My name is Robert (Bob) Karjala and I am a 55 year old male who never smoked. However, I was exposed to low levels of iodine-125 radiation for over 30 years as a biochemist/lab manager. I want to be objective and relate the facts of my case so the reader can make his or her own decisions. I feel it is also important to pass along some reasons to support the alternative choices I made.

Summary: In March of 1998 I was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma of the lung with metastases to the lymph nodes and spine. I had radiation to the spine to alleviate pain and simultaneously began carboplatin/taxol chemo. After 12 weeks of chemo there was no change in the primary tumor. I then added several complementary therapies and 6 weeks later my primary tumor had shrunk by 50%. I continued the chemo and alternatives and on 11/3/98 my oncologist said I was "cured".

In March of 1998, I was diagnosed with a 2.5 cm adenocarcinoma of the lung which had spread to nearby lymph nodes in the lung and to two spots on my spine and to a 3 cm mass in my liver. I received 14 radiation treatments to one of the tumors on my spine. The radiation eliminated the back pain which had brought me to the doctor in the first place. I began chemotherapy (carboplatin and taxol, once every three weeks) simultaneously.

In April of 1998, I made a decision to not use any alternatives initially, because I wanted to give the chemo a chance, and I wanted to evaluate its effectiveness. A bone scan on 4/22/98 showed a second spine metastasis on the right side of my neck, but it remained asymptomatic and did not show up on X-rays. When X-rays after chemo #2 and chemo #4 showed no increase of the lung tumor (but also no decrease), I decided to add several alternatives to my therapy.

In May, I began taking essiac tea (2-3 ounces per day). Chest X-rays in the middle of June showed no increase in the size of the lung tumor, and a slight reduction in size of the lymph nodules (after 4 chemo treatments).

In June, I began taking Dr. Julian Whitaker's "Forward Plus" vitamin and mineral supplements and increased my essiac tea consumption to 2- 3 ounces each morning and evening. I also began taking vitamin CoQ-10 at 400 mg per day, one capsule a day of Cat's Claw bark (Una de Gato) and one capsule a day of grape seed extract with methyl sulfonyl methane(MSM).

In July, (six weeks later after a total of six chemo treatments), a CT scan showed that my liver tumor had disappeared, my lung tumor had shrunk to 50% of its original size, my spine was healing with new healthy tissue, and the lung lymph nodes were smaller and fewer in number. After chemo #6 I also began taking one astragalus root capsule per day.

I am assuming that the dramatic change in the lung tumor in the six weeks between chemo #4 and chemo # 6 was mainly due to the alternative therapies which I started in June!

September 11, 1998 x-rays show the primary lung tumor as less than 1 cm and the lymph nodes are almost totally clear after chemo #8. X-rays on 10/20/98 after the 10th and final chemo treatment show the lung as essentially normal.

October 27, 1998 CT scan showed no detectable tumor in the lung and the mediastinal lymph nodes have shrunk to less than 3 mm for the largest one. After this 10/27/98 CT scan, the doctors determined that, instead of an initially diagnosed liver tumor, I had a benign hemangioma which was unchanged during the therapy. The hemangioma did not show up on the 7/28/98 CT scan, which was done on an older slow machine.

On November 3, 1998 my oncologist said I was "cured", but he did note that there could still be undetectable cancer cells remaining. He said if there were a thousand cells left, with a lung cancer doubling rate of anywhere from 45 to 90 days it could be years before any more cancer would be detectable (billions of cells). Of course that assumes no further treatment but I plan on taking my vitamins, CoQ-10, and essiac for the rest of my life.

I found out about Dr. Julian Whitaker M. D. from an advertising circular. I subscribed to his monthly newsletter "Health & Healing", which included his "New Cures for Chronic Diseases" book, in which Dr. Whitaker listed what he would do if he had cancer -- maintain a healthy diet and take vitamins, essiac tea, Coenzyme Q-10, selenium, soy isoflavones and soy products, and bovine and shark cartilage. Dr. Whitaker's website is drwhitaker.com. To subscribe to his Health & Healing Newsletter, call 800 539-8219.

