December 17, 2024 • 32 mins
Dr. Francisco Contreras, Director of Oasis of Hope Hospital, shares his insights on maintaining miracles in cancer care. His holistic philosophy prioritizes non-harmful therapies and the power of diet. Move beyond the traditional and embrace the compassionate approach demonstrated by Oasis of Hope, which is inspired by medical principles like "first, do no harm." He discusses his book, "The Art and Science of Undermining Cancer," and its intent to equip patients with the wisdom to make informed treatment choices.
Discover how drugs like Abdevo have sparked hope and healing, even as we acknowledge the diverse responses and financial challenges linked with targeted therapies. The conversation covers things like dendritic cell-based immunotherapy and the strategic use of low-dose chemotherapy to enhance alternative treatments, offering an insightful perspective on how to tackle advanced cancers.
In a world where mindset matters, the power of spiritual and emotional support in cancer treatment is undeniable. Experience the healing journey that intertwines faith and physical care, inspiring miraculous recoveries. Learn how the HealingStrong organization empowers individuals battling cancer to rejuvenate body and soul, fostering a community where hope and healing are within reach.
Learn more about Oasis of Hope here:
Oasis of Hope
Will you be receiving treatment there? Oasis of Hope has offered a grant to our community, so please email us at help@healingstrong.org to receive information on the grant.
HealingStrong's mission is to educate, equip and empower our group leaders and group participants through their journey with cancer or other chronic illnesses, and know there is HOPE. We bring this hope through educational materials, webinars, guest speakers, conferences, community small group support and more.
Please consider supporting our mission by becoming a part of our Membership Program, as a monthly donor.
When you do, you will receive additional resources such as: webinars, access to ALL our past and most recent conference videos, downloadables and more, as a bonus.
To learn more, head to the HealingStrong Membership Program link below:
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And so one of the things that I tell my patients
is that every outcome, frombetter results to complete
remission, is a miracle, andmiracles need to be maintained.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Right.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
So let's say that you know you go through the therapy
and the tumor goes away, andthen you go back to your old
ways and then the tumor comesback, and then you blame God
because the miracle was not goodenough.
So miracles need to bemaintained, and one of the ways
is to reduce the possibility ofthis tumor, taking advantage of
(00:34):
elements that make the tumorgrow and proliferate, and diet
plays a major, major role inthat.
A major, major role in that.
And one of the reasons why inAmerica, 50% of the population
will develop cancer in theirlifespan is because of the
lifestyle.
So changing that lifestyle is avery important factor to
(00:57):
maintain a miracle.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
You're listening to the I Am Healing Strong podcast,
a part of the Healing Strongorganization, the number one
network of holistic cancersupport groups in the world.
Each week we bring you storiesof hope, real stories that will
encourage you as you navigateyour way on your own journey to
health.
Now here's your host stage fourcancer thriver, jim Mann.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Today I have the privilege of talking with Dr
Francisco Contreras.
He is the director, presidentand chairman of Oasis of Hope
Hospital in Tijuana, mexico.
How are you doing, dr Contreras?
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Doing very well.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yes, I've heard a lot about you and your center and I
can't believe I've not met youyet.
But I appreciate this and Iknow you have a new book, the
Art and Science of UnderminingCancer.
Is that your newest?
Speaker 1 (01:53):
That is correct.
That's the newest book and it'swritten in layman's terms.
Oh, I need that.
It gives you quite a bit ofinformation about everything
that is available for cancerpatients so that they can make
intelligent and informeddecisions as to their cases and
what to expect and how to choosethe best therapies available
(02:19):
for them.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yes, that's true, because when people get a
diagnosis, obviously they'refilled with fear and they just
do whatever the doctor says.
And if they don't have a doctorthat sees the big picture, then
they just go down a road of alot of pain and quite often it
does end up poorly.
Thank God for people like youwho see the bigger picture and
realize that there's a whole lotmore to it.
(02:41):
You also have another book thatI saw, called Look Younger Live
Longer.
I like that one because when Imet my wife, I was 30.
She was 21, and I always lookedmuch younger.
I literally had to show her mylicense to prove I was 30,
because she thought I was herage.
Now she looks younger and Ilook my age and older People
(03:04):
think sometimes I'm her dad,which is really creepy.
I might have to look into thatbook.
Yes, that would be good.
Yes, I need to look youngeragain.
Well, tell me, give me a littlebackground.
You guys have been around forover 60 years now, right?
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Correct, and the origin of this was more
philosophical than technical.
The origin of this was morephilosophical than technical.
My father came to theconclusion that the reason why
oncology was failing even backthen was for lack of
philosophical basis, and so hestarted his work based on two
(03:41):
principles.
The first principle was whatHippocrates, the father of
medicine, said first, do no harm, because, especially in cancer,
the treatments tend to be a lotmore harmful than the cancer
itself.
And the second pillar was whatJesus said love your neighbor as
you love your friends.
So we say here at the hospitallove your patient as you love
(04:03):
yourself.
And the impact of that is thatwe will never do something to a
patient that we wouldn't doourselves.
And so those philosophicalprinciples have dramatically
changed the way a patient istreated.
So it's treated with thetherapies that are going to
improve their quality of lifeand with therapies that are not
(04:26):
going to be devastating for them.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Right, and I understand Dr Tony.
He was one of the doctors there.
Right, he was our alumna.
Yes, yeah, I was just talkingto him recently.
He said you two used to playtennis.
Yes, who was the better tennisplayer?
Speaker 1 (04:44):
I think he was Okay.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
You're being modest, I'm sure.
Okay, now my personal journey.
I was diagnosed with melanomastage four, and they told me I
shouldn't live more than a monthor two, which is very
encouraging.
They put me on immunotherapy,abdevo and I know when it does
work.
It works well and it workedwell on me, thank God.
(05:11):
In two months all the tumorsshrunk.
