Weeks before I was supposed to start immunotherapy/chemotherapy (29th of September 2020) I sent my mother an article and video to watch that seemed to point to cancer being a sign of cellular metabolic dysfunction. This as opposed to it being caused by genetic mutation(s) of DNA; as has been the conventional view of cancer.
My cancer wasn’t genetic (confirmed by my oncologist and surgeon), and there was no history of cancer in my family so it made sense there could be another cause, and by extention another way to approach my recovery.
Initially I was trying to find out how to assist my body to get through conventional treatment. But also, was there some way to adapt my body to become stronger? -the latter because I’d already read so much about the damage e.g. chemotherapy, radiation, and all the extra medications that go with cancer treatment can do to the body.
There had to be a way.. the human body after-all is adapted for survival. All I had to do was support my body to get through it.
I started by investigating the *hypoxic environment that cancers seem able to grow in – how was this possible when oxygen gives life to all living cells in our body(?) Why then, but more so.. How could these cells be proliferating at such a high rate without enough oxygen?
I typed into google.. ‘oxygen and cancer’ and immediately stumbled upon an article from an unexpected place. Integrative cancer treatment (see video (1) below)
The most critical take-away from this was that less than 15% of cancers are caused by genetic mutations in the DNA cell nucleus, but rather originate in the cells mitochondria (mtDNA) and/or in the communication between the two (see links/research (1) below)
Furthermore, conventional cancer treatment is premised to only address part of the problem by using strategies that target the DNA nucleus part of that equation (such as chemotherapy and radiation therapies). Chemotherapy, is known to not target cancer cells directly and is thus referred to as ”systemic therapy” (put another way; chemotherapy can harm cancer cells, but also normal/healthy cells) thus, is more-often coupled with other treatments in a multi-targeted approach in an effort to target cancer cells. Put another way, the body has to be fit and ironically ‘healthy’ enough to go through chemotherapy thus liver/kidney function are consistently monitored throughout and when the latter aren’t ‘healthy’ enough, patients can even be considered ‘untreatable’ by conventional methods.
The key here is to understand that chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery are all premised on trying to remove/control damaged DNA cells that have developed through genetic mutation (the premise for their use -somatic mutation theory (SMT)) instead of understanding the link to dysfunctional cellular metabolism of the mitochondria (the latter being the more recent developing body of cancer research but also in longevity science).
The takeaway (for me) was that conventional modes of treatment could be combined with treatments that address the metabolic dysfunction of the mitochondria e.g. lifestyle, dietary and fitness but also by using supplements and offlabel medication, as a growing body of evidence are suggesting; outcomes could be extensively improved – in some cases – extraordinarily (see books of long-term survivors)
Caveat: and yes, I preferably would have opted out of chemotherapy, but because this was the only way to recieve immunotherapy I didn’t have much choice (+ studies were favorable towards it assisting immunotherapy to target the HER2 receptors; a diagnosis I requested to test multiple times to make sure)
The afore mentioned combined ”metabolic” approach is the basis of what I researched and applied to my life(style). The result of which is how I attribute to my being alive and extremely well today.
See references below for more on this fascinating area of the new science of cancer and cancer’s metabolism.
References:
1) Article: The Important Role Oxygen Plays in Cancer Treatment
https://www.envita.com/cancer/the-important-role-oxygen-plays-in-cancer-treatment
and the video is viewable here:
*Hypoxia refers to low oxygen conditions
*Naturopathic medicine is a system that uses natural remedies to help the body heal itself. https://www.webmd.com/balance/guide/what-is-naturopathic-medicine
Links/research:
1) Thomas Seyfried: Cancer: A Metabolic Disease With Metabolic Solutions
2) This Causes CANCER! – Fix This To PREVENT DISEASE… | Dr. Jason Fung
Critical reads/videos
The Paradox of Cancer’s Warburg Effect by Dr Jason Fung: https://drjasonfung.medium.com/the-paradox-of-cancers-warburg-effect-7fb572364b81
download (PDF): sfsutcliffe.com/download/The-Paradox-of-Cancers-Warburg-Effect-by-DrJasonFung.pdf
3) Ted talk: Minding your mitochondria by Dr. Terry Wahls