SIDEBAR
One Man Alone
Four Kelley Patients
by Nicholas Gonzalez, MD
Here I include four representative patient histories from my original Kelley monograph. Note that I report survival information as of my last contact with the patient. I have also included references, as appropriate, as they appeared in the original monograph.
Patient #7: This patient underwent a right mastectomy in 1970 for what was thought to be localized breast cancer. After surgery, she received no additional treatment and did well until 1973, when she developed a tumor in the left breast treated, like the first, with mastectomy. She again received no additional therapy, 1973 being long before the advent of aggressive adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer.
In mid‑1974, Patient #7 developed pain along the length of the vertebral column extending into the right shoulder, associated with persistent fatigue and chronic depression. Her doctors initially suspected that her symptoms were unrelated to her cancer, but when she worsened in the spring of 1975, she underwent a diagnostic work–up. X-ray studies revealed a lesion in the fifth lumbar segment of the spine, described as “indicative of osteolytic metastasis from the breast carcinoma.” A bone scan confirmed multiple lesions consistent with metastatic disease in both the skull and right shoulder blade, reported as “focal abnormal uptakes of skull and tip of right scapula (shoulder), possibility of metastatic disease.”
The patient then underwent palliative oophorectomy (removal of the ovaries), to reduce her estrogen load and hopefully slow the progression of her disease. Despite the surgery, Patient #7 was told that she most probably would not live out the year. In desperation, she subsequently decided to investigate alternative cancer therapies, learned of Dr. Kelley, and began the nutritional program in the summer of 1975.
Within six months, the persistent pain, fatigue, and depression resolved. A bone scan performed at the end of 1975 showed some improvement, and a third bone scan, from mid‑1976, indicated complete resolution of disease. When last contacted in 1987, she was alive and well with no evidence of cancer, 12 years out from her recurrence.
In this case, though oophorectomy was known to improve pain and at times lead to tumor regression if only briefly, the procedure was strictly palliative and does not cure metastatic breast cancer. My monograph states:
As discussed previously, the five‑year survival rate for patients with metastatic breast cancer approaches 0.0%, regardless of conventional therapy administered. And oophorectomy, which may lead to symptomatic improvement in this group, does not cure metastatic breast cancer. Hellman reports overall response rates for the procedure, in those women with estrogen dependent disease, in the range of 30-40%. However, even among these patients, the benefit lasts only nine to 12 months on average, with little survival advantage.113(p945)
In summary, this patient developed evidence of metastases after successive mastectomies for recurring breast carcinoma. Although she did undergo oophorectomy, Patient #7 continued to deteriorate after the procedure. She received neither chemotherapy nor radiation, and her extensive disease and many symptoms resolved only after she began the Kelley program.
Even today, with all the innovative drugs that have been developed since I completed my Kelley project, metastatic breast cancer remains incurable. This patient’s extraordinary disease-free survival can only be attributed to the Kelley regimen.
Patient #8: In mid-1977, this patient experienced episodic vaginal bleeding that gradually worsened over a six-month period. After biopsy of a cervical mass in January 1978 revealed “invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix,”“ Patient #8 was referred to the W.W. Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton, Alberta. There, the diagnosis was confirmed, and the patient staged with early 1B disease. At that point, her physicians recommended radiation therapy, beginning with a two-step regimen of radium insertions into the cervical area followed by 3,500 rads of external beam radiation to the pelvis. The doctors hoped that if the tumor shraunk sufficiently, they could then proceed with surgery. However, Patient #8, already knowledgeable about alternative cancer therapies, suggested to her physicians a nutritional approach. In my monograph I describe the response as appearing in the official record:
“Apparently she (Mrs. ————-) is a little worried about radiation therapy treatment,” wrote her physician in his notes, “but we have tried to explain to her the only orthodox treatments at the present time for her condition are surgical or radiotherapeutic and that in view of the surgical complication rates, it is our policy in this clinic…to employ radiation as a routine. ….I think both she and her daughter are a little doubtful about accepting this and she wonders whether some dietary methods may be helpful. I have informed her that there is no evidence known to me to suggest that diet will influence cancer to any significant degree and that any delay in commencing treatment will almost certainly lead to impaired chances of cure….”
After some delay, she eventually completed the insertion therapy but decided to discontinue external beam radiation after completing only 1150 rads to the anterior and posterior pelvis over a five–day period. Her doctor was not pleased:
“I had a long talk with her and daughter [sic], the patient is obviously got [sic] an Ostrich syndrome,” her physician wrote in an April 14, 1978, note. “She thinks that if she doesn’t have any treatment the disease will go away. … ….I have emphasized that her maximum chances of cure and control of her disease are a full treatment now and that we cannot add on in the future to the partial treatment she has taken to date.”