Of course, they kept me on itfor two years, but it took care
of everything, and that's beenseven years now.
Well, thank you for that.
Yeah, I like that outcome.
I have friends that had thesame thing and their tumors
doubled, which is not a goodthing, or else there was no
effect at all.
(05:32):
So I know everybody isdifferent, but they're going to
give me one more MRI, coming upjust to make sure everything is
fine, they said, and thenthey're going to close the books
on me.
So I appreciate immunotherapy,but you have a whole department
on immunotherapy, correct?
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Correct, correct, and I'm very encouraged by the fact
that finally in the oncologicalworld, the immune system is
being addressed as forcefully asit is, and targeted immune
therapy for checkpointinhibitors has proven to be very
effective in several kinds oftumors, especially in melanomas.
(06:11):
So usually the combinationwould be Avivo and Yerboi, and
the results have been very good.
In fact, for advanced melanomasand even early stages of
melanomas that are notsurgically resolvable, our
recommendation is going to becheckpoint inhibitors, as you
have.
(06:32):
There's another area of immunetherapy that we have been
working now for almost 15 years,which is the immunotherapy
based on dendritic cells, andthe mode of action is a little
bit different than checkpointinhibitors.
(06:53):
So, if you want to look at it ina very easy way, a checkpoint
inhibitor is like releasing yourfoot from the brake pedal
releasing your foot from thebrake pedal and our immune
therapy is like putting the footon the accelerator.
So whenever we can combine both, we do.
(07:17):
It's just not in ourenvironment.
It's not very possible, becausetargeted immune therapies are
extremely expensive.
Because targeted immunetherapies are extremely
expensive, so each one of theones that you receive are around
$10,000 every three weeks,every month, and so for most
patients that's not possiblebecause the insurance companies,
if you combine with anythingelse, will not pay for those
(07:41):
therapies.
But at any rate, our immunetherapy has been very, very
effective and our results haveimproved significantly since we
started using these verypersonalized type of vaccines
Right Now, what kind of patientsdo you like to see?
Speaker 2 (08:02):
I mean, is it just anybody with cancer and they're
full of fear and they don't knowwhat to do?
I mean, you see anybody, or doyou specialize in a certain area
?
Speaker 1 (08:13):
No, we treat all cancers.
There are some type of tumorsthat respond better to one or
other therapies.
There are some malignanciesthat are extremely aggressive,
and so the results are not thesame.
It will depend on howaggressive the tumor is and how
(08:34):
advanced the malignancy is on apatient, because when you hear
stage four, you get the ideathat the patient is riddled with
cancer, and that's notnecessarily true.
A patient with cancer of thebreast with one minute
metastasis in the bone is stagefour, and a patient with cancer
(08:57):
of the breast where all of thebones are involved is also stage
four.
So it varies dramatically onhow truly advanced the cancer is
, on how the patient is going torespond.
But for instance, in breastcancer, even in very advanced
cases with massive tumoractivity, our results have been
(09:19):
very, very encouraging.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
I do have a question about the chemotherapy because I
know some people you know I'vedone a lot of interviews and
some people are like I will notdo chemo no matter what, just
because the image that chemo hasthat you know it pretty much
does more harm than good, and inlots of cases that's, you know
that's true.
But I know there are times thatyou do have to use chemo and
(09:42):
radiation.
Is that correct?
Speaker 1 (09:45):
That is very correct.
There are some diagnosis wherechemotherapy actually shines In
our environment.
For instance, whenever we havea patient with even advanced
lymphomas, chemotherapy is atreatment of choice because the
cure rate is around 93 to 95percent.
(10:07):
So that's what we're going tobe recommending.
The difference here at theOASIS is that we support the
patients in such a way that thetolerance and response is much
better because of thatcombination therapy.
In leukemias, for instance,also the best treatment is
(10:31):
chemotherapy.
Then the other side is where wetreat patients mostly with
alternative therapies andnatural therapies in aggressive
tumors, where we use low-dosechemotherapy as an adjuvant to
our therapy.
Right, because the treatment islike a race, and when a patient
(10:53):
comes to us with a very advancedcancer, massive tumor activity,
if you're looking at a race,you're at the start line with
the therapy and the patient isalready 100 meters away from you
and so you have to level theplaying field in order to give
natural therapies a chance.
(11:15):
So we use sometimes radiation orchemotherapy to as stumbling
blocks to the cancer so that wecan level the playing field.
So that's another way where weuse chemotherapy.
And there's a third one wherewe use very, very low dose
(11:35):
chemotherapy to improve thepossibility of the dendritic
cell vaccine to work.
So the way that is done is thatwe use very minute dosages of a
specific type of chemo thatreduces the amount of
T-regulating cells, and thoseare the cells that actually put
(11:56):
brakes on the immune system,like the checkpoint inhibitors.
So we're going to be working toincrease significantly the
activity of the immune system,but then we have these areas
where they're going to be breakor they're going to be stopped.
So we reduce the amount ofthose T-regulating cells so that
(12:18):
the immune system can be moreforceful in fighting the tumor.
So there are several ways inwhich you can use chemotherapy
to improve the outcomes ofpatients with advanced
malignancies.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Right.
So the difference between whatyou do and just the regular
conventional doctors and I'm nottrying to talk bad about them,
of course, but they've beentaught and they kind of stay
within that boundary.
But because I had a cousin thatwas diagnosed the same time and
I've told this story before buthe was diagnosed with very
(12:53):
early stage of prostate cancer.
In fact they weren't even sureif it was cancer or not, they
were watching it and then theyrealized it was.
So they just chemoed him forover five years and told him it
doesn't matter what he eats.
In fact they told him to eatmore donuts to get his weight up
.
And I have no medical trainingand I knew there was no logic to
(13:14):
that.
It doesn't matter what you putin there.
And here I was with a much moreadvanced cancer and more
aggressive, yeah, and I went tohis funeral cancer-free and he's
my younger cousin and it was sosad.
