet and lifestyle, and replaced them with whole food nutrition. I corrected all my nutritional deficiencies and in the process strengthened my immune system and changed the internal terrain of my body– making it inhospitable to cancer. Most importantly, I put my trust in God to lead me in the path of healing.

Surgery can also cause cancer to spread, which I explain in this video.

Did you have any chemotherapy or radiation treatments?

I was told I needed 9-12 months of chemotherapy. The first oncologist I saw told me I was “insane if I did not do chemotherapy”, but I chose nutrition and natural therapies instead.

Why did you decide not to do chemotherapy?
Chemotherapy drugs are highly toxic, and the idea of poisoning my way back to health did not make sense to me. Chemo destroys your immune system. It makes cancer stem cells resistant and more aggressive. It causes secondary cancers throughout the body. It also can cause permanent damage to your brain, nerves, hearing, heart, liver, kidneys, bladder, and more. And it has a convoluted and exaggerated success rate. That’s the short answer… There’s a much longer answer here

A 2015 study of stage II colon cancer patients found that the patients who were treated with chemotherapy had a worse quality of life (no surprise there), and were on average nearly three times more likely to have a cancer recurrence, and two times more likely to die within two years of their diagnosis than those who did not have chemo. I was stage IIIC, even worse off than those patients. No doubt I made the right decision.

Also, read this post about radiation

What was your diet like before cancer?

Processed food, fast food, and junk food every day. I did not party, or smoke, and rarely drank alcohol, but I ate whatever I wanted. Because I was thin I thought I was healthy. I was exposed to toxic chemicals. I was also in a high-stress work environment and had a lot of negative emotions in my life. Those are major contributing factors to disease.

What was your anti-cancer diet exactly?

PHASE ONE:

I adopted a raw vegan diet beginning in January 2004 after reading God’s Way To Ultimate Health by George Malkmus.

Upon rising I drank 12-16 oz of purified water. I used a distiller for many years, now I use a Berkey.
Here are 5 reasons why I love the Berkey water filter

Then I juiced enough organic carrots, celery, beet, and ginger to make 64 oz of juice, and I drank eight 8oz servings throughout the day, nearly every day, for several years. Read my juicing post here.
If you’re wondering what kind of juicer to buy, read this post.

Sometimes I ate a piece of fresh organic fruit mid-morning. Usually a green apple or a grapefruit.

I ate a giant organic salad for lunch every day. Read about my giant salad here

I drank a coconut berry smoothie every afternoon. More about the coconut berry smoothie here

I ate super healthy nuts for snacks

I ate a giant salad again for dinner every day.

Before bed, I drank another 12-16 oz of purified water.

I also did periodic juice fasts during this time.

PHASE TWO:

After 90 days on the raw vegan diet, the clinical nutritionist I worked with recommended adding some cooked food back to my diet because I was not able to maintain a healthy weight on a 100% raw diet. I was 6’2″ 135 lbs! He also recommended 2-3 servings per week of either organic lamb or wild-caught Alaskan salmon.

The raw vegan diet is a very powerful detox and healing diet in the short term, but was not sustainable for me long term, because I am an ectomorph (skinny frame) with a very high metabolism. As a result of these factors, my body needed more calories than my non-starchy vegetable-based raw vegan diet could realistically provide. At the time I was convinced that the raw vegan diet was the best thing for me, but when your life and health are at stake, it is important to set aside any preconceived notions and dogma you have about diet and health and be open to give your body whatever it needs to thrive.

I followed his advice and added wild-caught salmon or organic lamb to my dinner 1-3 times per week along with my giant salad, and some cooked veggies like sweet potato, brown rice, lentils, quinoa, spinach, asparagus, squash, Brussels sprouts, etc. Cooked vegetables are good for you too. Organic is optimal.

For the next two years, my diet was consistently 70-80% raw,  and about 95-98% plant-based. I kept it simple and ate the same thing every day with a little variation of cooked veggies at dinner and a serving of meat occasionally.

So that’s the diet plan I followed along with supplementation and other natural therapies detailed on this site.

What else did you eat?
Not much else. The point was to keep it as simple as possible and follow the KISS (Keep it Simple Sweetheart!) model. Many raw food recipes are very time-consuming, and I don’t enjoy cooking/food prep, so I didn’t experiment with many raw recipes. Giant Salads, Veggie Juice, and Coconut Berry Smoothies all have a quick prep time, and I knew exactly what to buy at the grocery every week. No meal planning is necessary. There is no better way to get a complete spectrum of nutrients in your body than what I did. Period. So Keep It Simple!

How did you monitor your progress?
I had blood work done every month for the first two years, and a few CT scans spaced 6 months apart. This was done by an integrative oncologist, the late Dr. Roy Page MD, who worked in conjunction with my nutritionist. Dr. Page also administered IV Vitamin C and glutathione treatments. I have periodic blood work and colonoscopies at recommended intervals.

I have cancer, what should I do?
I strongly urge you to take control of your health by radically changing your diet and life immediately, before rushing into conventional therapies. Chemo, radiation, and some surgeries can have irreversible consequences and may make your situation better in the short term, but worse in the long term. You must educate yourself to make an informed decision.

Read my posts on chemotherapy here

Read the books and watch the movies listed on my resources page.

Are you a Christian?
Yes, I am a Christian. I give all praise and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ for my life and health. He is my savior and my healer.

“I sought the Lord and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears.” -Psalm 34

For anyone who says, “You can’t use anecdotal evidence” or “You were just lucky”, or “How dare you question science-based medicine” or “Shame on you for telling people not to do chemo”  etc.

(((c)))

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