Stanislaw Rajmund Burzynski, Stanislaw R. Burzynski, Stanislaw Burzynski, Stan R. Burzynski, Stan Burzynski, S. R. BURZYNSKI, S. Burzynski, Arthur Burzynski, Hippocrates Hypocrite Hypocrites Critic Critics Critical HipoCritical
This is our the best and the dearest, uh, patient who came to our clinic 20
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2
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2 years ago
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22 years ago
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and she was in the, she came with Hodgkin lymphoma, and a stage 4, and she didn’t have good, uh, prognosis
How long, did they tell you
—————————————————————— They told me that I was gonna die, of non-Hodgkins lymphoma
That I had a fatal disease
They would treat me for awhile with, uh, chemotherapy and radiation, um, a bone marrow transplant, and, um, we, they, we would see what would happen, but no cure Not a cure at all
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So
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That was 22 years ago
Um, I thank God everyday that I found Dr. Burzynski’s clinic, and Dr. Burzynski and his staff
Um, I was on his treatment for, um, 3 months when this huge tumor on the side of my neck started to reduce and finally disappeared
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So we adopted her as our, uh, family
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(laughs)
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Yeah
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and now, she is our family member, and many others
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So tell me, uh, how did you find out about Dr. Burzynski?
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I was in a cancer support group, and, uh, one of the ladies in there said, you know, you have non-Hodgkins lymphoma
There’s a doctor in Houston whose been treating it with very good results
You should go and check it out
Which I went back home to my husband and said: “There’s Dr. Burzynski in Houston, Texas, and he’s having good results,” and, ah, Steve said: “You know, I’ve heard of this doctor
You know, I wrote his name down”
He’d heard about him
Wrote his name down for future use, and I think about, uh, the next couple of days we were in Houston, and we got to the clinic and I just felt I was in the right place
Everybody there
It was
The feeling was so different than being at a UCLA or a USC or Dana Farber
It was just
I knew immediately I was in the right place, and I met Dr. Burzynski
Well first of all Dr. Barbara came out and hugged me, and, uh, it was, it was so wonderful and I’ll never forget the feeling of, of, uh, my first walk into the Burzynski Clinic
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So tell me, what did, uh, any, did, did you have an oncologist at home and tell them that you were coming here ?
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Yeah, we did
Um, uh, I had an oncologist at UCLA who was a lymphoma specialist, and he was the one that told me I would die of the disease
Um, when we told him that we were going to see Dr. Burzynski, he wasn’t, uh, overjoyed, to say the least, and he told us very negative things and, uh, but I thought, he wasn’t offering me anything, and, uh, when I did get to the Burzynski Clinic, Dr. Burzynski said to me: “I think I can help you,” he said
He didn’t
He didn’t tell me, he was going to cure me
He didn’t
He just said: “I think I can help you,” and, it was non-toxic, and the, um, conventional medicine was offering me high-dose chemotherapy, radiation, and in fact, in mu, as much radiation as people who were, uh, within one mile of ground zero at Hiroshima, and, and they were going to bring me as close to death as possible, and then, rescue me
Uh, and then Dr. Burzynski was going to do this and actually have, where actually I would have hope of a cure, non-toxically
My hair never fell out
I felt well
Um, I lead my normal life
I drove my kids to school
I cleaned the house
Whatever
You know
It was
It’s a wonderful treatment
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So, at what point did you realize, I’m free of cancer ?
Do you remember that point of ?
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Uh, well I remember the point
I remember it very well
Um, the, it
It’s so big
Um, I had, uh, several CAT scans
I had 2 CAT scans in a row
The first one that showed no cancer at all, and, um, I had them done at UCLA, and, um, and then I had a second one, 3 months later, and that one was, was absolutely clear
So, um, it was, it was an amazing feeling, and actually 48 hours was following me, because it was, it was a really a big story, um, you know Cancer throughout my body
No, no cancer at all and, and my medical records show, um, you look at my X-rays, my CAT scans, from starting Dr. Burzynski’s treatment, um, to approximately 9 months later
Reduction, reduction, reduction, until there was no cancer
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So what did, what did your oncologist say ?
Did you, did you go back to your oncologist and say: “You said I was gonna die”
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Uh, yes, we did that
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And what did he say ?
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And, and actually people would call him and a, people who were interested in Dr. Burzynski, and he would say: “Oh, she’s a spontaneous remission”
He would never accept the fact that I was treated, and cured by Dr. Burzynski, but my medical records prove it, and of, you know I, There are so many patients like me
I’m not the only one
So
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So ok, tell me
Let me ask you a couple more questions
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Mhmm
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What sort of a person do you think Dr. Burzynski is?
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Well aside from being the most wonderful, gentle, sensitive, caring doctor, and you don’t find many of those
I went to many doctors, while, while we were trying to find the answer
Many, and Dr. Burzynski is so above them
He, because he really makes you feel like a person, and that he cares, and, he’s also a genius
He, I know that he speaks about 8 languages
He’s an expert on the Bible
He, he just knows so much about everything
Um, I love to be in the room with him
He’s a very special man
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So, you recovered, and then, ’cause you, when did you set up the patient support group, and why did you do that ?
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Uh, actually my husband and I did that together, and it was during, um, the trials, uh, the Texas State Board started, in fact, I became a patient, and 2 months later, ah, he was brought to a hearing in front of the Texas State Medical Board, and so Steve and I, um, organized the patients to, um, be at that hearing to support Dr. B, ’cause he’d been going through this long before I became a patient, but, um, we wanted to show support, because I was already starting to fe, I was feeling better already
I was already seeing some reduction, and now my, the medicine was in jeopardy
I, It could be taken away from me at any time
So we decided to organize the patients and to show support, and all the patients wanted to help, a, uh, obviously
So, um, we’d go to every hearing, every, uh, the trial, we were there every day, um, and we would, patients would march in front of the court building, um,
It was, it was really a sight
An unbelievable sight
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And why do you think that he was treated the way that he was treated ?
Why do you think they wanted to take him down ?
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I think it’s because
There’s many reasons
I think the main reason is because what Dr. Burzynski does is making what all other conventional doctors are doing wrong, because chemotherapy is not the answer Chemotherapy makes people sick, and, uh, most of the time it does not cure people
Um, all that poison and radiation
There’s gotta be a better way, and there is a better way Dr. Burzynski has found it
I was sick
I had cancer 22 years ago
Um, my hair never fell out, and, uh, it was a treatment that I was grateful to be on every day
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So how many patients have you come in contact with that Dr. Burzynski
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Hundreds
Hundreds, and as you say by my patient group web-site
Um, I think I have about 90 stories on there now, and there are many more, because, um, I haven’t been able to get in touch with everybody, but over the years, uh, people give me their stories
Sometimes people will call me, um, but we, we are a patient group because we, we’ve all been helped or cured by Dr. Burzynski, and we, we want everybody to have access to this treatment
Steve actually had the chance to ask one of, uh, one of the prosecutors, um, at the trial, that exact question: “What would you do,” and he was prosecuting Dr. Burzynski, and he actually said: “I’d be first in line”
So, once you know the whole story, and you know the science, and you, especially if you do the research, um, you, you can come to the truth, and the truth is, Dr. Burzynski, has cured cancer
He cured me
I’ve been in remission for, in remission, for, uh, 22 years, and that’s a cure, and, uh, he could help so many, many, many more people
The, he has breast cancer patients now that are, that are doing so well
He has many
I just talked to an ovarian cancer patient
He has, um, all, all different types of cancers
What he needs is funding from our government
Um, all other doctors and, and, um, institutions, they get ah, mu, get so much money from the government Dr. Burzynski doesn’t get one penny
If we could just think
If, d, if the government would just fund Dr. Burzynski, he could have a cure for all cancers
I believe that with all my heart, and somehow, some day this has to happen
—————————————————————— The Sceptics (10:37)
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Yeah, just tell me what this whole kind of skeptic movement
You do any research on Dr. Burzynski there’s a few things
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Yes
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that always come up
This guy Saul
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Yeah
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Mmm
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and some other stuff
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Yeah
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So just tell me
What’s that all about and where did that all come from ?
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It stems from, uh, a lawsuit that was filed against, uh, Dr. Burzynski
Actually it was, uh, an insurance company, that didn’t wanna pay for, uh, for the treatment
A particular patient had been treated here in Texas, uh, was put into remission
Was successfully treated and then it turns out the insurance company did not wanna pay for it, so they brought in these people
These quote unquote experts Cancer experts of, you know, rather dubious backgrounds
This is all that they do, is they look for ways to demean people
They look for ways to blacken their reputation
They ultimately became a group known as Quack watch, and these were brought in as the expert witnesses to say that this is not an approved treatment, albeit, was not true
They said the treatment didn’t work and clearly it did, and, uh, they have since gotten funding from insurance companies, from the government, private funding, and they go around to debunk things that are against mainstream, um, medicine, and, uh, their, their support comes from the insurance company and from the pharmaceutical companies who benefit from, from their work, and, uh, it expanded
Expanded all over the world to, uh, they’re in the United States, they’re in the U.K., they’re in Australia, and, uh, they have a very big presence
When the internet came into being they, you know, they went viral with this kind of stuff
So when you type in Burzynski, uh, a lot of the negative comes up first
So that’s the first thing you see is all this negative stuff, and it’s all hearsay
None of it has any basis in fact
It’s all lies
Um, you know, he, Dr. Burzynski never did anything illegal ever, and it was all based on, on very questionable legal grounds that he was ever sued, that he was, that any case was ever brought against him by the FDA or the Texas Medical Board, and all of those cases failed
They never held up to scrutiny
They all failed, and here Dr. Burzynski is today, and he’s thriving, and people come here from all over the world to be treated
Many are cured of their cancers, and, uh, all of these people in the Quack watch are gone
Uh, Saul Green has passed away
Uh, I don’t wish him ill, but I’m glad he’s not here, thank you, and all of these other people are gone and they’re not thriving, and they’re just like, you know, they’re like bacteria or like fungus under rocks, and when you shine a light on them, they can’t hold up to the scrutiny
The real light is here
The real truth is here in Houston at the Burzynski Clinic
—————————————————————— Thoughts onDr. Burzynski(13:46)
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What do you think of Dr. Burzynski, yourself ?
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I, I, I think Mary Jo’s pretty much summed it up
Uh, I, am of course
It, it, it’s not an unbiased opinion
It can’t be
He’s the man that saved my wife
Uh, she was cast off, um, as, as, as an incurable
She was told time and time again, not just by her on, oncologist at UCLA, Dr. Peter Rosen, but we went all over the country
We went to USC in, University of Southern California, UCLA, Stanford Medical, Dana-Farber; which is associated with Harvard, uh, in, uh, Boston, and everywhere we went, she was told: “There’s no hope”
“You’re gonna die”
“It’s just a matter of time”
“We have to see how long, how long it’s gonna take”
Um, against my better wishes, we came to the Burzynski Clinic, and she said: “I’m starting today,” and I said: “Don’t you think we should go back and discuss with Dr. Rosen at UCLA ?
She said: “No, they have nothing to offer me”
She was that brave, and we started that day, and we’ve never looked, we’ve never looked back
So to ask me about what I think about Dr. Burzynski, when my wife was told she was gonna die, and I was already making plans for how am I going to take care of my children without Mary Jo; my life partner, and he saved her life, I’m not gonna give you unbiased
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Mhmm
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an unbiased opinion of how I feel about the man
There’s probably nobody, that I have greater love and greater respect for, uh, in, in the whole world, and, uh, to add about how, how smart, how intelligent this man is, ah, expert on, on history as Barbara was saying
Expert on religion
He’s an expert on mushrooms
He knows more about mushrooms than any 10 mushroom experts in the world
Bees
He knows about bees
Who cares about bees, but he knows everything, because bees happen to be a rich production source of antineoplastons
Who knew ? Dr. Burzynski knew, and that’s why we need to listen to him
We as a society
The world needs to listen to this man
—————————————————————— Conventional Cancer Treatment and The FDA (16:05)
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When you put some critical thought, critical analysis, you find that chemotherapy initially works
What it is, it’s a good, the first time around it’s a good tumor shrinking, they’re good tumor shrinking agents, but over the long run they create so many problems that eventually, the tumor becomes, the cells become resistant and the tumor takes over, or, if it is successful in shrinking the tumor to, to a, a size where the patient can survive, what happens after that is there’s a secondary cancer that’s created by the chemotherapy, with very few exceptions Testicular cancer is one exception where it works
Some childhood leukemia’s they’ve had some great success with chemotherapy, but by in large it’s a failed modality, and the side effects are so bad as, as to be called horrific, uh, is how I would describe them from what I’ve seen in, in my family and in my friends, and my associates that’ve had to undergo it
So why do we allow that, when something like antineoplastons and Burzynski’s treatment, totally non-toxic, working with the body, allowing you to lead a normal life, and on it statistically for the number of people that have been treated, uh, compared to the number of people that have walked out of here in remission, or cured after 5 years; whatever definition you wanna use, we don’t allow that
We look at that as, uh, conventional medicine looks at like that as, looks at that as some sort of quackery
This is, this is, uh, critical thinking and science turned on its head, and it doesn’t make sense, and it goes back to what I was saying before
Why it doesn’t make sense, because there’s entrenched financial interests, and there’s a paradigm that says we do for cancer, we do chemotherapy, we do radiation, we do surgery, and that’s it
Anything else is not acceptable, because it goes against the paradigm
In the bureaucracy we know as the FDA
We’ve been fighting them for so long and they’ve been described as “The B Team” “The B Team” is,that they be here when you come in and you start complaining, your problem starts, they be here, and when you decide to quit complaining because you’ve beat your head against the wall for so many years, they still be here (laugh)
So it’s “The B Team”
They’re bureaucrats
This is what they do
There, they have a certain set of tasks
Certain things that they’re tasked with
Protection of the food and drug supply of the United States, whatever that means
Whatever they deem it to mean
Whatever they decide it means
That’s what they’re gonna do, and it’s pretty hard to fight that
It’s pretty hard, unless you have a political, unless you have a, a, a, a political, ah, constituency, and you can put a lot of pressure on them
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So
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and that’s the only way
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So what’s the answer ?
What will, uh
How will Dr. Burzynski prevail ?
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Ultimately, in, in my, in my, in my view, the real tragedy is, is that he’s not going to prevail here in the United States
It’s going to be extremely difficult
It’s an uphill battle that, knowing Dr. Burzynski, he’s gonna keep fighting it, uh, and, and he’ll keep fighting that battle, but the real opportunity for him is to, uh, move this product and license it overseas, and, uh, other countries are interested
Other countries are more open, uh, to new modalities
They’re not entrenched, uh, and don’t have the financial, uh, interests, the, that are, the entrenched financial interests like we do here, like chemotherapy and, and, uh, radiation therapy, and I think that’s where ultimately we as Americans, as sad as it is, are going to have to go overseas to be treated and to get this medication
The FDA is so capricious in their decision-making, and in their exception granting, uh, that if Pat had AIDS, and this was anti-AIDS medication; proven or not or only with limited, uh, proven efficaciousness, uh, and proven limited proof that it was somewhat non-toxic, she would be able to get approval like that
The FDA has taken a drug approval process that generally takes anywhere from 10 to 15 years, and where there is political, successful political pressure applied, they have reduced that down to some cases 4 to 8 months as in the case of the anti-HIV drugs, and that’s because there is a very strong, very powerful political lobby in Washington, and throughout the country, and they have been able to apply pressure at key points in, uh, Congress Congress puts that pressure on the FDA, says: “C’mon let’s get the ball forward
These are voting people
We have millions of people in this country with HIV who are compacted together and make a viable political force
Let’s move forward”
In the case of multiple-myeloma
In the case of these cancers or these people that wanna be treated, who have failed all conventional therapy, and wanna be treated by Dr. Burzynski with something that we know works
Something that is, is non-toxic, they, they don’t have
We’re not a viable political force
We’re not important to the Washington bureaucrats, to the Washington lawmakers
So nothing gets done, and these exceptions for the use of antineoplastons are not granted, and that’s, that’s the sad truth
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Steve and Mary Jo Siegel
January 2012
22:01
11/9/2012
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This telephone interview with Dr. Burzynski was held in December 2002. The purpose of the interview is to inform people about Dr. Burzynski’s cancer treatment, Antineoplastons. It will be circulated for free on the Internet. I have no affiliations with Dr. Burzynski either personally or professionally.
Hello Dr. Burzynski. I would like to thank you for taking the time to inform people about your cancer treatment Antineoplastons, and your experiences in the area of cancer over the last 25 years.
Is it true that you were the youngest person in Poland in the 20th century to earn two advanced degrees, an M.D. (Medical Doctor) and Ph.D. in biochemistry at only 24?
I’m not sure if I was the youngest, I was among the youngest. In Poland, its 15 years average (Gavin. For a Ph.D.) after you receive an M.D.
What motivated you to come to the United States? When did you arrive here?
Well basically freedom. You see, I could easily stay in Poland. I was a prominent student, one of the best they ever had in medical school and certainly if I would become a member of the Communist Party I would accomplish a lot in Poland. But I didn’t want to be a Communist and after I declared, “forget it, I’m not going to be a Communist”, they persecuted me. So, practically, it would not be possible for me to do any research in Poland. I arrived in the United States on the 4th of September 1970.
You began working at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston?
I was not employed for 6 weeks, then I got the appointment at Baylor in the position of research assistant. A couple of years later I became Assistant Professor.
I have read that your cancer research was motivated by your observation of a cancer patient in Poland that was missing a particular peptide in their blood, is this correct?
Well Yes. First I discovered some peptide fractions in blood and then I was trying to determine their significance. This means that I was screening the blood samples from people who suffer from various illnesses, among them cancer patients. I found some remarkable changes in concentration of these Peptides in cancer patients. Basically there was a great deficiency of these Peptide fractions in the blood of cancer patients.
What are peptides and how did your research develop from there to developing Antineoplastons?