But people have that mindsetthat well, I got to do what the
doctor says because they havethe lab coat, they're smarter
(13:35):
than I am, and of course theyare.
But I love doctors likeyourself who I mean you're smart
, obviously, but you see the bigpicture.
I mean you can use the tool ofchemo, but then even if you do
that and you do nothing else,it's just going to come back and
get you, because there'ssomething in your lifestyle,
something in what you were doingbefore, that caused the cancer
(13:57):
to progress like that right.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
And so one of the things that I tell my patients
is that every outcome, frombetter results to complete
remission, is a miracle, andmiracles need to be maintained.
So let's say that you know yougo through the therapy and the
tumor goes away, and then you goback to your old ways and then
(14:21):
the tumor comes back, and thenyou blame God because miracle
was not good enough.
So miracles need to bemaintained, and one of the ways
is to reduce the possibility ofthis to her taking advantage of
elements that that that make thetumor grow and proliferate, and
(14:41):
diet plates.
A may place a major, major rolein that, and one of the reasons
why in America, 50% of thepopulation will develop cancer
in their lifespan is because ofthe lifestyle.
So changing that lifestyle is avery important factor to
maintain a miracle.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Right, I saw on your website you have a lot of
stories from different patients.
Are there any that kind ofstand out, or maybe a recent one
that came to you and they werehad no hope from other doctors
and things has turned aroundthere at your hospital.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Oh yes in fact, just very recently we we saw a
patient that was sent home todie in three months and we just
saw him for their fifth year ofrevision, completely tumor-free.
And so at five years, wegraduate our patients.
They no longer need to come tous, they need to maintain their
(15:45):
home protocol for life, but wedon't need to actually
administer therapy anymore.
So we see many of thosemiracles and we praise God for
them because we're good, but notthat good.
So we have many, many caseslike that.
But there are other types ofmiracles.
(16:07):
So I saw a patient last monthwhere she was just with massive
tumor activity and I was tellingher you know, the possibilities
are there, we're going to fightfor you and God can help you.
I said, oh, god has alreadyhelped me.
So he explained to me well, youknow, I've been dealing with a
(16:30):
daughter that has been an addictfor many, many years and when I
was diagnosed with cancer and Iwas told that I was going to
die in a few months now mydaughter is sober because she
told me that she could not bearthe thought of the mother dying
while she was still in drugs.
(16:50):
And she says all things cometogether for good.
God used this and now mydaughter is free of drugs and
I'm just hoping for God to dowhatever he wants to do with me.
But the miracle has alreadyhappened and so there's many
ways to look at good outcomes,because God is going to use
(17:15):
these problems and the disease.
All things come together forgood.
Lastly, we have also testimonieslike that, another one that
touched me in a tremendous way.
The mother brought a son around45 in a very, very advanced
case, and we knew from thebeginning that it was going to
(17:40):
be very difficult for us to helpthis person.
And I arrived one morning andthe mother was telling me that
the son passed away, and so Iwas sad about this.
And she said but listen to thelast words of my son.
He said I came here looking forhope and I found Jesus, and so
(18:03):
we are very blessed in many waysin God.
How uses us to bless otherpeople, so it's just difficult
to explain, but God is withevery patient and God is good,
and God is good all the time.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Yeah, jesus, that's the ultimate hope, so that's a
good find right there.
Yes, yes, I know lots of people.
They talk about oasis of hopeand hope for cancer and they get
them confused.
They go that place in Mexicoyou know, I think I'm going to
go down there and both greatplaces.
Of course, what can someoneexpect when they come to your
(18:47):
place?
How do you run them through theprocess?
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Well, I think that what separates us from everybody
else here in Tijuana there's anumber of clinics, and I can
tell you that most of them arealumni is, first, that we have
oncologists, actual oncologists,where most of the other doctors
(19:14):
are general doctors with a lotof experience, but still, having
studied oncology, you can thensee both worlds and then
determine what is the best for apatient.
That's number one.
Number two we're we'refull-fledged hospital and and so
we can treat, you know, manycomplicated cases or cancer
(19:37):
patients can get complicatedvery easily and we are able to
take care of them.
And thirdly, we have a very,very sophisticated immune
laboratory or immunologicallaboratory that enables us to
prepare very personalizedtherapies for our patients,
(19:58):
vaccines that are specific forthat patient and specific for
their tumor.
So our patients here can expectto have everything in-house
available for them.
The other thing that I thinkthat is very important and it's
not available in many clinics isthat for us, providing physical
(20:25):
resources to cancer patients isnot sufficient.
Resources to cancer patients isnot sufficient.
Cancer patients have atremendous need in the spiritual
and the emotional realm.
So we provide our patients withspiritual and emotional
resources on a daily basis where, unashamedly, we present the
(20:47):
person of Jesus Christ to them,and we have devotionals every
day for our patients, with musicand prayer testimonies.
So I think that is really whatseparates us from everybody else
.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Yeah, wow.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
It's like a church there.
Yes, yes.
In fact, we probably have moreconversions than many of the
churches that are nearby.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Now, are you in Mexico because there's so many
things you can do there that youcan't do in the States, or are
you in Mexico because that'sjust where you live?
Speaker 1 (21:32):
just where you live.
Well, that's where I live, andit's true that we can do many
things here that cannot be donein America, and that's why so
many patients come to us.
But, having said that, we areabiding by Mexican law and we
have established, over the 60years, a good relationship with
(21:52):
our authorities, because we doeverything above board and
everything that we do has atremendous amount of scientific
support behind it, and so we arerespected very much by our
authorities, are respected verymuch by our authorities, and,
(22:13):
because of the work that we'vedone over so many years, we have
gained respect worldwide forthe type of work that we do.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Wow, I want you to speak to something that I didn't
realize until I got my owndiagnosis, and I never thought
all this has to do with anything, but over the period of
interviews that I've done, themental attitude of a patient is
(22:40):
so powerful In fact, some peopleput it as like the number one
thing in their healing process.
