Promising Cancer Vaccine or Immunotherapy?

Promising Cancer Vaccine Could Shrink Tumors By 80 Percent | Stronger Than Cancer

This appears to be more of an immunotherapy than an actual vaccine as the focus seems to be more on treatment than prevention at this time, and the goal is to stimulate a response 'after' the cancer has started to grow.

I find it interesting that they often will refer to triple-negative breast cancer as a difficult to treat cancer. It does seem that very little conventional treatments are helpful for triple-negative cancer: Tamoxifen or Herceptin are not effective, so the push is for chemotherapy (which isn't really effective) for this aggressive cancer.

I was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer, but chose not to do chemotherapy. I chose my own sort of immunotherapy with the help of Dr. James Belanger, a Naturopathic Doctor. A large part of the treatment was mushrooms which have a unique effect on the immune system, and over 5 years later I am still cancer free.

So, for them to say that triple-negative breast cancer is hard to treat is only to say that they don't know of any 'drugs' to fight it. I fought it with my own body, my immune system, eating well and reducing stress.

I am looking forward to hearing more about this - but I still think, if I am going to choose immunotherapy to treat my cancer, I will focus on naturally occurring foods and nutrients, rather than something designed in the lab to attack. I always have that option if the cancer comes back.

Memory issues after cancer may not be due to chemo | Stronger Than Cancer

Memory issues after cancer may not be due to chemo | Stronger Than Cancer

A new study shows that memory issues are common in breast cancer patients and survivors regardless of whether they did chemotherapy or not, which throws into question the label "Chemo-Brain" for the fog which comes after treatment - one of the more frustrating side effects.

From personal experience, I did not have chemotherapy, but I did have serious memory issues (working memory, not long term memory) DURING my radiation treatment, and for a few months after this.

A typical example of my memory problem would be trying to shop for groceries. I would look at an item on my list, and by the time I looked up in the aisle, I had already forgotten what I just read.

Some of this could be from the incredible fatigue I experienced from radiation. Your body is doing a lot of work: fighting cancer, dealing with daily doses of therapeutic radiation, trying to stay well with cold and flu germs all around - your body needs a lot more rest during this time. This is not unlike other times in my life, if I was extremely exhausted, or very sick, my memory might fail...

To me, I blamed the radiation, and recovered fully when I recovered from the radiation. I don't have ANY memory issues now.

But it's all about the recovery. Some folks don't recover. To me, that may be a sign that they are still trying to recover from the treatment (chemo or radiation) and the 'shock' of diagnosis.

In my personal experience, the most dramatic improvement in my recovery from the treatment, came a year later when I began drinking Green Smoothies (after reading the book Green for Life - an excellent book that describes how greens affect our health, and provides recipes for getting more of these nutrients in our diet). This brought my energy back to a level better than anything in the years that led up to my cancer diagnosis. In my early 40s, I felt healthier and more energized than I did in my early 30s. And with the energy, came mental clarity, and improved focus. It was a dramatic change that I noticed immediately - within weeks I was back to normal... after a year of fatigue and sluggishness, it felt great to feel energized and healthy again.

I believe that when all the systems of the body are working efficiently, and your body has the nutrients it needs, and you are not burdened with stress, then mental clarity returns - in other words, I don't think the damage is permanent. I believe all cancer survivors can overcome the cancer, and move on to be healthier than they were before.

If nothing else, cancer is a wake-up call from your body saying: take care of me!!

If you have mental fog after treatment, perhaps it is your body saying: give me better nutrients, get out and take walks for fresh air, get enough sleep and above all else: REDUCE STRESS (adjust your priorities, enjoy your life, do things you love, and laugh). Try these things - you may see some memory improvement, and you're sure to feel better and more alert.

Report finds that life choices dwarf pollutants in breast cancer risk | Stronger Than Cancer

Life choices dwarf pollutants in breast cancer risk | Stronger Than Cancer

I'm a bit disappointed in this 'report'. Another one funded by Susan Komen, who seems to enjoy spending everyone else's money: ONE MILLION DOLLARS??? To tell us that women are getting breast cancer because of our lifestyle??? Really??

And every one of these reports makes a point of the increased risk for being obese - when I had an aggressive, triple-negative breast cancer, and NEVER had a weight problem.

This sort of "research" drives me crazy.

It's a huge waste of money.

It didn't discover anything new.

