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James Egan - Stage 4 Metastatic Bowel Cancer

  • Update as at September 2017:

      15 September 2017
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    In May 2017 James underwent surgery to remove the temporary ileostomy and replumb the bowel. It was hard work for him to start with. Urgent toilet visits averaged 15 times a day, mostly at night. Exhaustion hampered recovery. Our surgeon advised us to keep doing what we were doing with pre & pro biotics and sticking to a vegetarian diet to aid rapid gut healing. With the help of Neurolink and acupuncture things came right quickly once James turned the corner. Chemotherapy does so much damage that it takes up to a year to re-establish good gut health.

    In August 2017 James had a CT scan to gauge healing and progress. We were gutted to discover that whilst the tumour site, lymph nodes and peritoneum (stomach area) remained clear, the metastases in the liver and lung had grown and spread. 5mm metastases are now 5cm metastases.

    The oncologist offered more chemotherapy whilst James’ liver would tolerate it. Treatment was planned to slow the growth of the tumours in the liver and lung and prolong life for a few months. The worst side effects of the second stage treatment is constant diarrhoea and nausea. We have decided that living with daily nausea and diarrhoea is not living and have declined treatment. This news left us very frightened and low.

    We have picked ourselves up again and are continuing to surround ourselves with people who support us in our belief that James can still stop the growth of the metastases with diet, alternative treatments, meditation and positive thinking.

    Despite a challenging prognosis we will continue to put up the best fight we can.

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  • Update as at April 2017:

      10 April 2017

    Three weeks ago James underwent exploratory surgery after discovering that the main tumour had grown during the six months of chemotherapy. Our surgeon did an outstanding job. During a 9 hour keyhole surgery he managed to remove the entire tumour and re-join the bowel. James has a temporary ileostomy (bypass from the small intestine) whilst the colon join heals. In about three months he will undergo surgery again to close the ileostomy and repair the hernia.

    Histology results are now back. James’ diet and lifestyle managed to do things that our surgeon has never seen before in New Zealand or Germany. A spreading tumour although bigger had been fully encased in fat for “easy” removal. The lymph nodes have all tested negative. The metastatic lesion on the peritoneum came back as negative. The liver has lost all of its fat and looks like new. No metastatic lesions can be seen on the liver. The only region unseen and untested is the lung.

    From here it is a matter of maintaining James regimented spray free (and organic when we can) vegetarian, sugar free, gluten free diet and keeping up the supplements, mistletoe therapy, Neurolink, acupuncture and cranial osteopathy. The greatest risk is reverting back to old habits. Our motto through this all has been “insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and actually expecting a different outcome”. James has gone out of his way to radically change everything. We have been advised to stick to this regime for five or more years to give the body’s immune system time to recover, so it can do what it is meant to do – kill cancer cells when they malfunction in the body.

    We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their amazing generosity. To take away the immediate financial stress has been a huge relief. We are very grateful to have such amazing family and friends.

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