Infected cells develop genetic changes that transform them into cancer cells.

A new study published in the journal Nature divides breast cancer into 4 genetic types.  One of the most deadly types, "basal-like" cancer, shows strong genetic similarities to types of lung cancer and to ovarian cancer.  A researcher is quoted in the New York Times as saying these similarities point to a common cause of the cancers.  I laughed out loud when I read this because they're all caused by infection and the cancers with the similarities they've identified are caused by a common organism infecting similar kinds of cells in the different organs.  It's right under their noses!

 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/24/health/study-finds-variations-of-breast-cancer.html?_r=0

I've noticed, reading these research reports, that cancer researchers are excellent at identifying the results of infection with carcinogenic organisms and even of finding treatments that are effective against these results, without identifying the underlying cause of the disease.  For example, Tamoxifen and Taxol, two of the most important breast cancer drugs, are potent antifungal drugs.  Breast cancer is caused by skin fungal infections.  Researchers somewhere discovered these drugs work against breast cancer without knowing why!  God bless them anyway - they've saved countless lives with their antifungal drugs.

It's important to note that early breast cancers are always intraductal - they form inside the ducts of the milk glands, which are open to the outside world through the milk gland openings in the breast nipple.  Fungal organisms on the skin enter the ducts through the gland openings in the skin and infect and transform the cells lining the ducts.  Breast cancer does not start in the deep breast tissue as you would expect if it were entirely a genetic disorder - it spreads to the deep tissue through invasion of the cancer cells through the walls of the ducts.

Statistically, breastfeeding before the age of 32 lowers the lifetime risk of breast cancer.  I believe it is because breast milk contains potent immune factors intended to protect the nursing infant but that also protect the breast ducts from the infection.  Breasts continue to make small amounts of milk for 10 years or more after weaning, so that increased immune protection for the breast continues indefinitely.  A mother who first nurses after age 32 may already have an entrenched infection which would not be affected by the presence of breast milk.

Cancer rates are rapidly increasing, especially in young people, because our American food supply is over-manipulated.  Our food is genetically modified (GMO) and contains chemicals and pesticides that our parents and grandparents were never exposed to.  The alterations in our food supply are also causing our epidemic of obesity.  The rest of the world isn't suffering these problems because they're still eating food that's wild-type, not scientifically altered.

Japanese women living in Japan have a low breast cancer rate but when they move to the U.S. they quickly reach the same rates of breast cancer as American women.  Obviously genetics are not the problem - these women are exposed to new environmental factors when they move to the U.S.  Japanese women consume large quantities of soy in their diets.  My Chinese physician tells me that consumption of soy outside of the U.S. lowers the risk of breast cancer, but soy grown in the U.S. significantly raises the risk of cancer because it is 100% genetically-modified.  To lower your risk of breast cancer in the U.S., you must eat wild-type or imported soy.

The genetic counselor I consulted for BRCA 1 and 2 testing told me that these breast cancer genes code for DNA repair.  The presence of the BRCA genes decreases the body's ability to repair DNA damage.  So women with these genes develop cancer at an earlier age.  These genes do not code for cancer.  They make women more susceptible to carcinogenesis.  From what I've read about the mechanisms by which fungal organisms infect mammalian cells, it makes sense that when fungal organisms trick cells into taking them up into the cytoplasm and the organism shuts off programmed cell death in the cell nucleus, DNA damage must occur during the process which the BRCA genes are unable to repair.  Perhaps shutting off cell death IS the DNA damage that cannot be repaired.

We develop cancer because our chemically altered, genetically altered food damages our immune defenses, allowing infections to proliferate, invade and genetically transform cells into cancer cells.

We must stop the genetic modification of our food, identify and eliminate the chemicals used in food production that weaken our immune defenses and identify and treat the infections that cause cancer without damaging our natural defenses in the process.

What If I Could Do My Cancer Treatment All Over Again?

I've learned a LOT over the last 5 years through trial and error.

The standard Western medical approach to women with stage 4 breast cancer is give them chemo until they die, which they always do.  I'm alive because I've been treated for the causative infection since the beginning.