I began Whitaker's home-delivery option for a 60 day supply of the vitamins, which costs about $40.00 per month with free shipping. The main reason I used Whitaker's brand of CoQ-10 is that I couldn't find similar 200mg wafers in local stores. Although he lists several brands of essiac tea in his book, I am satisfied with the more reasonably priced source I found. I briefly tried shark cartilage, but it requires enormous doses which gave me gas and I saw some reports claiming it was ineffective, so I stopped using it.

I have no connection with or monetary incentive to promote Whitaker. I am sure there are other vitamin programs that also contain high levels of anti-oxidants, I just happened to come across Whitaker's program and decided to try it. I am now convinced that the vitamins and supplements played an important role in my tolerance of chemo with minimal discomfort.

The Whitaker program includes 20 to 30 times the RDA of several anti-oxidant vitamins and 200 micrograms per day of selenium (an anti-tumor and anti-cancer mineral). The essiac tea is 70% dried Burdock root, 22% powdered Sheep sorrel, 5% powdered Slippery Elm bark, and 3% powdered Turkey rhubarb root. The grape seed extract is from Rich Distrubiting and contains 100 mg of grape seed extract and 400mg of MSM per capsule (Rich claims to be the original distributor of MSM for human consumption).

My Recommendations:

1. Begin the Whitaker "Forward Plus" vitamin program, or a similar program

   "Forward Plus" vitamins are available from HealthyDirections.com, 1-800-722-8008. They come in packets of 8 capsules and you take two packets per day, or 60 packets per month, at the cost of $49.95/month. 10% volume discount, item number RP30.
   The vitamin ingredients and amounts are listed on Letters Part 2 so you can compare them to similar vitamin programs -- I suspect they are all pretty much the same.

2. Take 400 mg of CoQ-10 per day

   200 mg CoQ-10 wafers are available from Healthy Directions, item CQ23. A bottle of 30 wafers is $47 or $42.84 each for 3 bottles or more. 60 wafers are a months' supply, so the cost is about $86.00 per month.

3. Drink 2 or 3 ounces of essiac tea, twice a day (morning and evening)

   The brewed tea is available commercially as Flor-Essence™ by Flora Co., but it costs $23 or more for just one pint. Health food stores also carry the dry herb mix Essiac® but it is expensive too, costing about $35 to make little more than 2 pints of tea (72oz).

   I brew my own essiac one gallon at a time and store it in the refrigerator. The brand I buy is a dry mix named "Native Herbal Combination" made by Kathy Sedler (Note: Kathy no longer sells essiac herbs). One pound of her dry mix costs $16.30 (plus tax & shipping) and makes about 6 gallons of tea for 34¢ per pint. This lasts me for about 4 months at 6 oz tea per day. Another essiac brand I recommend is "A Nurse's Herbal Tea", which is made by Chris Corpening R.N. of Tehachapi, CA (anursesherbaltea.com), who offers it as a bottled tea or dry mix, 1-800 843-2181. Highly recommended, Kathy and Chris are both nurses, herbalists, superbly ethical and offer very reasonably-priced quality products.

   Note: Kathy Sedler quit selling essiac Feb 3, 2002 to devote herself to research and writing. Kathy and Bob Karjala believed strongly that more research needs to be done about essiac.

4. Take 1 Cat's Claw (500mg) capsule per day

5. Take 1 grape seed extract (100mg / MSM 400mg) capsule per day

6. I started taking 3 grams (3000mg) a day of MGN-3 to help boost killer T-cell activity in April 2000. After contacting the office of Dr. Mamdooh Ghoneum, originator of supplement, I am now buying MGN-3 from the same source Dr. Ghoneum uses.

7. On chemo day or evening before Do not take vitamins, grape seed extract or CoQ-10.
   For more information about that, see this letter.