Can you speak to that?
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Yes, I find that in most cases, the biggest enemy is
the patient itself, your ownmind, and the Bible talks a lot
about how powerful our mind canbe and how powerful our words
can be, and so one of the thingsthat I find very distressing is
(23:10):
how doctors put the seed ofdeath in the patients.
The patient says, well, thedoctor is the authority, they
know I'm dead, and it's verydifficult to bring them out of
that position, and many patientsactually die because the doctor
(23:30):
told them that they were goingto die.
So that's why I'm telling youthat patients need a tremendous
amount of emotional andspiritual support, because life
is about responses and werespond emotionally, and
everybody has heard thatemotions can be positive or
negative.
(23:50):
The truth is that emotions canbe functional or dysfunctional,
and you will respond emotionallybased on your spiritual
fortitude, because if I haveChrist in my heart and I know
that I'm going to be going toheaven, well for me, to live is
(24:11):
Christ and to die is gain.
So, no matter what, I'm goingto be better, and so that takes
the fear away and allows you,and you actually set yourself up
for miracles, because thestronghold of cancer is fear,
(24:32):
and if you have no fear.
Well, it's like the cancersaying man, it's no fun being in
this person anymore, I'm goingto go someplace else.
And I'm convinced that, becausewe put so much effort in
providing our patients withspiritual resources, that we
have a tremendous amount ofmiracles Right, basically
(24:55):
miracles and so I can tell youvery openly that our results are
much better than anybody elsebecause of those miracles.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Yeah, if you have a biblical mindset, then you think
positive.
There's nothing negative aboutthe Bible.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Yeah, that's one thing.
When I had my diagnosis, ofcourse I was actually at Disney
World when I got the call, whichis not a good combination there
.
But of course, immediately itfilled with fear because you
think your life is over.
Especially the way theypresented it to me.
They seemed very concerned.
I thought, oh, maybe I shouldbe more concerned.
But it was from that exact dayon that I had all these God
(25:37):
moments.
I guess you could say that hejust let me know that he was
totally aware of it and he's gotit taken care of.
And the fear just left me andI'm like, wow, even if I did die
, you know, this week I knowwhere I'm going, it's going to
be better for me.
I'll miss, you know.
I don't want to leave my family, of course, but still I know
when I go to heaven I'll be like, okay, I'm fine with this,
(26:01):
they'll be here soon enough.
And then my mindset changed.
And again I didn't knowanything about the mindset.
I just thought you know, I'm ahappy guy, so that's just the
way I am.
But I think that helped a lotin my healing.
Oh, yes.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
There's many studies that show that positive patients
are going to fare much betterthan negative ones.
That's already proven beyondany doubt.
But when you actually providespiritual resources to people,
even negative patients will cometo the conclusion that
(26:39):
everything is in God's hands andeverything is going to be the
will of God, no matter what, andso that releases that fear.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Yes, excellent.
It always sounds better when adoctor says it, and you have a
lab coat on right now, soobviously you know what you're
talking about.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Well, God knows what he's talking about.
We just allow God to do histhing.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
That's right.
Well, what do you see comingdown the road?
Anything new you want to talkabout or you want to let us know
about?
Speaker 1 (27:11):
I think that the advent and development of new
techniques to prepare dendriticcell vaccines is a thing of the
future, going into what iscalled CAR T cells.
Car T cells are a lot morecomplicated.
They're quite effective andthey're out of reach, because
one treatment is about $450,000in America, and I think that in
(27:38):
about a year, a year and a half,we'll be ready to produce CAR T
cells in our laboratory at acost of around $50,000 per
therapy, which is still veryexpensive, but they're you know,
they're going to be moreavailable to many, many patients
(27:58):
, and so that's one of the newthings.
Another thing that is morepractical and that most patients
can take advantage of is thatwe're going to be able to
prepare, instead of one vaccineper time, six or 10 vaccines.
That's going to bring down thecost of dendritic cell vaccines
(28:19):
tremendously, where we're goingto be able to vaccinate our
patients just about every monthat a very reasonable cost.
And, of course, that is goingto increase the response rate,
because the more vaccinationsyou get, the better possibility.
Right now, we're vaccinatingour patients about every three
(28:39):
months due to cost, and so oncewe have that available to
patients, more patients aregoing to be eligible to
vaccinate more often, and I'mconvinced that our results are
going to improve significantly.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
That's exciting.
I know my oncologist.
He's excited about all kinds ofstuff because he seems to be on
the cutting edge of stuff,which is really strange because,
you know, I thought he was justa regular oncologist.
But he's talking about diet andall the other things and he's
not a big advocate of chemo byitself Correct.
(29:21):
Of course, the things he'stalking about are way over my
head, so he might have beentalking about that too.
I don't know.
I'm going to see him here in amonth, so I'm going to find out
some more information and evenwrite it down this time.
You said those are CAR T cells.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Yes, how do you spell that?
It's C-A-R dash T.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
I got it right.
It's a special type ofimmunotherapy that has proven to
be very effective, especiallyin leukemias.
That has proved to be veryeffective, especially in
leukemias.
Again, it is a therapy of thefuture, but it's just terribly
expensive.
So I think that we're going tobe able to bring that cost
(30:03):
significantly down.
That's going to be very helpfulto many, many patients.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
All right.
Well, dr Contreras, Iappreciate all this.
I know you're a busy man and ifanybody wants more information,
they just go to oasisofhopecomand it's all there.
There's a lot of informationthere.
I got lost in it for a while,but I appreciate all you do and
thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
And God bless you.
You've been listening to the IAm Healing Strong podcast, a
part of the Healing Strongorganization.
We hope you found encouragementin this episode, as well as the
confidence to take control ofyour healing journey, knowing
that God will guide you on thispath.