A breast surgeon told me that stage 4 patients don't undergo mastectomies in the oncology protocols because they all die despite the surgery.  I had to have a mastectomy after 3 years of chemo to eradicate the original tumor - chemo hadn't touched it.  My surgical pathology report stated the tumor showed "minimal chemotherapy effect."  After 3 YEARS of chemo!

If I could do my entire cancer treatment over again, this is what I would do:

1.  Start Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) the day I received the diagnosis to effectively and safely treat the causative infection.
2.  Start hyperbaric oxygen therapy the day I received the diagnosis to immediately kill cancer cells and infectious organisms spreading from the original tumor.
3.  Undergo a simple mastectomy ASAP to remove the original tumor.
4.  After a month healing from the mastectomy, start a SHORT course of chemo to clean up any lingering cancer cells.
5.  Continue Traditional Chinese Medicine indefinitely to heal from the surgery and chemo, effectively and safely CURE the causative infection and correct the underlying physical issues that allowed the disease to start in the first place.

Traditional Chinese Medicine seems miraculous to me as a physician and cancer patient.  It has been developed and refined for 2500 years, each successive generation of geniuses perfecting it more.  Modern Western medicine is only a century old.  It has a LONG way to go, although it's best for emergencies like cancer spreading too rapidly to be controlled by slowly-acting Chinese herbs.  I believe TCM has saved my life.  I cannot recommend it highly enough!  Go find a Chinese physician STAT!

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is an excellent adjunct to TCM.  It's believed in TCM that cancer begins in areas of the body where there is a blockage, e.g. from constant muscle tension.  I believe these are areas of decreased blood flow, therefore decreased oxygen levels, which impairs the activity of white blood cells.  HBOT saturates the blood and the organs of the body with oxygen, leaving cancer cells nowhere to hide.  The oxygen saturation directly kills infectious organisms and cancer cells and arms white blood cells with all the oxygen they need to make oxygen radicals (their ammunition).  It provides the oxygen needed to make strong collagen during healing.  It also immediately relieves swelling, which immediately relieves the pain caused by metastases.

The most effective HBOT uses hard-sided chambers to achieve pressures of 2.2 to 2.6 atmospheres.  Soft-sided chambers only reach pressures of 1.5 atmospheres, too low to mobilize stem cells into the bloodstream.  Soft-sided chambers may have benefits, but it takes many more treatments and much more time to see any results.

A good friend of mine, Robert Lyne Sands, is an expert on HBOT.  You can check out his blog at http://sandsie.blogspot.com/.  He's a redheaded Aussie who LOVES to pick fights, but he's also extremely smart and incredibly kind.  He's a man on a mission.

I've tried a lot of alternative medicines and treatments and those I listed above are what work, with few or no side effects.  I've tried Cimetidine, which did seem to slow the spread of my cancer while I waited for my mastectomy, but caused me stomach inflammation, I believe because it neutralizes stomach acid, leaving the stomach unprotected from germs in food.  We NEED stomach acid!  So use it only for short periods of time.

I've used colloidal silver - it's not only anti-bacterial and antifungal, it even kills fungal spores.  I used too much of it and developed mildly abnormal kidney tests as a result.  The best way to take it is put a tablespoon of the solution in a 2-liter water bottle and sip the water through the day.

The bottom line is, from my rocky experience, to use Traditional Chinese Medicine along with hyperbaric oxygen to eradicate the infection causing your cancer.  Use your oncologist's recommendations, but CAUTIOUSLY.  Be skeptical - you don't HAVE to do any treatment.

And never give up on yourself.

Pectasol-C and Cimetidine are effective at keeping cancer at bay

I just had my mastectomy. My scans had shown my tumor enlarging in size after nearly 3 years of weekly Taxol. The Taxol was stopped and I had my surgery 4 weeks later. During that month, the tumor enlarged rapidly in size - I could actually see it enlarging day by day.

My awesome breast surgeon, Helena Chang, director of the Revlon UCLA Breast Center, got the entire tumor out with clean margins and even got the surgical site closed without a skin flap.

