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Mesothelioma Survivors

It wasn't long ago that the words "cure" and "survivor" were hardly ever used in the same sentence as "mesothelioma," but this is starting to change. Most of those diagnosed with mesothelioma are still told that their survival rate is most likely less than a year from the time of diagnosis, yet cases of longer survival continue to surface. It is still rare for a mesothelioma patient to survive past that one year period, however, more and more stories of survivors are coming to light, giving current mesothelioma sufferers a little more hope for the future.

Why Such a Poor Prognosis?

In order to understand why most mesothelioma victims only survive for a short time, it is necessary to understand the nature of the disease. In most instances, mesothelioma is not detected until it has reached its later stages. That's because symptoms do not appear for up to 50 years after the person is exposed. Without the presence of symptoms, individuals with mesothelioma usually do not know that they have developed the disease.

However, with the development of new tests that will aid in early diagnosis, like the Mesomark blood test, doctors and scientists expect that more mesothelioma patients will live longer lives of better quality. Early diagnosis means more treatment options and more success in shrinking tumors.

Why Do Some Patients Survive Longer?

Even without tests like Mesomark, there have been a number of patients that have survived far beyond the usual one year and a handful that have also been "cured," with no trace of the aggressive cancer found in their body several years after diagnosis (though recurrence is always possible). This has stumped some medical professionals and they experience difficulty in explaining why some mesothelioma victims make it and others do not.

However, research seems to show one common thread - the immune system. Studies of those who have survived with mesothelioma for years or have been "cured" of the disease reveal most of the survivors participated in some sort of therapy that enhanced their immune system. In some cases the treatment included clinical trials in immunology and other cases involved alternative therapies dealing with the immune system.

Why did these therapies seem to work? A report released more than 20 years ago theorized that "the presence of asbestos fibers in exposed workers may have caused the eventual breakdown of the host's surveillance system and the onset of neoplasm [malignant mesothelioma]." (Lew, F., et al., High Frequency of Immune Dysfunctions in Asbestos Workers and in Patients with Malignant Mesothelioma, Journal of Clinical Immunology; 1986, 6:3, 225-232.)

Therefore, the researchers theorize that mesothelioma probably results from immune suppression and treatments that improve the immune system may result in stabilizing or "curing" the disease.

Currently, this is the most prevalent theory in explaining why some patients have defied the odds and continue to live a healthy life while managing mesothelioma and why others have apparently defeated the disease.

About the Survivors

A number of mesothelioma survivors have posted their stories on the Internet and have spoken to groups of mesothelioma patients and their families in person in hopes of providing them with a brighter outlook for the future. These same survivors have also presented their cases to doctors and researchers.

The most outspoken of these individuals is Paul Kraus, an Australian mesothelioma survivor. Kraus lives in a country where mesothelioma rates are higher than anywhere in the world and continue to climb due to the long-time use of asbestos. Kraus was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma in 1997, a type of the disease that is usually more deadly than the more common pleural variety. Kraus had worked in a factory 35 years earlier during a summer job while attending a university and it was this factory that exposed him to blue asbestos.

Kraus, upon his diagnosis, decided he would do everything possible to fight the cancer and made many radical lifestyle changes. He altered his diet (he's now a vegetarian), added many vitamins and supplements to his daily routine, began "juicing," and tried a treatment known as ozone therapy. "They took blood out of a vein, used an ozone machine to add ozone (a molecule composed of three oxygen atoms) to the blood and reintroduced it into my body through a drip. The rationale for that was that cancer does not like an oxygenated environment," Kraus explains.

It took much research for Kraus to put this protocol together, he stresses, but in the long-run, the combination of all these treatments stabilized his mesothelioma. Today, tests show he still has the disease and his body is a bit weaker than it was, but he has no pain and his doctors tell him he could continue living for many more years.

Kraus stresses the fact that he is not the only mesothelioma survivor. He has cited the case of a man diagnosed 14 years ago at age 58 (no name given) who had a chest wall resection after diagnosis and has had no symptoms or recurrence since. His doctors believe there was "moderate host inflammatory response" and that "spontaneous regression may be an immune-mediated phenomenon" - in other words, his immune system played a role in his survival. (Pilling, J.E., et al., Prolonged Survival Due to Spontaneous Regression and Surgical Excision of Malignant Mesothelioma, Ann Thorac Surg, 2007; 83: 314-5.)

Another survivor, Rhio O'Connor - who has just recently published a book about his fight with mesothelioma - has lived with the disease for 7 years thus far. He opted against surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. Instead, with the help of several clinicians, he developed a regimen that includes 100 supplements per day, changed his diet drastically, and now practices what he calls "mind-body medicine" (such as non-stress techniques like meditation). In his book, he recommends a variety of alternatives to traditional medicines and treatments.

Sources:

1. Lew, F., et al., High Frequency of Immune Dysfunctions in Asbestos Workers and in Patients with Malignant Mesothelioma, Journal of Clinical Immunology; 1986, 6:3, 225-23.
2. Pilling, J.E., et al., Prolonged Survival Due to Spontaneous Regression and Surgical Excision of Malignant Mesothelioma, Ann Thorac Surg, 2007; 83: 314-5.

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