Please… My Soul hurts to see this again
She came seeking validation,
I yearned to give her comfort.
Her eyes exposed the fear and uncertainty underneath,
I could not in good faith tell her it would be alright.
Squelching her hope is the last thing I desire,
Who am I to say you will not live?
Yet, how many times have I seen this scene,
Same tragic story unfolding in front of me.
It never goes as they hope,
Their Gods never save them.
For every spontaneous remission,
Another hundred die unnecessarily.
My soul hurts to see this again.
We all know a cancer story with a happy ending such as “Chris Beat Cancer”. This inspiring and heart-warming narrative restores faith in the body’s ability to heal itself. However, what often gets lost in the storyline is that Chris Wark opted for a life-saving surgery to remove a golf ball-sized tumor and a third of his colon prior to pursuing natural therapies and nutrition in lieu of chemotherapy1. Please make no mistake, I am a huge advocate for nutritional and other lifestyle interventions, many of which were successfully utilized by Mr. Chris Wark. The underlying bioterrain that allowed the cancer to grow must be shifted if we hope to prevent future recurrences and maximize the potential for recovery. Furthermore, only 5–10% of all cancer cases can be attributed to genetic defects, whereas the remaining 90–95% have their roots in the environment and lifestyle. The lifestyle factors include cigarette smoking, diet (fried foods, red meat), alcohol, excessive sun exposure, environmental pollutants, infections, stress, obesity, and physical inactivity.
It is all too easy to become psychologically hooked by the natural healing component of Chris Wark’s aforementioned recovery and forget about the life-saving surgery which precipitated his fairy tale ending. This psychological dissonance is highly pertinent to clinical outcomes. In a cohort study of 1,901,815 patients, use of complementary medicine was associated with much higher refusal rates of conventional cancer treatment. Foregoing the conventional therapies ultimately led to a 2-fold greater risk of death.3 Unfortunately there is so much misinformation on the internet that it is next to impossible for a well-meaning patient or family member to make sense of all the contradictory information. Case in point, I had a patient whom I greatly respect and admire in clinic yesterday show me an alternative cancer clinic website that claimed, “patients who pursue conventional therapies are four times more likely to die”. This statement is not only untrue, but also a disservice to all patients and providers dealing with the confusing and emotionally charged world of oncology.
In my 12 years of clinical practice, cancer has continuously called me forth to tread in its murky waters. Upon entering medical school, my original intention was to become a pediatric oncologist. Seeing my grandmother live for well over a decade in good health after being given a six-month prognosis taught me at an early age that the individual is as much if not a more important variable than the tumor or disease itself. This sentiment was famously echoed by “The Father of Modern Medicine”, Dr. William Osler, in his famous quote, “It is much more important to know what sort of a patient has a disease than what sort of a disease a patient has.” During Family Medicine residency at Central Maine Medical Center, we were lucky enough to have the Dempsey Center which provided complimentary cancer care to patients. Memories reside recalling my dream to one day be a doctor who has able to incorporate these types of healing techniques into the medical care paradigm. During my Integrative Medicine fellowship, I had the honor of learning under the country’s preeminent IV Vit C cancer researcher, Dr. Jeanne Drisko, who was the Director of Integrative Medicine at Kansas University Medical Center. She pioneered the original pharmacokinetics and bench to bedside studies on IVC along with Qi Chen at KUMC and Mark Levine from the NIH. Patients from surrounding states would travel to KUMC Integrative Medicine to receive IVC for their cancers and I was further introduced to the world of Integrative Oncology. Thereafter, I was recruited to become the Integrative Medicine physician for the University of Tennessee Medical Center Cancer Institute. While at UTMC for 5 and a half years, I had access to thousands of patients with cancer and worked hand in hand with an amazing team of oncologists, surgical oncologists, radiation oncologists, pathologists, radiologists, etc. Many of these physicians were personal friends as well as professional colleagues. During this time, I discovered that we all utilize the tools at our disposal in helping patients with this deadly disease. There are vast training and often philosophical differences between conventional, integrative, complimentary, and alternative providers hence the skepticism frequently exhibited between the highly educated and well-meaning yet often divisive factions. Over the past 2 and a half years, I have been at Forum Health Asheville which is a cutting-edge Functional Medicine Clinic. For better and worse, my patient niches tend to be rather complex (cancer, tickborne infections, mold, psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology). This combined with a strong discomfort for the suffering of others and some underlying inner child complexes regarding “being good enough” and needing to justify my existence through service have synergized in my continual personal growth and medical education. As of August 2024, I will be officially boarded/certified in Functional Medicine, Integrative Medicine, Environmental Medicine, as well as Family Medicine. Up next will be the Board of Psychedelic Medicine and Therapies4, but we shall delve into that in much greater detail in future podcasts, poetry, and articles.
Upon sitting with thousands of patients with cancer and their beloved family members, I can unequivocally say that patients with the best outcomes are those that take the best of both worlds. They radically improve their nutrition, proactively mitigate their perceived stressors, optimize their sleep, engage in proper levels of physical activity, decrease exposure to both environmental and psychological toxins, delve deeper into their personal spirituality, detoxify their bodies, discover underlying stealth infections (Lyme, EBV, etc.) and other immunosuppressive variables such as mycotoxins, learn to “receive” from family and friends, begin to engage in self-care, replenish nutritional deficiencies, reduce inflammation, take evidence based nutraceuticals, and rebalance their autonomic nervous system while simultaneously receiving conventional therapies such as surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and hormone therapy when appropriate. Like many controversial issues in our modern society, the topic of cancer care has become largely polarized with both sides harboring fear and suspicion. I sincerely hope this poem and short editorial help shine light on the synergistic nature of Integrative Oncology when utilized in combination with not in lieu of conventional therapies.
Sincerely and with utmost respect to all who seek greater wisdom on their journey through life.
Clayton Bell, M.D.
- Chris Beat Cancer https://www.chrisbeatcancer.com/what-every-new-cancer-patient-needs-to-know/
- Anand P, Kunnumakkara AB, Sundaram C, Harikumar KB, Tharakan ST, Lai OS, Sung B, Aggarwal BB. Cancer is a preventable disease that requires major lifestyle changes. Pharm Res. 2008 Sep;25(9):2097-116. doi: 10.1007/s11095-008-9661-9. Epub 2008 Jul 15. Erratum in: Pharm Res. 2008 Sep;25(9):2200. Kunnumakara, Ajaikumar B [corrected to Kunnumakkara, Ajaikumar B]. PMID: 18626751; PMCID: PMC2515569. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2515569/
- Johnson SB, Park HS, Gross CP, Yu JB. Complementary Medicine, Refusal of Conventional Cancer Therapy, and Survival Among Patients With Curable Cancers. JAMA Oncol. 2018 Oct 1;4(10):1375-1381. doi: 10.1001/jamaoncol.2018.2487. PMID: 30027204; PMCID: PMC6233773. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6233773/#:~:text=Findings,had%20no%20complementary%20medicine%20use.
- Board of Psychedelic Medicine and Therapies https://psychedelicsboard.org/
The reflections above are mine alone and do not reflect the beliefs or medical recommendations of my employer, Forum Health LLC, or that of any medical licensing body (ABFM, ABPS, DEA, NC, TN, FL, TX, CO) or any medical organization (IFM, ILADS, AAFP) of which I am a member.