Healing Strong is a nonprofitorganization whose mission is to
connect, support and educateindividuals facing cancer and
(30:55):
other diseases throughstrategies that help to rebuild
the body, renew the soul andrefresh the spirit.
It costs nothing to be a part ofa local or online group.
You can do that by going to ourwebsite at healingstrongorg and
findinga group near you, or anonline group, or start your own,
(31:17):
your choice.
While you're there, take a lookaround at all the free
resources.
Though the resources and groupsare free, we encourage you to
join our membership program at$25 or $75 a month.
This helps us to be able toreach more people with hope and
encouragement, and that alsocomes with some extra perks as
(31:40):
well.
So check it out.
If you enjoyed this podcast,please give us a five-star
rating, leave an encouragingcomment and help us spread the
word.
We'll see you next week withanother story on the I Am
Healing Strong podcast.
And so one of the things that I tell my patients
is that every outcome, frombetter results to complete
remission, is a miracle, andmiracles need to be maintained.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Right.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
So let's say that you know you go through the therapy
and the tumor goes away, andthen you go back to your old
ways and then the tumor comesback, and then you blame God
because the miracle was not goodenough.
So miracles need to bemaintained, and one of the ways
is to reduce the possibility ofthis tumor, taking advantage of
(00:34):
elements that make the tumorgrow and proliferate, and diet
plays a major, major role inthat.
A major, major role in that.
And one of the reasons why inAmerica, 50% of the population
will develop cancer in theirlifespan is because of the
lifestyle.
So changing that lifestyle is avery important factor to
(00:57):
maintain a miracle.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
You're listening to the I Am Healing Strong podcast,
a part of the Healing Strongorganization, the number one
network of holistic cancersupport groups in the world.
Each week we bring you storiesof hope, real stories that will
encourage you as you navigateyour way on your own journey to
health.
Now here's your host stage fourcancer thriver, jim Mann.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Today I have the privilege of talking with Dr
Francisco Contreras.
He is the director, presidentand chairman of Oasis of Hope
Hospital in Tijuana, mexico.
How are you doing, dr Contreras?
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Doing very well.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yes, I've heard a lot about you and your center and I
can't believe I've not met youyet.
But I appreciate this and Iknow you have a new book, the
Art and Science of UnderminingCancer.
Is that your newest?
Speaker 1 (01:53):
That is correct.
That's the newest book and it'swritten in layman's terms.
Oh, I need that.
It gives you quite a bit ofinformation about everything
that is available for cancerpatients so that they can make
intelligent and informeddecisions as to their cases and
what to expect and how to choosethe best therapies available
(02:19):
for them.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yes, that's true, because when people get a
diagnosis, obviously they'refilled with fear and they just
do whatever the doctor says.
And if they don't have a doctorthat sees the big picture, then
they just go down a road of alot of pain and quite often it
does end up poorly.
Thank God for people like youwho see the bigger picture and
realize that there's a whole lotmore to it.
(02:41):
You also have another book thatI saw, called Look Younger Live
Longer.
I like that one because when Imet my wife, I was 30.
She was 21, and I always lookedmuch younger.
I literally had to show her mylicense to prove I was 30,
because she thought I was herage.
Now she looks younger and Ilook my age and older People
(03:04):
think sometimes I'm her dad,which is really creepy.
I might have to look into thatbook.
Yes, that would be good.
Yes, I need to look youngeragain.
Well, tell me, give me a littlebackground.
You guys have been around forover 60 years now, right?
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Correct, and the origin of this was more
philosophical than technical.
The origin of this was morephilosophical than technical.
My father came to theconclusion that the reason why
oncology was failing even backthen was for lack of
philosophical basis, and so hestarted his work based on two
(03:41):
principles.
The first principle was whatHippocrates, the father of
medicine, said first, do no harm, because, especially in cancer,
the treatments tend to be a lotmore harmful than the cancer
itself.
And the second pillar was whatJesus said love your neighbor as
you love your friends.
So we say here at the hospitallove your patient as you love
(04:03):
yourself.
And the impact of that is thatwe will never do something to a
patient that we wouldn't doourselves.
And so those philosophicalprinciples have dramatically
changed the way a patient istreated.
So it's treated with thetherapies that are going to
improve their quality of lifeand with therapies that are not
(04:26):
going to be devastating for them.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Right, and I understand Dr Tony.
He was one of the doctors there.
Right, he was our alumna.
Yes, yeah, I was just talkingto him recently.
He said you two used to playtennis.
Yes, who was the better tennisplayer?
Speaker 1 (04:44):
I think he was Okay.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
You're being modest, I'm sure.
Okay, now my personal journey.
I was diagnosed with melanomastage four, and they told me I
shouldn't live more than a monthor two, which is very
encouraging.
They put me on immunotherapy,abdevo and I know when it does
work.
It works well and it workedwell on me, thank God.
(05:11):
In two months all the tumorsshrunk.
Of course, they kept me on itfor two years, but it took care
of everything, and that's beenseven years now.
Well, thank you for that.
Yeah, I like that outcome.
I have friends that had thesame thing and their tumors
doubled, which is not a goodthing, or else there was no
effect at all.
(05:32):
So I know everybody isdifferent, but they're going to
give me one more MRI, coming upjust to make sure everything is
fine, they said, and thenthey're going to close the books
on me.
So I appreciate immunotherapy,but you have a whole department
on immunotherapy, correct?
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Correct, correct, and I'm very encouraged by the fact
that finally in the oncologicalworld, the immune system is
being addressed as forcefully asit is, and targeted immune
therapy for checkpointinhibitors has proven to be very
effective in several kinds oftumors, especially in melanomas.
(06:11):
So usually the combinationwould be Avivo and Yerboi, and
the results have been very good.