The surgical pathology report on the tumor showed it scored 8/9 on an aggressiveness score and showed minimal chemo effect, only 5% of tumor cells showed apoptosis.

I have lived 3 years now with a very aggressive cancer. I'm not cured but I am certain I will not die from this. I keep searching for new ways to treat the underlying fungal infection as it develops resistance to each new treatment. Conventional medicine has been absolutely necessary for my survival, but it is the alternative treatments and antifungal medicines that have saved me. This aggressive cancer would have killed me 2 years ago without IV Caspofungin and Chinese herbs.

Next I start radiation to the surgical site to clean up residual disease in the area.

Microscopic disease in my body beyond the surgical site is not being treated at this time. This is very dangerous given the aggressiveness of this disease. I requested Tamoxifen therapy during radiation until I start chemotherapy again. My wonderful oncologist agreed to this! It's the perfect drug because it's a potent antifungal agent, the real reason it's effective against breast cancer. It will keep metastases from developing while I'm waiting to restart chemo.

As soon as I started Tamoxifen, little stinging pains that had started in different places in my body immediately stopped. I believe it will be very effective in preventing metastases at this time. I would prefer to continue taking it while I'm on chemo - the infection causing the cancerous transformation would be treated at the same time as the cancer, an effective 1-2 punch. But at this time, Tamoxifen with chemo isn't considered safe because of the increased risk of blood clots.

Before my mastectomy I started taking Cimetidine (Tagamet), an over-the-counter stomach acid reducer. It's been known for years in alternative medicine to block the communication between cancer cells. Infectious organisms, including fungi, are known to communicate through chemical signals so the entire colony can act like a unit, like the Republican party. This is the reason resistance to treatment develops so quickly. I've read that when a primary tumor is surgically removed, the metastases immediately flare up and grow even more aggressively. I believe that reaction results from communication between infectious organisms - when the chemical signals from the largest tumor disappear, the remaining organisms are stimulated to grow even more aggressively to overcome the loss and insure the survival of the colony despite the loss.

So I started Cimetidine pre-op to prevent the flare-up when my primary tumor was removed. I also wanted to slow the growth of any metastases while I am off chemo. Before the surgery, the pain in my breast from the tumor had worsened steadily. When I took the Cimetidine, the pain completely stopped, but would come back with a vengeance 23 hours after the last dose - an intense burning pain, like the nasty buggers were trying to make up for lost time. I'm taking the Cimetidine every 12 hours until I restart chemo to prevent any flare-up when the organisms in the surgical site are fried by the radiation.

Pectasol-C is an absolutely brilliant compound with multiple benefits and it's completely safe. It is citrus pectin that has been broken into pieces small enough to absorbed through the intestinal wall into the blood stream. It has 3 important benefits:

1. Heavy metal chelation - very effective in the gut but also should chelate heavy metals in the blood since it is absorbed into the bloodstream.
2. Heals leaky gut - beneficial to prevent new allergies and heal the intestinal wall of breaks caused by toxic microorganisms in the gut. Should be beneficial for irritable bowel, Crohn's and ulcerative colitis.
3. Turns programmed cell death back on in cancer cells. When fungi infect cells, they shut off programmed cell death (apoptosis), the signals that tell the cell it's time to die. Without apoptosis, the cells become immortal and divide uncontrollably, i.e. become cancer. Researchers at Columbia University recently announced their findings on the effect of Pectasol-C on prostate cancer cells. They grew prostate cancer cells in petri dishes and added Pectasol-C and found that apoptosis was turned back on in these cells, resulting in a 54% kill rate in these cells, a strongly significant effect.

Both prostate and breast cancers have been known for years to respond to Pectasol. All of the hormone dependent cancers should respond as well, since they likely are caused by fungi, e.g. colon, melanoma, uterine, bladder.

I am using cimetidine and Pectasol-C along with Tamoxifen at least until I restart chemo in 2 months. I feel really excited and optimistic based on my immediate improvement in my general state of health and lack of side effects. The integrative medicine I am using as an adjunct to conventional treatment is benign and based on actual physiology and solid medical research.

