Chris Onuekwusi
I was diagnosed with colon cancer on May 2, 2008 at Memorial Herman Hospital in Houston, Texas. To say that I was devasted is puting it mildly considering that I was very health concious and always ate and excercised sensibly. My life went by me like a flash and I realized that life on earth is very short. My primary physician told me it would be surgery and sent me to a surgeon at the hospital after some blood tests. Of course the surgeon was going to cut off and stitch back a section of my colon. I asked him how much he would cut but he would not know until during the surgery. I was given forms to fill out for surgery the following week. My primary physician was not happy when I told him I would go for a second opinion because I did not want surgery and whatever else that comes with it. I went for a second opinion at M.D. Anderson Cancer Hospital in Houston, Texas. Of course surgery was the recommended treatment and I was scheduled the following week. When I did not show up, for surgery as scheduled, the hospital called and I told them I did not want the surgery but had signed up with the Burzynski Clinic instead...silence...you could literally hear a pin drop at the order end of the line.
Between my diagnosis and my second opinion at M.D. Anderson, I had started looking for alternative treatment because I was dead set against surgery, chemo and radiation. I just could not imagine me going through all the horror treatment I was reading about these protocols and the dismal statistics were scary. I was naiive about cancer and did not know a thing about alternative treatments that were available. I was alone and bewildered, and all the negative articles about the Burzynski Clinic added salt to injury. My family, relatives, friends and well wishers could not understand my going with the Burzynski Clinic that nobody knew much about and which was involved in a series of "boxing matches" with the FDA!!!. I was alone in my world and I made my decision to go with the Clinic.
Apart from not wanting to go through surgery, chemo and radiation, the other consideration that made me decide to go with the Burzynski Clinic was its "boxing matches" with the FDA. I reasoned that if Dr. B's approch to treating cancer was a sham, a scam and ineffective, he would not last "one round" of boxing with the FDA... no chance. But to find out that he was still breathing after several rounds with the FDA and the Texas Medical Board convinced me beyond any doubt that he had something good going in his cancer treatment protocol. I read that he was being prosecuted for engaging in interstate commerce but not that his treatment method was not effective. As a cancer patient all I was concerned about was to get cured and not about interstate commerce.
So I signed up with the Burzynski clinic and started treatment in early June 2008 after a PET scan and blood work to map my gene and determine the most effective combination of medication for my cancer. The Clinic also has a resident nutritionist to advice patients on the right nutrition.
A follow up PET scan at the end of August, 2008 showed no tumor in my body!! ...only three months!! I could have lost a section of my colon to surgery, gone through chemo and would be probably wearing a cholostomy bag (that is if I survided the chemo).
It has been three years and counting and I am still cancer free. I have been weaned of all medication except for the very friendly PB. Except for taking a two-moth sick leave in 2008, I have been working full time even while still on my medications.
I want to let people who have cancer know that cancer is not a death sentence which we were made to believe and experience due to the ravages of chemo and radiation. Do not panic; check out several alternatives before making a decision. Pray to God always and He will see you through. Do not let anyone stampede you into choosing a treatment protocol you are not comfortable with.
May God bless you and help you come through your illness.
Sincerely,
Chris Onuekwusi