Peptides are chains of Amino Acids, so if you put together 2 Amino Acids, you have a Peptide.
You have said, “Cancer is really a disease of cells that are not programmed correctly. Antineoplastons simply reprogram them so that they behave normally again.”
They do, but we are not really interested in making normal cells out of cancer cells. What we are interested in is correcting one basic difference between cancer cells and normal cells, and this is the mortality of normal cells and the immortality of cancer cells. Cancer cells are immortal. And if you change them into mortal cells again they will die and the tumor will disappear.
I read a humorous part in Daniel Haley’s chapter about you in his book, “Politics in Medicine.” He says that initially you derived Antineoplastons from your friends blood, but had to change because your friends stopped coming around, is that correct?
Certainly it was difficult to obtain a lot of blood for the research. It was a necessity to look for a source that is widely available. I realized from the very beginning that once I use urine, my critics will use this against me; try to just smear me, “That’s the doctor who is using urine to treat cancer.” But there was no other way to do it.
There are plenty of ignorant remarks about your treatment because it used to be derived from human urine. The process you use now does not involve collecting human urine. Please describe the complete process you use.
Ever since 1980, we are using synthetic analogues of Antineoplastons, made in a state-of-the art biomedical manufacturing facility. These have nothing to do with urine or blood.
Would you describe Antineoplastons as natural?
They are natural of course, they exist in our body.
Your treatment does require a strong commitment from your patients as they must be infused with Antineoplastons for many weeks or months, is that correct?
But most of our patients are taking oral formulations. I would say that perhaps 15% of our patients are taking intravenous infusions of Antineoplastons; the rest take capsules or tablets.
The patients who have the most advanced type of cancer will require heavy dosages. There is a limitation of how much medicine you can take by mouth. Fifty or sixty tablets a day, that’s pretty much all you can take by mouth. But if you give intravenous infusion you can deliver the equivalent of 3,000 tablets a day.
You went into private practice in 1977. How was this funded?
Well, I started private practice in 1973. It was not necessary for me to have any funding, because I joined with other physicians.
Is it true that Dr. Mask at a hospital in Jacksboro, Texas ran your first human clinical trial? What types of cancers did you treat? What were the results of these trials?
I would not call it a clinical trial, because only two patients received initial treatment. They were very advanced, close to death and unfortunately, both of them died. But these cases were not lost because we found we can administer Antineoplastons without having bad side effects.
What is the general side effect experienced by your patients when using Antineoplastons? Does it damage the immune system as chemotherapy does?
We are not talking about one medicine; we tried 12 different pharmaceutical formulations. Basically it depends what formulation we use, but when we give them orally, we see practically no side effects at all. Patients may develop skin rash, which may last for a day or two.
But, when we give large dosages intravenously, we have to watch fluid balance…and electrolyte balance. We don’t see any delayed toxicity once the treatment stops. Everything practically goes back to normal within say a day or two. It does not even come close to the adverse reactions that you experience with chemotherapy.
What is the cost today for a patient using your treatment in a pill form and do insurance companies pay for it? *
Well basically, we do not charge patients for medicines, Antineoplastons are given free of charge. What we are charging for are supplies, and we are charging for standard services such as office visits, nursing services, Lab tests, consultation, evaluation etc. And these services are priced the same way as the average medical services, and they are covered by the insurance.
*(Gavin. Insurance companies will rarely pay for Antineoplastons, which is considered an experimental treatment. It also depends on the type of insurance plan someone may be on.)
So if a patient were using the pills, what would it normally cost per month.
About $2,000 a month.
Antineoplastons is most effective against brain cancer, is that correct?
Well, it’s not really correct. Because brain tumors are very difficult to treat, we concentrate our efforts on the toughest type of cancers. Out of our clinical trials, we have eight that came to the final point, which means they proved that there is some efficacy, and six of these are in various types of brain tumors. But there is another clinical trial, which deals with advanced colon cancer, which also proved efficacy and another one with liver cancer. But we still need to wait a little longer to have a larger number of patients treated and then statistically find out if this is going to work.
Basically the treatment works when we have involvement of the gene, which can be activated by Antineoplastons, and such genes, like gene p 53, are involved in 50% of all cancers. The treatment turns on gene p 53. So it has more to do with what kind of gene the patient has in his cancer cell, rather than the type of cancer.
Is there a special diet to follow when using your treatment?
Yes, since we are expecting there may be some changes in minerals, we usually emphasize a diet that is relatively low in sodium. We treat every patient individually. Every patient has a consultation with a dietary expert who tries to individualize his diet
Is your treatment being used in any other countries?
Yes, we have people coming to us from all over the world. I think we can probably count easily 70 to a 100 countries from which people are coming. But the main effort is now in Japan, outside the US. In Japan there are 2 clinical trials being conducted by Japanese doctors. Also, a group of doctors in Mexico obtained approval from the FDA and Mexican government to do clinical trials.
Now I have several related questions about brain cancer in children.
Dustin Kunnari and Dr. Burzynski. Dustin is one of Dr. Burzynski’s great success stories.
Dustin had brain surgery at 2 ½ years old. The surgery removed only 75% of the tumor.
Dustin’s parents, Mariann and Jack, were told that Dustin would only live for 6 months. Chemotherapy and radiation may extend Dustin’s life slightly, but at a very high cost in quality of life with very serious side effects.
Mariann and Jack decided to look into alternatives. They found out about Antineoplastons and after only 6 weeks of intravenous treatment, Dustin’s MRI showed he was cancer free.
One year later another tumor appeared on the MRI. By this time Dr. Burzynski had developed a more concentrated form of Antineoplastons. After 5 months the tumor was gone. Dustin has remained cancer free ever since and was taken off Antineoplastons when he was 7. Dustin is 12 today.
About how many children suffer from brain cancer in the US each year?
The statistics are available for 1999. The new cases of brain tumors in children were counted as 2,200. Now around 3,000, I would say.
Approximately what percentage of children is still alive after 5 years using orthodox treatments for brain cancer?
It depends on the type of tumor and it’s location, some of the toughest are those that are located in the brain stem. Up to 5 years, you have practically no survival when you use the best treatment available, which is radiation therapy. Chemotherapy usually doesn’t work for such patients. After 2 years, 7 % survival. After 5 years, practically none.
Dustin, after brain surgery.
To further complicate matters, Dustin’s oncologist kept threatening his parents with a court proceeding to take Dustin away and force him to take Chemotherapy/Radiation treatment.
This continued for a year, even after Dustin’s success with Antineoplastons.
You may also e-mail Mary Jo Siegel, the lady who runs the web site. Mary is also a cancer survivor using Antineoplastons.
maryjo@siegel.net
Is it correct to say you have had very good results when treating brain cancer in children?
Yes we have. I gave you the example of the toughest, which is located in the brain stem. We get about 40% survival rates after two years. After 5 years at the moment we have about 20% survival rate. The reason is that most of the patients who come to us, have received prior heavy radiation therapy, or chemotherapy. They usually die from complications from these treatments. Those who survive the longest are patients who previously did not receive radiation therapy or chemotherapy. The longest survivor in this category is now reaching 15 years from the time of diagnosis; and she’s in perfect health.
With the more common variety, which is aciotoma located outside the brain stem, we get much, much better. We have 75% of patients who are objectively responding to the treatment. This means that the tumor will disappear completely or will be reduced by more than 50%.
This is another strong point. It’s extremely important. Children are usually damaged for life after radiation therapy, when we can avoid it and bring them back to life.
What criteria must parents of children with brain cancer meet before being able to have their children treated by you?
Well, practically all of these brain tumors must be inoperable. This means that it’s not possible to remove them with surgery. Except for one category, they should have advanced disease. The tumor should have the size of more than 5 mm in diameter and be located in a place that cannot be operated upon.
There is one category of these tumors, medulloblastoma, where the FDA requires that the patients would receive prior standard treatment and fail before we can accept them. In the rest of these children we can accept them without failure of prior treatment.
You may also e-mail Mary Jo Siegel, the lady who runs the web site. Mary is also a cancer survivor using Antineoplastons.
maryjo@siegel.net
Let us talk a little about some of your most successful stories using Antineoplastons with children. Probably the most remarkable case is that of Tori Moreno . In August 1998 Tori was diagnosed with a stage 4 brainstem glioma that was inoperable. Her parents were told she would die in a few days or at the most, a few weeks. When did you start treating her?
Tori had Stage 4 brain stem glioma. The tumor was too risky for surgery. She was diagnosed shortly after her birth. The tumor was very large, about 3 inches in the largest diameter and located in the brain stem. Her parents consulted the best centers in the country and they were told there was nothing to be done. So finally she was brought to us, when she was about 3 ½ months old. This was in October 5 years ago. She was in such condition that we were afraid that she might die at any time. Fortunately she responded, and about 5 months later we determined that she obtained a complete response, which means complete disappearance of active tumor by
MRI criteria. She is a perfectly healthy child and tumor free. She still takes small dosages of capsules of Antineoplastons, but we will discontinue this shortly.
Tori Moreno 9.28.98. Temporarily enlarged due to taking Decadron.
Tori’s parents were told there was nothing that could be done for her and she would be dead in a few weeks.
Tori is alive and well today thanks to Antineoplastons. See photo below.
At the end of this interview, there is a short interview with Kim Moreno, Tori’s mother.
Kim Moreno has set-up a Yahoo e-mail account to answer peoples cancer related questions.
kimmoreno5@yahoo.com
And today she is over 5 years old?
Yes, she’s 5 years old and living a pretty much normal life.
Tori 22.10.02. A perfectly healthy child. Orthodox treatment consists of high does of radiation therapy and possibly toxic chemotherapy as well. Most of the children are dead in a few years. The ones that survive suffer from permanent retardation, along with other serious side effects from the radiation.
Please do not forget about the interview with Kim Moreno, Tori’s mother, at the end of this interview.
But mainstream medicine has been trying to kill the cancer cell using chemotherapy and radiation, is that correct?
That’s right, yes.
Chemotherapy and radiation cannot differentiate between healthy and cancerous cells?
They can differentiate to some point, but basically, this difference is very small, so ultimately, the normal cells will be killed.
Is that why they have such a terrible effect on the immune system?
That’s right, not only the immune system, but also many other systems in the body. Practically, the treatment is destroying healthy parts of the body.
Chemotherapy and radiation also cause cancer, don’t they?
Yes. For instance right now we see a lot of patients who in childhood were successfully treated for leukemia or for Hodgkin’s disease. Then they develop cancer that is practically incurable, like lung cancer, breast cancers; I even encountered a patient in my practice that developed three different types of cancers, and was only 28 years of age. First she was treated for Hodgkin’s Disease, then she developed bone cancer in the places which were radiated for Hodgkin’s Disease, and then she developed breast cancer after that; it’s really horrible. So there is increased incidence of secondary cancers in patients who were treated previously with chemotherapy and radiation.
Shontelle Huron. In remission for several years after using Antineoplastons.
You may also e-mail Mary Jo Siegel, the lady who runs the web site. Mary is also a cancer survivor using Antineoplastons. maryjo@siegel.net
Ric and Paula Schiff write about the torture their daughter Crystin had to endure during chemotherapy/radiation treatment.
Crystin was diagnosed with perhaps the most malignant tumor known, which is a rhabdoid tumor of the brain. Of course, historically, there was no case of such a tumor ever having a long response to chemotherapy or radiation therapy. She received extremely heavy does of radiation therapy and chemotherapy, because nobody expected that she would live longer than a year or so. So unfortunately she was terribly damaged with this. She responded very well to Antineoplastons. We put her in complete response. But unfortunately she died from pneumonia. Her immune system was wiped out, so when she aspirated some food, she died from it. The autopsy revealed that she didn’t have any sign of malignancy.
But there are also likely permanent severe health concerns related to taking chemotherapy and radiation.
In young children there is permanent damage to the brain. Unfortunately some oncologists who are dealing with such cases are really cruel to the parents, because they are saying, “well, your child will survive, but you are going to have a jolly idiot for the rest of your life.”
Is it true that if parents refuse chemotherapy/radiation treatment for their children the hospital, via the courts, could have the child removed from the parents care and forced to take chemotherapy/radiation treatment?
Yes, unfortunately in some States, the law may require taking children away from the custody of the parents to send them to such treatments.
Jared Wadman. In remission for several years after using Antineoplastons.
You may also e-mail Mary Jo Siegel, the lady who runs the web site. Mary is also a cancer survivor using Antineoplastons.
maryjo@siegel.net
Isn’t this what happened to Donna and Jim Navarro when they chose your treatment over orthodox treatments?
That is correct. Thomas Navarro was diagnosed with medulloblastoma. He was operated on and the tumor was removed. Then he was scheduled for radiation therapy. Since he was only 4 years old, the parents knew that he’d be damaged by radiation therapy. Nobody at his age survives this type of tumor anyway after radiation therapy. So that’s why they decided to come to our clinic. Unfortunately I could not treat him because FDA requires failure of radiation therapy for such patients.
And tragically he died in November 2001.
What happened was, the parents decided not to take any treatment. We asked the FDA several times to allow administration of Antineoplastons, because we have already had successful treatments for some other children without any prior radiation. Then ultimately he developed numerous tumors in May the following year. Then we suggested to the parents of Thomas, that if they are not going to take our treatment, they should go for at least chemotherapy. They went for chemotherapy to one of the best centers in the country, to Beth Israel Hospital in New York. The chemotherapy was successful, but he almost died from it. It severely affected his bone marrow. I remember a phone call from Thomas’s father telling me that the doctors are thinking that they won’t do anything else for him and that Thomas will die within a week because of severe suppression of bone marrow.
But I encouraged his father to do whatever is possible because such patients may turn around. Fortunately he turned around, but about a month or two later he developed 15 tumors in the brain and the spinal cord. Then, when he was close to death, when nothing was available for him, the FDA called us and told us now we can treat Thomas. When we treated Thomas he survived 6 months, and the tumors had substantially decreased, but ultimately he died from pneumonia.
Is it accurate to say that the initial orthodox treatment for brain cancer is surgery to remove the tumor?
If the tumor is located in the proper part of the brain. For some locations it is out of the question. But, you are right, that is the first step.
Does surgery alone ever cure a patient with brain cancer?
Well, some cases, with benign brain tumors, when the tumor can be completely dissected, yes, it’s possible. But in most cases it’s not possible.
How much of a risk does surgery present regarding spreading the cancer more quickly and other complications?
Well, not so much regarding spreading the cancer more quickly in the case of brain tumors. Such a spread may happen only with a small percentage of brain tumors that have the highest aggressiveness. But for most of the patients the tumor is not going to spread just because of surgery. Certainly surgery may damage the brain and patients may even die during the surgery. It’s not the ideal thing to do of course because you are removing the tumor and you are removing a healthy part of the brain at the same time. The patient may be permanently damaged by such procedures.
Would you warn against rushing into surgery in light of how effective your treatment is? Would you most times recommend trying your treatment first?
We really would like to know what we are dealing with. This means that we would like to have at least a biopsy; if by chance it’s not going to create sufficient risk for the patient. If the tumor was located in such a place in the brain where surgery is possible, then certainly we could try to remove the tumor. But I think it would be best if we can treat the patient with brain intact and get rid of the tumor completely, because then we risk the least damage possible.
Now I will turn my attention to your legal battles with the FDA. They began in 1983 when they sued you in civil court, is this correct?
In 1983, that was the first court battle with the FDA. The FDA sued us. It took about 6 weeks in court and again, we won.
Then there was an enormous raid by the FDA at your offices on July 17, 1985. What was the reason for this raid?
We were never given a reason. I think there was a concentrated action against a few alternative medicine centers because at the same time there were similar actions in the Bahamas and in some other places.
In the four court cases the FDA has brought against you, have any of your patients testified against you?
Well, on their own will, nobody testified against us. But the FDA encouraged some of our patients, and threatened them in various ways. They forced them to come to the witness stand. But really, once they were on the witness stand they behaved more like our witnesses, not FDA witnesses.
According to Daniel Haley, after the FDA lost its last court case against you in 1997, Congressman Richard Burr said it was “one of the worst abuses of the criminal justice system”. Did Burr ever speak to you about it?
Yes, we talk with Congressman Burr. I believe he is right, because certainly there was no reason for such massive action on the part of the FDA. They knew that the treatment works; that the treatment helps patients, that the patients will die if they win, so they should not do it. All of this was with the taxpayer’s money.
So the FDA has wasted many millions of taxpayer dollars trying to convict you on false charges of transporting Antineoplastons across State lines. What was the motivation for this vendetta?
Well, it’s hard to tell, because it was never properly investigated; why they did it. But, we have some leads. For instance, on one side you have a large pharmaceutical company, which was very interested in getting hold of our patents; this is Elan Pharmaceutical. It happened that I treated successfully a close relative to the CEO of Elan. Elan became very interested in what we have. They came close to signing a final license agreement. But after they learned what we have, they decided to withdraw and then suddenly the FDA and NCI gave their full support to Elan, to do clinical trials with one of the ingredients of Antineoplastons, phenylacetate.
This was a large pharmaceutical company that was trying to appropriate my invention. On the other hand, within the FDA and NCI you have had people who were working closely with this company. For instance Mary Pendergast, who was responsible for the legal action against us, became Vice President of Elan. Also Doctor Michael Friedman, who was initially in charge of NCI cancer research, and who knew that our treatment works, later became commissioner of FDA and he did whatever he could to put us out of business. Not only that, but to simply destroy me.
On the other hand, suddenly the government decided to file for the patents, which claimed the same thing that our patents did. Never in the history of the United States do you have the issuance of two patents for the same invention. It was really a breach of patent procedure. The patent office allowed them to patent something I invented, and which I patented. And dishonest scientist Dr. Dvorit Samid, who initially worked for us, was receiving funds from us and finally went for the higher bidder (Elan).