I plan to continue to astonish cancer doctors with my survival and excellent condition for years to come.

Colloidal Silver Treats the Infection That Causes Breast Cancer

A naturopath recently recommended colloidal silver to me for my stage 4 breast cancer. It's a 10 ppm solution - he said to mix a tablespoon in a large water bottle and sip it throughout the day.

It turned out to be phenomenally effective - I had a flare-up of pain (which always happens when I start a new, effective treatment) then the pain completely disappeared. I have no pain in my cancerous sternum or rib lesions. I also suddenly gained 20 pounds - the healthier I am, the more I weigh, probably because my TNF alpha (cachexin) levels decrease.

This is the healthiest I've been since I developed cancer. I am astonished. I'm recommending colloidal silver to anyone with cancer or a chronic infection or any disease treated with steroids, which I believe are all caused by infection.

Colloidal silver was used to treat infections before antibiotics were discovered. It DOES NOT turn you blue if you avoid making homemade colloidal silver in your kitchen sink with tap water. One type of silver solution has protein in it - there's a risk of Argyria (permanently turning blue) with it. I've used silver almost every day for 3 months and I'm not blue. I suspect the pharmaceutical companies spread rumors about colloidal silver to keep people on their expensive drugs with nasty side effects.

Silver acts by blocking enzymatic reactions in infectious organisms. Be careful if you have kidney disease - silver can be hard on the kidneys. Take small amounts well-diluted in water.

Silver gels can be used on the skin for skin infections.

Every Cancer Begins As An Infection

I am certain that all cancers begin as infections. The medical education I received at the University of Chicago and the experiences I've had as a Stage 4 breast cancer patient have made that crystal clear to me. Every mystery about cancer, everything we do not understand, is explained and crystal clear when you look at cancer as the result of an infection altering the body's functions.

I've started a literature search online to find the mechanism by which a fungal infection could trigger carcinogenesis (the "start" of cancer). The very first reference I found had the answer, a review entitled, "Fungal Invasion of Normally Non-Phagocytic Host Cells," by Scott G. Filler and Donald C. Sheppard, PLoS Pathog 2(12): e129.doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.0020129.

In this review, the authors describe how fungal organisms trigger healthy cells like skin and lung cells to absorb them. This means that in any fungal infection, the infecting organisms are located INSIDE the cells, where they can disrupt a cell's normal functions.

In addition, the review describes how some fungi block apoptosis in the cells they infect. Apoptosis is programmed cell death, the chemical signals that tell a cell when it's time to die, that give cells a definite lifespan. Without programmed cell death, the cells become immortal, multiplying out of control. Loss of apoptosis is the very heart of carcinogenesis.

An example given in the review describes how Aspergillus fumigatus (tree mold), a common human pathogen, infects lung cells (type II pneumocytes) when the mold spores are inhaled and how Aspergillus blocks apoptosis in the lung cells. This is a clear, simple mechanism for the start of lung cancer. Everyone inhales mold spores, probably on a daily basis. When the spores are absorbed into our lung cells and apoptosis is blocked, the cells are transformed into cancer cells. Our immune systems detect the altered cells and destroy them before they can multiply into tumors. Smokers are unable to destroy these cancer cells because their physical defenses and immune systems are damaged by the tar and nicotine they inhale, so the cancer cells multiply into malignant tumors.

I am dumbfounded that this information is already in the literature but has been overlooked by researchers. EVERYONE wants to find the cure for cancer and the assumption that cancer is caused by defective genes has NOT led to a cure despite decades of research. The death rate due to cancer has never improved! The answer is under our noses and the basic facts are already in the literature.

Every cancer begins as an infection. Some start as viral infections, like cervical cancer, some start as fungal infections, like my breast cancer. Other types of human pathogens may cause cancer as well. We'll know when we start looking for the causative organisms in malignant tissue specimens.

The cure for the most common types of cancer is so close! Medications that cure these infections already exist and are already FDA-approved. We just need to make the connection so these effective medications can be used to save cancer patients!

