Turning your Cancer Team Upside Down...

If you were just diagnosed with a deadly cancer and your doctors and family were insisting that you start chemotherapy or perhaps radiation immediately, would you have the courage to say No?

Meet Sarah Ann.

In 2000, she was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer and turned her medical team upside down when she refused traditional treatments.

Unlike Robert who underwent the Whipple Surgery Procedure to fight his pancreatic cancer, Ann chose another path.

She shares her amazing story with Chris on Chris Beat Cancer.  It is an incredible story of tenacity, faith and perseverance!

ANN COOPER'S HEALING STRONG JOURNEY

On December 5th, 2000, a tumor mass of 3.2 cm was found in my pancreas by accident during a cat scan of my lungs and colon.  I didn't even know where my pancreas was located!  I was surprised and shocked especially since this was all as a result of a routine check-up.  After meeting with two surgeons at Kaiser Permanente, I realized that I was facing a life-threatening disease.

They immediately wanted me to have surgery (called a Whipple).  If I survived the surgery, then of course, chemo and radiation would follow.  The best any pancreatic cancer patient could hope for was to extend their life 15 to 18 months.  Without surgery, the life expectancy was 3 to 6 months.  Considering the extent of the operation and the organs involved, I put off the surgery and started reading everything I could find from the AMA, the NCI, and books by MD's and alternative medicine doctors.  At that time, there was limited material to research as most doctors really feared getting involved in anything not approved by the AMA.  However, I found enough to start a vitamin and herbal regiment along with immune builders.

I was determined to not have the surgery so I read and investigated everything on cancer and my cancer in particular.  Needless to say, I asked for prayer from family and church leaders, attended healing conferences and listened for guidance from the Holy Spirit.  My Kaiser doctor had all kinds of tests done in the hopes it was an endocrine tumor and not a carcinoma.

During this time of investigation and research, I contacted and spoke with Dr. William Donald Kelley, read Hulda Clark's book, The Cure for All Cancers, and used her remedy, read every book I could get my hands on dealing with cancer and various cures, spoke with a Cherokee medicine man and attended a Christian healing meeting.  My research firmly convinced me healing was a combination of renewing the body, gaining knowledge, keeping a positive spirit and walking with God.

In February 2001, since I still refused surgery and chemo, my general practitioner urged me to have a biopsy.  Pathology at Kaiser and Mayo Clinic confirmed the mass as a 3.2mm carcinoma in the head of my pancreas or pancreatic cancer.  While talking to a doctor in CA about a Rife machine, he directed me to a trial test being conducted by Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez and Dr. Linda Isaacs for alternative medicine and Columbia University Hospital for standard medicine.

NO TRIAL TEST

I submitted all the blood test, cat scans and medical documentation to Columbia and was admitted to the trial, I thought.  I flew to NY just to learn that I was not eligible for the trial program since I could have surgery even though I chose not to.

(Note from Chris:  The clinical trial that rejected Ann was grossly mismanaged and essentially rigged.  Dr. Gonzalez documented it in his book What Went Wrong: The Truth Behind the Clinical Trial of the Enzyme Treatment of Cancer.)

Dr. Isaacs and Dr. Gonzalez showed compassion and offered me their services.  I jumped at the chance and have never looked back.  I know in my spirit if I had chosen another route, I would not have lived to see my only granddaughter, Sarah, named after 5 generations of Sarah's, born and now 11 years old.

LET'S LIVE LIFE

By this time my family had vacillated between wondering if I was in denial or just not understanding my choices.  They were worried, however they were standing with me on my decisions.  Each of my children decided they would go with me on a trip to celebrate life.

My husband, Jim and I went to Mexico to a beautiful and peaceful resort for two weeks.  My eldest daughter and her son enjoyed Disney World for a week with me.  My son and I took a road trip from Denver to the coast of California, from southern CA to the state line of Oregon and back by a different route.

I had my protocol with me and kept faithfully on the regiment (in particular, taking mega doses of pancreatic enzymes, some 60 per day... they can be found at Nutricology, Pancreas, Natural Glandular Capsules.)  Then my youngest daughter, her two sons and I traveled to Sante Fe and on to Taos, NM.

The trips, the sights and the love we shared were just wonderful beyond belief.  There was no time to worry or fret.  Only time to enjoy life and see the beautiful country God had given to us.  Love of God, Love of family and Love of country and the beauty of it gave me the hope and faith to trust and listen to that quiet, still voice to keep going.

COUNT OUR BLESSINGS

It has been nearly 13 years since I was given my fatal news.  I know people will say I'm crazy, but the experience, the lessons I've learned, the people I've met, and the walk with God is something I count as a blessing.  If I could wash it all away, I would not.

It has not all been easy, but whose life is perfect?  I've been in good health and able to do anything I wished to do including speaking to groups, teaching classes to others about alternative medicine, giving cancer patients hope, and I have appeared on radio and TV talk shows.  I have started writing a book which I hope will be an inspiration and hope to all who are diagnosed with cancer.

- Ann Cooper

Ann also shares more of her natural protocol over at Cancer Compass for those who are interested in more details.