So you have a lot of leads, which indicate that there was something between the government, dishonest scientists like Dvorit Samid and the large pharmaceutical company, Elan. And it was in best interests for them to get rid of me, destroy me, so they could appropriate my discoveries and benefit from that.
When did you initially apply for your Investigational New Drug (IND)?
We applied in May 1983.
When did you receive it?
Well, it took an extremely long time. Ultimately most of our clinical trials began in 1996, a long time after that. FDA did not allow us to proceed with clinical trials for an extremely long time. Please click here to read the
conclusion of this interview
E-mail this sites address to someone and help spread the word
You may also e-mail Mary Jo Siegel, the lady who runs the web site. Mary is also a cancer survivor using Antineoplastons.
maryjo@siegel.net
It is important for everyone to understand the economics of the drug industry. I have heard that the cost today for bringing a drug to market is upwards of 500 million and takes about 12 years, is that true?
Yes, you’re right.
The drug company is then given a 17-year patent so that it can make a profit on the drug. It is little wonder the drug companies fight against natural treatments such as Laetrile, because they are unable to patent them and they pose a serious threat to their profit margins. But you are able to patent your treatment, so why was there no interest in it from the drug companies?
Basically you have 17 years from the time when you have approval of the patent and this is independent from FDA’s approval process. You file the patent, once you make a discovery, and then you go through FDA procedure. You spend say 12 years or 15 years for the approval process, then you have only 2 years license from the FDA, because license is going to expire in another 2 years. Certainly the pharmaceutical companies are spending a lot of money in this process.
In our case I decided to develop this on my own, to generate money from my private practice and use the money to support the research of Antineoplastons. Again we were approached by many different pharmaceutical companies, which were interested in working with us. Certainly after the bad experience (with Elan) we are very cautious with whom to deal. On the other hand pharmaceutical companies were afraid of action from the FDA.
The NCI put off testing Antineoplastons using the fact that it failed their standard P388 leukemia mouse test, is that correct?
Yes
What is the P388 leukemia mouse test and why did Antineoplastons fail it?
Well we had informed the NCI that this was a bad type of test for antineoplastons. Antineoplastons seems to be specific for species. Different animals have different antineoplastons; mice have a different composition of antineoplastons than humans. Practically, human antineoplastons may work well in humans, but they may not have much activity in mice. We knew this, even before the NCI began testing. On the other hand we didn’t have good results at all in the acute form of leukemia and we didn’t even accept such patients. It was known that if they only do this type of test, it was not going to work. They still tested and used this to say that Antineoplastons don’t work against cancer. Certainly the fact that something works or doesn’t work against mice leukemia is irrelevant.
I’d like the reader to bear with me in the next few questions, as the point will become clear. One of the chemicals you identified in the peptides was phenylacetate. But it was far inferior to the others and you chose not to patent it, is that correct?
This is not a peptide, this is a metabolite of our antineoplastons and it’s an organic acid. So this is a final metabolite of antineoplastons. It has some anti-cancer activity, but the weakest of all antineoplastons. We knew about it and that’s why after some preliminary experience in the treatment of phenylacetate back in 1980, we decided that it’s not worth pursuing this and then we used antineoplastons that have higher activity.
But didn’t you later find out that the NCI actually holds the patent for phenylacetate?
You’re right. NCI is the owner of the patent, Dr. Samid is the author but Elan has the license to use these patents. All of these three work together.
Why did the NCI patent something that was far inferior to your other Antineoplastons?
Because they knew that this was the only chance that they can get hold of something which has to do with antineoplastons.
The NCI ran clinical trials on phenylacetate in 1992 and found it to be worthless, is that correct?
Well, the clinical trials began in 1992 but it took a few years to have the results. It shows some effectiveness in brain tumors and in prostate cancer. But of course it was far away from the results that we can get with antineoplastons.
When did the NCI eventually start clinical trials of Antineoplastons?
In 1994.
I assume you gave the doctors running the trials all the information about correct dosages, is that true?
Yes, well, basically they used dosages that were 50 times lower than what we feel are effective dosages. We have some patient’s relatives who were present when the treatment was administered. Formulations of antineoplastons were badly diluted. This means that the patient was receiving very little antineoplastons and some of these patients were removed from the treatment after a short period of time because they were overloaded with fluid. Well normally we see fluid overload in perhaps less than 2% of our patients. So it makes sense that perhaps the formulations of antineoplastons were diluted and when the Mayo Clinic (1999) determined the concentration of antineoplastons in blood, we realize that it was something like 50 times lower than what it should be.
Do you think the NCI purposely sabotaged your trials?
I have no doubt about it. They sabotaged the trial; they accepted patients who were too advanced. Their main effort was to give a low dose of the medicine for a short period of time and to stop treatment just for some minor problem, like if a patient developed a skin rash. They were trying to give the treatment only for a very short period of time, like for instance a couple of weeks or a month. And then of course the patient was dying after that. It was completely unethical, it was horrible. As you probably heard recently, the pharmacist who was diluting an anti-cancer drug, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. I think the same should happen to these guys who really were trying to use this for their political manipulations.
Jessica Kerfoot. In remission for several years after using Antineoplastons.
You may also e-mail Mary Jo Siegel, the lady who runs the web site. Mary is also a cancer survivor using Antineoplastons.
maryjo@siegel.net
How much influence do the pharmaceutical companies wield in medicine in the US?
Extreme influence. Most of the oncologists, I’m talking about reputable oncologists, they work for pharmaceutical companies, they work in clinical trials, they receive various type of incentives from pharmaceutical companies. And basically these doctors are approving medicine, FDA may approve the medicine, but finally this advisory board may advise FDA to go ahead with this or do not approve that medicine. So really the doctors who are deciding if the medicine should be approved or not, practically all of them have some type of relation with large pharmaceutical companies.
Is there a conspiracy to suppress other treatments or is it just a case of avaricious businesses, the pharmaceutical and hospital industry’s, doing everything in their power to protect their bottom line?
Well certainly they have a lot of power. When I filed my application for IND, the standard FDA policy was such that they would never approve a new drug for an individual owner, only for the large pharmaceutical companies. And that’s why I believe we waited for such a long time to receive the go-ahead for our clinical trial. So certainly there were obstruction tactics. Whether this is a conspiracy or not is hard for me to tell. As you can see, the leads which I presented, like for instance a researcher who worked for me initially and then decided to go to the higher bidder, which was a pharmaceutical company; then the relationship between the pharmaceutical company and governmental agencies. All of this indicates that there is some type of conspiracy. I think a Congressional committee should study this.
Turning our attention to the doctor/oncology profession. When reading Thomas Elias’s excellent book, “The Burzynski Breakthrough”, I was struck by how many times patients said that their oncologists were aggressively opposed to them taking your treatment.
Even after a patient’s success with your treatment, very few doctors give you the credit. Is this due to jealousy, arrogance, plain old denial or something else?
Probably a lot of arrogance. We have some prominent specialists, the best specialists in the world who really acknowledge our results and would like to work with us. On the other hand you have some doctors who hate to see a patient with success on our treatment. The fact that the patient is coming to their office, years after the patient should be dead, is something like a slap in the face. They hate it.
They will do everything they can to lie, to obstruct the information about this patient. We have a lot of evidence that oncologists were lying about the patient’s condition. For instance the patient recovered completely from highly malignant cancer and the oncologist was telling us the patient died from cancer. So certainly, we have a lot of evidence about some of these doctors who are dishonest, who are liars, who cheat. But on the other hand you can’t really put the same label on the entire profession. There are many other doctors who are honest and who like to know about what we have. Of course our clinic has board certified oncologists who are taking care of our patients.
I found an interesting quote by David Stewart, a philanthropist who helped fund Gaston Naessens cancer research in the 70’s. He says,
“I can say categorically that most scientific researchers with whom I have had to deal are highly opinionated, arrogant, condescending, and have built-in, insurmountable prejudices.”
Would you agree with these sentiments? What have your experiences been?
Well certainly, I think he’s right; unfortunately that’s the truth.
We spoke about Crystin Schiff briefly before. This is a particularly despicable story, because when Ric Schiff asked Dr. Michael Prados, then head of neuro-oncology at University of California at San Francisco Medical Center (UCSF), if he knew of any other treatment besides chemotherapy/radiation for Crystin’s brain tumor, Prados replied in the negative. But a few years before, he had sent you 14 letters documenting the effectiveness of Antineoplastons on Jeff Keller, another patient with brain cancer. Is this story true?
Yes, it’s true; of course Jeff Keller had an extremely malignant brain tumor. He had a high-grade glioma of the brain; he failed radiation therapy and additional treatments. He responded extremely well to our treatment. He was one of the patients whose case was presented to the NCI. So there was no doubt about his response. Dr. Prados knew about it. If he was dealing with a hopeless tumor like Crystin Schiff, why didn’t he call us?
Ryan and mother Cindy. Ryan is in remission for several years after using Antineoplastons.
You may also e-mail Mary Jo Siegel, the lady who runs the web site. Mary is also a cancer survivor using Antineoplastons.
maryjo@siegel.net
Do you know why Prados did not tell them about Keller’s success with your treatment?
It’s hard for me to tell. It happens that Dr. Prados and Dr, Friedman, who became the boss of the FDA, came from the same medical school. So they work closely together, and perhaps there is something to do with the general action against us. It would be inconvenient for Dr. Prados to say that the treatment works if FDA was trying to get rid of us and when his friend was Commissioner of the FDA at that time. Perhaps that’s the connection….
One of your greatest critics is Saul Green (Ph.D. Biochemistry), a retired biochemist from Memorial Sloan Kettering. In 1992 the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), published Green’s article, “Antineoplastons: An Unproved Cancer Therapy.” What were his conclusions about Antineoplastons?
Well, Green is not a medical doctor, he’s a retired biochemist; he never reviewed our results. He got hold of some of our patents and that’s what he based his opinion on.
He was hired by another insurance company (Aetna) that was in litigation with us. He’s like a hired assassin. Not telling the truth. So really to argue with him is good for nothing. Even if something were completely clear he would negate it. He is simply a guy who was hired by our adversaries. He would do whatever they paid him to do.
Paul Leverett was diagnosed with a glioblastoma multiforme grade 4 brain stem tumor in May 1999. The prognosis was that he would probably be dead before the end of 1999. Orthodox medicine gave him no hope of survival.
Paul was given the maximum amount of radiation he was capable of receiving. It slowed the tumors growth slightly, but this did not alter Paul’s prospects for survival at all.
After completing some research on the Internet Paul learned about Dr. Burzynski’s Antineoplastons. Paul began taking Antineoplastons intravenously, administered by his wife, in September 1999. After 6 weeks Paul’s tumor had grown by only 2 %, Glioblastoma’s normally double in size every 2 weeks.
A PET scan in December 2000 confirmed that Paul was in complete remission. He stayed on Antineoplastons until August 2001 to ensure the tumor would not reoccur. There is just under 20% tumor necrosis remaining in his brain stem, which is probably scar tissue.
Paul’s oncologist (at MD Anderson, Houston) initially wanted to show his scan’s to his hospitals (MD Anderson) tumor review board. But then, for whaever reason, he refused further contact with Paul and did not go ahead with it.
The photo was taken with his wife Jennie. Paul had a web site created in order to inform people about his cancer experiences. http://www.dontevergiveup.com
E-mail: pjleverett@ev1.net
Did Green ask to look at your patients’ files or even talk to any of your patients themselves?
No.
You responded with an article with 137 references, did JAMA publish even part of it?
JAMA refused to publish the article. They decided that they would publish a short letter to the editors. And obviously this is another dirty thing, because letters to the editors are not in the reference books. If you look in the computer and try to find letters to the editor from JAMA, you’ll never find it. So people who are interested will always find Green’s article, but they will never find our reply to Green’s article, unless they go to the library. Then they can look in the JAMA volume in which the letter was published, and then they will find it. So many doctors were asking me why I did not respond to Saul Green’s article because they never found my letter to the editors.
Are they obligated to publish your rebuttal?
Certainly they are, because they put Green’s article in JAMA in the first place, they accepted it without any peer review and then they did not allow me to honestly respond to it. I should be allowed to publish my response to the article in JAMA.
At the time of the publication Green was working as a consultant to Grace Powers Monaco, Esq., a Washington attorney who was assisting Aetna insurance agency in its lawsuit against you. What was the Aetna lawsuit about?
One of our patients sued Aetna because Aetna refused to pay for my treatment. Then Aetna got involved and Aetna sued us. Aetna really became involved in what you can call racketeering tactics because they contacted practically every insurance company in the US. They smeared us, they advised insurance companies to not pay for our services. So based on all of this, our lawyer decided to file a racketeering suit against Aetna. This was a 190 million dollar lawsuit against Aetna. So certainly Aetna was trying to discredit us by using people like Saul Green. And they hired him to work on their behalf.
So there was an obvious conflict of interest for Green because he worked for Monaco who was assisting Aetna. Was this information published in the JAMA article?
No.
Green also questions the fact that you have a Ph.D.. At the American Association for Clinical Chemistry Symposium, July 1997, Atlanta, GA., he says in part
“Burzynski’s claim to a Ph.D. is questionable. Letters from the Ministry of Health,
Warsaw, Poland, and from faculty at the Medical Academy at Lublin, Poland, say,
respectively:
1. At the time Burzynski was in school, medical schools did not give a Ph.D.
2. Burzynski received the D.Msc. in 1968 after completing a one-year laboratory
project and passing an exam. (3) Burzynski did no independent research while in medical school.”
He cites the people below as giving him some of this information.
1. Nizanskowski, R. ,Personal communication. Jan 15, 1992.
3. Bielinski, S., Personal communication, Nov. 22, 1987
First of all, do you have a Ph.D.?
Well, the program in Poland is somewhat different than the US. What I have is equivalent to a US Ph.D. When a medical doctor in the US graduates from medical school, he receives a medical doctor diploma. In Poland it’s a similar diploma, but it’s called a physician diploma, which is equal to medical doctor. And after that, if you would like to obtain a Ph.D., you have to do independent research, both in the US and in Poland. So you have to work on an independent project, you have to write a doctorate thesis and, in addition, to that in Poland, you have to take exams in medicine, in philosophy and also you have to take exams in the subjects on which you have written your thesis, in my case this was biochemistry.
As you can see from the letter from the President of the medical school from which I graduated, this is a Ph.D..
Saul Green got information from the guys who were key communist figures in my medical school. The second secretary of the communist party in my school, hated my guts, because I didn’t want to be a communist. So, somehow, Green got hold of “reputable” communist sources (laugh) to give him that information. It is exactly the President of the medical school who certified that I have a Ph.D..
So you are saying that theses people he received his personal communication from, Nizanskowski R, and Bielinski S, are both Communists, is that correct, or they were?
Not only communists, but Bielinski was one of the key players in the communist party in my medical school. So certainly he was extremely active as a communist. And, you know that communists, they usually don’t tell the truth.
So there is absolutely no question about it, you have a Ph.D. and Green’s doubts are totally without foundation. Has he ever acknowledged publicly the fact that you have a Ph.D.?
He’s never got in touch with me regarding this.
There are some mainstream oncologists who have stated publicly that your treatment works such as Dr. Robert Burdick, oncologist and professor at the University of Washington Medical School.
He is one of the top experts in this field.
Dr. Burzynski, there are undoubtedly many people alive today solely because of your treatments, but there could be many hundreds or thousands more alive if the public was given free access to your treatment. Do you see this ever happening?
I see this happening within a few years. We already have 8 clinical trials that prove efficacy of the treatment. However, we still need to treat more patients, because in each of our clinical trials it is required that we treat 40 patients. If we are talking about 78 clinical trials, then the number of patients that need to be treated is about 3,000. We are moving forward, probably in another 2 to 3 years we will have final approval.
A group shot of some of Dr. Burzynski’s patients. Please see the Burzynski Patients web site for more information,
http:// http://www.burzynskipatientgroup.org
You may also e-mail Mary Jo Siegel, the lady who runs the web site. Mary is also a cancer survivor using Antineoplastons.
maryjo@siegel.net
You have fought the government on behalf of your patients’ rights for over 25 years. There must have been a few times when you considered calling it quits. What has sustained you over the years and kept you fighting?
Well you see, basically the principle. Certainly I could practice just regular medicine and not
spend millions of dollars for the research, which I did. And I could go to some other country and practice. But I feel that this is my obligation because what I am doing is right. I’m saving peoples lives. So why should I give in to some mediocre characters, to liars, to people who really misrepresent what I do. And if I fail, then America will fail also. Because really America is the bastion of Democracy in the world. If America is rotten, then the whole world will go down to hell. So if something is rotten in the Patent office, in the NCI and FDA, it is the duty of the citizen to show that this is rotten and should be corrected.
There are a number of good people who can make it work, so why should bad people erode and destroy the entire system. I felt that this was my obligation; I felt that I was right and even if I had to go to prison, I would fight for it, because this is the right thing to do. Otherwise I could not look at myself in the mirror. I would despise myself.
Do you think we will we ever have medical freedom of choice in the US, where we can choose whatever treatment we want for cancer?
I am not sure if this will ever happen. But at least I am hoping that the movement, which we pioneered, like this alternative medicine movement, will bring a lot of good to the American people. After all, now you have official recognition of alternative treatment, more or less, and this is because of our fight. If we wouldn’t fight at that time, then perhaps it would not happen, but maybe it would happen another ten years from now.
Standard medical practices and the observations of physicians who are outside the medical establishment are extremely important, because anybody can make a discovery and improve the health of people. This I think is an important movement, but whether the people of America will ever have a chance to select whatever treatment they want, is another story.
Finally Dr. Burzynski, a hearty thanks to you for keeping your treatment available to cancer patients, for keeping your oath as a doctor and putting the patient ahead of financial gain, and of course, for saving lives. Please keep up the great work. Thank you for giving me the time to conduct this interview and inform people about your work and treatment.
Thank you.
End of interview.
Gavin.