If you know any medical researchers or cancer activists you believe would be interested in what I'm saying and would want to pursue it, PLEASE forward this blog to them or email me so I can contact them.

Cancer patients are dying every day. We need to begin administering effective anti-infective medication to them ASAP. Every day lost means more lives lost.

Cancer Is The Best Thing That Has Ever Happened To Me

My oncologist has a plaque in his office that reads, "Every Journey Has Its Blessings." I feel blessed by the wonderful people I've met on my journey, doctors, friends and complete strangers, and their amazing kindness. My wonder at the kindness I've experienced has made me a better person.

I think we're defined by the difficulties we overcome. We're at our best when we have to rise to the occasion. We need challenges to become the very best we can be. Rolling over Stage 4 breast cancer like a tank has revealed strength I never knew I had.

There have been some very dark times. I've had setbacks that made me believe my time was very short. I would lie in bed at night staring into the darkness. Some people find religion at such a time; what I felt was an overwhelming need to be part of something that would survive my physical death. It strengthened my feeling of connection to everyone struggling with cancer. It strengthened my resolve to keep other people from dying of cancer by making it known that all cancers start as infection so that a cure can be found.

I saw an author on a talkshow recently who had written a book about her cranky, pessimistic approach to her own cancer treatment and how she thought all the talk about improving cancer survival by being positive and upbeat was a load of crap. I can (sort of) see her side because I've certainly been pessimistic about my chances of survival.

There's a lot of research that has shown that positive attitudes strengthen the immune system and enhance survival with cancer. Research has shown that women with breast cancer and men with AIDS have significantly longer survival when they attend support groups. Read the book, "Anti-Cancer: A New Way of Life" by David Servan-Schreiber for more proof.

The thing is, you have to GRIEVE! You have to grieve for the hopes and plans you had for your future life and for the excellent health you had and for the fear of pain and helplessness. When you reach a point of acceptance of the drastic change in your life, REBOUND! Start kicking butt, starting with your own. Never stop fighting. I'm often told to live in the moment, but I can't. I have to keep fighting. I wouldn't still be here if I didn't.

The important thing is that you have to grieve and you are entitled to it. Have a good wallow - you deserve it. Then kick some butt.

Let's get cancer cured so no one has to endure those long, dark nights.

Ways to Improve Your Quality of Life During Cancer Treatment

Tomorrow I celebrate the 2nd anniversary of my being diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer, "celebrate" because I am still alive and thriving 2 years after receiving a death sentence. I am alive because the infection that caused my cancer has been and is being treated, but there are methods I've discovered to improve my survival chances and live an essentially normal life and I want to share those with you.

1. First and most importantly, Traditional Chinese Medicine is extremely effective, gentle and a perfect complement to standard Western medicine. My acupuncturist has saved my life just as my oncologist has, on multiple occasions. I'm taking Chinese herbs that keep my blood counts up so I am able to receive chemo every week without interruptions due to low blood cell counts. These same herbs are the most effective antidepressant I've ever encountered, with no side effects! I feel great and I roll like a tank over every setback. I would have curled up and died from despair without it.

I'm also taking an herb formula that combats the deeply invasive fungal infection that caused my breast cancer. I am slowly but steadily improving on it, with decreased pain in my cancerous sternum and breast, increased energy levels and weight gain. (The sicker I am, the more weight I lose. In my situation, fat is good!)

My acupuncturist has been extremely effective in treating the complications I've experienced from chemotherapy. I've broken 2 ribs just by shifting position. They didn't heal until my acupuncturist treated them, and it took only one treatment! He's cleared up the bad swelling in my legs and the lymphedema in my left arm. He cleared up the sciatica in my left leg with one treatment. I could go on! There are no side effects from acupuncture.

Cancer patients need Chinese medicine at the same time as standard Western treatment! Because the treatments are subtle and take time to work, it's best to start before your condition is desperate.

