When confronted with a cancer diagnosis, it’s difficult not to feel helpless in the face of such a powerful disease. Along with emotional repercussions, a sense of urgency can often spur a panicky, newly diagnosed patient to initiate immediate action rather than take time to weigh all available treatment options. “There is a tremendous amount of fear and rush to do something, to start your treatment,” remembers Hollie Quinn, who in 2002 was diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer at 27 years old and 38-weeks pregnant.
In Quinn’s case, she was induced into labor shortly after her biopsy and underwent a lumpectomy within the same week—after which her doctors strongly suggested aggressive chemotherapy, radiation and five years of hormone therapy. Yet Quinn didn’t feel comfortable consenting without fully exploring all the possible avenues: “[My husband] Patrick and I are big researchers and both really analytical, so we couldn’t jump into anything so big without understanding it,” says Quinn. “As we started to research the logic and rationale behind conventional treatments, it didn’t make a lot of sense to us. Conventional treatments appeared to do nothing to address why cancer develops in the first place—their only philosophy was eradication.”
It was after a Santa Monica-based Oriental Medicine doctor gave the Quinns a book called Herbal Medicine, Healing & Cancer by herbal oncologist Donald Yance that they were inspired to approach Yance’s clinic, the Mederi Foundation in Ashland, Ore. “It was the most difficult time of my life because doctors were telling me I’d die if I didn’t do the recommended treatment, but my research didn’t seem to support that. I felt so much relief finding someone more in line with my understanding of cancer and my own intuition.”
Quinn decided to undertake a natural medicine protocol of about 70 pills daily, supplemented by teas, medicinal smoothies, tinctures and dramatic diet changes. “There was a cascade of health benefits [that followed]; her energy was through the roof, even with a newborn baby,” shares Patrick Quinn. Quinn followed the regimen for three years and has continued to follow a protocol, reporting that her caretakers can find no trace of cancer to this day.
Like Quinn, many cancer patients are becoming conscious consumers of their own healthcare—choosing to embrace integrative and/or alternative forms of cancer treatment. “I’m shocked at how many people believe and do everything their doctors say. You don’t want to question them, but this is your life—it’s your responsibility and obligation to question every single thing that is suggested to you,” says Leslie Parrilla, a Riverside, Calif. resident and breast cancer survivor. “When you have cancer, you have to be your own advocate.”
For Parrilla, that meant doing anything possible to avoid having the recommended mastectomy. “Something told me not to get surgery,” she recalls. “I didn’t want to make my body struggle by poisoning it with chemo, harming it with radiation and cutting it up with surgery.”
Parrilla spent eight months seeking out various alternatives to surgery, from natural supplements to expensive laser treatments; yet her tumor continued to grow, tripling in size during that time. She ultimately found an effective solution at the Valley Cancer Institute (VCI), which treats tumors with a combination of hyperthermia (heat therapy that weakens the cell lining) and low-dose radiation. “Not every alternative or integrative treatment works for everyone—just like conventional treatments—and that’s the tough part,” shares Parrilla, who spent four months visiting VCI daily. “Cancer is an insidious, ugly, terrifying disease and it’s unpredictable, but there are other ways out there. You just have to do your homework.”
To Parrilla’s point, some cancer patients find solace in choosing a conventional course of treatment with an integrative mindset. One such patient is 42-year-old Beth Gomez, who was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer in 2008. After starting chemotherapy, Gomez quickly began having serious side effects, like nausea, fatigue and extreme sickness—and none of the prescribed medicines were helping. “I was so dehydrated,” shares Gomez. “I would sit and just cry when they did my bloodwork because I knew how sick I was going to be.”
When Gomez tried to talk to her oncologist about possibly altering her treatment, she was met with resistance: “She would only say, ‘This works for everyone else; I don’t know why it’s not working for you,’” she remembers. Gomez was close to her breaking point when her father saw an advertisement for Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) and suggested she consult them. On her first visit to CTCA’s Goodyear, Ariz., location, Gomez met with a holistic “care team” including a medical oncologist, clinical nurse, naturopathic physician, mind/body therapist and nutritionist. “We work as an integrative team, not an independent set of providers,” explains Dr. Shauna Birdsall, the facility’s director of naturopathic medicine and a naturopathic physician. “We truly see every patient, every visit.”
The approach isn’t just a luxury, but sometimes a necessity, according to CTCA’s public relations manager, Tiffany Jenkins. “A lot of people nowadays have their own naturopathic physician, but if they’re not communicating with the doctor, it can actually hurt the patient, as some supplements can be counterintuitive to chemo,” says Jenkins. “A whole-person model is important.”
For Gomez, that meant starting to take natural medicines like zinc and vitamin B6 in addition to a healthier eating regimen as a companion to chemotherapy. “Right away, I started feeling better overnight, and I was like, Why isn’t everybody doing this?” she shares. “[As a cancer patient], you have a fight in front of you, and without these tools it’ll be a long, tough fight. Everyone going through chemo needs these options.”
According to Dr. Jay Udani, Gomez’s experience is indicative of many patients living with cancer who choose integrative care, as it is often employed to reduce side effects and boost quality of life. “Integrative medicine helps the body help itself,” says Udani, who founded Northridge Hospital’s Integrative Medicine program. “Usually the products or treatments being used are not the ones performing the work, but providing the foundation for the body to do the work it normally does quite well.”
Having nurtured his wife Hollie through her ordeal, Patrick Quinn agrees that it’s important to go beneath the surface and address the root of the health problem. “Dr. Dwight McKee said something that resonated with me, which was that we have become obsessed with finding the seed that is cancer,” says Quinn. “We don’t focus on the soil in which cancer grows, and the secret to [treating] cancer is tending to that soil.”
Help Is Just a Click Away
Cancer Treatment Centers of America
800.615.3055
Valley Cancer Institute
310.398.0013
Mederi Foundation
541.488.3133
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