Please be aware. Orthodox medicine often states that people who have recovered from cancer by unapproved methods did so due to a “spontaneous remission”. This means that the cancer just disappears for no apparent reason. First of all, I do not know of any documented cases of spontaneous remissions in brain cancer. In other serious cancers it is so rare as to be unworthy of discussion.
But here is the most crucial point. A true spontaneous remission is when the cancer goes away without any treatment, either approved or unapproved. It’s absurd to suggest that someone who received large amounts of Antineoplastons, and is then cancer free, had a spontaneous remission. If someone has surgery to remove a tumor and they are cancer free for years, we know it was because of the surgery.
Also remember that in many cases cancer patients turn to Antineoplastons (and other so-called alternatives) after chemotherapy and/or radiation have failed. If the patient goes into remission, oncologists often state that it was a delayed response to their treatment. This is a very convenient situation for oncologists. When their treatments fail, they still claim the credit for the patient’s recovery, even after the patient has been on Antineoplastons (or other treatments) for months/years.
Read about Dr. Burzynski’s treatment from the most important sources, the patients who had cancer and who are alive today because of Antineoplastons. The Burzynski Patients Web Site
http:// http://www.burzynskipatientgroup.org
Kim also has an e-mail account she specifically set-up for people to contact her about her experiences with Dr. Burzynski, oncologists, Antineoplastons and cancer treatments in general. Any e-mail unrelated to these subjects will be deleted.
kimmoreno5@yahoo.com
While searching the Internet for links related to Koch’s glyoxylide, I found a recent article on Dr. Mercola’s web site related to a drug called Methylglyoxal (the lead ingredient, which is a metabolite in our body) that has been tested in India for over ten years. Please see, http://www.mercola.com/2001/jun/13/methylglyoxal.htm
Thank you for taking the time to inform people about your family’s experiences while your daughter Tori was taking Antineoplastons.
Tori was first diagnosed with a Stage 4 brain stem glioma in August 1998, is that correct?
Yes
What was the prognosis?
The doctor’s basically told us to take her home and prepare for her to die.
Were there any records of anyone surviving with this type of cancer, using orthodox treatments?
None that they could provide us with.
How many cancer centers did you visit?
We originally were at Miller’s Children at Long Beach Memorial and then went to City of Hope. We also sent her MRI’s to Dr. Fred Epstein in New York to be looked at.
And they all said the same thing, Tori’s brain cancer was fatal and nothing could be done? How long was she expected to live?
Yes, they all said there was nothing we could do. She was given 2-6 weeks to live.
How did you find out about Dr. Burzynski and Antineoplastons?
On the Internet on a brain tumor support group. We read a letter from a father whose daughter was on the treatment.
Did you ask your doctors about Burzynski? Had they heard of him or researched his treatment?
Yes, we asked all of them about it. Most frowned at the idea, the oncologist refused to see her if we took her to see Dr. Burzynski. The only one who told us that he thought Dr. B might have a good chance with helping us was Dr. Fred Epstein.
When did you first visit him?
In October 1998
Did he tell you he could cure Tori?
No. He said he thought Antineoplastons would help her, but he wasn’t sure he had enough time. He was very upfront and honest with the statistics he had with her type of cancer but offered no promises.
How much Antineoplastons was Tori taking?
I can’t even remember what dose she ended up on when she was taking it intravenously.
What were the side effects? In the photos you sent me, Tori is greatly enlarged, I assume due to fluid retention. Is that what it was? How was that alleviated? Were there any other side effects due to the Antineoplastons?
We always had to monitor her potassium and sodium. So, she had to drink a lot of water and therefore we went through a lot of diapers. Those were the worst of the side effects. In the picture, she was so large due to being on Decadron, which we were able to wean her off of in January 1999.
Were you surprised when Tori started responding?
Yes, I have to say I was. It is hard to believe something great is going to come out of something so painful. I guess she taught me not to lose faith in life.
How soon was it before Tori’s brain tumor started reducing in size?
Immediately. It had shrunk in size by 20% after the very first MRI, which I believe was in 6-8 weeks…it’s been a long time and a lot of MRI’s later.
For how long did Tori continue to take Antineoplastons intravenously? Did you administer this yourself at home?
She took them through IV for 2 years and yes; we did this all at home.
Does your insurance company pay for the treatment? Did they try to avoid paying for it?
No, they do not pay for the treatment.
I understand Tori is 5 today. Is she still taking Antineoplastons? Has the tumor completely gone?
Yes, she just turned five in June. She still takes Antineoplastons orally…. she takes 40 capsules a day. Her tumor has decreased in size by 86% and they believe what is left may be scar tissue.
Has Tori suffered any permanent side-side effects from Antineoplastons?
Not one. In fact, it decreased her symptoms dramatically and never caused her any harm.
So Tori is cancer free and side effect free today?
Absolutely….
This is an incredible story Kim. Your child was diagnosed with a fatal brain cancer and the best oncologists and surgeons in America told you it was hopeless. Yet you found a cure for your child, without the billions, and so-called cancer specialists, that the NCI has at its disposal. Have any oncologists or doctors asked you about Dr. Burzynski’s treatment?
They tend to ask very quietly, but never really respond to what I have to tell them. There is curiosity there, just no one is really willing to step up to the plate and believe that the antineoplastons had something to do with her survival.
What do they say now that Tori is alive and well?
The neurologists told us that sometimes it happens and they called it “spontaneous remission”. Again, I asked them to provide some statistics and there were none to be seen.
That is of course the height of absurdity. To my knowledge, there has never been a documented case of any brain cancer going into spontaneous remission. Have you ever mentioned that to them?
Yes, again with no intelligent response.
So they are quite content to administer the same cancer causing, toxic treatments, when they know about your daughter’s success with Antineoplastons?
Absolutely. It amazes me that some of them can sleep at night.
Has your opinion about the medical profession, specifically cancer specialists, changed since Tori’s recovery? If it has, in what manner?
Yes, it has changed a lot. I guess the biggest change would be that I no longer sit back and believe anything a doctor tells m e and that we have to take our healthcare into our hands by searching for legitimate options. I believe we have the right to choose.
What do you think about the fact that some 3,000 children in the US (untold thousands worldwide) this year will be diagnosed with some form of brain cancer, and their families will have to face the same horror you did, the horror of losing a child. But virtually all of them will not be told about Antineoplastons, the treatment that cured Tori?
It really makes me sick to my stomach. That is why I want to talk to anyone who wants to listen about Tori’s Story
Finally, I commend you and your husband for finding a way to cure your daughter, when all the “experts” said it was hopeless. You gave her life when she was born, and then you saved her life by finding Antineoplastons.
I thank you once again Kim for answering my questions and sending me the photos of Tori. Give my best to your family.
Gavin Phillips opinion
Dr. Burzynski is a great rarity these days. He is a courageous man who risked everything battling the FDA for over 15 years so as to allow cancer patients access to his treatment. A doctor who puts his patients well being before financial gains. But how many people diagnosed with cancer this year will ever find out about Antineoplastons? A tiny percentage, because very few mainstream oncologists will inform their patients about a treatment that has yet to be approved. And why is that? The NCI and ACS have supposedly been searching for decades for any and all treatments that are effective against cancer. For over 15 years Dr. Burzynski’s treatment has shown that it is effective. Many cancer patients, including some very young children with supposedly hopeless brain cancers, are alive today because of Antineoplastons.
Here we come to the most crucial questions of all. Why did the FDA try their utmost to ruin Dr. Burzynski by involving him in 4 court cases? Why did the NCI make certain Burzynski’s clinical trials failed by diluting his treatment and enrolling patients who were the least likely to respond to Antineoplastons? If this was a one-time only event, we could dismiss it as an aberration; on overzealous government agencies. But the persecution of Dr. Burzynski is not an aberration, but the norm. There have been many well-documented cases in the last 70 some years of doctors/healers who discovered an effective cancer treatment, only to find the full force of the cancer agencies trying to destroy them and their discoveries. I have learned about several during my research. Dr. William Koch/Glyoxylide, Dr. Andrew Ivy/Krebiozen, Harry Hoxsey method/herbs, Royal Rife/radio waves, Ernst Krebs/ Laetrile/Amygdalin, Gaston Naessens/714 X, Dr. Lawrence Burton/Immuno-Augmentative Therapy, Dr. Max Gerson method/diet.
What, if anything, does Dr. Burzynski’s Antineoplastons have in common with these other treatments? Most of them are natural; all of them are inexpensive to produce, especially when compared to the enormous costs of conventional treatments. If cheap cancer treatments with virtually no side effects were allowed to freely compete with the cancer causing offerings of the pharmaceutical companies, the outcome is obvious. The pharmaceutical companies, and the hospitals that administer their drugs, will lose tens of billions in profits. And this I believe is the reason Dr. Burzynski, and the people who have gone before him, have been publicly vilified as “quacks” and their treatments discredited. The fact is that the pharmaceutical companies control American medicine, and they are only interested in treatments from which they can derive a profit.
Every cancer patient in America, and the world, should have free access to Antineoplastons. It is intolerable, not to mention totally un-American, to give a profit obsessed industry a monopoly over Americans healthcare. Nobody should have the right to force toxic chemicals down our family’s throat, especially when Dr. Burzynski’s treatment has proven effective (for some cancers) and does not have appalling side effects.
One point, in which I disagree with Burzynski about, is the possibility of medical freedom of choice happening in America. It would happen in a year or two if enough Americans demanded it. You can help make that a reality. Please forward this interview to as many people as you know, as well as media outlets. Around ten thousand Americans die every week from cancer; we simply must have medical freedom of choice. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Gavin Phillips. http://www.cancerinform.org
E-mail this sites address to someone and help spread the word
====================================== Dr. B interview #2
2/7/2013 (10:31)
======================================
Why do you continue to do this ?
Why haven’t you just, given up ?
Because I am right
Why should I stop when I have 100’s of people who are cured
Mhmm
from incurable brain tumors
Ok
We have over 100 people, who are surviving over 5 years, just in the supervised clinical trials with brain tumors
So obviously this works (laughing)
It works in great way
So why should I stop because, some evil people like me to stop ?
It doesn’t make any sense
Evil will lose
So we are right, and we’re going to win
Not, uh, no matter how soon this will be established, but we are going to win
Well, for what it’s worth, and this is something, this is why I wanted to put myself, uh, in front of the camera with you
Obviously I spent 8 months, um, and I’ll try and not get too emotional about it, because that’s unprofessional (laughs)
Yes
but I spent, I spent a long time, looking into this, speaking to people,
Yes
You have very kindly given me access to everything here
Sure
Speak to anyone
Speak to patients
To see medical records, and I have, uh, been amazed by what I, what I’ve seen
I know the statistics are now showing, in the world, that one in two men, will have cancer One in 3 women, will have cancer
Yes
It’s a, it’s a massive problem
That’s right
And I can see that you’ve genuinely found, uh, a cure for cancer
(?)
You know, it might not work for everyone, but if you’re given the su
Yeah
given the support
Yes
If you’re given, uh, the, uh, I don’t know, just the support basically, and the funds maybe, you could really, do some work, that could change, the whole (nature ?)
Absolutely, and then we can get better, and better
Of course, what you have now is not yet the finished products
We understand that
That’s something we can substantially improve
The response rate can be improved
So, certainly, all of this can be done, but, obviously, we need the resources
We need time to do it, and most of my time is spent with such silly thing like, uh, uh, protecting ourselves against attacks from, the people who are hired to destroy us
Ok
Obviously, there are some companies who are working on the payroll of pharmaceutical business, who are trying to smear us
To spread bad publicity about us
To generate lies about us
These people are criminals, and they are still flourishing
The end for them will come soon, but they are still hurting the other people
because the other people will not take treatment
They will not come, and they will die
Ok
There is no cure for, uh, uh, malignant brain tumors which are inoperable, ok, and we can cure at least, good percent of these people
We presented, our results, at many, many, 1st class scientific congresses, like nuero-oncology congresses, cancer congresses, and it’s important for U.K.
I showed you yesterday, eh, presentation on brainstem glioma in children
Yeah, I have it here
and at the same, uh, Congress, in Edinburgh, we presented also another, eh, eh, paper, on the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme, and the survival on, about 88 patients, in glioblastoma multiforme
So obviously, I make, I make this available to everybody , they would like to listen, come to my presentation
They, they, they know about it, but they don’t want to know about it
Why not ?
(laughs) Because they are working
They are slaves of the big pharmaceutical cartels, ok, and on the payroll of big companies
They hate to see somebody else outside, the slavery, who can do it
I’m free man
I can, ah, do the research because, I am spending my own money for it
I don’t need to beg pharmaceutical companies or government to give me the money
I can do it on my own
They hate it
These people
They hate it because they have slave mentality
Mmm
They arch their back for scraps of money from the table, of some powerful companies, from the government, and they, how can you deal with s, slaves
They don’t want to see something new because this would disrupt, slavery system
Ok
So, current medical education s, system is manufacturing robots
They don’t think on their own, they use only what, the government, or the lawyers of the government, or what the administrators will tell them to do, ok, and if they don’t then they get punished, ok (laughs), and that’s a great system for a ph, pharmaceutical companies, because obviously they can make a lot of money, but it’s not a great system for people who have cancer because they don’t have good results
So you’ve presented at these conferences, and people don’t come up to you afterwards and say:
Mhmm
“I want to come and see what you’re doing
I’ve got to see this for myself”
Ah, well, uh, at each of these Congresses I meet a few doctors who are top specialists in their area who will come to me and say: “Ok, this looks very interesting
We’d like to know more about it
Please send me some, eh, results and a few cases that I can review,” and that’s what you do
Yeah
You send them these cases, and that’s the end of it
I don’t hear from them anymore because they’re afraid to move any
Mmm
further, ok, because they know if they move further, they get punished
They don’t receive grants
They’d be scrutinized by their peers
They’re afraid
Ok (laughs)
Yeah
They work for us
Yeah
they work for us undercover
We have over 100 telephone callers who used to work with us, but they don’t want anybody to know about it because they’d be immediately attacked by the other guys
And the pharmaceutical world as well
Ah, well, the other guys are obviously working for cartels
Uh, they’re on the payroll, a, oh, of big business, which is cancer business, and they don’t want to lose it
Uh, in average, uh, city you might have say about 20 oncologists
One of them may work for us, but he does not no, want to tell anybody that he’s doing this because he would be destroyed by the other guys
These 20 guys will jump on him and he will, won’t have practice anymore
Ok
Yeah
So that’s, uh, the travesty, but, uh, uh, I believe that this is coming to the end
Ultimately, su, more and more doctors will learn what we do
Yeah
and more and more patients will benefit, and the breakthrough will come, but before the breakthrough will come, you have the toughest time
Mmm
because, the opposition is mounting the attacks
Whenever we came up with an announcement that was in the 20th century, we have such and such success, you are furiously attacked by the other guys, who are on payroll, uh, of cartels
Ok (laughs), for no apparent reason
You should be congratulated but we are attacked, because they see we are going to win, and they hate to see this because this means they won’t see money anymore for them, ok, or at least they think they won’t, they won’t have their payroll anymore
————————————————————— Dr. Burzynski on publishing (6:18)
—————————————————————
So why does, why does, ev, everyone hide behind this thing of saying about publishing, because that’s the thing you hear all the time
Well, we cannot publish until the time is right (laughs)
Yeah
If you would like to publish the results of, of a 10 year survival, for instance
Mmm
Which we have
Nobody has over 10 year survival in malignant brain tumor, but we do, and if you like to do it right, it takes time to prepare it, and that’s what we do now
What we publish so far
We publish numerous, uh, publications which were, interim reports when we are still continuing clinical trials
Now we are preparing, a number of publications for final reports
Eh, many of my publications were rejected by known publi, by known journals like
Why ?
like Lancet, like JAMA,
like New England Journal of Medicine
Why ?
Because they say: “Sorry, but you didn’t receive enough priority to be published“, and if you look in these journals and 1/2 of the, these journals, they are advertising for pharmaceutical companies
Obviously if this would come from a pharmaceutical company, this would be published on the 1st page
Mhmm
Ok
Because this, you don’t have objectivity with these guys
They are on the payrolls of the big cartels, ok, and again and if you try again to send, oh, oh, my manuscript to good journals, if they reject it, we go on Internet and you describe what are these guys
So then everybody will know, because I have very good evidence
that we tried many times to publish in 1st class journals, and we are always rejected
It’s just, persistent
And not, and not because of lack of scientific knowledge
No, because of lack of priority
And who has priority ?
The guys who are paying money for advertising
Ok
So that’s, unfortunately what I think will end sometime
—————————————————————
And we are now preparing publication, on some of these results
We have already published the results on the technique of very difficult variety of breast cancer, which is triple-negative breast cancer
Now we are preparing another article on the technique of gynecological cancer, which is best series of over 100 patients treated with incurable ovarian cancer, uterine cancer, (?)
So this, has now been prepared for press
Eh, of course, I would like to, give everybody intravenous antineoplastonssee, if they qualified, but, this is limited by the government, because the government limits us to only the patients who are
have brain tumors, but the other patients, they can be treated through this combination of medication which work on the genes Antineoplastonswork on over 100 different genes
That’s why they give us, very good advantage
There are medications that also work on a number of different genes, and we can combine them together, and use them in the right way
So
that’s what we’ll continue to perfect, and that’s, uh, most of our patients
been treated with just combination of targeted medications
————————————————————— The Future (9:00)
—————————————————————
Why do you continue to do this ?
Because you know the truth, and you want to get the truth out there ?