2. "Anti-Cancer: A New Way of Life," is a brilliant book by David Servan-Schreiber, MD. He's a physician and medical researcher diagnosed with brain cancer 15 years ago who went out and found the research on diet and other non-medical treatments to help combat cancer and compiled them in this book. It is essential reading. I now take 6 Omega-6 capsules a day and drink green tea instead of coffee. He tells you what foods fight cancer most effectively and what the best combination of foods are to fight and prevent cancer. (I have no connection to Dr Servan-Schreiber or his publisher).

This book lays out for you what normal, everyday foods to eat, what kinds of exercise are most effective and why and why "alternative" medicine works, even something as simple as journaling.

3. Rogaine has allowed my hair to grow back. I started using Rogaine in my 3rd month of chemo when my hair was falling out like mad. My hair immediately stopped falling out (I never had to shave my head) and 6 weeks later I found a 2mm, pale crewcut coming in all over my head. I now have the thickest head of hair I've had in 20 years. No one believes I'm being treated for cancer because of my hair. I hate the sick role, I do not want to appear ill and I can go out in public completely normal in appearance. It's priceless to me. No wigs, turbans or do-rags! I've had no bad effects from it. There's no sign it has affected my cancer or treatment in any way.

4. I use Revita-Lash on my eyebrows and eyelashes. I don't use Rogaine near my eyes because I don't know whether it would injure my eyes. Revita-Lash hasn't been as effective as Rogaine for me but I do have some fine, pale eyebrow hairs and eyelashes. I need to use make-up to avoid looking like a space alien.

A new prescription eyelash treatment, Latisse, is now available. It costs $150 a tube, just like Revita-Lash. I haven't tried it and it isn't being marketed for cancer patients, but I've read that it was invented by a chemist or pharmacist for his wife with breast cancer.

5. I bought a lightbox that is the home version of a light treatment that has been used in Dermatology offices for years. It produces 2 wavelengths of light, one that fights infection and one that boosts collagen production. It's made by Verilux and I believe the product name is Clear Wave. It has been very effective in clearing the acne I've developed since chemo has drastically reduced my white blood cell count. My face and neck have toned up visibly with the increased collagen production. People keep telling me how great I look (thank heaven for make-up and my lightbox).

Please let me know if you've found other techniques to improve quality of life during chemo. Thanks!

The Cure for Breast Cancer is Within Reach

I am still alive 2 years after being diagnosed with Stage 4 Breast Cancer because the cause of my disease has been treated as well as the cancer that resulted from it.

I am an Obstetrician Gynecologist who has diagnosed premenopausal women with aggressive breast cancers. Then it happened to me! I developed a skin fungal infection that spread to my breast and invaded into the breast tissue through the gland openings in the nipple. Within a couple of days a 3 cm hard painful mass developed. I treated the infection with antifungals - the pain and size of the mass decreased, but I couldn't clear it up. I saw another physician and had a mammogram and biopsy that showed invasive cancer - all within several weeks of the infection developing. The infection and cancer were so aggressive, the cancer spread to my chest wall by the time I completed the staging tests and could start chemotherapy.

I had always been struck by how the malignant breast tumors in the premenopausal women I had diagnosed looked exactly like breast infections (mastitis) in nursing mothers - red, inflamed, painful masses. I experienced first-hand that these inflammatory breast cancers actually are infectious. The presence of estrogen in premenopausal women makes them aggressive and fast-spreading.

I started chemotherapy with weekly low-dose Taxol. The cancer responded slowly and steadily to the chemo, but the pain and inflammation of the breast mass continued to spread. The pain spread to my left arm with palpable nodes in the armpit, then around my ribcage to my shoulder blade. Enlarged lymph nodes became visible on my CT scans inside my ribcage and down my spine. These enlarged nodes were not interpreted as cancer.

I knew this spreading pain and inflammation was the infection spreading through me. The chemotherapy was not treating it. Women with Stage 4 breast cancer die during treatment because new metastases develop that are unresponsive to treatment. I knew that when this infection reached a susceptible organ like the liver or brain, it would transform into new cancers and I would quickly die.

