August 18, 2011 – San Diego, CA - A forensic researcher, Lindy Hess was 32 when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2005.  Hess used her investigative techniques to determine what treatment would work for her.  And, like half a million other Americans, she traveled outside the country for a natural approach to cancer care.  According to TMD Limited, a medical tourism company, nearly 10,000 people leave the US every week to get medical treatment, and most of them travel to Mexico, Germany and the Philippines.

Cervical cancer begins in the cervix, the opening at the lower part of the uterus.  Cervical cancer is the 3^rd most common cancer among women in the US.  This slow growing cancer often begins with precancerous cells called dysplasia, which can be detected by a pap smear.  If not treated, it can spread to the bladder, intestines, lungs and liver.

According to the National Cancer Institute, 12,200 US women were diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2010, and 4,210 died of the disease.  The 5 year survival rate if discovered and treated early is 90.9%, but once it spreads, survival drops to 18.7%.

Hess had no symptoms, but a routine Pap smear found cancer cells on her cervix. More advanced cervical cancer may cause back, leg or pelvic pain, bone fractures, fatigue, heavy bleeding, leaking urine or feces from the vagina, loss of appetite and weight loss or a single swollen leg.

Risk factors include early sexual activity or many partners who indulge in unsafe sexual practices, a mother who took the drug diethylstilbestrol (DES) during the 60s to prevent miscarriage during pregnancy, smoking and a weak immune system.  Most cervical cancers can be prevented by getting regular pap smears, practicing safe sex and not smoking.

Early stage cervical cancer can often be treated by cryotherapy to freeze the abnormal cells. Laser surgery can destroy cancer cells with light, and LEEP procedures use electricity to remove cancer cells.  Unfortunately, Hess’s cancer had begun to spread.  After a cone biopsy, CT scans and intravenous pyelogram, Hess was referred to an oncologist, who recommended a radical hysterectomy.  During this procedure, surgeons would remove her uterus and surrounding tissue, lymph nodes and her upper vagina.    Some patients undergo a pelvic exenteration – removing all organs in the pelvis, including the bladder and rectum. Both surgeries are followed by radiation and chemotherapy.

Hess had watched a close friend battle breast cancer, and she saw firsthand the side effects of conventional treatment.  Her friend lost her hair, vomited constantly and when she died looked like a skeleton.  However, she researched traditional treatments, their effectiveness and side effects, and decided she wanted none of that.

In her research, she learned about Merck’s Gardasil vaccine for cervical cancer, approved by the FDA in 2007.  Hailed as the end of this disease, some states, like Texas and Virginia, mandated that all school age girls from 9 up must take the vaccine.   According to the National Institutes of Health, between June 2006 and April 2008, there were almost 8,000 adverse reactions from the vaccine in the US, and 1300 girls in the UK had negative reactions, according to the Medicines & Health Care Products Regulatory Agency there.  Negative reactions include balance difficulties, fainting, paralysis, loss of vision, blood clots, seizures, Guillain-Barre syndrome, miscarriages, hospitalization and death.  After a vehement uproar from parents and health care providers, the mandates were lifted everywhere except Washington DC.  Some parents are vaccinating their daughters anyway, and a similar vaccine for boys is in the works.

Hess researched many home remedies.  There were teas, drops, castor oil packs, supplements, wheat grass enemas and special diets that all claimed to cure cancer.  Hess was skeptical of flashy websites and magic teas.  While her oncologist urged her to schedule surgery, Hess was not yet willing to give up the possibility of having children.  Her chiropractor told her about a clinic in Baja, Mexico that had unique treatments for cervical cancer.

Hess called the clinic and made an appointment to see Dr. Antonio Jimenez, medical director of Hope4Cancer Institute.  “I wanted to make sure this clinic existed, that it was clean and professional.  I wanted to speak to patients being treated there.  I’m an investigator, so I needed to investigate,” Hess said.