Absolutely, because we understand we on the right track
Somebody has to do it
I was lucky enough to, find out about it
We have evidence that we are right, and, uh, I don’t think, why should I stop if, people that don’t have sufficient knowledge, who are working, on behalf of some big business, would like to stop us
We are right, and we would like to continue to help people, and, uh, that is what is going to happen
Of course, probably the best reason to make a discovery, and let it stay as it is and ask the other people to publish after I die
Yeah
That’s what happened with the discovery of Nicolaus Copernicus, who was my countryman
Eh, his book was published, sss, when he died, and, uh, for good reason, because of such fears for execution of the people who followed him
like
Hmmm
Galileo, Giordano Bruno, that it took the church, uh, only until recently to agree that, uh, they made the error, in the case
Ok
So if you come up with some breakthrough, you have a choice
Keep it quite until the other guys who understand what you do
or try to use it
In my case, I decided to use it, because I would like to, help people, and now that we can save people, so why should I keep quiet, ok, but certainly if, my work won’t get published because it keeps getting rejected by some of the journals, then we wait until I die, and then we let the other guys publish it
So, ok
======================================
====================================== Pete talks with Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski
—————————————————————— December 2011 (1:02:30)
======================================
How did you kind of get into this, into this field in the 1st place ?
Uh well, it was a coincidence, ’cause obviously I made discovery of new chemicals, peptides which is in blood, and I noticed that they were deficient in patients with cancer, and there was a curiosity, why there was such deficiency, and I was interested what these peptides that I discovered, are doing in the body
So the connection with cancer was quite obvious
He, healthy people have abundance of these chemicals in blood Cancer patients have varied to none
So could be that cancer is another deficiency disease
So
So when you found this out
Yes. Mhmm ?
how did you feel ?
I mean, did you not just want to shout from the rooftops, and could you believe that you’d actually discovered something ?
Not yet
Of course I was skeptical, and I found something that was interesting, but obviously, it was just the very beginning and when I shared this news uh with some other guys, who are obviously much older than me, who, other guys who were professors, who ever, so (laugh) they began to laugh so much they almost died from laughing
Ok ?
That (laughing)
Wow, this guy would like to kill cancer
Forget it
Ok ?
That’s just not going to happen
What are you doing ?
Yes sir (laugh)
Well how did that affect you ?
Well it didn’t affect me too much because I knew that uh the science uh requires uh some successes and uh setbacks and I felt, well I still would like to know, what these peptides can do, and I would like to know what they can do, not only regarding cancer but in various aspects of body function
For instance, the activity of the heart, the activity of the uh uh G.I. tract
Whatever
Ok
I needed to expand this knowledge
Suddenly I found some like 119 new peptide fractions
Nobody ever heard of them
So I wanted to know
What do they do ?
And when I was in Poland I couldn’t have really do any further testing, because I didn’t have such possibility to require different group of people who would do the testing, and simply by working in the biochemistry laboratory I did not have such capacity, and obviously the budget for doing uh research was extremely small
Besides, I was continuously harassed by the communists and they were sending me to, eh, the military, so I couldn’t do much
I still did whatever I could
Then I came to U.S.
Oh so you came to U.S.
What, what year was that ?
It was 1970
I heard you came with not very much money in your pocket
Uh well it was better than where I came first to the U.K., because when I came first to U.K., I came practically with nothing, and uh, when I went to British uh Medical Student Association, they were going to give me 7 pounds for one month stay in U.K. (laughing)
You were supposed to get this money in Poland
Yeah
(laughing) Sorry about that
So ultimately they decided to give me 7 pounds, and obviously at that time it was a lot of money, so with 7 pounds I was able to survive a month
(laughing) Good luck (laughing)
But in U.S., I was allowed by the communist government to $15, which again, was equivalent probably to 7 pounds, whatever (laughing)
So you came here with $15
I smuggled another 10
Yeah
So the proper balance was like
So what
So what did you do when you got here ?
Well, ehhh, when I arrived I was uh, uh, uh, trying to get ahold of my relatives
My uncle that lived in Bronx
Yeah
And uh I officially came to visit him and uh I was expecting him to see me at the airport, and surely enough he came to the airport but uh at the time he was an elderly man
He was close to 80, and eh, he probably went to a different part of Kennedy airport, so he couldn’t find me
So I was stuck in the airport
This was Holiday
This was 4th of uh September, which was a Labor Day, and so I couldn’t get uh uh to his apartment
So finally I spent most of this money for the cab, the taxi rides to his apartment
Some, like $13 worth
You had $2 left
Ye, Yeah
Plus the $10
Sure
Well, so then I stay uh I, I was obviously in the family’s, I couldn’t
Yeah
I, I don’t need to worry about it
So obviously I had a food and lodging, and uh, still I was trying to get hold of some of the people whom I knew were doing the research in the area, whi, which I was interested
Mhmm
which was peptide research, and uh trying to see if I can advance my research
And then I thought, well, if I go back to Poland, I didn’t expect to stay
And in the meantime uh my job at the university in Poland was terminated, and I wondered they needed my position for the woman who was the wife of the 3rd Secretary of the communist party
Finally when I was terminated from my job, uh, there was no need for me to go back, because I would not be able to find job anywhere in Poland, because obviously everything was controlled by communist
So that I decided to stay and to look for the possible, possibility for me to find a job in the U.S.
And wha, what job did you find ?
Um
So you were in New York ?
Yes, I was very active, of course since I was involved in the research
I knew the key people who were involved in peptide research
There were not many of them, but at least there was one good team in New York and Columbia
Um, there was another one at, uh, Cleveland Clinic, and there was another one in Houston, and so, uh, I check with all of them and, uh, the place in New York was unavailable because they hired, um, somebody, um, about a week before I came
Uh but uh, uh, I was invited to the interview to Houston
I was surprised but uh, prepared for my trip and I arrived to Houston and had interview with a professor at Baylor College of Medicine and he gave me the employment, and so it was relatively simple
And then what were you doing on like a day-to-day basis ?
Uh, well, uh, when I arrived to Houston I uh, obviously received a job
I received the job as “Research Associate,” and um, obviously this was associated with a reasonable salary, but the salary was paid once a month, so I had to think, what do I do for the 1st half of the month, because I came in the middle of the month, and didn’t have any money (laughing: both), but some good people loaned me some money so I, I have enough money to rent the apartment, and finally after I got my pay, I was able to do quite well, and I was able to advance, uh, in peptide research
So were you able to do your own research or
Absolutely. Absolutely
that they wanted you to do ?
Absolutely, and uh, I was quite lucky to join the team of the famous professor Professor George H
er, uh, who was initially professor of Sorbonne in Paris
Then in World War II he emigrated to U.K. and he was professor at Oxford, and so finally he came to U.S., and, uh, he put together the peptide research team
He needed people who know how to do analysis of peptides, so that’s why he hired me
And uh I uh told him that I have my own project, which is peptides, and if you wouldn’t mind that I do some research of mind, and he agreed
So basically this was gentleman agreement that I will spend 50% of my time working for him, and spend 50% time, working in my area
Uh, the equipment and the instruments were the same, so it wasn’t too difficult
And then you, and then when you had something to show then, when. when you had even more of something to show them, how was that received, because you see, I’ve really got something here ?
Ah
I think I’ve got something here
Absolutely, it was received with great curiosity, and, um, and obviously he needed people who could use, the cutting edge, uh, methods for peptide analysis, and that’s what I knew about, but I couldn’t use this for him because I didn’t have funds to do it, but I knew exactly what needs to be done, and on the other hand, uh, this was great surrounding because just across the corridor, another team receive a Nobel Prize for working on peptides
The only problem is, uh, one of these researchers uh was of Polish origin who received Nobel Prize for peptides (laughing)
Yeah
began, uh, fighting with the other one and finally his job was terminated because he punched (laughing)
Punched him ?
the other guy in the nose (laughing)
Yeah
Huh
So, but the good thing about it is that ultimately I inherited uh, their equipment
Yeah
for peptide research, so
Wow. So that must have been like a, like, a, a child in a sweet shop
Absolutely, so was a great coincidence so
So then you were really able to, to, to, to look at it in more detail, and ?
Absolutely, so then of course I was really out of work uh, and the team of Dr. Unger, and also, uh, I was spending a lot of time, uh, progressing in my research, which was very important uh, of course it means long hours uh, ’cause of, uh, 8 hours I would spending working for Dr. Unger and probably not 8 hours until midnight working on my uh, project, but uh, I enjoy it
In the meantime I need to prepare for exams because I wanted to have a license
So I was lucky because uh, within 3 months I was able to pass exams to uh, to naturalize my diploma, and then uh, just, uh, the day, on the eve of my birthday, on January 22nd, President Nixon had a speech in which he promised American people that by 200th anniversary of America, they would have a cancer cure, and no limits would be set on the funding
So then I thought, well, if that’s the case, perhaps I should apply for the grant also, and I did
It was crazy idea because I could barely understand when the people were talking to me (laughing: both)
Well I decided to put together grant application, in to the National Cancer Institute, and include the project on the peptides which I discovered, and I was surprised when this was approved
So then in uh 1971 I get approved as Principle Investigator, to do the project, which included eh, the top people from M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and from Baylor College of Medicine, um, and I was supervising this
I was at that time 28 years old, but I was supervising the guys who were famous, and who were some like 60 years old (laughing)
Wow
and so the money was coming to me from the National Cancer Institute, and I was uh daily uh, running the project, sharing, obviously with the guys from M.D. Anderson, so, and going ahead with the research, so
and of course at that time I was disappointed to have to (work ?) with M.D. Anderson and Baylor, and then I could move independently what I was doing
So at what point were you actually, able to start testing on people
Mmm
It took a long time because
I mean you couldn’t wait, right ?
Yeah it took a long time because obviously um, initially you have to go through a lot of pre-clinical testing
The 1st time it was uh, around the beginning of ’77, yeah
So then we began phase I clinical trials, and this phase I clinical trials were approved by one of the very good hospitals in Houston, which is part of the hospital chain American Medical International, and they interviewed my project and their Institutional Review Board approved it for clinical trials
Well then I did my 1st clinical trials, phase I clinical trial, with a medication that I am not using at this moment because we made further progress of course, at a hospital, and this hospital at that time was called Twelve Oaks Hospital
At this time it’s called River Oak Hospital
Yep
Yes
And then, at what, at what, was there a time where you realized: This is actually working ?
Well, now this was in 1977, and (laughing) surprisingly, uh, uh, perhaps one of the 1st successful case where you can really, document a clear-cut improvement by doing the scan before and after
It shows tremendous decrease of uh, uh, tumors which corresponded to colon cancer which spread to the liver
(This guy was ?)
(laughing)
(?)
(laughing)
And uh, his case was so interesting, that when I sent it for press, the editors decided to put us on the cover, of the journal, the scan
Yeah
They decided to put on the cover of Science, showing the tumor before, and, after the treatment
Eh, so this was uh , obviously
And then what happened ?
Didn’t that m kinda, didn’t word spread like wildfire and people, more and more people want to come and see you ?
Ah, Absolutely, well the 1st excitement occurred, basically what the President Nixon promised ok
That he would deliver
Yeah
cancer cure uh, by ’70, uh 6, 1976, and we did, ok, and we did deliver cancer cure
Yeah
by 1976, 1977 ok, and um, the um, main uh event was the presentation of uh our theory on our research, on perhaps one of the largest uh scientific (congress ? conference ?) in America, involved 19,000 uh, researchers attended
Eh this was annual meeting of the Federation of the Societies of Experimental Medicine and Biology
It happened that at that time it was in Anaheim, California
Uh, I sent uh, uh, the abstract of my presentation, and I was simply, patiently waiting until this would be shown, which was in ’76
In June ’76 right before 4th of July, and uh, I was surprised when they notified me that um, my abstract was selected out of one of few, which was in great interest of the news media, like Associated Press, for instance, and then when I did my presentation, then Associated Press decided to make a release of this, and then you can read about it in newspapers all over the world
In uh, (laughing) distant places like Buenos Aries, receiving CBS newspaper clips from all corners of the world
And what was that like for you ?
I mean, how did that feel, just to see that your name was, all over the world ?
This was the 2nd time, what (?) this happened to me, because 1st time it made such news, by working on brain peptides with Professor Unger; this was around ’72, and suddenly, this wasn’t so much of my
Yeah, but still it was your (interest ?)
involvement, but I was working together with Professor Unger, and we made a great news, by discovery of, certain peptide in the brain, and then it spread all over the world, and then again, uh, uh, CBS
What was that like ?
I mean, how did you feel when you saw ?
Well, uh, it was surprising because uh suddenly we got uh news people coming, and the TVs from various countries, especially from Europe, for instance, from variety of corners, like from Europe, from New Zealand, from Brazil
You name it ok ?
Eh, so there was a great excitement about it, but 1st time that this excitement happened was, is around ’72, uh, really, eh, is typically what happened after such excitement, is the ? iation ?)
ok
Yeah (laugh)
Well, uh, (laughing) the uh, establishment is and this um will attack you and will try to destroy you
Did you know that was going to happen before ?
I knew it would because in Poland, uh, my father’s, uh, gave me the book of um MIT Professor, uh, Thomas Kuhn
(here’s a guy ? try to translate to (?)
(laughing)
(?) yeah
Yeah, probably
(laughing) sure
and then uh, this was uh, the book which was titled eh, Structures of Scientific Revolutions
It happens that this book was translated to Polish language as couple of years after it was printed, in U.S.; which was around uh, I think 19 uh, 64 probably, ok
So then I read the book, and the book shows uh, how, eh, the paradigm shift occurs, ok, and the, it never fails
It always goes through the same stages
1st it’s short period of excitement, and the a long time of harassment and persecution, and then finally the brief period when uh, uh, if you survive, then uh, the other people say
well it’s obvious
We always knew (laughing) that this
Yeah
was going to happen, ok ?
So I knew what was going to happen, uh, but uh, it was hard for me to believe it uh that, uh, in the 20th century, 21st century it could happen, ok, but then uh, when uh, I began going through this, it was like going to some uh, unpleasant disease
You read about it in the books and
Yeah (?)
then uh, you finding one symptom after another, and it affects you
Yeah
and you know that it could be deadly,
(?) survive
Well you could have ended up in prison, right ?
Yeah
(?)
You may die before uh, you be able to do anything
Mhmm
So the advice of the author of the book, was that you have to start early to make some medical discovery, because you probably have years of harassment in front of you, and probably the best chance that uh, you get accepted if you live longer than your opponent, because some guys will never accept you (laughing)
Yeah
until they die
So that’s what happened
Well then, of course, I witnessed what happened with Professor Unger
Yeah, he made the great news, and obviously I contributed to what he had, but he was uh, my boss, and then obviously I did not much, suffer much from retaliation, but he did, ok
So there was retaliation, and uh, they accused him of everything possible, uh, finally causing for him to move from Houston to Memphis, Tennessee, eh, zzz, about year later he died
So unfortunately his research was never brought to the time when it was accepted, ok
It was great research, ok, and if had really to more resource and time I can bring this to be accepted, because this isn’t a completely different field
This is brain function, memory, and peptides working in the brain
But at that time unfortunately the project was killed, which is great loss for humanity, eh, ’cause the discoverer passed away, and the product was gone together with him
It can be still resurrected, and I think it will be
Eh, so then, for me, eh, it meant only advancement, unfortunately, because, uh, when uh, uh, he was stripped from the funds, I received funding from the National Cancer agency funding from the university, and I was able to support him, because he was stripped of his grants and funds
So he was able to move forward with his research, but finally when he moved, I inherited very large laboratories
My laboratory was located in 3 buildings
So the lab space and uh, uh, some prime location, in the medical school
So then I did very well, then, of course, the publicity occurred, and this publicity was centered around me, not around both of us
Yeah
at that time, in ’76, and then again there was about 1/2 a year when there was a great enthusiasm, uh, good wishes, whatever, and after that, a retaliation occurred, ok
So then obviously
Mhmm
And what was, what, what was at the heart of the retaliation ?
Uh, well,
The fact that their people didn’t want this to come to the fore ?
Initially there was some overtures to take away the discovery from me, and uh, for instance, uh, uh, uh, Baylor College congratulated me
I received diploma, so suddenly became superstar, ok (laughing)
Yeah
and then, of course, uh, the wise people, the business people from the university said: “Look, probably we should talk now about patents, we should talk about pharmaceutical companies, we should try to, somehow, put this to motion,” ok, and that’s what we did
So then uh, we talked to some of the best lawyers in the country
Of course, uh, the university uh, are in control of this
There were visits of uh, pharmaceutical companies
I remember one of them came from the research center in U.K., from High uh, Wycombe , and this was so (encouraging that ?) was very interested, what we do
But then uh, the intention was just to take uh, my, uh, in, invention away from me, and obviously
Mhmm
I would have very little to, to, do to promote this, to develop this any further
So I thought about it and I felt that I’m not going to do it
There then uh, I was offered to join the mainstream cancer research at Baylor cancer medicine, and obviously uh, I would receive much better title, of professor
Yeah
and obviously there would be much better equipped laboratory, but again eh, they wanted me to, completely quit private practice of medicine, ’cause at the same time I was practicing medicine, which many researchers were doing
I was working at Baylor College and then I was practicing medicine uh, outside Baylor College, in the group of the other doctors
So in this way I had some independence, because obviously, I could always practice medicine (laughing)
And did you always want to keep your independence,
Yes
and did you know that was always a good thing ?
That’s right, that’s right
Because I, I did not want to be uh, at the mercy of the university or the government
Uh, but I still wanted to stay in academic surrounding, because obviously I came from a family which has great tradition of academic careers
So that’s something which obviously my father was always telling me that I should be really staying in the university, ok
Eh, uh, uh, but finally I decided that I was not going to accept this offer because uh, why should I resign from my private practice
Mmm
It didn’t hurt my research in any way
So I decided to continue, and uh, then that’s when the retaliation occurred, and uh, I was (crazy ?), harassed, and attacked, and finally
And how were you harassed ?
I mean, letters or (peop ?)
Mmm, well, as I could do the research for such a long time, because really, this was some like 7 years at the university, because uh, very few people in the university knew what I was doing, because I was only responding to the National Cancer Institute, and uh, I was not part of the mainstream cancer research center
What happened is that uh, (laugh) I was employed by the Department of Anesthesiology, which obviously, on the surface has nothing to do with cancer, but, who cares ?