One of the things I love about Ann was her deep resolve to research all her options.  In spite of the fear a cancer diagnosis can bring, she took the time to breathe deep and explore alternatives to traditional treatment.

Knowledge is Power, especially on this cancer journey.  And Sarah Ann Cooper was determined to discover the best path for herself as she battled pancreatic cancer.  Hers is a story of love and bravery and courage.

She is one Brave Cancer Warrior!  And we couldn't be more excited to share her story!

A Eureka Moment...

Yesterday we took a look at the China Study and its effect on Pancreatic Cancer.

It was a hard post to share.   And for many, it may have seemed to be heartless and without hope. {Please don't give up... there is Hope ahead}

Enter Dr. Kelly's Eureka Moment...

After losing 4 of his pancreatic cancer patients, including his own brother, Dr. Kelly shared his all out preoccupation with pancreatic cancer...

"I was heartbroken, but his death focused my mind as never before.  I had studied every aspect accessible to me about cancer and I felt sure there was a fundamental difference between cancer of the pancreas and other cancers.  I reread everything I could about the disease, and scoured the Internet daily to make sure I wasn't missing anything.  I went to sleep thinking about pancreatic cancer, and woke every morning still thinking of it.  Then came my eureka moment, a flash of clarity.

As with so many eureka moments a simple answer proposed itself.  My deduction, based on all the published and known scientific facts, was that in cancer of the pancreas it wasn't the dietary animal protein that was most relevant, but rather the structure and function of the pancreas itself.  In the unique case of the pancreas, its own cells - and any cancers therein - have the ability to produce their own animal protein already fully metabolized and ready for use.  What I had overlooked was the fact that more than 90 percent of pancreatic cancers take place in the glandular cells of the pancreas and that the normal function of these cells is to produce the enzymes that metabolize the foods we eat.  The enzyme involved in metabolizing protein - the culprit we are interested in - is called trypsin."

Now, here the explanation gets more detailed, but stick with it, the a-ha moment is coming!

Dr. Kelly continues, "Trypsin is produced by the glandular cells of the pancreas and is stored there in an inactive form (trypsinogen) until there is need for it.  When we eat protein it is fed into the upper part of the small intestine, where it becomes active and thus capable of metabolizing the consumed proteins so they can be absorbed into the bloodstream and utilized by the body.  Trypsin is a very powerful enzyme and the reason it is normally stored in the inactive state is that it might otherwise begin to metabolize and corrupt the pancreatic cells themselves.  In fact, this sometimes does occur, in a non-malignant condition called pancreatitis where self-digestion results in inflammation and destruction of pancreatic cells.

Trypsin does not cause cancer.  But what my eureka moment suggested was that should a number of pancreatic cells begin malignant change - for whatever reason - the trypsin produced by these cells could trigger auto-digestion of the protein structure within the cell, thereby providing an endless supply of best-quality animal protein that would nourish rapidly replicating, rapidly metastasizing cancer cells indefinitely.  Small wonder, then, that it is virtually impossible to cure pancreatic cancer once the surgical option of removing a localized tumour is no longer feasible."

Did you get that??

Pancreatic cancer is basically self-digesting the patients body to provide itself with a daily smorgasbord of the best animal protein around... An animal-protein-free diet, like that of the Whole-Food, Plant-Based kind, won't begin to turn around or even touch this vicious cancer machine.

Pancreatic cancer is a parasite of the worst kind.  And if this cancer wasn't such a nightmare you could almost admire it's stealth-like adaptation to survive.  Except that survival for the cancer means certain death for our loved ones.

This cancer is a nightmare.

But back to Dr. Kelly's Eureka Moment.  He shares what this means to the future of pancreatic cancer treatment,

"I believe we have approached a critical border here.  If my deduction is right, we are broaching a broad range of new possibilities that might be of considerable importance in new treatments for cancers of the pancreas and stomach, and perhaps all cancers.  The role played by trypsin and pepsin (the enzyme in stomach cancer) in feeding the worst cancers has been too long overlooked because nobody has pressed the argument that a devastating association between animal protein and cancer growth exists.  Now that it is becoming clear that such a link does exist, these enzymes must come under renewed scrutiny.  It is my view that oncology experts should lead the field in reviewing the role of the anti-trypsin chemicals that we know exist naturally in the body, but I believe it is quite likely that the pharmaceutical industry will step up the pace, and hugely effective medications will result.

In the end, it may well be that all that's required to finally defeat pancreatic and stomach cancer, indeed all cancers, is an anti-trypsin and anti-pepsin medication available at the bedside."

This is a beginning.  And it is Hope.

So much of this resonates with me.  As we watched mom waste away from this terrible disease, I can now see how the cancer was feeding on her, in a horrible, agonizing way. 

Pancreatic cancer is a nightmare.  And it's hard to talk about these things.  Even harder to think upon them.

But this is where the Eureka Moments happen.  And it is moments like these that will lead us to a cure.

And that is the heartbeat of this journey.  We will walk it out together...

It is all joy to be journeying this road with you,

Always,
Jane