Patient #8 nonetheless declined further conventional treatment, and for a time pursued no therapy of any type. By late April 1978, she began to deteriorate rapidly, describing, when I interviewed her years later, severe weakness, fatigue, and recurrent vaginal bleeding. She returned to Cross, where a cervical smear confirmed recurrent cancer. Despite the diagnosis, she once again refused to resume radiation, instead choosing to consult with Dr. Kelley. However, she did not begin her prescribed nutritional regimen, she told me, because of her family’s opposition to any alternative approach.
Throughout the summer of 1978, the cancer grew unchecked. In September 1978, after she developed a partial urinary tract obstruction caused by enlarging pelvic tumors, a renogram confirmed declining function in both kidneys. Patient #8 still refused all orthodox intervention and in late October 1978, after her vaginal bleeding worsened, Patient #she8 was admitted on an emergency basis to Misericordia Hospital. Her doctors noted on exam a large abdominal mass extending into the bladder as reported in the records.
The lower abdomen was tender, and it was felt likely that there was some urinary retention. However, because of the tumor mass rising out of the pelvis, it was difficult to assess…
After blood tests showed her to be severely anemic with a hemoglobin of 7.4 g/dL (normal 12––16), she required multiple transfusions before finally stabilizing. Subsequently, an oncologist called in to evaluate the situation recommended no treatment other than pain control, believing her to be terminal. She then began the Brompton cocktail, a highly potent pain mixture usually reserved for dying cancer patients. Family members, whom I interviewed, were told that the patient most probably would not live more than several weeks, and at their suggestion, she was discharged from the hospital on November 3, 1978, so that she might die at home. On the official summary from that date, the provisional diagnosis reads “CA UTERUS –– TERMINAL” with a secondary diagnosis of “METASTATIC SPREAD TO ABDOMINAL CAVITY.” The records also discuss the opinion of the consulting oncologist:
The patient was seen by Dr. —– ——— in consultation and he noted the marked anemia and the frozen pelvis with carcinoma. He felt that he was unable to examine her adequately rectally because of the hemorrhoids and he agreed that she should continue with Foley catheter drainage (continuous) and other supportive measures.
Initially he felt that chemotherapy might be considered but subsequently he decided not to. She was also seen by Social Services in consultation and they arranged for VON [visiting nurse] and homemaker to go into the house.
After her discharge from Misericordia, Patient #8 was readmitted the following day, at which time the large tumor in her abdomen was again noted: “
Abdomen showed marked tenderness with a hard tumor mass rising up out the pelvis.”
The family planned to place her in hospice care, but at that point Patient #8 contacted Dr. Kelley, who suggested she start the full program at once. Because of his support, she insisted on returning home during the second week of November 1978, so that she might begin her protocol. This time around, Patient #8 stuck religiously to the prescribed regimen, and quickly improved. Over the following year, her abdominal tumors regressed completely by her own accounting, her kidney function returned to normal, and she was able to discontinue all pain medications without experiencing narcotic withdrawal. At the time we last spoke in 1987, she was in excellent health, apparently cancer-free, still taking pancreatic enzymes, more than nine years out from her terminal prognosis. She reported that a recent Pap smear and abdominal ultrasound were both negative for malignancy. She regretted that she didn’t refuse all radiation and begin the Kelley program sooner, thinking that her course would have been much easier had she followed her instincts.
This case does not require much analysis. A 1978 biopsy confirmed recurrent cervical cancer after a course of radiation implants. Initially, as Patient #8 pursued no treatment, the disease progressed quickly to a terminal stage, as documented in the medical records. With hospice as her only other option, she began the Kelley program in earnest with subsequent total regression of her disease. Her long-term, nine-year disease-free survival can only be attributed to Kelley’s therapy.
Patient #17: In April 1977, after developing a scrotal abscess and significant anemia requiring transfusion, Patient #17 was diagnosed at the Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans with acute myelocytic leukemia, confirmed by bone marrow biopsy. The oncologists at Ochsner, after warning the patient and his family that this malignancy represented the most aggressive form of leukemia, recommended that he immediately begin treatment with the chemotherapy drugs thioguanine and cytosine arabinoside. Even with treatment, Patient #17 was told that he most likely would not live a year.
Patient #17 reacted badly to the regimen, lapsing into severe congestive heart failure during the first cycle of therapy. After stabilizing, he received a second round of chemotherapy, but subsequent bone marrow studies indicated that he had failed to achieve remission, as documented in his oncologist’s notes.