“Dr Tony spent an hour with me, and then I got a tour of the clinic.  It was right across the street from the beach.  It’s a small clinic, but they have a gym, juice bar, Wi-Fi, and lots of treatment rooms.  There are 8 doctors on staff, and they only take 10 patients at a time,” Hess learned.  “The patients I spoke with were happy, felt great because the treatments didn’t have any side effects, and they were positive they were getting the help they needed.  Almost everyone I spoke with came to this clinic because they knew someone else who had been treated there successfully.  I met with patients with bladder, ovarian, prostate and lung cancer.  They were all positive and happy with their choice. ”

Next, Hess researched the treatments offered at the clinic.  Hyperthermia was first introduced in Germany over 20 years ago.  This treatment kills cancer cells by heating them from the inside out, without harming normal cells. This selective heating occurs because cancer cells form a hard shell around themselves, made from a sticky protein called fibirin.  Normal cells pass heat right out through the cell wall, but the heat is trapped inside the fibrin shell around the cancer cells, so the heat builds up and destroys only the cancer cell.   SonoPhoto Dynamic Therapy (SPDT) is used in China, the UK and at Hope4Cancer Institute.  SPDT pulses sound and light frequencies through the body, and when it hits a natural sensitizer in the cancer cells, it causes a chemical reaction (photo-synthesis)  that explodes free radical oxygen directly into cancer cells to kill them.  Hess discovered that as cancer cells die, the dead cells become cytotoxins in the body.   Alternative clinics use detox strategies to rid the body of dead cells, and residue from cancer drugs.  She studied the long list of IV therapies and read articles on nutrition for cancer patients.

Hess was convinced.  She was admitted 3 weeks later.  Her treatments included local and whole body hyperthermia, SonoPhoto Dynamic Therapy, a natural cancer vaccine, nutrition, detoxification and other holistic cancer treatments that were tailored to her specific situation.  “I was in treatment all day, every day,” she said.  “I learned so much about nutrition and how lifestyle affects health.  And I kept all my body parts.  I got married 3 years ago, and we have a healthy daughter, and we are expecting a son in November.  I treasure each moment with my family, and am so thankful I found Hope4Cancer.   When investigating at work, I look at all possibilities and keep an open mind.  This worked to my advantage when I began searching for the right treatment for me.  I think all cancer patients owe it to themselves to explore all options.“

July 14, 2011  Sarasota, FL - Elliot Hatton was on a cruise celebrating his 25^th wedding anniversary when he noticed blood in his urine.  He mentioned it to his wife, but since it didn’t happen again, he ignored it.  Two months later, his urine turned rust colored, and the veins around his testicles were swollen.  His physician ordered tests, and Elliot was one of the 61,000 Americans diagnosed with kidney cancer annually.  And according to TMD Limited, a medical tourism company, Hatton joined an even larger group  - he became one of half a million US citizens who go out of the country each year for medical treatment.

At 55, Hatton had several risk factors: he was a smoker, overweight and  had high blood pressure.  Other risk factors include a family history of kidney cancer and the Von-Hipbel-Lindau (VHL) Syndrome, a hereditary disease affecting the VHL gene.  Men are diagnosed with kidney cancer twice as often as women, usually after age 50.

In addition to bloody urine, other symptoms include anemia, pain or a lump or mass in the side, back or abdomen, unexplained weight loss, fever and persistent exhaustion.  In some cases there are no symptoms.

Kidneys are the size of a fist.  Urine collects in the hollow space in the middle of each kidney, then passes from the pelvis into the bladder through a long tube called the ureter, then leaves the body through a short tube called the urethra.  Kidneys also make substances to help control blood pressure and to make red blood cells.

When normal cell growth goes awry, and damaged cells don’t die off the way they should, the buildup of extra cells form a tumor.  In renal cell carcinoma (kidney cancer), tumors can form is the very small tubes in the kidney that filter blood and remove waste products, or in the center of the kidney, where urine collects.  Pieces of the tumors can break off and spread through the lymph vessels to the lymph nodes, or through blood vessels to the lungs, bone or liver.

 Twenty-five percent of kidney cancers are diagnosed when they are already advanced. According to the American Cancer Society, only 8% of stage IV kidney cancer patients survive 5 years post diagnosis.  In 2010, there were 13,120 deaths in the US from this cancer.

Hatton’s doctor ordered blood and urine tests, CT, MRI and ultrasounds, and a biopsy.  His oncologist recommended standard treatment for a large tumor on the kidney – surgery to remove the kidney, radiation and oral chemotherapy.  Hatton knew that one kidney could take over the work of both kidneys, but if the cancer came back in the other kidney, he was facing dialysis or a kidney transplant.   Not happy with these choices and fighting depression and exhaustion, he sought guidance from his minister.