I discussed my concerns with my wonderful oncologist, including the fact that a fungal infection had caused my cancer, and requested treatment for the infection along with the cancer treatment. God bless him, he listened! I was astounded, because he practices evidence-based medicine and there is nothing in the medical books linking infection with breast cancer! He felt there was enough evidence of infection from my symptoms and my exam to prescribe treatment.

He started me on oral antifungal agents, metronidazole then fluconazole. These slowed the spread of the infection and decreased the pain, but the infection continued to spread and I developed numbness of my fingers and feet (nerve damage is a side effect of oral antifungal agents). So my oncologist had me talk to an infectious disease specialist and we agreed on starting Caspofungin (Cancidas). It is an intravenous antifungal agent with an excellent side effect profile typically used in ICUs for patients rapidly dying from fungal infections in the bloodstream.

I want to be absolutely clear that I am not writing this blog to sell any product. I am writing because I have survived 2 years with aggressive Stage 4 cancer and am doing so well there is no end in sight for me. I cannot bear that there are many women out there with my same disease who are dying. I have to do what I can to help EVERYONE with hormone-dependent cancers survive and thrive as I have.
Caspofungin is manufactured by Merck Labs and I have no connection to them except having been treated with their drug.

Having said that, Caspofungin saved my life. My oncologist cautiously prescribed it for me twice a week instead of daily doses as it administered to ICU patients. For 2 weeks the pain in the left side of my ribcage flared up terribly and the most painful spot alongside my spine ruptured! The pain was excruciating. Then the pain began to die down. Then it disappeared, for the first time in 9 months of treatment. I put on weight for the first time since developing cancer and my energy levels dramatically improved. The improvement in my health and quality of life was amazing.

I continued on the Caspofungin until my insurance (BC Anthem) refused to continue covering it. Since it is an intravenous drug, it is expensive to administer. My symptoms began to recur. At this point my wonderful oncologist recommended I see a Chinese physician who had helped a number of his patients.

This Chinese physician explained to me that the herbal teas that are prescribed in Traditional Chinese Medicine are another delivery system for pharmaceuticals. The pharmaceuticals are administered in their raw form. He carefully created a formula with potent antifungal agents that also treated the side effects of my chemotherapy, including the high blood sugars resulting from the steroid I received with my chemo doses.

I brew the teas (very bitter!) and drink a dose 3 times a day. Once again, I have steadily improved with total resolution of my pain symptoms, increased energy and stamina and weight gain with normal blood sugar levels. The Chinese teas have been even more effective than the Caspofungin with no side effects.

I have laid awake many nights anticipating my imminent death from cancer. While I've laid there, reliving my life, my education and training and my care for my patients, it has become clear to me that all cancers start as an infection. If you make the assumption that cancer starts as an infection, all the mysteries concerning cancer and its causes become crystal clear.

Why is it that a woman's lifetime risk of ovarian cancer is cut 50% if she has her Fallopian tubes tied? Because the tubal ligation blocks the Fallopian tubes, blocking the access route for infectious organisms to reach the abdomen and pelvis from the vagina. If the cause of ovarian cancer were genetic, tubal ligation would have no effect.

Why are babies born with cancer? Because they were infected in the womb.

Women in Japan have much lower rates of breast cancer than American women. When Japanese women relocate to the US, their risk of breast cancer quickly rises to the same risk as American-born women. Their genetic inheritance is unchanged, but their diet and environment become the same.

It is well-known that viruses cause cancer. Human papilloma virus causes cervical cancer. Ebstein-Barr virus causes Burkitt's lymphoma. From my personal experience, I know that fungal infections cause cancer as well. I believe the hormone-dependent cancers - breast, prostate, colon, ovarian, testicular and melanoma - are all caused by fungal infections. I will describe my reasoning further in future posts.

The great news is that effective treatments, such as Caspofungin, already exist. Medical research needs to be done to prove the connection between fungal disease and cancer. With this proof, effective treatment can be administered to cancer patients immediately.

To cure cancer, we must treat its etiology, not just the endpoint of the disease process. The cause and the potential for cure have been right under our noses all along.