In fact, for advanced melanomasand even early stages of
melanomas that are notsurgically resolvable, our
recommendation is going to becheckpoint inhibitors, as you
have.
(06:32):
There's another area of immunetherapy that we have been
working now for almost 15 years,which is the immunotherapy
based on dendritic cells, andthe mode of action is a little
bit different than checkpointinhibitors.
(06:53):
So, if you want to look at it ina very easy way, a checkpoint
inhibitor is like releasing yourfoot from the brake pedal
releasing your foot from thebrake pedal and our immune
therapy is like putting the footon the accelerator.
So whenever we can combine both, we do.
(07:17):
It's just not in ourenvironment.
It's not very possible, becausetargeted immune therapies are
extremely expensive.
Because targeted immunetherapies are extremely
expensive, so each one of theones that you receive are around
$10,000 every three weeks,every month, and so for most
patients that's not possiblebecause the insurance companies,
if you combine with anythingelse, will not pay for those
(07:41):
therapies.
But at any rate, our immunetherapy has been very, very
effective and our results haveimproved significantly since we
started using these verypersonalized type of vaccines
Right Now, what kind of patientsdo you like to see?
Speaker 2 (08:02):
I mean, is it just anybody with cancer and they're
full of fear and they don't knowwhat to do?
I mean, you see anybody, or doyou specialize in a certain area
?
Speaker 1 (08:13):
No, we treat all cancers.
There are some type of tumorsthat respond better to one or
other therapies.
There are some malignanciesthat are extremely aggressive,
and so the results are not thesame.
It will depend on howaggressive the tumor is and how
(08:34):
advanced the malignancy is on apatient, because when you hear
stage four, you get the ideathat the patient is riddled with
cancer, and that's notnecessarily true.
A patient with cancer of thebreast with one minute
metastasis in the bone is stagefour, and a patient with cancer
(08:57):
of the breast where all of thebones are involved is also stage
four.
So it varies dramatically onhow truly advanced the cancer is
, on how the patient is going torespond.
But for instance, in breastcancer, even in very advanced
cases with massive tumoractivity, our results have been
(09:19):
very, very encouraging.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
I do have a question about the chemotherapy because I
know some people you know I'vedone a lot of interviews and
some people are like I will notdo chemo no matter what, just
because the image that chemo hasthat you know it pretty much
does more harm than good, and inlots of cases that's, you know
that's true.
But I know there are times thatyou do have to use chemo and
(09:42):
radiation.
Is that correct?
Speaker 1 (09:45):
That is very correct.
There are some diagnosis wherechemotherapy actually shines In
our environment.
For instance, whenever we havea patient with even advanced
lymphomas, chemotherapy is atreatment of choice because the
cure rate is around 93 to 95percent.
(10:07):
So that's what we're going tobe recommending.
The difference here at theOASIS is that we support the
patients in such a way that thetolerance and response is much
better because of thatcombination therapy.
In leukemias, for instance,also the best treatment is
(10:31):
chemotherapy.
Then the other side is where wetreat patients mostly with
alternative therapies andnatural therapies in aggressive
tumors, where we use low-dosechemotherapy as an adjuvant to
our therapy.
Right, because the treatment islike a race, and when a patient
(10:53):
comes to us with a very advancedcancer, massive tumor activity,
if you're looking at a race,you're at the start line with
the therapy and the patient isalready 100 meters away from you
and so you have to level theplaying field in order to give
natural therapies a chance.
(11:15):
So we use sometimes radiation orchemotherapy to as stumbling
blocks to the cancer so that wecan level the playing field.
So that's another way where weuse chemotherapy.
And there's a third one wherewe use very, very low dose
(11:35):
chemotherapy to improve thepossibility of the dendritic
cell vaccine to work.
So the way that is done is thatwe use very minute dosages of a
specific type of chemo thatreduces the amount of
T-regulating cells, and thoseare the cells that actually put
(11:56):
brakes on the immune system,like the checkpoint inhibitors.
So we're going to be working toincrease significantly the
activity of the immune system,but then we have these areas
where they're going to be breakor they're going to be stopped.
So we reduce the amount ofthose T-regulating cells so that
(12:18):
the immune system can be moreforceful in fighting the tumor.
So there are several ways inwhich you can use chemotherapy
to improve the outcomes ofpatients with advanced
malignancies.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Right.
So the difference between whatyou do and just the regular
conventional doctors and I'm nottrying to talk bad about them,
of course, but they've beentaught and they kind of stay
within that boundary.
But because I had a cousin thatwas diagnosed the same time and
I've told this story before buthe was diagnosed with very
(12:53):
early stage of prostate cancer.
In fact they weren't even sureif it was cancer or not, they
were watching it and then theyrealized it was.
So they just chemoed him forover five years and told him it
doesn't matter what he eats.
In fact they told him to eatmore donuts to get his weight up
.
And I have no medical trainingand I knew there was no logic to
(13:14):
that.
It doesn't matter what you putin there.
And here I was with a much moreadvanced cancer and more
aggressive, yeah, and I went tohis funeral cancer-free and he's
my younger cousin and it was sosad.
But people have that mindsetthat well, I got to do what the
doctor says because they havethe lab coat, they're smarter
(13:35):
than I am, and of course theyare.
But I love doctors likeyourself who I mean you're smart
, obviously, but you see the bigpicture.
I mean you can use the tool ofchemo, but then even if you do
that and you do nothing else,it's just going to come back and
get you, because there'ssomething in your lifestyle,
something in what you were doingbefore, that caused the cancer
(13:57):
to progress like that right.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
And so one of the things that I tell my patients
is that every outcome, frombetter results to complete
remission, is a miracle, andmiracles need to be maintained.
So let's say that you know yougo through the therapy and the
tumor goes away, and then you goback to your old ways and then
(14:21):
the tumor comes back, and thenyou blame God because miracle
was not good enough.