“That talk changed my life,” Hatton said.  His minister told him about a friend in Arizona who had gone to Mexico for a new treatment called SonoPhoto Dynamic Therapy.   For over 20 years, hospitals in the US and Europe have used the older version of this therapy, Photo Dynamic Therapy – this version uses a chemotherapy agent as a sensitizer, so it has side effects.  SonoPhoto Dynamic Therapy is a newer and more aggressive form of this treatment.  It is painless, non-invasive and has no side effects. 

During SonoPhoto Dynamic Therapy, patients are given a natural chlorophyll substance under the tongue, where it is quickly absorbed by all the cells.  Within 24 hours, normal cells wash out the chlorophyll, but for some reason, cancer cells cannot expel it, so it stays in only the cancer cells.  Then sound and light frequencies are pulsed through the body.  When the frequencies hit chlorophyll, it causes photosynthesis, which is a chemical reaction that explodes free radical oxygen right into the cancer cells and kills them.

 Dr. Antonio Jimenez is the world’s leading expert in SonoPhoto Dynamic Therapy, which is also used in China, England, Australia and the EU.  While the therapy is not yet recognized in the USA, in the 25 countries of the EU, with a population of 370 million, every registered and licensed physician is allowed to use this sensitizer system under highly defined guidelines.     Jimenez is the medical director of Hope4Cancer Institute in Baja California, just 10 miles inside the Mexican border from San Diego.

“We find SonoPhoto Dynamic Therapy works in heavy, deep tumors such as ovarian, endometrial, colon and kidney, as well as prostate, lung, breast and bone cancers,” Jimenez explained.  “When used in conjunction with hyperthermia, we see a dramatic reduction in tumor size during the first two weeks of treatment.”

“I was thrilled to have another option,” Hatton said.  “I did some research, and found Dr. Tony and Hope4Cancer Institute in Baja that uses SonoPhoto as well as local and whole body hyperthermia, and many other natural therapies.  It sounded too good to be true – so I flew down there to meet with the medical team,   tour the clinic and speak to some of the patients.   I never left.  I was so impressed with what I saw that I just checked in.  I only had to stay 2 weeks – and I did an extensive home program for several more months, but did not have to stop working.  My cancer is in remission and I feel great.  I’ve had to make some lifestyle changes, and they put me on an organic diet so I’ve lost weight and I quit smoking.  They taught me how to take care of myself.  And I fully expect to go on another cruise for my 50^th wedding anniversary. “

Hatton says his oncologist tried to discourage him from getting treatment in Mexico.  “But he didn’t know anything about these treatments – I didn’t understand how he could dismiss them, just because he did not learn about them in a US medical school.  And when he saw my new test results, you know what he said?  ‘Spontaneous remission!’ and walked out of the room.”

NEW CHOICES FOR COLON CANCER PATIENTS

Riley Powell taught high school English, and spent her summers training horses at a nearby dude ranch.  When she noticed blood in her stool, she thought it was hemorrhoids, from spending so many hours on horseback.  But when it persisted, she saw her doctor.  At age 34, she was diagnosed with colon/rectal cancer, and was advised to have surgery and a colostomy.  Powell opted to travel out of the country for non-invasive treatment that would eliminate the need for a colostomy bag.  According to TMD Limited, a medical tourism company, Powell was one of nearly a million Americans seeking alternative treatment outside the US last year.

Over a hundred thousand Americans will be diagnosed with colon/rectal cancer this year, and half of them will die of the disease.  This is the fourth most common cancer in the US, and usually strikes older Americans.  There is no known cause, and early colorectal cancer often has no symptoms. 

When symptoms do develop, they include blood in the stool, diarrhea or constipation, narrow stools, gas and cramping, fatigue, weight loss and nausea or vomiting.

Powell had a fecal occult and a carcinoembroyonic antigen (CEA) blood test, a colonoscopy, digital rectal exam and an endorectal ultrasound.  A chest X-ray was done to look for spread to the lungs.

 When cancer is confined to the colon, surgery followed by radiation and chemotherapy is the standard treatment in the USA. Powell’s cancer was in both the colon and the rectum.   When the cancer is in the rectum, a colostomy is also recommended.

 The surgeon creates a stoma, or new opening in the abdomen called a colostomy.  A bag is fitted over the stoma to collect waste.  Complications include being unable to control bowel movements or urine, vomiting, bloody stools and tender skin.

