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CANCER OF THE LYMPH SYSTEM
Case Histories Include Hodgkin’s Disease

Patients with Hodgkin’s Disease who do not use Laetrile but choose orthodox therapy instead have a better statistical chance of long-term survival than those with most forms of cancer. This is because, as a rule, it does not progress rapidly. One person in five, however, will die as a result of the side-effects of radiation or chemotherapy (1). (Typical causes of death are pneumonia, blood poisoning, tuberculosis, or fungus infections.) It is important to note also that Hodgkin’s Disease patients who accept radiation and chemotherapy develop cancer at secondary sites at a rate twenty-nine times greater than those who accept no treatment at all( 2). The use of Laetrile and metabolic therapy does not include such risks. These facts should be kept in mind when reading the following case histories.

*(1)Ultmann, ci at.: "The Clinical Picture of Hodgkin’s Disease," Cancer Research, 26:1047, 1966.

(2) Arseneau, ci al.: "Recently Recognized Complications of Cancer Chemotherapy" Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 230, op. cii., pp. 483, 484.

J154LT: Nodular Sclerosing Hodgkin’s Disease, Stage IV-B

Just prior to her sixteenth birthday the once active, alert teenage girl was diagnosed as having Hodgkin’s Disease.

In March, 1974, a lymph node in her neck was biopsied at a hospital near her Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, home. The results of that biopsy began a nightmare for this young lady.

Her spleen was removed in April, 1974, and the girl’s parents were advised that she would have to have approximately one month of daily cobalt treatments as soon as she recovered from the surgery. These were administered from mid-April to mid-May, 1974. Later, the parents and Miss J. were told she would have to have chemotherapy consisting of nitrogen mustard (1) plus Matulane and Prednisone. This was administered from late-August through late-September, 1974.

(1) It should be noted that it is against the Geneva Convention to use nitrogen mustard against an enemy in war.

Blood platelet count during the period of chemotherapy ranged from 815,000 to 165,000 (lab normals, 140-440 mil.). Her white blood count varied from 17,300 (which coincided with a lung X-ray change indicating probable inflammation on September 9, 1974) down to 5,500 on September 2, 1974 (lab normals, 4-10,000 min).

The Idaho hospital sent ten of this patient’s pathology slides to Stanford University Medical Center in Los Altos, California, on July 5, 1974, with a request that the university evaluate them. The Idaho hospital identified her as having "Hodgkin’s Disease involving the mediastinum, spleen, and intra abdominal lymph nodes with subsequent development of sixth nerve palsy ... and a recent left posterior iliac crest needle biopsy contains a disturbing lesion." Stanford’s dliagnosis based on the slides was:  

1. left cervical (neck) mass, biopsy—consistent

with Hodgkin’s disease, nodular sclerosing type.

2. Spleen, splenectomy—nodular sclerosing Hodgkin’s disease.

3. Bone marrow, iliac crest, needle biopsy— focal involvement by Hodgkin’s disease. (1)

(1) In Hodgkin’s Disease, Stage IV means the disease has extended to the bone marrow, lung, pleura, skin, gastrointestinal tract, liver or other non-lymph tissue. The designation "B" means the patient has fever, night sweats, and/or itching.

The technicality of all these data does not tell us what this sixteen-year-old girl was going through as a result of her diagnosis and the best efforts of her doctors to save her life.

The following description of what Miss I. went through is taken from a letter her father wrote to his company’s insurance carrier. First he describes her orthodox treatment as he saw it:

Radiation treatments were to start as soon as she had recovered from her splenectomy. During this time, the size of the swelling on her neck increased four to five times, as if it were angry from being disturbed.

Radiation therapy, which did reduce the swelling, brought on nausea and loss of appetite. By the time the twenty-six treatments were complete she weighed 105 pounds.

Our daughter had chills and fever and she was burned on her neck and under her arms.

Many nights her bed and nightgown were sopping wet and had to be changed three or four times. Sometimes within a period of twenty minutes the sweats would change to chills so bad her teeth would chatter.

My wife and I would attempt to relieve the chilling by heating blankets in the dryer and many nights the blankets were changed every five or ten minutes for a period of an hour. The doctor recommended aspirin to relieve her fevers.

During this same time our daughter would have leg aches so bad she would sit doubled up with tears in her eyes. The doctor stated the leg aches were from the fevers and to take aspirin for relief.

Following the radiation during a rest period from treatment she began to see double when she looked straight ahead and she lost the ability to look to the left out of her left eye. The doctor was called for an eye exam and our daughter was told her sight would never return to normal. She went to a neurologist who ran many tests including a brain wave and spinal tap. No specific cause of the eye problem was suggested to us.

During this time she continued to grow weaker and had no appetite whatsoever despite the fact that the radiation treatments were finished. She continued to have chills and fever, and leg aches. She lost hair on the back of her head.

Because her bone marrow tests were positive she was scheduled for chemotherapy.

One of the drugs created an acute ugly acne condition on her face. We were told this usually happened.

For thirty minutes before the nitrogen mustard injections and for fifteen minutes afterward her head was packed in ice to reduce the chance of hair loss. Five minutes prior to the injection a small rubber tube was fixed tightly around her head to reduce the blood circulation.