So miracles need to bemaintained, and one of the ways
is to reduce the possibility ofthis to her taking advantage of
elements that that that make thetumor grow and proliferate, and
(14:41):
diet plates.
A may place a major, major rolein that, and one of the reasons
why in America, 50% of thepopulation will develop cancer
in their lifespan is because ofthe lifestyle.
So changing that lifestyle is avery important factor to
maintain a miracle.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Right, I saw on your website you have a lot of
stories from different patients.
Are there any that kind ofstand out, or maybe a recent one
that came to you and they werehad no hope from other doctors
and things has turned aroundthere at your hospital.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Oh yes in fact, just very recently we we saw a
patient that was sent home todie in three months and we just
saw him for their fifth year ofrevision, completely tumor-free.
And so at five years, wegraduate our patients.
They no longer need to come tous, they need to maintain their
(15:45):
home protocol for life, but wedon't need to actually
administer therapy anymore.
So we see many of thosemiracles and we praise God for
them because we're good, but notthat good.
So we have many, many caseslike that.
But there are other types ofmiracles.
(16:07):
So I saw a patient last monthwhere she was just with massive
tumor activity and I was tellingher you know, the possibilities
are there, we're going to fightfor you and God can help you.
I said, oh, god has alreadyhelped me.
So he explained to me well, youknow, I've been dealing with a
(16:30):
daughter that has been an addictfor many, many years and when I
was diagnosed with cancer and Iwas told that I was going to
die in a few months now mydaughter is sober because she
told me that she could not bearthe thought of the mother dying
while she was still in drugs.
(16:50):
And she says all things cometogether for good.
God used this and now mydaughter is free of drugs and
I'm just hoping for God to dowhatever he wants to do with me.
But the miracle has alreadyhappened and so there's many
ways to look at good outcomes,because God is going to use
(17:15):
these problems and the disease.
All things come together forgood.
Lastly, we have also testimonieslike that, another one that
touched me in a tremendous way.
The mother brought a son around45 in a very, very advanced
case, and we knew from thebeginning that it was going to
(17:40):
be very difficult for us to helpthis person.
And I arrived one morning andthe mother was telling me that
the son passed away, and so Iwas sad about this.
And she said but listen to thelast words of my son.
He said I came here looking forhope and I found Jesus, and so
(18:03):
we are very blessed in many waysin God.
How uses us to bless otherpeople, so it's just difficult
to explain, but God is withevery patient and God is good,
and God is good all the time.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Yeah, jesus, that's the ultimate hope, so that's a
good find right there.
Yes, yes, I know lots of people.
They talk about oasis of hopeand hope for cancer and they get
them confused.
They go that place in Mexicoyou know, I think I'm going to
go down there and both greatplaces.
Of course, what can someoneexpect when they come to your
(18:47):
place?
How do you run them through theprocess?
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Well, I think that what separates us from everybody
else here in Tijuana there's anumber of clinics, and I can
tell you that most of them arealumni is, first, that we have
oncologists, actual oncologists,where most of the other doctors
(19:14):
are general doctors with a lotof experience, but still, having
studied oncology, you can thensee both worlds and then
determine what is the best for apatient.
That's number one.
Number two we're we'refull-fledged hospital and and so
we can treat, you know, manycomplicated cases or cancer
(19:37):
patients can get complicatedvery easily and we are able to
take care of them.
And thirdly, we have a very,very sophisticated immune
laboratory or immunologicallaboratory that enables us to
prepare very personalizedtherapies for our patients,
(19:58):
vaccines that are specific forthat patient and specific for
their tumor.
So our patients here can expectto have everything in-house
available for them.
The other thing that I thinkthat is very important and it's
not available in many clinics isthat for us, providing physical
(20:25):
resources to cancer patients isnot sufficient.
Resources to cancer patients isnot sufficient.
Cancer patients have atremendous need in the spiritual
and the emotional realm.
So we provide our patients withspiritual and emotional
resources on a daily basis where, unashamedly, we present the
(20:47):
person of Jesus Christ to them,and we have devotionals every
day for our patients, with musicand prayer testimonies.
So I think that is really whatseparates us from everybody else
.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Yeah, wow.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
It's like a church there.
Yes, yes.
In fact, we probably have moreconversions than many of the
churches that are nearby.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Now, are you in Mexico because there's so many
things you can do there that youcan't do in the States, or are
you in Mexico because that'sjust where you live?
Speaker 1 (21:32):
just where you live.
Well, that's where I live, andit's true that we can do many
things here that cannot be donein America, and that's why so
many patients come to us.
But, having said that, we areabiding by Mexican law and we
have established, over the 60years, a good relationship with
(21:52):
our authorities, because we doeverything above board and
everything that we do has atremendous amount of scientific
support behind it, and so we arerespected very much by our
authorities, are respected verymuch by our authorities, and,
(22:13):
because of the work that we'vedone over so many years, we have
gained respect worldwide forthe type of work that we do.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Wow, I want you to speak to something that I didn't
realize until I got my owndiagnosis, and I never thought
all this has to do with anything, but over the period of
interviews that I've done, themental attitude of a patient is
(22:40):
so powerful In fact, some peopleput it as like the number one
thing in their healing process.
Can you speak to that?
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Yes, I find that in most cases, the biggest enemy is
the patient itself, your ownmind, and the Bible talks a lot
about how powerful our mind canbe and how powerful our words
can be, and so one of the thingsthat I find very distressing is
(23:10):
how doctors put the seed ofdeath in the patients.
The patient says, well, thedoctor is the authority, they
know I'm dead, and it's verydifficult to bring them out of
that position, and many patientsactually die because the doctor
(23:30):
told them that they were goingto die.
So that's why I'm telling youthat patients need a tremendous
amount of emotional andspiritual support, because life
is about responses and werespond emotionally, and
everybody has heard thatemotions can be positive or
negative.