I was receiving grants from the National Cancer Institute, and so Anethesiology was a very wealthy department, and they had a lot of space, but they were doing very little research
So they wanted to do some type of research, and uh, the chairman of the department was supportive of my doing cancer research
So basically I conducted uh, Anethesiology
laboratory into cancer, into cancer research laboratory, and very few people knew about it
They learn about it
when uh, the Associated Press (laughing) broke the news
So then uh, the retaliation happened
Mhmm
and then they wanted me to join the mainstream, but obviously I was enjoying very much (laughing) working, in peace and tranquility, and responding only to the National Cancer Institute
So then uh, what happened at that time was that uh, obviously Dr. Unger, moved to another university, and um, uh, the chairman of the department uh, his uh, uh, employment was terminated, because it uh, he was involved in uh, the war between 2 superstars of (the ?)
One of Dr. DeBakey
and the other one was Dr. Cooley
They were 2 famous, eh, eh, cardiovascular surgeons, who were competing with each other
Ehhh, Dr., eh, the chairman of the department, was on the side of Dr. Cooley, but the boss of, uh, Baylor College was Dr. DeBakey
So after Dr., Dr. DeBakey
learned that, uh, the sympathy of Chairman of the Department; which was Dr. Cooley, his job was terminated
So then they, took another man; very old, professor, who was already retired, to be the chairman of the department
They, he knew nothing about, any type of research (laugh), especially cancer research, and, uh, once I decided to not join the mainstream, Baylor Research Center, eh, the people who are in charge of Baylor Research Center, they put a pressure, on the new chairman of the department, and they frightened him, saying look, you are, uh, in a charge of anesthesiology, but here’s a guy doing cancer research, eh, and see this was a great, uh, like liability to you, and pretty soon he may be sued, uh, without knowing what he’s doing
Ok
So then, uh, they, they, um, brainwashed the old man, and he decided to strip me, slowly from my laboratories, eh, and, and, harass me
Ok, uh, ultimately, he sent me the letter that, uh, in which he informed me that he does not see any connection between, uh, my research and anesthesiology; which was obvious, eh, but obviously I was doing the research which made the university famous, more or less
Yeah
So then one thing to another, and I decided, no, I am not going to work with, in this environment anymore, and I decided to do, try to do on my own, to start my own laboratory
So that’s what happened
Ok
And then you did that ?
You had your own, laboratory ?
Yes, and then I decided, this was just the beginning of 1977, and, uh, e, we put together a laboratory; of course I already had private practice, and, uh, I was still working
In your private practice
Yes
you were still seeing patients ?
Absolutely, absolutely
Seeing any results ?
Yeah, seeing patients, getting results
I began phase I clinical trials
Mhmm
in the hospital where I was seeing patients
I had patients at that time, in about 2 or 3 different hospitals, uh, but the hospital, where I get permission to do clinical trials, was a most supportive, and that’s why I did it this way, and, uh, obviously it was necessary for me to build from scratch, the laboratory, the research laboratory
I decided that I just, uh, I just, uh, make some funds in, our private practice, and at that time, of course, this was just, um, general (?) private practice, internal medicine private practice, em, and, uh, the funds which I produced in private practice I can use to, put together the laboratory, and that’s what we did
Ok
Step by step we build the laboratory, and we expanded our private practice
So basically, I switch from the government and then I found it best to fund the research, just privately funded research, which nothing unusual, thhh, some like 50 years before everyone was doing it
Everyone is doing this
Yes, and there’s still some people, especially in the U.K., who are doing this
Ok
Yeah
Um, the most of the discoveries were made through the, sss, through the research that was funded, by the researchers
Mhmm
There are also some, wealthy people who donated the money to do it
So only after World War II, this was, um, the system was created where, the researchers became, um, really became the slaves so, the government
Mhmm
and pharmaceutical companies, and new companies, and if they do not receive the money, they couldn’t do anything
This way I could have independence, and, uh, do whatever I want
Yes
So at what point did it get to where, action was taken against you, and you knew that you were going to have to go to court ?
The action, um, um, started very soon, and the, and began at the lowest level, which is like, county level, and then you go obviously
Mhmm
higher as you move along, and when, uh, I was leaving, uh, the university, the chairman promised me that (laugh) when I leave, uh, the obviously, quote, unquote, “They will bust my ass”
Ok ?
Yeah
(laughing)
When leaving the university
When I was leaving the university ?
Yeah
Yes
And, uh, he promised me that, uh, they will trigger the action from Harris County’s Medical Society; which is probably the lowest level of harassment and just, the somewhat prestigious society if you are are a good doctor practicing medicine, in Harris County, where Houston is, then you should be a member of the Harris County Medical Society
Uh, if you are not a member of Harris County Medical Socity they won’t grant you privileges to see patients in hospital
So this was important to be a member of the Harris County Medical Society because I was practicing medicine
Why do you think
Why do you think they wanted to stop you ?
Why did’d they wanted me to stop ?
Yeah
Well, probably just for the heck of it
I don’t know
(Laughing: both)
Ok
Well do you think they were threatened by you ?
Well, I doubt it
Their probably some type of revenge
Ehhh, since I didn’t yield to their harassment, and I decided to do whatever I was doing, and decide to do it on my own
Mhmm
and they felt, well, let’s try to kick his behind if we can
Ok
Yeah
Well I don’t think I was, uh, causing any threat to them at all, because this was really, large institution
So it escalated ?
Yes
Just starting at the lowest level
It was, eh, unpleasant because they were dragging me to like, holy inquisition proceeding, explain what I was doing, and basically they’re trying to force me to stop what I was doing by using various ways
Obviously they didn’t have any, uh, reason to do it because, uh, my clinical research; which I was doing in the most, done under the supervision of, Institutional Review Board, and before I started anything I asked, uh, I retained medical lawyers, and I asked them to check, if I can, uh, for instance, do the research to use medicine, and use it, in a patient, and they
checked with this, State authorities, Federal authorities, and at that time it was perfectly alright
So I was doing, everything, legally
So, they really couldn’t do much, but, they were harassing me, asking for me to give them a lot of documents, whatever, and suddenly, all of it stopped
It stopped because they were exposed by news media
Yeah
So, when the article was written about it, they disappeared from, the horizon, and then they never, harass me since then (laugh)
Yeah
I think it’s, lasted probably for, 2 or 3 years, and then it was gone, so
And then, and then how did that end up ?
How did you end up going to court for the 1st time then ?
Oh well, so obviously there was no, uh, issue of going to court at that time, it was only the issue that, I might not be a member of, uh
But you might not have been able to practice medicine
the medical society, and then I would not be able to see patients in the hospital
Ok
So this was deliberate, ok, and at that time, m, most of my patients were treated in the hospital, because I didn’t have yet the system to use treatment outside the hospital, like for instance the pumps that we are using now
They did not exist at that time
So it was necessary to use I.V. posts
Mhmm
and, uh, and heavy pump, heavy treatment
So then, uh, so this was, uh, it started around ’78, it continued for a couple of years, and then nothing happened after that
I was visited by, um, FDA people, but we have pretty constructive meeting
They didn’t bother me, and, uh, the next attack occurred in a 1983, and this was by, uh, Food and Drug Administration
So, suddenly I was sued, and, um, they really wanted to put me out of business
Ok
They didn’t just want to put you out of business
I mean, they wanted you, they wanted you to go to prison
No, in ni, 1983, they wanted me out of business
Right, just out of business
Yeah
Don’t want you practicing
Shut down, what I am doing, and they did it, secretly (laugh)
Most of this actions occurred around, uh, just before say Passover, and Easter
Ok
Yeah
Every year
It never failed
Ok (laughing), a, and a usually they were attacking, uh, uh
Someone
No, no
For instance it happened for instance I was away, and, uh, they were filing papers in court, like, um, around 5 p.m. on Thursday, ok, and Friday was day off, because was big Friday, Good Friday
Ok
So then, obviously, um, they then
realized I’d be away because I participated in some T.V. program, and they want to do it while I was away, but, uh, it so happens that
a one of the friendly lawyers was in court at the time, and he overheard whatever they were doing, ok (laughing),they were going for injunction, ok, and so then, uh, I would be stopped immediately
I wouldn’t be able to do much, ok, until the judge would reverse it, but, uh, he read about it and he prepared immediately temporary restraining order, and filed at the same time (laughs)
Yeah
So then, uh, I could practice without any interruptions, but, uh, then, of course,
So do you think of all the people that were trying to stop you
Yeah
Do you think any of those people actually, really, genuinely believed that you were causing harm to people
Hmmm
or do you think that they were just stopping you because ?
I think some stupid people,was at the lower level, like, uh, uh, some lower level FDA agents, they didn’t know what they were doing
They were manipulated, ok, but the guys who above, they knew very well (laughs) that, I was right
They knew what they were doing
Absolutely
They knew you were doing something
Absolutely, yes
groundbreaking
They knew very well, and that’s the reason why they attack me
Ok
Yeah
It’s obvious
So this 1st encounter, was relatively brief
Uh, we went to court, which was Federal court, and the judge, uh, would rule in our favor, and the judge, uh, uh, in the verdict, uh, cleared me from any, of the charges, and, uh, I found that I could, uh, I could treat anybody, by using my methods, but I cannot really, uh, sell medications outside the State of Texas, and that’s what I was not doing anyway
So really,
the judge
affirmed what I was doing
Right
That I’m free to use my invention, and treat people in the State of Texas, which made, of course, the government, uh, people furious, and they threatened the judge
They send the judge a letter saying that, if the judge will not rule their way, then they will go after me with criminal investigation, uh, with seizures, uh, eh, grand jury investigation
That’s what they did as the next step
When was the next step ?
How many years later was that ?
Well again, there was some like couple of years when it was relative quiet
Of course, in order to be, eh, in, eh, in order to do what I was doing, it was necessary for me to have inspection, by the inspectors, approved by the FDA, who
check our manufacturing facility, and, ah, certify that what ever we do, we do right, and there are no discrepancies
So this was obviously something, very difficult, because obviously we knew that the FDA inspectors
will always find something wrong, you know
Yeah
So these agents are trained to always find something wrong, but anyway, at inspection, uh, found we are doing everything perfect
Ok (laughs)
So we were able to pass the inspection
Uh, we are in full compliance with what is called good manufacturing practices, and then everything was quite until about 3 years later when, uh, there was a raid on our clinic by the FDA, and seizure of, ah, medical records, and then there was another, uh, obviously, ah, another, uh, part of the war began, and then, uh, we file a lawsuit against FDA, and, uh, as a result the judge forced the FDA to give back some, of the documents, and permit us to, uh, be able to copy the rest of the documents, and so then, uh, FDA began a grand jury process, and, uh, there was some, like 4 different grand juries, uh, ah, which did not find me, guilty of anything, and then finally 5th grand jury was able to indict me, which was in ’95
Ok
So when you were, when you were going to court; because I remember seeing in the
Yeah
Burzynski, the movie
Yes
I remember seeing in the photographs
Yeah
around here
Sure
there were lots and lots of people outside there (?)
Yeah
What was that like to see that ?
Oh well, ah, this was, uh, going for ever, going to court, and obviously I was going before this grand jury investigation, whatever, but ultimately, their lawsuit, uh, the trial began, in, ah, January of ’96, and, uh, it took a number of months
Ok
So I was going to court almost every day, and the people realized what was going on, and they were giving us a lot of support
So then you can see people outside the court
What was that like to see your patients ?
Well it was, ah, it was, ah, very good, uh, uh, show of (laughs)
Yeah
patient solidarity
They wanted obviously, to help us, and they knew that, uh, they have the power, and, uh, they knew that they were fighting for their lives
Ok ?
So they, uh, were dedicated people
It wasn’t easy because this was winter, and it was raining, and so it was cold weather, but obviously
Were you prepared to, to face what you could have faced, you know, that you actually could have gone to prison ?
Sure, yes
I, I knew, but I was, convinced that I am going to win
So, should I, obviously, statistically it was, uh, highly unlikely, but, uh (laugh)
Do you think that this will stop one day ?
That people will just get off your back, and (laugh)
(laughs)
you know
(?)
and can see what you’ve done
(?)
and, and see that there’s really something there
Absolutely
This is just the (?)
Absolutely, absolutely
I
That’s what I was convinced was going, to happen, and, uh, I was convinced that we are going to win, with FDA
Good, ’cause I mean, anyone does any research
Yeah
you know
I had this on here
Yeah, sure
which I’m sure you’ve seen, like on Wikipedia
Yeah
and what it says
That there’s no convincing evidence
Yeah, sure
that a randomized controlled trial has, you know
That your work, that, that there’s nothing there
Yeah
What’s that like when you come across that stuff
Do you just not read it, and just
So (laughs)
Simply don’t pay attention to it, because it, it’s not true
Ok
Yeah
You won’t be able to, do any, clinical research which we do, without convincing evidence, especially when you have the most powerful agency in the government which is against you
They’re against you, but you’ve been working with them for, for
Yes, so since 1997
Yes, but you see
Yeah
Obviously they didn’t have any sympathy to us because they lost
So they would love to find something which is wrong with what we are doing
They would love to prove that the treatment doesn’t
Yeah
So this is, very difficult
Ah, so the fact that they’ve, um, agreed that what we have has value, and they allow us to do phase 3 clinical trials, it means that we are right
Ok ?
Yeah
Because, uh, uh, nobody who didn’t have any, concrete evidence that it works, would be able to go as far
Ok
Yeah
So whatever Wikipedia says, well, I don’t care for them (laughing)
Ok, so, we, we talked a little bit about, what you, where you’ve come from, and what you’ve been through
As far as your treatment, um, to cancer, and this I’m very interested in, and why you don’t think high doses of chemotherapy is, is particularly helpful for the body, and what
Well it is generally wrong approach
It can help, some patients, wi, with a rare form of cancer, but only, eh, in limited capacity
Those who, are quote, unquote “cured”, usually die later on from adverse reactions, of chronic adverse reactions from chemotherapy or radiation, or they develop secondary cancer
So certainly, there is, this is not such a cure which you have in mind, that, use the treatment, patient recovers and lives normal life
Such cure does not exist for patients who are taking chemotherapy or radiation
They will always suffer, some problems
Either from cancer, or radiation, chemotherapy, and there is only small minority of patients who have advanced cancer who can, have long term responses
So obviously, this is unacceptable treatment
Of course, it was important at certain stage of development, but now, of course, uh, when we know more about cancer, it’s becoming, uh, unacceptable, and I think it will disappear, from the surface of the earth, in another 10 years, or 15 years, and, uh, in the medical textbook, this will be described as strange period of time, when people were using some barbaric treatment
Ok
Mmm
You have a number of different ways of treating cancer
So, one of them is the antineoplastons
Yes
This, this, this is the peptides
Mhmm
The, the this is the thing that my partner is on at the moment
Sure
in the clinical trial, and, uh, you’ve had some real great success
Mhmm
using that
Right ?
Yes
But you also have
Mhmm
another way, of, of, of treating, which is, using, it’s using some sort of chemotherapy, but in low doses
Well, um, um, whatever we are using we are using treatment which works on the genes
Antineoplastonswork on the genes, and they work on about 100 different genes
So what are they doing to the genes ?
Well, they work as molecular switches
They turn off the genes which are causing cancer, and turn on the genes which are fighting cancer
So, that’s what they do, and they produce this in about 100 different genes
It’s not enough, to control all cancer
Actually you can control some cancers, but not all of them, because you may have, numerous genes involved, in cancer
Well, for instance, in average case of breast cancer may have 50 abnormal genes involved
Uh, in, uh, like grade 3 brain tumors, for instance, anaplastic astrocytoma you might 80, or might be 100, but if, uh, you go to highly malignant tumors like, glioblastoma, you have, probably about 550
Eh, if you don’t cover such a spectrum of genes, you won’t, you’re not going to have good results
So that’s why, we know from the very beginning that we have some limitations
We can help some patients but not all of them, because, they have involvement of different genes which are causing, their cancer
So then you can still have these patients who are combining the treatmentof antineoplastons,with different medications which are in existence, which work on different genes, and this includes also some chemotherapy drugs, which are available
Eh, so this means that, um, for the patients for whom we, cannot use antineoplastons, because they are not in clinical trials, then we are using combination treatment, which consists of medication which already, approved as prescription medications, and, uh, by using the right combination by knowing which genes we need to attack, we get much better results
Now this also includes chemotherapy, but we never use, high-dose chemotherapy If necessary, we use low-dose chemotherapy, and when you use low-dose chemotherapy you don’t have, uh, toxicity, which is, bad
We use this for patients continuously, without much problem
So, so one of the main reasons of using low-dose chemotherapy is to try and keep your immune system strong, as well ?
No, to try to quickly decrease the size of the tumor, in combination with the other medications
We can use, for instance, low-dose chemotherapy and another medication which will increase activity,of chemotherapy, and as a result, you can have, as good, uh, uh, decrease of the tumor, with the low-doses
when you use heavy-dose
Well, there’s nothing unusual about it
For instance, uh, many doctors are using medications which are quite toxic
Mmm
And they, if they use the dosages, it’s helpful to the patient
The question is, what dosage will you use ?
If you use the dosages which are not toxic, it may still help the results, for instance, eh, the medication which was introduced, in mid, uh, 18th century for a particle for heart failure, in U.K. by Dr. Withering, which was digitalis extract
Obviously it was highly toxic medication
It can kill people, in dosages much smaller than chemotherapy, but if you use the right dosage, it can help people
It was helping people for over 200 years
So those are the question
What kind of dosage do you use, and what combination do you use, and then, it can be useful
How did work that out then ?
I mean, how did you work out
Mhmm
that using small dosages of chemotherapy, could be effective ?
Uh, well, uh, it’s not only based on, uh, our research, it’s based on the research of the other, doctors
There are numerous publications on the subject, and in many cases the low-dosages can be used more effective than high-dosages, and, uh, on the other hand, by doing genetic testing, we can identify, which, uh, medications are the best for the patient
‘Cause you use
(?)
