Hello everyone,

It is July 7, 2007 and much has changed since my last update.

John Hopkins reviewed my CT scans and confirmed the tumor is inoperable. We flew down to MD Anderson in Houston to see what clinical trials they were offering. My friend, Jeff Pyden found a clinical trial at Emory University in Atlanta we also researched.

After multiple conversations with my oncologist and oncologists at University of Alabama, MD Anderson, & Emory University, we decided to pursue the trial at Emory University in Atlanta. It seemed the most unique & promising approach as well as it was local.

So we went to Emory for more blood work and a CT scan. We got some more bad news from the Emory CT scan. They found a separate tumor in my abdomen and possibly a small area in my liver. This was not new tumor growth; Emory was just the 1st to locate it. They needed to determine if the abdominal tumor was cancerous or benign, so we needed a biopsy. First attempt was a needle biopsy (I was awake for this, only local pain shots). Cancer tumors are very hard (like a acorn) and this one was floating around in the abdominal fatty layer. The doctors poked at it for about an hour and a half before they gave up. (It was weird feeling the needle deep inside me when the surface was numb. Very uncomfortable b I am getting used to being uncomfortable.) Next we scheduled a laporoscopic (sp?) biopsy. Under general Anastasia, they make 3 small incisions in you belly and insert a camera, light, cutting tools, etc. They found the tumor and decided to just remove it, 1” in diameter, carcinoma.

The verdict – I am now considered Stage 4 Metastasized Pancreatic cancer and I no longer qualified for ANY of the clinical trials.

This finding also changed my treatment options. The US uses surgery (if possible), radiation (if tumor is localized or just following surgery) and chemotherapy (poison entire body to kill cancer). The only option left for me was chemotherapy…prognosis <1% chance of putting the cancer into remission and 18 months expected life span. THAT SUCKS!!! But I don’t dwell on these types of stats. I am a statistic of 1. Me against my cancer (and the cancer is going to loose.)!

So my wife, Blake, and Jeff Pyden got busy searching the Internet for other options. Blake had found some paperwork given to us by a friend, Mike Dial, listing hospitals offering non-tradition, non-toxic cancer treatment, including patient lists. She got busy on the phone calling the patients. One guy was diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer in the late 1960’s (he is 89 years old now) and beat it. Two others have beaten it for 20+ years. None of them had surgery and all of them went to Mexico for treatment. It turns out there are 72 hospitals just across the Mexican border that provide alternative treatments to cancer patients (as well as many other ailments). They are mostly U.S. doctors that were fed up with US medical practices rules and restrictions.

Blake narrowed it down to 1 hospital she liked, Hospital Santa Monica, http://www.hospitalsantamonica.homestead.com/. They offer a wide variety of treatments (check out the web sit for more details) but the two I like best are Microdose Chemotherapy (Insulin Potentiation Therapy) and Sonodynamic Therapy.

Insulin Potentiation Therapy - There is very little argument that the concept of chemotherapy has merit. The biggest problem has been that the normal cells are destroyed at the same or greater rate as the cancer cells. In addition, the cancer seems to build a resistance to the chemo over a period of time, resulting in the need for more intensive and destructive forms of chemotherapy.

Microdose chemotherapy, as used at Hospital Santa Monica, is based on the fact that a cancer cell has a voracious appetite for glucose - more than 30 times that of a normal cell - and that it cannot use an alternative fuel, as a normal cell can.

During induced hypoglycemia (lowering the glucose level of the cells), the cancer cells are stressed for glucose. If glucose is then administered, mixed with microdose chemotherapy, the cancer cells will preferentially take up the mixture - over the normal cells, which have switched to alternative fuels. Thus, the cancer cell, with 20 times the number of glucose receptors as the normal cell, takes in most of the chemo in its desperate attempt to get the glucose it needs to survive and the normal cell is barely affected. This process is also known as "Insulin Potentiation Therapy."

Sonodynamic Therapy – They give pills that dissolve and migrate to the cancer. Once the cancer is saturated, they submerge the patient in water and bathe them in ultrasound waves. The chemical in the pill reacts with the sound and gives off a single Oxygen molecule. The Oxygen is caustic to cancer and rips the outer cell wall, killing the cancer. This approach has been used in China on over 1000 patients with very good results.

But I was still a little skeptical even with all this good information. So, Jeff got busy researching the entire web trying to find out the best way to approach pancreatic treatment. He came up with many different approaches, all having its merits. He started reporting his findings to me and would compare them to what Hospital Santa Monica was offering. Without exception, Hospital Santa Monica offered a therapy that matched what he had found. This gave me great hope.

I called Hospital Santa Monica and spoke with Dr. Donsbach. I explained my situation and we discussed his therapies. When we were done, I asked him what he thought the chances of putting my cancer into remission without surgery was? He gave me better than a 50% chance. WOW!!! Now that’s a stat that I can wrap my arms around!

So, I am flying San Diego California on Sunday July 8th. They will have a shuttle bus pick me up there and take me across the border to their facilities (2 hour adventure). I will be there for 19 days of extensive therapy and return Saturday July 28th.

We are very excited about this opportunity. One patient Blake and I both spoke to has been fighting neck cancer for 8 years. He had a 1” tumor protruding from his neck on his last trip to Hospital Santa Monica in 2005. The tumor had shrunk by 85% during his 19 day stay. 1 month after his return, a PET scan showed no signs of cancer anywhere in his body. This is better than hitting the Lottery!!!!!