Lymphoma, Leukemia and Cancer Stem Cells
I have a goal of a future without cancer. Effective treatments not worse than death. A future with grandparents with more time to spend with family. A future where parents are not taken too soon. A future where children never know the ultimate fight. A Cancer-free world.
My first experience directly with cancer was my grandfather Larry McGee, diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He had a very long and difficult battle with many ups and downs. The rollercoaster that too many know well.
My second direct experience was when my then 5-year-old son, Lander, was diagnosed with stage 4 kidney cancer. In which he received conventional treatments of surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy as well as many other complimentary things.
Being nominated for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society 2021 Man of the Year is an incredible honor and has been a way to tie together many mutually beneficial aspects of life. Logan’s Man of the Year Page
While Lander is cancer-free, he must continue to undergo scans to monitor for relapse. I will cover much more in-depth as to why some specialists believe relapse is so common. Additionally, there are numerous negative effects of treatments, and rebuilding his little body is a long-term mission. I research every day as to how to overcome and prevent cancer. God allowed us to experience difficulties in which to grow and help others.
Lymphoma and Leukemia are prevalent words that strike fear into our hearts. Leukemia is the most common childhood cancer. During our weekly visits and hospital admission to Children’s Oncology unit, I was exposed to many others in similar situations while getting to know the families and kids in their fights.
Those suffering from leukemia have abnormally high numbers of immature, dysfunctional white blood cells that crowd out the bone marrow interfering with the body’s ability to create healthy blood cells.
Cure rates for Leukemia a much better than they were even a short time ago. Estimates are upwards of 80% for most types. There are rare forms of the disease that initially go into remission but then have a fatal relapse.
The visions we have of cancer tend to be of a person with pale grayish skin without hair.
Weakness and frailty.
Sadness and suffering.
Families and caregivers are heartbroken.
I felt guilty in many ways when we had good news, then in turn, watch so many babies struggle and lost their lives. These hard times motivated me to push through to find more effective and less harsh treatments.
When I was nominated as Man of the Year by The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, I began to see the impact they were having, especially in research funding.
There have been unbelievable movements forward, yet we are so far behind in implementing them. I truly believe we have overspecialized to the extent that we are losing cross-disciplinary movements. For that reason, I always find myself going back to integrative and functional medicine.
My goal is to bring all practices together to get better results, not divide or diminish any of the battlefronts. When we look at cancer statistics, we aren’t winning the battle and maybe we should reframe the way we look at cancer. Declaring war on things doesn’t mean casualty-free victory.
Just one hundred years ago, the occurrence was around 1 in 100; today, it’s close to 1 in 3. What has happened for such an abysmal progression? I believe our food is a massive part of the puzzle. Smoking and alcohol are prominent contributors. However, the way our food is processed, grown, and chemical exposures are areas we can and should focus on.
I am honored to be a part of LLS to spread awareness and improve lives.
An eye-opening topic in cancer is cancer stem cells or CSC’s.
There is debate regarding this topic but here is my summary. All cancer starts in stem cells through damage to mitochondria. As cancer develops, some of the daughter stem cells differentiate into non-stem cells. Cancer stem cells are the cancer cells that have not differentiated, yet are still stem cells which can replicate. Differentiated cells can no longer divide so although they are part of the tumor, they can’t add to the tumor mass. They can’t spread cancer if they break away from the tumor and travel to other areas of the body.
“Some say they’re the cells from which a tumor originates,” says Carla Kim, PhD, who researches lung stem cells in the [Children’s Hospital Boston] Program. “Others think they’re specialized cells within a tumor that help maintain it.” [4]
CSC’s and Cancer Therapy Resistance
“CSC’s can generate a tumor when transplanted into an immune-deficient animal. Most CSCs are believed to be resistant to chemo- and/or radiation- therapy, indicating the important roles CSCs play in cancer relapse and metastasis.” [1]
It has been explained to me by an alternative cancer specialist that when looking at scans and seeing a reduction in the size of a tumor – the cells that are being destroyed are not cancer stem cells, but cancer differentiated cancer cells.
