On
April 2005 Michael Horwin of Cancer Monthly interviewed Madeleen Herreshoff
regarding her journey with breast cancer. Below is the full interview.
For comments from several doctors on this interview, please go to
www.cancermonthly.com and
Click on CancerWire April 2005 Breast Edition.
Cancer
Monthly provides cancer patients with the results of hundreds of FDA
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Surviving
Breast Cancer Using an Integrative Approach:
Madeleen Herreshoff's Journey
© Cancer Monthly 2005
In
1991, at the age of 49, Madeleen Herreshoff was diagnosed with aggressive
poorly differentiated invasive breast cancer and told that without
radiation, aggressive chemotherapy and 5 years of tamoxifen that she
would be dead within 5 years. She decided to say no to chemotherapy,
yes to radiation, and took tamoxifen for 6 months only. Fourteen years
after her diagnosis Madeleen is alive. She blended mainstream and
alternative therapies creating her own personalized integrative approach.
Today, as Director and President of CANHELP she helps other cancer
patients by providing treatment information and referrals.
Cancer
Monthly) Madeleen can you give us some background about your diagnosis
and prognosis?
MH)
Yes, in 1991, when I was 49, I was diagnosed with aggressive poorly
differentiated invasive breast cancer in my right breast. My diagnosis
took place at the PolyClinic in Seattle, Washington, and it was confirmed
by pathologists at the University of Washington. In fact, the pathologist
at the university, whom I knew through a friend, called me and said
“Madeleen, this is a very aggressive tumor. I have seen a lot
of breast cancer tumors, but rarely do I see one this aggressive.
You need to go see the interdisciplinary cancer team here immediately
and follow their recommendations.” I did what she suggested.
The interdisciplinary team, a surgeon, radiologist and oncologist
at the University of Washington reviewed my case and I made an appointment
with the oncologist to hear her recommendations. My husband and I
had to wait a long time in the waiting room, which, unfortunately,
was right next to the chemo room where men and women were hooked up
to IVs. We had a clear view of what was going on in there. Nurses
were trying to make these cancer patients happy by talking cheerfully
and passing out balloons. We were not impressed.
Once
in the oncologist office, the oncologist was adamant that I do radiation
therapy for three months, followed by an aggressive chemotherapy protocol
plus tamoxifen. She did not beat around the bush. She said that I
had a very aggressive tumor and this is what I should do. I tried
to bargain with her about lesser therapies such as just radiation
and tamoxifen. She would not hear of it and drew diagram after diagram
on the board to impress us with the seriousness of the situation.
I was trying to get her to think of other options because I was reluctant
to do the chemo and she just looked me in the eye and said you will
be dead in 5 years if you don’t do this entire protocol. My
husband and I left her office in tears. I swore I would not go back
there.
Cancer
Monthly) Why were you reluctant to do chemo?
MH)
It was a feeling, perhaps partly fear. But I felt that if I did the
chemo I would not survive. Ultimately, it was just intuition. I didn’t
like the idea of radiation therapy either, but back in 1991 it was
even more difficult to say “no” to orthodox therapies
than it is today, and I just didn’t think that I could fight
everybody. So I reluctantly did radiation for 3 months for 5 days
each week. The tamoxifen was prescribed for 5 years. I did it for
6 months. I was having serious side effects from the tamoxifen, so
my oncologist and I agreed that I should stop taking it. This was
a more open-minded oncologist, not the one who had said I would be
dead in 5 years if I didn’t do what she said.
Cancer
Monthly) When did you start using alternative therapies?
MH)
I immediately plunged into every book on alternative cancer treatments
following my diagnosis. After I was finished with the radiation and
tamoxifen, I went to a naturopathic doctor who had treated other cancer
patients. He first made sure that my bowels were moving, an important
avenue for toxins to pass out the body quickly, and gave me enzymes.
He added the Hoxsey formula, and anti-oxidants such as vitamins A,
C, E, selenium and beta-carotene liquid, which made my hands turn
yellow. He told me to put turmeric in my diet, and cilantro for detoxification.
For
the next 2-3 years I was feeling pretty good. I did have my mammograms
every 6 months and at one point they said they thought they saw something
again. So they went back into the same breast and it turned out to
be scar tissue. And then they thought they saw something in the other
breast and they went in there and that was benign. But, in 1994 they
did find a local recurrence of intraductal non-invasive cancer in
the same breast.
Cancer
Monthly) You had been doing various alternative therapies for a couple
of years and all of a sudden you have a local recurrence. How did
you feel? Did you think your alternative therapies were a waste of
time?
MH)
I felt I was not looking at the whole picture, that I was not considering
my state-of mind.
Cancer
Monthly) What did you decide to do about the recurrence?
MH)
I decided to have a mastectomy because I felt emotionally I could
no longer deal with the constant looking for cancer. I also worked
on stress and the mind-body connection more than anything and I think
that helped me tremendously. I went into psychoanalysis to find out
“why me”, and “what did I need to change in my life
to prevent another cancer occurrence”. I changed my career.
I added meditation into my routine and joined a Tibetan Buddhist group
and later changed over to a Zen group.
Cancer
Monthly) Do you think stress helped lead to the cancer?
MH)
I had been under a lot of stress prior to my initial diagnosis. I
had a high-powered job in Hawaii with very difficult interpersonal
dynamics. So, yes, I think it did in that case. I think the local
recurrence was due to my having very close surgical margins at the
time of lumpectomy. Radiation was supposed to take care of. It obviously
did not. Since then I have studied the literature which shows that
close surgical margins are predictive of re-occurrence. Had I known
that then, I would have insisted on a wider resection.