(23:50):
The truth is that emotions canbe functional or dysfunctional,
and you will respond emotionallybased on your spiritual
fortitude, because if I haveChrist in my heart and I know
that I'm going to be going toheaven, well for me, to live is
(24:11):
Christ and to die is gain.
So, no matter what, I'm goingto be better, and so that takes
the fear away and allows you,and you actually set yourself up
for miracles, because thestronghold of cancer is fear,
(24:32):
and if you have no fear.
Well, it's like the cancersaying man, it's no fun being in
this person anymore, I'm goingto go someplace else.
And I'm convinced that, becausewe put so much effort in
providing our patients withspiritual resources, that we
have a tremendous amount ofmiracles Right, basically
(24:55):
miracles and so I can tell youvery openly that our results are
much better than anybody elsebecause of those miracles.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
Yeah, if you have a biblical mindset, then you think
positive.
There's nothing negative aboutthe Bible.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Yeah, that's one thing.
When I had my diagnosis, ofcourse I was actually at Disney
World when I got the call, whichis not a good combination there
.
But of course, immediately itfilled with fear because you
think your life is over.
Especially the way theypresented it to me.
They seemed very concerned.
I thought, oh, maybe I shouldbe more concerned.
But it was from that exact dayon that I had all these God
(25:37):
moments.
I guess you could say that hejust let me know that he was
totally aware of it and he's gotit taken care of.
And the fear just left me andI'm like, wow, even if I did die
, you know, this week I knowwhere I'm going, it's going to
be better for me.
I'll miss, you know.
I don't want to leave my family, of course, but still I know
when I go to heaven I'll be like, okay, I'm fine with this,
(26:01):
they'll be here soon enough.
And then my mindset changed.
And again I didn't knowanything about the mindset.
I just thought you know, I'm ahappy guy, so that's just the
way I am.
But I think that helped a lotin my healing.
Oh, yes.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
There's many studies that show that positive patients
are going to fare much betterthan negative ones.
That's already proven beyondany doubt.
But when you actually providespiritual resources to people,
even negative patients will cometo the conclusion that
(26:39):
everything is in God's hands andeverything is going to be the
will of God, no matter what, andso that releases that fear.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Yes, excellent.
It always sounds better when adoctor says it, and you have a
lab coat on right now, soobviously you know what you're
talking about.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Well, God knows what he's talking about.
We just allow God to do histhing.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
That's right.
Well, what do you see comingdown the road?
Anything new you want to talkabout or you want to let us know
about?
Speaker 1 (27:11):
I think that the advent and development of new
techniques to prepare dendriticcell vaccines is a thing of the
future, going into what iscalled CAR T cells.
Car T cells are a lot morecomplicated.
They're quite effective andthey're out of reach, because
one treatment is about $450,000in America, and I think that in
(27:38):
about a year, a year and a half,we'll be ready to produce CAR T
cells in our laboratory at acost of around $50,000 per
therapy, which is still veryexpensive, but they're you know,
they're going to be moreavailable to many, many patients
(27:58):
, and so that's one of the newthings.
Another thing that is morepractical and that most patients
can take advantage of is thatwe're going to be able to
prepare, instead of one vaccineper time, six or 10 vaccines.
That's going to bring down thecost of dendritic cell vaccines
(28:19):
tremendously, where we're goingto be able to vaccinate our
patients just about every monthat a very reasonable cost.
And, of course, that is goingto increase the response rate,
because the more vaccinationsyou get, the better possibility.
Right now, we're vaccinatingour patients about every three
(28:39):
months due to cost, and so oncewe have that available to
patients, more patients aregoing to be eligible to
vaccinate more often, and I'mconvinced that our results are
going to improve significantly.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
That's exciting.
I know my oncologist.
He's excited about all kinds ofstuff because he seems to be on
the cutting edge of stuff,which is really strange because,
you know, I thought he was justa regular oncologist.
But he's talking about diet andall the other things and he's
not a big advocate of chemo byitself Correct.
(29:21):
Of course, the things he'stalking about are way over my
head, so he might have beentalking about that too.
I don't know.
I'm going to see him here in amonth, so I'm going to find out
some more information and evenwrite it down this time.
You said those are CAR T cells.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Yes, how do you spell that?
It's C-A-R dash T.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
I got it right.
It's a special type ofimmunotherapy that has proven to
be very effective, especiallyin leukemias.
That has proved to be veryeffective, especially in
leukemias.
Again, it is a therapy of thefuture, but it's just terribly
expensive.
So I think that we're going tobe able to bring that cost
(30:03):
significantly down.
That's going to be very helpfulto many, many patients.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
All right.
Well, dr Contreras, Iappreciate all this.
I know you're a busy man and ifanybody wants more information,
they just go to oasisofhopecomand it's all there.
There's a lot of informationthere.
I got lost in it for a while,but I appreciate all you do and
thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
And God bless you.
You've been listening to the IAm Healing Strong podcast, a
part of the Healing Strongorganization.
We hope you found encouragementin this episode, as well as the
confidence to take control ofyour healing journey, knowing
that God will guide you on thispath.
Healing Strong is a nonprofitorganization whose mission is to
connect, support and educateindividuals facing cancer and
(30:55):
other diseases throughstrategies that help to rebuild
the body, renew the soul andrefresh the spirit.
It costs nothing to be a part ofa local or online group.
You can do that by going to ourwebsite at healingstrongorg and
findinga group near you, or anonline group, or start your own,
(31:17):
your choice.
While you're there, take a lookaround at all the free
resources.
Though the resources and groupsare free, we encourage you to
join our membership program at$25 or $75 a month.
This helps us to be able toreach more people with hope and
encouragement, and that alsocomes with some extra perks as
(31:40):
well.
So check it out.
If you enjoyed this podcast,please give us a five-star
rating, leave an encouragingcomment and help us spread the
word.
We'll see you next week withanother story on the I Am
Healing Strong podcast.
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.