’cause you use a lab, in Phoenix
Right ?
Correct, yes
And, and how did you find out about them ?
Um, how did you ?
Yeah
Well, uh, uh, frankly speaking (laughs), 1st time I find about it by, treating patients who’s referred to us by one of the best oncologists in the country
He was usually treating some movie stars (laughs)
Yeah
and I found that this patient had, uh, genetic testing done, and I got interested in this, and I found about this laboratory
It was some time ago, but anyway, while we were doing genetic testing before, but, uh, we didn’t use this laboratory yet, we did it, through some other laboratories, and such testing was much, much simpler
So, we are using such testing, for a number of years, but in the capacity we are using now, this is really the last 2 to 3 years
So what happens is someone’s, bit of their tissue gets sent off to this lab ?
Yeah, the tissue is sent to the laboratory, and, uh, they do, testing on the entire genome of 24,000 genes
They identify the abnormal genes, and they go in-depth, by studying what happened to these genes?
Are they mutated ?
Are they amplified ?
And then from this, we have, a lot of information, and ultimately we like to know, which medications we can use to treat genes
What we are doing, we are treating genes, rather than, the tumor, as such
Mhmm
And, uh, if you identify all the genes that are involved, and find out which medications we can use, we can have very good results
And that’s what you found ?
That’s right
So in some case you’re treating people that might have a certain type of cancer
Yes, mhmm
with a drug that was designed for a different type of cancer
Uh, that’s right, because we are treating the genes, and, uh, if you find out that, this particular patient has, uh, an abnormal gene, which is not typical for this cancer but we have medication
Hmmm
that works on this gene, that’s what we use
So I would imagine that to treat, uh, that to treat people, this way, is obviously the future
Everyone’s different
Everyone’s genetics are d, d, different
That’s right
genetic markers, but to treat them that way, would require a bit more work
That’s, uh, obviously (laughs) (a life’s ?) work
Uh, uh, we’ll, like, uh, not just simply for, eh, uh, 4 different types of lung cancer
Yeah
Maybe 100,000 different types of lung cancer, each with, different, uh, genetic signature, ok, and once you identify this, then you can treat, such patients logically, and have good results, and if you do it on the scale of, uh, the entire country, this would, uh, give you much better results, and, uh, great savings, because
Mmm
you won’t use expensive medications for everybody, but perhaps for 10% of the population, and then for this 10% of population is going to work
Yeah
Which means that these people will avoid disability
They won’t spend time in the hospital
Uh, they will have short course of treatment, and then they go back to work
So the government would understand, uh, that’s something that can give them a lot of savings
I think they will go for it
Eh, gene testing, eh, at this time is still, uh, relatively expensive
It’s covered by, uh, the insurance of the United States, but for people outside, may cost 5500 euros, for instance, but I think it will be substantially less expensive in the near future
I think it will be below $1,000 for complete testing
So for running the test, uh, uh, eh, and, uh, finding out which treatment, has the best chance, you can save, 100’s of 1,000’s of dollars for individual patients
Yeah, but obviously pharmaceutical companies probably wouldn’t be too happy about that
No, no
People aren’t going to be taking their medications anymore
Well obviously be mostly happy that they can sell a lot of medications, but some of them are beginning to pay the attention, because they have to, because if they don’t, their competitors, will pay the attention
Mmm
Obviously, they would like to have, possibly, the best possible results, in clinical trials, so now they begin to screen population of patients for clinical trials, and do some limited, genetic testing, but, so, of course, they do it, uh, for the better of clinical trials so have best results
Yeah
Doesn’t mean that they’ll do, do it when they sell medicine, to millions of people commercially
They may forget about mentioning this medicine works the best for
Yes
this population of patient (laughs)
So what’s your, your vision ?
Wha, wha, what do you, striving to achieve ?
Well what I am trying to achieve is to introduce the way we treat patients, in, in various countries in the world, and, uh, what this would accomplish is, 1st of all, much better results of the treatment, much simpler treatment where perhaps only 1% of patient would need hospitalization, which would, uh, result in great savings
Uh, the treatment, uh, will be done for shorter period of time
For instance, few months to get rid of the tumors, then, uh, perhaps a year, to stabilize the results, and then go back, working and living, ok, without cancer
This, uh, genetic, genomic testing would be absolutely done for every patient who will come for treatment, to identify, what is the best treatment combination indication
So that’s what I would like to foresee, and then, of course, um, immediately, you substantially reduce, the expenditures for medical
For instance, if, you assume that in the mid, medium-sized country, will spend, for instance, a billion dollar, for, socialized medical treatment which will coincide with hospitalization
Ok
Uh, then, uh, most of the cost is for hospitalization, and services necessary for keeping the patient in hospital, then treating adverse reactions, which are, occurring because of the poor selection of medications
Eh, then if you switch to the outpatient treatment because you use medications which are not going to give such bad, side-effects, because you select this medication based on genomic testing, ok, and then immediately instead of a billion dollars a year, you cut down your expenditures to about $100,000
Yeah
100 million dollars
Ok ?
Probably slash it 10 times
Ok ?
And then people will be happy because, ah, the don’t need to stay in the hospital for a long time
They have less adverse reactions
They can go to back to work, much sooner
Ok
So that’s what I, can foresee as, the treatmentin the future
Not really hospital-based treatment
Mhmm
for patients, and most hospitalization is required because of adverse reactions from chemotherapy, radiation, but outpatient treatment, much easier treatment, also medication given in tablet forms, for instince
And that’s what you’re doing here, right ?
I mean
Correct, yes correct
Usually in hospital, only, perhaps, for, one or two percent of patients, and, we would like to avoid it because when the patient goes to the hospital, he can pick up, some in-opportunistic infection, and then we are talking about more problem
Of course, I believe detection of cancer will be very important, because you don’t want to, uh, have a patient who is so advanced that he is fighting for, life, and he needs to be in the hospital
Ok
Yeah
If you had diagnosis in the early stages, then the patient does not need hospitalization
He can be treated very easily, then go back to work
So that’s the issue
And of course prevention is another important issue to us
To identify, changes in the body, which may indicate that the patient has already, early stages of cancer, also based on genetic tests, and get rid of this by using, behavior modification, by using proper diet, by using supplements, whatever, even without any medications
So, you’re obviously very passionate about what you do
Right ?
That, that’s my question about that
Well, I think it can help s, people in a great way, and, uh,
Well it can, I mean
Yeah
You have had so many su
Yes
I mean, I was talking to my girlfriend
Yeah
the other day,
Yeah
I mean, people, you know, you hear people say, this is a scam, and I was thinking, well the, if it is a scam
Yeah
it has to be one of the biggest scams ever
(laughing)
because all you’ve gotta do, is look on the walls
Yeah
and you look at those photographs
Yeah
Perhaps, this won’t surprise you
I’ve spoken to some oncologists just in the U.K., and they say, all of these people that you have helped, they either ever had cancer in the 1st place
Mhmm
or they were misdiagnosed
Yeah
or, uh, they went into spontaneous remission
Yeah, well
or they, it was the chemotherapy or radiation
These people, they don’t know what they do
They never, have never seen our results, and obviously they can’t believe that something like this could happen, but suddenly (laughs), in this room we are in now, we have some of
the top experts in the country, like people from FDA, who are expert oncologists, specialists
They’re working with you
Oh, they came here to inspect what we have
Yeah
They look at every scan of the people who are in clinical trials, and they decided that we have very good results
And is that stuff going to be published at some point ?
Ah, yes, we are publi, we are preparing this for publication, but, uh, obviously, in order to have the right results, you need, time, and most of our clinical trials began, approximately 10 years ago
So then we, if you would like to know what happen after, 10 years with these people
Mhmm
then you need to have a little time
So now we are preparing a number of, uh, publications, uh, and so this year we should have a number of publications, which will show final results
So far we didn’t have, final results, so were only interim reports, during the course of clinical trials
And with, uh, with brain tumors; because obviously, that’s an area that you’ve had
Yeah
huge suc, success rate
Yeah
What, why has that, do you think, as opposed to the other, types ?
Because that’s where we selected
Mhmm
We wanted to have something difficult
Ok (laughs)
Yeah
Because, uh, for the same reason that you mentioned
If you’d had something easier then, the doctors could say: “Well, this cancer usually disappears in its own”
And they are right
Some cancers may disappear on its own, in some higher percent than the others
Mhmm
But you know, brain tumors, you read, they never disappear on their own
Yeah
So that’s why we, decided to select such type of malignancies which are the most difficult
So what’s that been like when you’ve seen, I mean, I’ve seen obviously Jodi Fenton’s story
Yeah
Whe, whe, when you see these people’s
Yes
uh, scans
Yeah
and you see that that tumor has shrunk
Yeah
or broken down
Yeah
wha, what does that feel like ? (laughing)
Well, we see this all the time
(?) it just happens almost every day
Even today that we saw the patient, uh, who has pancreatic cancer, and after a few months of treatment it’s practically gone, and she is the wife of a doctor (laughs)
They came together, and that’s, that’s what we see practically every day
Ok
That must give you great strength to
Absolutely
continue
Absolutely, yes
So that’s something which is gratifying (laughs)
Yeah
What do you think the future is as far as drugs for cancer are concerned ?
I believe that, we are still at a very early stages of development in this area, but the future will be, with medications which are, highly specific, they will work on the genes that are involved in cancer
So, they will not harm normal part of the body, and, du, du, how to combine this medications will be established by, the special software, which will guide the doctors how to use proper medication for individual patient
I think this will be the, um, treatment that will be designed for, individual patient, and such design, it is not necessary to be done by the doctor
I think it should be, uh, certain computerized system which will put together, the best possible treatment plan, for a patient; which obviously needs to be checked and approved by the doctor
So I believe that this will be the future of medicine for the next, say, 40, and 50 years, coming up with better and better medications, which will be genomic switches, which will turn off, the cancerous process by regulating the genes which are involved; they simply will bring, the activity of these genes to normal levels, and finally, the new generation of medication which should work on cancerous stem cells, and, the medications which can kill cancerous stem cells without, uh, producing any harm to normal stem cells
So this will be the clue for, long-term control of cancer, because if you don’t eliminate, cancerous stem cells then the cancer will come back
Yeah
And that’s why chemotherapy, usually is unable to control cancer for a long time because, it’s pretty much powerless, ah, uh, regarding action on cancerous stem cells
But then after that, I think that we will make another, jump, and there will be, uh, procedures that will based on biophysics
Mmm
and by trying to get rid of, uh, the cancer and some of the diseases by effecting the body by using various, uh, wipes, which will be like magnetic wipes, it will be some other types of wipes, but using proper frequencies to, normalize all the cells in the body to normalize the activity of the genes
I think this will be a
Mmm
probably the next, uh, say 50 years of, uh, the end of this century when such (?)
So no one’s getting funding really, unless they’re doing it privately to,
being able to, isn’t that being able to research these areas, because funding really comes from pharmaceutical companies ?
Ah, well, most of this funding is from pharmaceutical companies, and also it is coming from the National Cancer Institute but, I think it’s regulated behind the scenes by the pharmaceutical companies
Eh, but they are still some researchers who are trying to do it on their own
Very few of them
I think there’s articles, in the Science magazine, some time ago which was talking about, uh, few of these researchers who are still trying to do, research on their own, and, I think, uh, I think there were probably some 4 or 5 of them in U.K. (laugh)
Yeah
still involved in research on their own
So what ah, what about the role of the mind ?
Do you think that, if someone has cancer and they wanna be well, do you think the way that someone thinks is important ?
Absolutely, that’s very important because, this, uh, can be translated, ah, to various biochemicals which can influence cancer
So obviously this is very important but, the question is how to, ah, direct this in the proper way
Ok
How to quantify this
So that’s something that should be done in the future
And nutrition as well
Yes, absolutely, yes
Why all have a lot of important chemicals in nutrition which can effectuate cancer, but regarding the mind you have to translate, uh, for instance, biophysical factors, in the brain, into biochemical factors, and certainly, that’s what the body’s doing all the time, but how to mobilize it, that’s a different story
Yeah
So if someone wants, if someone came to the Burzynski Clinic, wh, wh, what could they expect, to happen here?
Well 1st of all, we would like to give a selection, and we don’t want the people who we cannot treat to come
Uh, at this time we rather avoid, uh, patients in early stages of cancer, because with such patients, uh, what is used is standard of care treatment, and we prefer to refer them to, ah, different doctors
So we prefer to treat it once cancer patient, because, uh, they cannot be helped by the other doctors, and, uh, when they come to our clinic, we try to find out 1st, see if we can really help them or not, and, uh, once they come to the clinic, in most of the cases we can try to, help them, of course, and, uh, we put together, the personalized treatment plan, which is (?)
But all of those go through you
You look at every single one of those
Yes
I’m seeing every patient, who’s coming, if I’m
Yeah
if I’m around here, but, after that all the patients are really assigned to different senior physician and they’re responsible for daily care of patient here
How many people do you have, working here now ?
About 150 people here, yes
And you started with, well, just one (?)
Eh, I think really when we moved from Baylor College I had about 7 people at that time
Yeah
Yes, because, some of these doctors who are working together at Baylor College decided to leave together with me, including my wife, because she was also working at Baylor College
Yeah
Ok
Thank you
You’re welcome
My pleasure
Thank you so much
Thank you very much
Ok
======================================
====================================== 4/2012 – Pete Cohen chats with Rick Jaffe (33:59) 11/9/2012 Richard A. Jaffe, Esq.
======================================
How did you meet Dr. Burzynski?
A long time ago in 1988, um, he hired us to represent him in his Medical Board case, so, uh, started working for him then, and then there got to be more and more work, and, uh, at some point it was so much work, it was just easier for me to be down here
So I moved from New York to Texas, mostly just to, to represent him, and my wife was in the oil industry, so, it was a “no brainer” for her to move down here too
And how, were you intrigued by this whole case ?
I mean, did you work out straight away that this guy was genuine, and there was really something here ?
No (laugh)
How do you know, you know ?
At the time we represented, uh, a number of a alternative health practitioners around the country, and we heard a lot about Burzynski, but you don’t really know
I mean, um, um, there are a lot of stories out there
Every doctor seems to have a few patients, uh, that were helped
So initially, I mean, how do you know ?
His operation was larger than most of any, uh, health practitioners, alternative health practitioners in the country, and, uh, seemed a lot more sophisticated, but, uh, it’s not really until you dig in the medical records of the patients that you really see what’s going on
I mean, that’s what you really need
I mean,
It’s not really even, it’s
’cause this whole thing about anecdotal evidence, that everyone has testimony
so every doctor
You know what I mean ?
anybody
Even charlatans have testimony
people
one or two people
or 3 or 4 that’ll come, and say w
they were cured, and maybe, maybe the patients really believe that to be the case, but, um, oftentimes there’s other explanations
Prior treatment, um, the nature of the disease
Sometimes it’s such that their natural, the natural history is not straight linear, um, but after looking at some of the medical records, I mean, you know, I think
it’s just,
uh, anybody would become a believer, and indeed, I mean, government, government doctors have come down here and looked at
some of the records, and they were convinced that, that the treatment was causing remissions in some brain cancer patients
So, I mean, obviously lawyers, I imagine many lawyers all over the world would often take on a case, when they know, possibly the guy isn’t telling the truth, but they can see there’s still a story, and they, they, they, they, uh, represent that person, but for you, I suppose
that when you realized that there really was a story here, did you kind of get, emotionally caught up in this whole thing and think: “Right, th this guy’s got a cure for cancer, and I I need to bring this to, bring him to just, not bring him to justice, but, clear his name
Well, I think with Burzynski, more so than any client I’ve ever represented
He represents a unique constellation of medical services
He’s the only guy in the world doing what he’s doing with antineoplastons and now with this treatment, so, it’s really different
Uh, you know, with Burzynski, most of the patients, are in bad shape
They’re either dying, uh, they, or they have a disease for which there is no known cure, you know, like a lot of these brain tumors
So, even from the beginning, what’s different is their are many, many patients back then who were on the treatment, that uh, that felt that without this treatment they were going to die, and so that, that’s much different, than the average, any kind of lawsuit
Right ?
So th th these lawsuits, the Burzynski cases back then and now, uh, these cases matter, in a, in a deeper, and fundamental, and personal way than most anything, well I think that any lawyer does
I mean, any criminal defense lawyer, who defends an individual, is defending that person’s, uh, liberty
Alright ?
Versus incarceration
But here it, it wasn’t so much, or, it wasn’t exclusively about Burzynski, it was really about all these other patients, and they certainly believe they needed him, and, uh, uh, many of them, obviously did
So, so that, that, that’s a whole ‘nother dimension, which typically we lawyers don’t get involved in
So, I mean, it’s a responsibility but also a great privilege to be working on these kinds of cases
You’ve been representing him for how long ?
For a long time
Since 1988, continuously
And can you believe this is still going on ?
Well, you know, uh, it’s, you know, it’s, it’s just ongoing
I mean, until there’s a cure for cancer, for all cancer, either done by acknowledged
or, uh, uh, to be Burzynski’s cure or somebody else’s
I mean, this is ongoing
And I guess the problem is, you know, ultimately, there’s nobody yet
Not even Burzynski has the cure for every cancer or
even every stage, or even ev, every, ev, ev, every person that had cancer
So, because it’s such a tough battle, and because, it doesn’t work on everyone
So you have these open questions
Ah, so, so,
Yeah, I mean, I guess, I, I can’t believe he’s still messing around with these clinical trials
I mean, I think that if the drug didn’t have his name attached to it, it’d probably would have been approved by now
So, and I think, so that, that’s unfortunate, I think, that when you fight the FDA, and even if you win, you know, the F, the repercussions, you know, you know I, you know I
Hopefully the drug will be approved, sometime in the future, but, but who knows ?