I’m not trying to scare people, but I believe this is extremely important. While treatment may appear to be working because tumors are getting smaller, the treatment may not be useful if the Cancer Stem Cells are not destroyed. This is where you hear of relapse after clear scans. Because there are still CSC’s in the body, and they are more aggressive and harder to kill.
“We’re incredibly good at shrinking tumors, and incredibly bad at curing them,” says Richard White, MD, PhD, an oncologist and clinical fellow in the Stem Cell Program at Children’s Hospital Boston. [2]
Scott Armstrong, MD, Ph.D., a pediatric oncologist at Children’s and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and affiliate member of the Stem Cell Program at Children’s, likens cancer stem cells to queen bees: A hive collapses only if the queen is destroyed; if she isn’t, the colony re-forms. White makes another analogy. “If you want to get rid of a tree, you could cut off the branches and hope it dies, but it usually won’t,” he says. “Or you could cut out the root, which will kill the tree. Current chemotherapy removes the branches, not the root.” [3]
All is not lost, far from it, but understanding this is vital. As I’ve covered in a previous post on angiogenesis, the characteristics of cancer and attacking them on all fronts is part of the ability to overcome.
I can’t stress this enough; any person with cancer needs an experienced and cohesive team made up of oncologists, integrative health care practitioners, spiritual and emotional mentors and cancer coaches.
My guiding principle is “God will do his part, the doctors/team will do theirs and I will do mine.”
Plant-based compounds have been shown over and over to be used in pharmaceuticals. For example, Vincristine is a chemo Lander was given; the active ingredient is vinca alkaloids isolated from the rosy periwinkle, Catharanthus roseus. This plant has been traditional Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine, and now is a standard cancer therapy that has been around for over 50 years. Cancers treated with Vincristine include acute Leukemia, Hodgkin’s and non- Hodgkin’s lymphoma, neuroblastoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, Ewing’s sarcoma, Wilms’ tumor, multiple myeloma, chronic leukemias, thyroid cancer, brain tumors.
I’m not saying eating rosy periwinkle will treat cancer. My point is plant-based compounds used with the direction of a healthcare professional can be a significant part of beating and or slowing the disease.
An oncologist isn’t going to recommend supplements or a diet. I pray I’m able to influence change in this area in the future. Looking at the factual data from reputable studies shows the statement I hear daily, “My oncologist said there is no proof XYZ, diet or nutrition affect beating cancer.” There is a lot of proof and I provide links in all of my articles.
If your oncologist isn’t supportive of you doing everything possible to save your own life, find a new one. There are plenty of outstanding doctors, oncologists, and specialists willing to be team members and not play God.
The reason a team is a must, especially with the inclusion of supplementation, is the following natural compounds have been shown to kill cancer stem cells. No one team member is going to have all of the answers yet can have the best answers for their given specialty.
Natural products and where they are found in which target cancer stem cells https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5523038/
Resveratrol – Grape Skin
Curcumin – Tumeric
Quercetin – A lot of plants – Dark Berries, Onions, Apples
Piperine – Black Pepper
Capsaicin – Pepper – Gives the Heat
Berberine – A lot of plants, including Goldenseal
Brefeldin A – Penicillin Fungus
Immunotherapy is also an area of excitement and showing promise in killing cancer stem cells. [5] Using the body’s own immune system to attack and kill the cancer is another tool that may lead to more effective treatments.
Lander was a trooper during his journey, but we can learn every day while trying to bring together more effective ways to treat cancer.
I am not a medical specialist and do not give medical advice but I will create awareness and point those in need in the direction I would go in their situation. Again a team of professionals is a vital part of the journey.
Footnotes
Cancer Stem Cells
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3496019/
[2] [3] [4] http://stemcell.childrenshospital.org/treating-patients/probing-the-deadly-ways-of-cancer-stem-cells/
[5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6468501/