Posted on 12/05/2014 9:43:02 PM PST by Tired of Taxes
Tom Telford ’s stomach ached. The New York City teacher had been drinking cup after cup of coffee as he labored to finish year-end grading and coach his high-school baseball team through the playoffs. He worried he might have an ulcer.
When school let out, though, Mr. Telford looked forward to relaxing on a 25th anniversary cruise with his wife. But once in the Caribbean, he struggled to swim and climbing from one deck to another exhausted him. Back at home, he collapsed while running a TV cable in his bedroom.
His family doctor told him he had lost two pints of blood. Further tests revealed a tumor the size of a quarter on his small intestine. He had surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, followed by months of chemotherapy. But the disease spread to his liver and kidneys. The diagnosis: Stage 4 melanoma, a skin cancer typically fatal within a year.
“Death is not an option,” he told his doctor.
Nine years later, against all odds, Mr. Telford is still alive. What saved him was an experimental immunotherapy drug—a medication that unleashes the body’s own immune system to attack cancer.
When his tumors began melting away more than eight years ago, Mr. Telford’s good fortune was largely an anomaly amid a mostly dreary landscape for advanced cancer. But his remarkable survival caught the attention of researchers, who began to realize that the way immunotherapy drugs were affecting tumors was unlike almost anything seen with conventional treatments.
Today Mr. Telford is among a growing group of super-survivors who are transforming the world of oncology. In both total numbers and duration of survival, they are charting new territory.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
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I predict it’ll replace chemotherapy which has too many side effects and is not effective in treating advanced cancer.
This is has the potential of saving tens of thousands of lives. Its truly the new frontier in oncology.
later
bump and save
I hope so, too. This is very hopeful news. Too late for the people many of us have loved and lost. But at least it looks promising for the future.
“21% after three years”== good for everyone who survived, but that is not a high percentage of survivors and the article does not delineate the number with regard to other therapies. And please note it is a pharmaceutical giant making these claims.
Many natural substances do just that. We’re just laughed at for suggesting it.
i think 20% after 3 years is about the same for all therapies. GF is going on 5 years. chemo kills about 75% of your body and mind. If you survive chemo you survive cancer.
“chemo kills about 75% of your body and mind.”
Wait... chemo kills your *mind*? I’ve never heard that! Really?
My mother didn’t go through chemo, it was already too advanced when they found it.
Does anyone have any info about the effects of chemo on the brain? Does it adversely effect thinking? Intelligence? Emotions?
chemo brain
Bookmark
In the second follow-up report on the MSKCC [Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center] ALL trial, reporting on 16 patients, a CR rate of 88% was observed; again, those who were eligible went on to allogeneic transplant (NCT01044069).
88%. These are relapsed leukemia patients with literally only days or weeks to live, treated with CAR T-Cells who become MRD-, then can receive bone marrow transplants as a result of the T-Cell therapy and are completely cured of leukemia.
That is literally a miracle, and it aint some herbal remedy.
My understanding is that the chemo drugs don’t cross the blood/brain barrier.
The chemo brain might just be the result of being sick.
‘Many natural substances do that - - - ‘
It is the immune system that fights off ever-present cancer cells.
Our job is to keep the immune system healthy and up and running, by healthy eating and rare eating of, or eliminating much junk foods.
One supplement to consider to boost the immune system is ‘MycoPhyto’ made by ‘Advanced Bionutritionals.’
Can only vouch for this brand from all out there, in preventing oncoming illnesses, like the common cold.
Doesn’t hurt to take a few capsules daily for ‘insurance.’
Some will say it ‘works,’ and some will say the opposite. I just know how it has helped my family and myself.
Another supplement to consider is Boiron’s ‘Oscillo,’ for short (Please don’t ask me to spell it - )
>> Memorial Sloan Kettering
The other part of NYC that doesn’t get the recognition it deserves.
MSK is amazing.
Ultimately, everything is natural.
My mother had the most powerful chemo available given her and Avastin
It didn’t kill her mind....not at all
But the cancer killed her
I don’t think chemo is much option unless decent shot at survival
It really really is tough stuff
“...result of the T-Cell therapy are completely cured of leukemia...”
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has started doing this and patients whose leukemia returned after a bone marrow transplant are being treated with the modified aids virus and they are getting better. They would have had no chance prior to this. We personally know one teenager who is having this treatment and it is working.
bttt
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