Proton Therapy for Liver Metastasis from Stage 4 Colon Cancer
Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2016 8:33 am
At age 68, I was diagnosed with stage 4 terminal Colon cancer with metastasis to the liver and lymph nodes in March 2015. I have no other medical problems. I was offered chemo, to try and reduce the size of the tumors. I talked with my son in law who is a doctor, and he confirmed that chemo might give me another 9 months. The average life expectancy with chemo was 2 years. I decided not to do the Chemo. According to the oncologist at Emory, I should have had 6 months to live with no treatment. I changed my diet to the Budwig diet in March 2015, and continued life as usual doing marathons each month.
in November 2015, while researching colon cancer on the internet I found a treatment at Loma Linda University Hospital in California called Proton Therapy. I applied and was accepted for treatment. I had treatment for 2 liver tumors, both too close to veins to be surgically removed. I had been told that the liver tumors would kill me, so it was not practical to remove the colon tumor unless it threatened to block the colon, or was bleeding. Three weeks after the proton therapy, the liver tumors were gone, and a pet scan confirmed that the liver was no longer cancerous.
In Jan 2016, I had surgery to remove the colon tumor. Dr Arnold Conforti did a right colectomy robotically and delivered a 9cm colon tumor by c-section.
In Feb 2016, after the successful colon surgery, I had Proton Therapy on a Porta Aortic Lymph node that was enlarged. It was too close to the aorta to be removed surgically. I originally had two lymph nodes that were enlarged, but the other one was normal when I had the CT scan prior to the treatment.
I do not know what the future holds, I am only into this 1 year. I am part of a study at Loma Linda where Dr Gary Yang is developing a proton treatment for liver metastasis. I will go to Loma Linda every 3 months for scans to check for additional tumors. I am told that Metastatic cancer almost always comes back. As far as I know, Dr Yang is the only Dr who treats metastatic liver tumors with proton therapy.
During my treatment, I toured the Proton Center and learned that they have been successfully treating many different types of cancer since 1990. The first patient in 1990 had an ocular tumor. Her options were proton therapy or have the eye removed. The treatment worked and the eye was saved. Today, one of the treatment rooms is dedicated to the treatment of ocular tumors. Many of the patients are children.
About 70% of the proton patients have prostate cancer. This treatment kills the cancer without surgery and allows the patient to live a normal life. While at Loma Linda, I met patients with a variety of cancers. Some of the proton treatments were in conjunction with chemo and surgery, others, like mine were just proton.
The proton treatment is pain free and with little or no side effects. My treatment was Medicare approved and Loma Linda accepts Medicare. I realize that this is not a cure all, but in my case, it was the difference in life and death. My email is roscoe@firstbenefits.com
in November 2015, while researching colon cancer on the internet I found a treatment at Loma Linda University Hospital in California called Proton Therapy. I applied and was accepted for treatment. I had treatment for 2 liver tumors, both too close to veins to be surgically removed. I had been told that the liver tumors would kill me, so it was not practical to remove the colon tumor unless it threatened to block the colon, or was bleeding. Three weeks after the proton therapy, the liver tumors were gone, and a pet scan confirmed that the liver was no longer cancerous.
In Jan 2016, I had surgery to remove the colon tumor. Dr Arnold Conforti did a right colectomy robotically and delivered a 9cm colon tumor by c-section.
In Feb 2016, after the successful colon surgery, I had Proton Therapy on a Porta Aortic Lymph node that was enlarged. It was too close to the aorta to be removed surgically. I originally had two lymph nodes that were enlarged, but the other one was normal when I had the CT scan prior to the treatment.
I do not know what the future holds, I am only into this 1 year. I am part of a study at Loma Linda where Dr Gary Yang is developing a proton treatment for liver metastasis. I will go to Loma Linda every 3 months for scans to check for additional tumors. I am told that Metastatic cancer almost always comes back. As far as I know, Dr Yang is the only Dr who treats metastatic liver tumors with proton therapy.
During my treatment, I toured the Proton Center and learned that they have been successfully treating many different types of cancer since 1990. The first patient in 1990 had an ocular tumor. Her options were proton therapy or have the eye removed. The treatment worked and the eye was saved. Today, one of the treatment rooms is dedicated to the treatment of ocular tumors. Many of the patients are children.
About 70% of the proton patients have prostate cancer. This treatment kills the cancer without surgery and allows the patient to live a normal life. While at Loma Linda, I met patients with a variety of cancers. Some of the proton treatments were in conjunction with chemo and surgery, others, like mine were just proton.
The proton treatment is pain free and with little or no side effects. My treatment was Medicare approved and Loma Linda accepts Medicare. I realize that this is not a cure all, but in my case, it was the difference in life and death. My email is roscoe@firstbenefits.com
