Lymph Node Cancer Should Have Killed me

A lymph node cancer diagnosis set up a 20-year battle with cancer that I only won because of cannabis.

Editor’s Note: Any testimonials or endorsements found on this site are for anecdotal purposes only. The information in Rxleaf testimonials is not intended as direct medical advice, nor should it be relied upon as a substitute for consultations with qualified healthcare professionals who are intimately knowledgeable about your individual medical needs.

I was diagnosed with non Hodgkin’s lymphoma — a lymph node cancer — twenty years ago. It was stage IV with renal T-cell kidney cancer at the same time. With a five per cent chance of pulling through, they brought our pastor in to give me my last rights. Treatment required a kidney bypass and removal, but I made it!

So, on to radiation I went. It was focused on my neck and chest for six months. In that time, I couldn’t work and was foreclosed and put out of my home. Then they repo’d my car, truck, and Harley.

I recovered slowly, but I had to chop wood to stay warm in the middle of winter. There was a time when I was strong. In the army, I received a Presidential Citation for physical fitness from president Ronald Regan for a perfect score of 300, three years in a row, on my Army PT test. I could also run five miles in less than thirty minutes; do 100 push ups, 200 sit-ups and two miles in eleven minutes. I was the strongest pound for pound out of sixty men. Not anymore. But even with lymph node cancer I was still alive.

Lymphoma Comes Back in my Abdomen

Anyway, my next bout was nine years later. The lymph node cancer came back and I was truncated Stage III. This time, I had an operation to remove glands from my lower abdomen for a gland pushing on my prostate and bladder.

After eight rounds of R-Chop with Retuxin, I was just about dead. There seemed no chance for recovery. My job laid me off from my job because they couldn’t afford me on their insurance any more. My wife sold our home in Austell Ga. and took me to be with family. This is where I got medical cannabis for the first time. Soon enough, I was back to work loading ninety pound boxes, five high, on a pallet for a meat packing plant. That got me back in shape fast!

New Tumors Keep Coming

Then in 2012, I had trouble breathing and bad pain in my sternum. This time, I given six rounds of cyber knife radiation for an inoperable gland wrapped around my lower aorta. Again, I was let go from that job because of insurance costs. Moving on to another state where nobody knew me, I got a retirement job sitting at a machine all day. This time, the first sign of sickness was Bell’s palsy. I went to the hospital and and they blamed it on stress at work. My employer loved to gamble in Vegas and lost nearly every machine we had to pay his habit off. So he let me go. I went immediately back home for a job prospect and was hired as a heavy equipment operator.

In 2015, I had a lump in my upper thigh and received thirty four radiation treatments for that. On the final PET scan, they found another tumor in my abdomen, so thirty rounds on that. My heart was acting funny after all that radiation, so I was put out of work by my doctor and got emergency disability. I lost everything again: my new car, bike, house. I was so mad I withdrew from society.

A Message of Hope: During Cancer and Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma

Until that one Christmas morning….I’ll never forget. I went to look out the door because the sun was shining so bright. An envelope taped to my door contained $150.00. It said, “From The Angels.”  That renewed my faith in humanity and just knowing someone cared made me feel like trying to live longer.

I went to OSU James Cancer Center and was told I’d need a bone marrow transplant (Car-T). They said that I would die without it, but my friend had another idea: Cannabis Oil.

So, I tried it and got out of that bed, started walking up stairs and going outside. I kept doing the oil and quit the Opioids, Xanex, Prilosec, and Gabbapentin. Then, I took RSO, CBD and THC oils. I started to feel better every day. The bleeding from diverticulosis stopped and my legs quit hurting. And I could use my arms again. I eventually ran out of oil. But, I got a recipe from Rick Simpson’s site and made it myself when I got scared about a new lump in my abdomen.

PET Scan Reveals the Good News

I set up a PET scan with my oncologist, and just before getting it, I figured I better level with him about my cannabis oil use. He said ” We’re not going to find anything on a PET scan since you took that oil.”

He was right!! The blood test were normal — for the first time in twenty years.

Why didn’t he tell me that before? He said I would be dead by Sept. 2015. He knew! They all know! But, money is more important than your life.

It’s up to you. Learn, read, become an expert. Don’t let stigma kill you. Life is good, save yourself!

From RxLeaf: What Do The Studies Say?

Ron’s story of survival with cannabis likely isn’t the first time you’ve read about patients having success using medical cannabis for cancer treatment.  Despite how often these stories make headlines, treating cancer with cannabis is still relatively uncommon. Fortunately, the research is slowing catching up to these anecdotal reports.

Early research is supportive, demonstrating that cannabis destroys cancer in a myriad of ways. In fact, there is a growing body of research showing how THC and other cannabis molecules target and kill cancerous cells from as far back as 1975.

Here is what the research has shown us thus far on cannabis and cancer:

• Pro-Apoptotic

The numerous compounds in cannabis seem to activate a process called apoptosis in cancer cells. Apoptosis is the process of programmed cell suicide. Importantly, researchers have discovered cannabis only triggers cancer cell suicide, and not healthy cell suicide. There is evidence of this property from studies on endocrine tumors and glioma, among others.

• Multi-Targeted

THC, CBD, and the many other cannabinoids in the plant may be useful for many different forms of cancer. Currently, there is support for cannabis in the treatment of for “lung, glioma, thyroid, lymphoma, skin, pancreas, uterus, breast, prostate and colorectal carcinoma.” Given the variety of cancers already under study for treatment with cannabis, they could very well be more given a little more analysis.

• Effective in Animal Studies

Cannabis has already leapt out of the petri-dish, and into animal studies. That’s right, researchers have already found that cannabis targets and kills cancer cells in lab rats and mice. While there is still another leap between animals and humans, so far the outlook seems good. Especially when you consider the number of cannabis-fueled cancer-survivor stories like Ron’s. With more money getting funneled into cannabis research, there is already a clinical trial on cannabis for cancer underway.

• Anti-Metastasization

The early studies indicate cannabis may reduce cancer’s ability to metastasize. To metastasize means that cancer cells move from the original site to other areas of the body, usually traveling through the blood or lymph nodes. So far there is indication CBD, in particular, has lowered the rate of metastasization in breast and lung cancers.

For more in-depth information about the research on cannabis for cancer and lymph node cancer treatment, the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology published an excellent review of the literature in 2012. It’s due for an update, of course, but this is a great place to start.

Editor’s Note: Any testimonials or endorsements found on this site are for anecdotal purposes only. The information in Rxleaf testimonials is not intended as direct medical advice, nor should it be relied upon as a substitute for consultations with qualified healthcare professionals who are intimately knowledgeable about your individual medical needs.