During my first round of chemo and simultaneous radiation therapy I had severe pain in my back and had to increase my daily dose of oxycontin painkiller to 120mg per day. I think the oxycontin and possibly the radiation was responsible for the nausea and mild vomiting which occurred during the first three weeks of therapy. On the last day of radiation and just prior to the second chemo, I was pretreated with steroids which must have reduced swelling around my spine, because the pain was totally absent and never returned. About 5 days after my second chemo I had some mild nausea and a queasy stomach. It was around this time that I began taking essiac once a day and a few weeks later began the full alternative program.

While on this program I had no nausea, vomiting or fatigue from the chemo. I felt fine and still worked full time. I had hair loss and 11-12 days after each chemo my neutrophil counts are low enough that I required 2 days of neupogen shots to boost my white blood cell count. A numbness in my toes after final chemo #10 on 10/3/98 was very mild and caused no problems.

I have never taken vitamin supplements, but read many reports about benefits of higher levels of antioxidant vitamins and minerals in reducing cancer risk. The Whitaker program contained much higher levels of many vitamins and minerals than an ordinary multivitamin, and seemed like a convenient way to avoid supplementing the various vitamins individually. Assuming that the full spectrum of vitamins and minerals may have many beneficial effects to the immune system and other body systems, I began taking Whitaker's "Forward Plus" vitamins in June after chemo #4.

I also read about a patient with incurable cancer who was being treated for a heart problem with Coenzyme Q-10 --and his tumor disappeared! Subsequent studies showed that higher doses of CoQ-10 were even more effective in shrinking tumors in other patients, so I began taking 400mg/day of CoQ-10 after chemo #4.

I learned about essiac tea from a friend whose mother lived next to a cancer patient with a remarkable story. I called the cancer patient and he explained that he had colon cancer which had been treated with surgery and chemo, but had spread to his lung and liver. When doctors operated on him to implant tubes to deliver chemo directly to his tumors, they discovered that there were so many tumors on his liver that they could not proceed with the operation. They closed him up and told him to get his affairs in order because he had only a few months to live...

He began taking the essiac tea and now, almost four years later, he feels fine and jogs every day. He said that the tumors are still there but they are not growing or spreading. I was further encouraged by learning that President John Kennedy's personal physician Dr. Charles Brusch signed a notarized statement in 1990 that he had cured his own colon cancer, diagnosed in 1984, through the use of essiac tea alone.

I also learned the neighbor of my stepson had undergone 5 or 6 rounds of chemo for his lung cancer, but the chemo was not working and the tumor had grown to the size of a baseball and had spread to his liver and prostate. He too was told he had only a few months to live. He began taking essiac tea only a few weeks after I began, and he decided that if 2-3 ounces was the recommended dose, he would use 10-12 ounces at a time. Within a few weeks his tumor had shrunk to the size of a marble and his doctors say he is in complete remission. I read many compelling cases which convinced me to add the essiac tea to my own arsenal against cancer.

Similarly, I read or heard about cancer recoveries involving Cat's Claw bark and grape seed extract so I decided it wouldn't hurt to add them to the regimen.

I began writing my treatment chronology because, as I began having positive results, more and more friends were asking me what I was doing and it became difficult to keep repeating the details. Since something was working, I didn't want to risk changing anything. It's possible that the chemo had a delayed effect and started working better after treatment #4, or that the combination of alternatives and chemo together was effective.

The literature shows that patients with stage IV lung cancer undergoing similar chemo have only a 35 - 40% response rate and most of those responses are only stable disease or partial response with very few (2 - 3%) complete responses. I may have been in the lucky 2 or 3%, but the correlation of my responses with the beginning of alternative therapy suggests that something in the alternatives played an important part in my initial recovery.

On November 3, 1998, my oncologist told me that I was cured, yet he was the same one in March 1998 who explained that at the present time stage IV lung cancer was an incurable disease.

A cure of stage IV lung cancer is rare and without controlled studies, there is no way of knowing which alternative components are or are not helpful. In my opinion, it would be easy to add this non-toxic program to patients currently on carboplatin/taxol therapy to see if good results could be duplicated in other cases. If so, then perhaps a medical professional or researcher could be persuaded to investigate further to determine the active components.

Good luck and good health!

Bob Karjala
Los Angeles, CA
January 19, 1999