When, after a third cycle of drugs, the disease remained active, Patient #17 refused further treatment, began considering alternative approaches, and decided to consult with Dr. Kelley in December 1977. At the time, he was quite ill, with severe fatigue and malaise. Thereafter, he followed the Kelley regimen faithfully, with gradual improvement in his symptoms to the point that he returned to work full–time, while continuing the Kelley regimen. Subsequently, a bone marrow biopsy from July 1978, after he had completed eight months of his nutritional treatment, confirmed the disease finally to be in remission.
During the years of my study, I came to know this patient and his family quite well. Always diligent with his program, he remained a strong supporter of Dr. Kelley. He did eventually pass away in September 1984 from causes unrelated to his malignant disease, more than seven years after his terminal prognosis. He was thought to be completely cancer-free at the time of his death.
Acute myelocytic leukemia, even today, is one of the most deadly, aggressive cancers. Even with current chemotherapy regimens in 2009, only 10% to –15% of patients live five years. And though the regimen offered Patient #17 in 1977 might extend life, it was never considered curative.
My monograph states:
The survival statistics for acute myelocytic leukemia remain abysmal, with the literature reporting an average lifespan for untreated patients diagnosed with the disease of only three months.114(p807) Even with aggressive therapy, only 10–‑15% of patients ‑ – at most –‑ live five years, with survival rates declining considerably with increasing age.
In adults with AML, prolonged survival, as rare as it is in any case, has been documented only with chemotherapy regimens that incorporate the drug daunorubicin, never given Patient #17.113(p1422) In a group of leukemic patients followed since 1967, five‑year survival rate for patients receiving only cytosine arabinoside and thioguanine approaches 0%.113(p1422)
After searching through the medical literature, I could find no evidence for an adult patient surviving five years on the drug regimen administered Patient #17. I decided to write an authority in the field of acute leukemias, Dr. Peter Wiernik, currently head of the Department of Oncology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, to ask if he knew of any such patients. Dr. Wiernik kindly responded: “
I do not know of any five year or longer survivors of acute granulocytic [myelocytic] leukemia treated only with cytosine arabinoside and 6-thioguanine…”
It seems only reasonable, therefore, to attribute Patient #17’s long‑term survival to the Kelley program.
Furthermore, this patient, who completed only three cycles of a proposed lengthy course of treatment, achieved remission only after beginning the Kelley regimen. It seems reasonable today, as it did 20 years ago, to attribute his survival to his nutritional therapy.
Patient #34: In August 1982, during exploratory surgery for assumed gallbladder disease, this patient was found to have a tumor in the liver and an unresectable pancreatic mass. A biopsy of the liver lesion confirmed metastatic adenocarcinoma, most likely originating from a pancreatic primary.
A local oncologist who consulted with the patient told her that no treatment could cure her disease and that she should get her “affairs in order.” In the official records, the physician wrote: “The patient’s prognosis is judged to be between 9 and 15 months at most.”
In September 1982, Patient #34 decided to seek a second opinion at the Mayo Clinic, where a CT scan revealed again an enlarged pancreas, and blood studies documented elevated liver function tests. Review of the biopsy slides confirmed the earlier diagnosis of metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma. At the conclusion of his consultation, the Mayo oncologist wrote, in the official discharge summary:
I had a long discussion with her regarding treatment for her cancer. At the present time I would favor simply observation since we know of no known treatment that will necessarily prolong her life. Since she is feeling well at the present time I did not feel justified in making her symptomatic from the side effects of chemotherapy.
Once home, Patient #34 began investigating alternative cancer approaches, and in December 1982 began the Kelley program. She later reported to me that within six months she had returned to working 18 hours a day, seven days a week, running the family gas station. When she referred a patient to our office in the mid-1990s, she reported excellent health with no sign of cancer. I most recently heard from her in the spring of 2009, when she called to “check in.” She reported feeling “great” except for some arthritis, and talked at length about her grandchildren.
Since she refused follow-up radiographic studies after her initial diagnosis, I have no evidence of tumor regression, only her 27–year survival as of mid-2009. Certainly, for a disease that usually kills within 3 to –6 months, her long-term survival should itself prove treatment effect.
My discussion of pancreatic cancer statistics as appearing in the monograph reads as follows:
Overall, pancreatic malignancies claimed 24,300 lives in 1987, making the disease the fourth most common cause of cancer-related death, and the incidence seems to be increasing yearly. Experts consider malignancy of the exocrine pancreas one of the deadliest of all neoplasms, with fewer than 2% of patients alive five years after diagnosis despite intensive treatment.115(p652)
My summary for this particular patient reads:
Patient #34 responded very quickly to her protocol. Within six months, she was back to working 18 hours a day, seven days a week, running the family gas station, and today, nearly five years after her diagnosis, she is in excellent health. As she told me when I called her at her filling station, “I just don’t have time to die.”