Cancer
Monthly) What was your prognosis after the mastectomy?
MH)
Both the surgeon and oncologist said that I would not need any additional
therapy. I was not so sure and I intensified my alternative therapies
because I felt a recurrence was still possible. In 1996 I joined the
staff of CANHELP as their primary researcher. I started meeting alternative
cancer doctors and one I liked particularly was Dr. Chu Fong in New
York, now passed away, a compassionate oncologist and original thinker,
who ran the Revici Center. On his recommendation, I added Viscum Album
(mistletoe) to my supplement collection, Wobenzyms, special enzymes
from Germany, drank Essiac tea, took more Hoxsey, used castor oil
packs on my liver to detoxify, applied Unguentum lymphaticum cream
on any nodes (when swollen), did parasite cleanses, a liver cleanse,
and a gallbladder cleanse (where I passed more than 100 stones). Many
of these things I still do off and on.
Cancer
Monthly) Did you change your diet after you were diagnosed?
MH)
Yes. I was a vegetarian for 10 years before I was diagnosed. After
my diagnosis I began eating more cruciferous vegetables. These vegetables
provide a number of advantages including helping to balance hormones.
In general, fresh, organic vegetables are important, but when it comes
to a primary raw food diet, it depends on the person. According to
Chinese medicine, for advanced cancer patients, raw foods can put
too much of a burden on the spleen. I strongly believe in the Gerson
philosophy of drinking a lot of fresh juices, such as carrot and green
juices. I also think flax seeds are very important. Dr. Johanna Budwig,
a highly respected German biochemist, created a diet consisting of
cottage cheese and flax seeds. I think there are many benefits from
this diet and it helps people in many different ways. Dr. Budwig recommended
her flax seed diet to cancer patients and found that their tumors
regressed. Flax seeds can help regulate the bowels. Flax seeds are
also estrogenic and may compete with estrogen receptors. I have recently
gone off flax seeds, because I began a new bio-identical hormone replacement
therapy (BHRT) as proposed by author T.S. Wiley in her book Sex, Lies
and Menopause. I believe this will give me additional protection from
cancer. (update from MH: I found this protocol far from optimal
and after several months changed to low dose BHRT).
Cancer
Monthly) After your mastectomy, the doctors said you would be fine
so how do you determine if all the alternative approaches you used
provided any value?
MH)
My original oncologist said I would be dead in 5 years because I did
not take her advice. I have outlived that prognosis. It’s now
14 years from my original diagnosis. I strongly believe that to carry
on with my life after orthodox treatment as if nothing had happened,
would have been short-sighted. I know from the work I do, that many
cancer patients have recurrences and die. Immediately after treatment
the immune system is down and if there are any residual cancer cells
in the body they will have an opportunity to grow. So alternative
therapies and reducing stress levels are extremely important to make
sure the immune system is working at top-level at all times. It becomes
a way of life and I feel I continue to reap the benefits from that
lifestyle.
Cancer
Monthly) Are there doctors who can help a patient create a truly integrative
approach to treating their cancer in the way you combined both orthodox
and alternative approaches?
MH)
Truly integrative care has a long way to go. There is no consistency.
The different disciplines on the orthodox and alternative side have
to listen to each other and coordinate together. For example, it may
be inappropriate to take large amounts of Vitamin C while undergoing
therapies that are designed to kill cancer cells by creating free
radicals. But that does not mean that one should not take large doses
of Vitamin C after cell-killing therapies. In other words, I believe
in using therapies consecutively. The other problem is that there
are no long-term studies on survival or recurrence rates from integrative
approaches.
Today,
it’s left up to the cancer patient to figure all this out. The
patient has to perform the research and find the best multi-modality
approaches. At CANHELP we help patients collect and sort through these
challenges by providing cancer treatment information, referrals, and
follow-up support.
Cancer
Monthly) Do you have any recommendations for patients on how to work
with their orthodox doctors?
MH)
If you go to a radiologist they are going to recommend radiation therapy.
If you go to an oncologist they will recommend chemotherapy. A surgeon
will advise surgery. It sounds obvious, but most people go to medical
professionals wanting all the other questions answered too. What about
vitamins? What about enzymes? By virtue of their training and experience,
an oncologist is not going to answer questions about vitamin supplements
in an objective and comprehensive way. So people really need to be
aware of whom they are seeing and what kind of answers they should
expect. If you go in there and think they are only going to give me
a little bit of chemo and let me do alternatives; it’s just
not the way it’s going to be. Therefore, it is critical for
cancer patients to look at all their options up front. Because once
you decide to do one thing you cannot reverse it. I cannot put my
right breast back on my body. It’s gone. I cannot change the
side effects of radiation that I am still dealing with after all these
years. That’s what I did then and I have to still live with
my decisions for as long as I live.
Madeleen
Herreshoff is Director and President of CANHELP, Inc., a cancer treatment
information and referral service located in Port Gamble, WA, (www.canhelp.com).
She has served as a Breast Cancer Advocate/Consumer Reviewer for Breast
Cancer Scientific Review panels at the U.S. Army Breast Cancer Research
Program in Washington, DC, and the National Action Plan on Breast
Cancer (NAPBC) in Bethesda, MD.