“My grandfather had a colostomy when I was barely a teenager.  I remember that my grandmother had to help him with it, and he was humiliated. I remembered how he looked going through chemotherapy – he was miserable, looked like a skeleton and lost all his hair.   I didn’t want to go through that,” Powell said.

Powell  spent weeks researching  alternative treatments.  She spoke to her acupuncturist, a nutritionist and her gynecologist.  She talked with a friend who had gone to Mexico for breast cancer treatment, and finally sent her test results to Hope4Cancer Institute in Baja, who had helped her friend. 

The Hope4Cancer Institute offered an intense program combining local and whole body hyperthermia, SonoPhoto Dynamic Therapy, IV therapy, detoxification, PolyMVA, enzyme therapy, cancer vaccines, nutrition and a host of other non-invasive treatments.  “The doctor assured me there would be no side effects.  He felt confident these treatments would shrink my tumors and heal the cancer,” Powell said. “It was a two week inpatient program, with a home program that followed for several months.  I figured it was worth a try.”

Hyperthermia uses precise frequencies of heat waves to kill cancer cells. This therapy has been the cancer treatment of choice in Europe for over 25 years.  Specific sound frequencies heat and kill cancer cells, without harming normal cells.   Hyperthermia exposes tissues to high temperatures (up to 133 degrees) to damage and kill cancer cells.  During local hyperthermia, heat is applied to a very small area (tumor).  With a rise in temperature to 106 degrees for one hour within a tumor, the cancer cells are destroyed.  Different types of energy may be used to apply heat, including microwave, radiofrequency and ultrasound, depending on the tumor location.  The treatment is non-invasive and painless.

Indiba hyperthermia applies deep heat to local tissue areas.  Scientists think that heat may help shrink tumors by damaging cells or depriving them of substances they need to live.  The National Cancer Institute is studying local, regional and whole body hyperthermia using external and internal heating devices.  It is well known that heating areas of the body that contain a cancer may help kill cancer cells without harming healthy tissue. 

SonoPhoto Dynamic Therapy uses sound and light to activate a natural sensitizer, which causes free radical oxygen to ‘explode’ into cancer cells to kill them.  According to Dr. Antonio Jimenez, medical director of Hope4Cancer Institute, combining hyperthermia and SonoPhoto Dynamic Therapy  with immune support, proper nutrition and  aggressive detoxification (massage, infrared saunas, coffee enemas, IV therapy) to eliminate the dead cancer cells, patients normally regain their energy, appetite and strength and feel better right away.

“After 3 days of treatment, my bleeding stopped,” Powell said.  “I stayed at the clinic two weeks, and continued my home program for almost 6 months.  That was 4 years ago, and my scans are still clean.  I’m so glad I didn’t rush into surgery, even though some members of my family were concerned about me heading to Mexico.  I took a girlfriend for moral support.  We walked on the beach every day, the organic food was terrific and we both learned so much about cancer prevention.  The lectures on nutrition changed our way of thinking about what we put in our bodies, and we both feel healthier now that we follow an organic diet.“

According to Dr.  Jimenez,  Powell’s case is typical.  “Our treatments work well with soft tissue cancers,” he says.  “We work with the body’s immune system to attack the cancer, and we address the emotional and spiritual aspects of the disease also.  Riley had a great attitude, and that also helped her beat the disease. “

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) recommends colonoscopies beginning at age 50, and earlier if there are risk factors present.  Pre-cancerous growths can be easily removed during a colonoscopy, and according to the NCI is the best way to prevent colorectal cancer.  Yet over 40% of Americans over 50 have not been screened.  New digital colonoscopy, or CTC, is done without sedation and recovery is quick, but can be uncomfortable when the bowel is briefly inflated with carbon dioxide.  Both procedures require a strong liquid laxative to cleanse the bowel.  There is less risk of a bowel puncture and significantly less cost with a CTC, but if polyps or lesions are discovered, a standard procedure must be done to remove them.

Surgery, chemotherapy and radiation are still the standard colorectal cancer treatments in the USA.  According to the medical tourism company TMD Limited, nearly a million US citizens leave the country each year seeking less invasive, gentler treatments.  Those numbers just keep increasing, as patients find alternative treatments that let them enjoy life, continue to work and improve their health.  Freedom of choice, for many, is choosing a clinic outside the country.