by Dr. John D. Young

Over the last several months, I have seen a number of patients who have been diagnosed with very early cancer. There are various types of cancer, but the majority are of blood origin, including leukemia. The oncologist has seen the patient and advises them that it is so early in the disease, “why don’t we just wait till you have more serious signs and symptoms [of your disease] before we treat.” The patient is rather upset and believes there must be something they can do to help stop the cancer or strengthen the immune system so it doesn’t have to get any worse.

The good news is there is a lot a patient can do to slow down or rid the body of cancer while it is still in its early phase of growth. Thanks to the recent agreement between the U.S. FDA and the European FDA, many great lab tests are available that can tell you if the cancer cells are beginning to grow faster by building more blood vessels to grow (the cells are starting to metastasize/spread around the body or become more aggressive). Unfortunately, in America, we do very little testing like this. One reason is our tests are based on two million cancer cells needing to be present for the lab to pick up the changes. In Europe, tests are based on 20,000 cancer cells. Additionally, the U.S. uses about 10 to 15 markers for cell activity whereas Europe uses about 45 to 60 markers—a significant difference. The European lab will even tell you which drugs or natural products are more effective at wiping out your cancer cells. Next time your doctor says to wait until you get sick before being treated, tell them to check out some of the European testing and you may not even have to get sick. I have done this testing for a number of patients and they all are very pleased with the results.

While I am at it, let me also say that one of the biggest misconceptions I hear from patients is that “the doctor got the cancer out and all the margins are free of cancer” and you are fine. That sounds great but it is not the truth. We now have the ability to diagnose and identify cancer from a blood draw. We know that once you have the cancer cells, they will be throughout the body. Ask your doctor or oncologist to show you how to be more proactive in making sure that cancer cells never travel in your body. Remember, 95 percent of people die of cancer not because of the original location of the cancer but of the metastasizing of the cancer. The oncologist is well trained in helping you prevent this from happening. Let him know you want to be proactive with your cancer and not wait until you are sick.