The injections also killed good blood cells and caused the walls of the veins to deteriorate which made it very difficult to obtain the required daily blood samples. The blood vessels in our daughter’s arm were turning brown. The doctor advised us they were dead, but not to worry; there were plenty of veins to take care of the circulation.

During the "rest period" of the first chemotherapy cycle (between the 4th and 28th day) she began to develop a dry hacking cough. X-rays showed cloudy areas in the lungs and the doctor could not determine whether they were caused from cobalt or cancer without doing exploratory surgery, which we would not allow. Lee had already suffered so much.

The hacking cough continued to worsen during and after completion of the second chemotherapy cycle. By the time we made the decision to go to the Richardson Clinic, the cough was constant except for occasional no coughing periods of no longer than three minutes.

By the end of the second chemotherapy cycle Lee had fevers of 104 degrees and more chills and severe leg cramps. She was taking aspirin every four hours day and night. She was very weak, had no appetite and would only drink one glass of water all day.

From the beginning of the fall term of school in late August, 1974, until November 4, 1974, she was able to attend school only three days.

She was so weak she was seldom up more than four hours a day. She went only to the doctor’s office and then back home to her bedroom to lie down.

Her mother and I felt our daughter’s life was being poisoned away by the toxicity of the chemicals and the burning of the radiation.

This is the background against which the decision to seek metabolic therapy was made. This teenager came to the Richardson Clinic and began treatment October 2, 1974. She was practically carried into the clinic by her parents because she was so weak she could hardly walk.

Miss J's father continues to explain to the insurance carrier, in a letter dated April 16, 1975, what happened following the change in treatment modalities:

Six days after beginning metabolic therapy the cough was gone, and only returned temporarily during a winter cold.

A calcium shot was given her which immediately relieved her leg aches.

Upon returning home after the initial twenty injections, Lee began attending school. By this time she no longer had the high fevers, chills, leg aches, or continuous coughs. Her appetite increased.

In January, 1975, she returned to Albany, California, for a check-up. She had gained eleven pounds, still had a good appetite, and still no fever, chills, etc.

During the winter semester she only missed twelve and one-half days of school, five of which she was home with Herpes, three days she went to the doctor’s office in California, two days she had the flu, and two days she had an ear infection

At this writing she continues to gain strength, is generally feeling well, goes out with her boyfriend, and has signed up for a night class which meets for three hours twice a week.

The letter was written in hope that insurance company was willing to pay for the metabolic therapy which was costing about half as much as the previous cobalt and chemotherapy treatments. (The surgeries and diagnostic studies were not included in that financial summary. If they had been, the cost difference would have been even greater.) Sadly, the

insurance company would have gladly paid for additional chemotherapy at twice the price, but it would not pay one cent for metabolic therapy.

Miss J. now works part time and continues her schooling. It has been more than two years since she abandoned orthodox therapy in favor of metabolic therapy, and she continues to lead a symptom-free and active life of a normal healthy teenager.

K112MJ: Hodgkin’s Disease, Stage II-B

This twenty-six-year old woman was pregnant at the time she first began to feel that there was a lump in the back of her throat. Diagnostic X-rays were postponed until after delivery in mid-October, 1975. X-rays and a biopsy of the largest lymph node on the patient’s neck confirmed the diagnosis of Hodgkin’s Disease, probable clinical Stage II-B. (1)

(1) In Hodgkin’s Disease, Stage U means the disease Involves more than two areas but is confined to one side of the diaphragm only. The designation "B" means the patient has fever, night sweats, and/or itching.

Reports from the University Hospital, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, read in pan as follows:

Chest X-rays, November 4, 1975

Impression: Large anterior mediastinal and retrosternal lymph nodes compatible with lymphoma. Pathology Report, November 6, 1975

Specimen: Supraclavicular node biopsy

Diagnosis: Hodgkin’s disease, nodular sclerosing type (cellular phase).

Liver Scan, November 10, 1975

Impression: Normal liver and spleen scan. Bone Marrow Report, November 10, 1975

impression: No evidence of involvement of the bone marrow.

Lymphangiogram, November 12, 1975

Conclusion: Normal pedal lymphangiogram without evidence of abdominal Hodgkin’s disease.

Exploratory surgery to determine the extent of involvement was strongly recommended, but the patient refused for religious reasons.

The patient was considering accepting the recommended radiation and chemotherapy when she heard about metabolic therapy and Laetrile. She first came to the Richardson Clinic on January 8, 1976.

In her words:

It seemed to make so much sense, and after much prayer we decided to make an appointment with Dr. Richardson. It was a little "scary" for the first couple of days [because they weren’t following their local doctors recommendations], but our confidence was boosted after several days of sitting in the waiting room talking to the different ones that had really been helped with vitamin therapy. After three weeks of my treatments, I was convinced.

The patient stated that her local doctor is pleased with her apparent improvement, for there has been a reduction in the size of the lymph nodes.

The patient states she still gets tired and tries to take naps, but she is continuing to stay on the diet and vitamins, and her condition is responding favorably as of our last contact.