And it blames breast cancer on the patient (like we need guilt on top of struggling to stay alive), and it let's manufacturers of toxic chemicals off the hook. As if it's perfectly fine to expose us to constant exposure to 'safe' levels of toxins, chemicals, radiation....

Honestly - tell me why cancer rates are going up?

Women are not doing things much different now than they have always done - in fact, women are more into 'fitness' today than they were just one generation back. Women are less likely to smoke than they were 30 years ago...

I simply can't believe that 'lifestyle' alone can account for the dramatic increase in cancer rates.

What has changed??

The quality of the foods we're given to nourish our bodies has deteriorated. And we are exposed to more 'environmental' risks. We are encouraged to take more and more drugs for every minor inconvenience: allergies, colds, blood pressure, headache, stomach upset, trouble sleeping... and diet pills.

Hmmm, maybe women who are overweight are more likely to get cancer, because at some point, they all have tried diet pills.

As I said, I never had a weight issue - but I did struggle with allergies as a child. Imagine years of taking a drug designed to 'suppress' your immune system. Then when I really needed my immune system to kick in (to fight the cancer) my body had given up.

Perhaps the report is right.

Life choices are probably a greater factor in cancer risk (and survival). It's the life choice we make to ignore these stupid reports, and take charge of our own health, and stop polluting our bodies with everything we are told is safe.

U.S. men with low-risk prostate cancer should delay or forgo treatment | StrongerThanCancer

Many U.S. men with low-risk prostate cancer should delay or forgo treatment | StrongerThanCancer

I would love to see this for many diseases. The fear-mongering and push to get ineffective drugs in many cases, is affecting some patient's survival.

Not in all cases. There are many situations where aggressive treatment is necessary - but there are so many different ways to attack cancer now, and some cancers (like prostate, or kidney cancer) seem to resolve themselves - so early screening and treatments can, in fact, cause more problems for the patient.

Luckily, it seems there are more and more panels assessing this information. I am truly hopeful that we see more monitoring of cancers, more targeted therapies, and less toll on the patient.

Cancer Causes: The Full List | StrongerThanCancer

Cancer Causes: The Full List | StrongerThanCancer

Not that much new here. Just data presented in another way. We all know the lifestyle factors.

But there's a lot that it doesn't specifically track. For example, it doesn't seem to track the toxins in our environment.

They evidently track what the organization wants to track, and they sift the patients into categories.

But what if your cause was something they weren't tracking? They listed 'meat' as a category, but is it ANY meat, or is the the hormone and antibiotic injected meat? Is it red meat or poultry? Is dairy included here because it contains animal protein, or is it simply 'flesh'.

And fruits and vegetables are listed as a risk?

I think it's very scary when you have people plug random data into spreadsheets. In the end, you have less information than you started with, or rather, mis-leading information.

Lung Cancer's Victims... Who Never Smoked

Lung Cancer's Hidden Victims... Who Never Smoked | StrongerThanCancer

This rings true for me. Cancers aren't predictable. I was diagnosed with breast cancer, with no family history, and absolutely NO indication that I would be at risk, in fact, they considered me to be at very LOW risk for the disease: I never smoked, never had weight issues, I breast-fed my children...

More and more we are seeing cancers that contradict what we assume is the 'cause' or the 'lifestyle' that brought it on.

I think we need to think of cancers - all cancers - as a global concern. That we are just enduring more and more toxins in our environment, and degradation of our food supply (our diets aren't nourishing us), and cancers can show up in ANY part of the body, regardless of our genetics, or gender (men are getting breast cancer)...

Be ever vigilant. Assume you are at risk for any cancer. Live your life to prevent all cancers.

New Research: cancer protection same as allergies

Cancer protection same as allergies | StrongerThanCancer

This is a really interesting connection.

As someone who had severe allergies as a child, it was interesting to see that most my allergic reactions subside after taking supplements to support my cancer.

There have been other approaches to immunotherapy for cancer, stimulating an immune response in the body in hopes that it will jump-start a immune response against the cancer. Many of those therapies are not proven - as a cancer treatment. Yet, I found the supplementation I took to strengthen my immune system to be very effective - and hopefully, it is keeping the cancer away. (The difference between the two being: 1) attempting to stimulate an already weak immune system, the other 2) strengthening the weak areas of the immune system while going through treatment improves the ability for the body to continue to fight the disease).

This approach is a little different, a slightly different pathway - I'm looking forward to seeing what comes from further research.