So, um, why do you think, why was it, I mean, obviously I came over here as you know, for this case, which is now not going ahead at the moment
Why, why, why is that ?
Wha, what has the judge, said ?
Well, of course, you have to (under)stand, this case involves a different type of treatment
It doesn’t involve antineoplastons,the drug Dr. Burzynski invented, and your friend is receiving, and it involves a new approach to cancer, which is sort of like personalized medicine, where they take a bunch of FDA approved drugs, that have shown some promise, on a particular cancer, but are not, uh, approved for that indication, and based on these early clinical trials showing promising results for genetic testing they give these combinations of FDA approved drugs, off-label to patients, and that’s really what the, this case is about, and, uh, you know I think, I don’t think they, they never had a case
I mean, they never had a case
The, the main allegation, in each, of the 2 patients involved, is that they used this treatment, which wasn’t sufficiently tested, and was non-therapeutic, and whatnot, and we had a, what I would call a dry run
We presented the evidence to the Board, or 2 members of the Board, in both of these cases
In each, in each case, the Board members felt that the treatment, was within the standard of care, given the advanced condition of the patient, or one patient, and given how rare the other patient’s tumor was
So, we had our dry run in each case, and the Board found in our favor on the main charge
They had some technical issues with medical records or whatnot, and, uh, the Board basically said, they took the position, ok, agree to some kind of sanction on these little charges, or, or we’re going to go after you on everything
So, we refused the honor, and, uh, the Board then charged him with the same thing that they already cleared him with, or on, and, and so we had to do, you know, basically the same case again, and, uh, the irony in, is in these 2 cases Burzynski wasn’t even in the country
He was, he was, he was away for, uh, in both, for both cases, when the patientscame
So, uh, the question is how do you hold someone responsible
Even if you own the clinic, for treatment administered and prescribed, by other doctors, and that concept of vicarious liability does not, uh, exist in jurisprudence, and in the law governing professional re, responsibility, anywhere in this country
So, the Board’strying to start that
You know, I think they just got in over their heads, they
Most people just knuckle under
You know, most people don’t, are afraid to go to court, so they’ll sign anything just to, you know, not to go forward, but, you know, Burzynski faced serious stuff
I mean, he set, faced, 5, 10, 15 years in jail
So he wasn’t going to be intimidated, by the Medical Board, and he refused to give in
So when I told the Board at the time, and I told them all along, they have no case, and o on the merits they have no case
We already won, and they have no case now, and, and slowly I think, the Board is starting to understand that
And what sort of a person would you say Dr. Burzynski is ?
Well I think he’s a complicated person
I mean, I think, uh, uh, you know, he, I think like a lot of mavericks; I represent a lot of mavericks around the, uh, uh, country
One of the main characteristics of these guys, is that they have absolute and total certainty, in what they believe in, in what they do, um, and no doubt
Uh, they all think they’re right
They all think that history is going to vindicate them
Now, I’ve represented some people where I personally doubt (laugh) that, uh, uh, that belief, but not in Dr. Burzynski’s case
I mean, I think he’s all, he’s definitely helping people
He’s definitely, uh, uh, uh, making, extending people’s lives, and curing some people that otherwise would have died, and so I think he, and so I think he happens to be right
So, uh, you know, so, but, but he’s a human
He’s got a big ego
He thinks he’s, uh, he thinks he has made an important, contribute to medicine, and he’s not shy about sharing that sentiment
So, uh, I think, and I think that he’s, uh, not American
So he comes with a completely different mentality towards, say, the government
Alright, he grew up in communist Poland, where everyone, where everyone, has to work around, the government, and I think that’s much harder here, and, you know, I think he has expectations that, that he would have a lot more freedom, than it turned out he had, too, and he thought he would not have to deal with the kind of government, uh, rigamarole that you have to deal with in communist, Poland
And, and how do you think it might all pan out for him ?
I mean, I know you don’t have a crystal ball, but if you could look, 5 or 10 years down into the future, and, do you think that he will have got somewhere, to be accepted in the medical (?) of oncology ?
Well, I certainly hope so
I mean, 5, 10 years from now
I mean, I think, at a minimum, what’s going to happen, there will be many, many patients who will be alive, and continue to be alive because of him
Some, will have their lives extended
Some will be cured
Some wi, won’t be cured, and will die
So, I think that’s for sure, going to happen
You know, is there going to be an end to, uh, all this ?
We had a period of maybe 10 years where there was very little action with the Board, but, uh, you know, it’s hard, frankly, I mean, just in, and again my perspective, like I’m in a, like a, a sergeant in the trenches, in trench (laugh) warfare
So, it’s hard for me to see the big picture
I mean, I just keep fighting these battles, and there’s one, after another, after another
So this is really just the latest, and on there’s civil lawsuits, and then there are people on the Internet, and then, you know, there could be more Medical Board investigations
So, lo, look there are a lot of people who don’t like what he’s doing
They think what he’s doing is either unethical or wrong, or shouldn’t be giving drugs, these drugs to people, except under clinical trial conditions, and, you know, he has detractors, and he has a lot of supporters
I mean, uh, mostly amongst the patients he’s cured
So, I don’t know that, that, that is gonna resolve itself
I mean, ultimately, he’s one of the few people in the country, that, or maybe the only person in the country that does what he does, and, it’s not the way medicine is practiced, in this country, typically
Right, and, you know, I think what he does, is, is more, is more patient oriented, in a sense that, once you’ve been told you’re terminal, why should you just get the palliative care that a medical oncologist thinks, you know, they should be given
even though when, no one ever gets cured of chemotherapy, once it’s palliative, once you have stage 4, solid tumor
Mmm
I mean, they give chemotherapy for what they call palliative reasons, which means, not curative
So, this concept of giving, just conventional chemotherapy to make you feel better, extend your life 9 weeks, I mean, y, not everyone wants to do that
Some people want a shot for a real cure, and, you know, based on the evidence with antineoplastons
, I mean, he seems to be giving people that shot, and curing some of the people
So, you, you know, I don’t see how, this thing gets resolved
Up until the time that the treatment, the antineoplastons is approved by the FDA and, you know,
it’s, it’s hard to see a clear path, for that, for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is financial
I mean, it takes dozens of 10’s of millions of dollars
Mmm
or 10, 100’s of millions
So, I mean, someone has to finance the clinical trials
The drug companies aren’t interested right now
They’d just as soon, buy a drug that’s been fully tested
So, I mean, the drug company response has not been overwhelming, because, even though this phase 2 phase, have resolved, and, and, uh, they have excellent results, the drug companies want to wait and see
So, uh, it’s, it’s big money
I don’t think there’s any way in the world Dr. Burzynski, himself, can fund phase 3
I mean, he, he funded everything else now, but phase 3 are, is a much bigger stage involving dozens and 100’s of patients, and that’s just within the financial means of any individual
it seems like it’s unlikely that its going to happen right
I mean, even from the point of view of, what, with phase 3 trials, they’ll be with children
with brainstem gliomas, right
and the FDA’s saying they’ve got to have radiation
Yeah I, um,
I unfortunately, I haven’t been involved in that process
I just see the result, and I, I, I just don’t see how any parent agrees to that, you know
I don’t see how any parent agrees to it
I don’t see how clinical investigator, agrees to do it
Um, I don’t know
I got so, I got some questions of the FDA as to, why they forced him into this particular protocol
I mean, I don’t know
I don’t have any facts or evidence, but I, I, just doesn’t make any sense to me
what’s you’re about that ?
I don’t know
I mean, I, it just doesn’t seem to me, that it’s a, that it’s a fair clinical trial that
Mmm
either an investigator would find ethical, or a patient, or a family, would agree to have their patient treat, their, their kid treated under
I mean, it just doesn’t make any sense to me
I mean, it’s worse than
I mean, both phases, both phases, both arms of the study, you get radiation
It’s radiation alone versus radiation with his stuff
So, I mean, it just doesn’t make any sense to me, given, given the clinical, the phase 2 clinical trial results
So just a, so just a few things, like, you know I’m going to talk about big Pharma, and then talk about the FDA
Right
They talk about the many people as if they’re one person, but, you know, they’re obviously a collective group of individuals who work for an organization, right ?
Well, I mean, I think, the concern is, that the FDA now, by statute is, in no small part funded, by the pharmaceutical industry
It’s like “Pay as you go”
So the, the pharmaceutical ind, industry now, pays for, the processing of the clinical trials by the FDA
So, and then you have the whole concept of the revolving door
You have a lot of government officials going into the drink, uh, drug companies
So I think that’s another problem
So, I mean, you know, I think conspiracy is too strong of a word, m, but, you know, I will say, I don’t think the system’s set up, for an individual like Burzynski, to get a drug approved
I, I, I just don’t see
There’s no support for that
I mean, the days
I mean, it’s like, Einstein, you know ?
He sat in a patent office, and, and doodled, and had his little theory
He could never get his, stuff published today, you know ?
Where did he go to school ?
Where was he teaching, you know ?
So Burzynski has a lot of the same problems
They say he doesn’t publish, but, they won’t let him publish
So, uh, or they won’t let him publish , in, in the mainstream journals
So, I, I, I think though, I think the, I think the system, has a strong bias, against a guy with a discovery
So, that’s not quite saying, there’s a conspiracy, but it’s, it’s sort of along the same lines, and, you know, the conspiracy implies some kind of, um, intentionality on the part of one or two, or some small group or coterie of people, and I don’t know, I don’t think that’s really the case
I think what happens is, the institutions are such that, they allow certain things, and disallow certain things
Alright ?
I think that’s just
there’s no
I don’t think there’s any 2, 3, 4, or some, coterie of Rocka, they’re like a Rockefellerconspiracy
People are saying that there are 12 industrials
That they control the world
I mean, I don’t see that happening, but, the whole system is such that, you know, it’s, it’s
I guess what, uh
The, there’s a book by, uh, a, a, Thomas Kuhn, the Structure of Scientific Revolutions, and he talks about, normal science, and how science progresses, in terms of paradigm shifts
So, normal scientific medicine, works, uh, by big institutions doing, studies about combinations of drugs, after drug companies, invent mostly, modifications of existing drugs, and, less commonly, completely new drugs, and, uh, less commonly, different classes of drugs
So, you have a whole, you have a whole pipeline from a drug company, a whole, uh, uh, mechanism of testing, by the universities, funded by the pharmaceutical company, uh, all the pharmaceutical companies, and that, that just doesn’t lend itself, to one guy, sitting someplace in Houston, or wherever, and having a drug, put through that process
That just doesn’t happen Burzynski is, so far as I can tell, the only person, to ever completed, a phase 2 trials on a drug he invented
I don’t think that’s ever happened, before, and I don’t think it’ll ever happen again
Ah, was it ’98, was it the chairman, uh
Kessler ?
Kessler
I saw, an interview he gave, press, a press conference where he was explaining about, being able to fast-track
The FDA trying to make it possible to fast-track, you know, drugs that have shown, you know, positive, rather than going through all of this sort of clinical trial, and there’s a guy in the, in the press conference who started asking questions about Burzynski
Right
and you could just see quite clearly he was very uncomfortable
Right
asking questions about, uh, about Dr. Burzynski
How do you think someone like him,
would view, someone like Dr. Burzynski?
Not favorably
I think that, uh,
Do you think they must know ?
Do you think they must, even he, let’s just say, if he were on his own, he, he knows there’s something there
That he’s obviously got something
I,
I don’t know, uh
I think, that, the guys in conventional medicine, because Burzynski came from orthodox medicine
He was at Baylor
He was a researcher at Baylor
So, I think, they’re not going to Burzynski, is that, he didn’t go about it, the way, other physicians would have done it, other scientists would have done it
So normally what would happen, is, uh, uh, I mean, I think the critical, point in his story is that, when he was at Baylor, and his, uh, professor was supporting him, this Unger, left, you know, they had space for him
They wanted him to go in the Oncology, uh, Department, but, they wanted the patent, to his drug, and he wouldn’t do it
So, that would have been the more conventional approach
You give up the patent rights, you become part of the team, then some big institution, uh, uh, shepherds the drug through, and then they find some drug company support, who will split the patent with the university
So, had he done that, uh, you know, I think the drug woulda been approved by now, but, you know, it was his drug
He came to America with it, and he wasn’t going to give it all away
So, I mean, I just think that’s, you know, I mean and that’s, you know, I think he wasn’t expecting that kind of thing in America
Maybe in communist Poland, but not in America
So I think that really, you know, set him down the path of being a, a, an alternative health practitioner
And wha, wha, what was it like for you when, uh, winning, the case, in was it, 199, 3, 1998 ?
’97
1997
Well, you know, there wasn’t just one case
I mean, I mean, it was everyone
I mean, I analogize it to, like whack-a-mole, or whack-a-rat, you know
You have, like a rat come out of, of a hole, and you bang him, and one comes out of this hole, and all of a sudden you’ve got 2, and then 3, and, so, you know, during the early ’90’s, I mean, I mean, there were 3 grand juries, uh, we had the Medical Board action, which went to hearing in ’93
The Texas Department of Health sued him in ’92
Half a dozen insurance companies had sued, uh, uh, sued him for, for some, for Racketeering
Uh, Texas Air Quality Department went after him
I’m trying to think who else
So, all of this happened, over the course of 3, or 4, or 5 years, and it was just, continuous, and so, one agency would, would get active, and then, they get beaten down
Then somebody else would come, uh, come up, and surface, and indeed, I mean, you know, it, you know, some of them flat out said they were waiting to see what happened, with this oth, wha, what happened with this other agency, and they weren’t gonna do anything, and then when they got tired, they decided, that this new agency had to do something
So, I mean, that was flat out, what happened
So, yeah, I mean, it culminated in the criminal case, I suppose, but even there it was up and down
I mean, the judge ordered, uh, ordered, prohibited him from giving the treatment to anybody else, because the Texas Medical Board case, ultimately went against us, and then we had to go Congress, and Congress forced the FDA to put all his patients on clinical trials which made the Medical B, Board case moot, and then we won the criminal case
So, after we won the criminal case in, uh, ’97, things got quiet for a little bit
So that, that, that was good
I mean, it was quiet
I mean, relatively quiet, and then, uh, lately in the last couple years it’s been very active again
So the worst case scenario would have been
What would have been the worst case scenario ?
For when ?
And this, this
What could have happened this week if the case had gone ahead ?
Well, the worst case scenario would be, there would be a finding, that, that it’s a depart, it’s a departure from the standard of care to use, uh, off-label drugs, that haven’t been approved by the FDA for an indicated use, and you can’t use the combination of the drugs until someone gives the stamp of approval saying that their safe and effective, which means, you know, you couldn’t, it couldn’t, you couldn’t give the treatment anymore to patients
So you have 100’s of patients that are on this multi-agent gene-targeted therapy, and ultimately that form of treatment is only available at the Burzynski Clinic
I mean, I don’t think that even clinical trials Burzynski, depending on how you look at it, he’s a few years ahead of, of, uh, well, even the clinical trials
I mean, they’re some clinical trials now on different kinds of cancer where they’re doing 1, 2, or 3 agents
He’ll use 4 or 5, albeit, lesser dosages
So he’s treated 1,000’s of patients like that, but there’s no place else in the world where people can get, the treatment
So it’s kinda the same thing as back in the ’90’s
We have people on drugs, uh, which are unavailable, uh, and, only available through Burzynski
So, if he couldn’t give them, to people, then they wouldn’t get ’em, and, they’re terminal, and, they’re doing well
I mean, or they’re not going to do as well, or they’re going to die
So, it’s, I guess it, it’s sort of the same thing here, ah, uh, only, uh, the irony is all these drugs are, approved by the FDA, and most cancer patients get off-label, uh, drugs Drugs off-label
So that’s, very common in cancer
It’s just that not common with the drug used on these patients, and in the combinations used
So, this finally
Whe, when you’ve, uh, won these cases, I mean, there must be, it must be good, right ?
It must be good feeling
I had a good feeling last week
I mean, I mean, you know, or I’ve been working non-stop, for months, every day
I mean, there’s no day off in this kind of stuff
It’s just constant
It’s just, his war
There’s always something to do, and then I’m a solo practitioner
So, when the judge cut the heart of the Board’s case out, I’ve been telling the Board, that they can’t, that they have no basis to, to, to bring charges against him, for several years, since 2010 , 2009, and they’re not listening, and, and, I was pretty sure that once you had a judge look at the case, they would, rule in our favor, you know, but the problem is the Board is, like a law unto themselves, and they think they can do anything, and, uh, they just changed the law, in September
So actually, the Board has no recourse
They, they used to be able to change findings of facts, and conclusions of law, but as of September, 2011, they can no longer do so
So, if the, judges’ ruling s, uh, stands, as I think they will, their only remedy is going to be to appeal to a State District Court, and they’re not used to that, because they, like exercising, uh, complete authority
So, they’re in a new position, and I’m sure this is the 1st case, that they’ve ever, not gotten what they want to, from, from a judge, administrative law judge, and not being able to correct it
So, I mean, that, this is a good ti, completely new experience for the Board, and I feel bad for them (both: laughing)
You, you, you do
As a Board they all sit down, and as a group of people, and talk about Dr. Burzynski, and, and, and work out how they’re gonna bring him down, and then ?
Well, that’s more the conspiracy
I, I, I, I think that, some of the Board members, may know of him
He, but, but, but like I say, he’s appeared in front of these informal settlement conferences, and basically, individually they, I mean, exonerate him, of, of the main charges, but I, I, I think that, you know, when we talk about the Board, the Board other than these a, acting informal settlement conferences, where you have one Board member, and one member of some district disciplinary review committee, we’re not really talking about the Board members, these doctors, and lay members of the Board, we’re talking about the Board staff, and that’s the lawyers and administrators of the Board, and I think, you know, I don’t know
I have some, uh, uh, they need to clean house
I mean, they’re getting some very, very bad legal advice, and I, I just think the legal advice at the top, is, is, is horrible, and, and they need to make some dramatic changes, and I think it would be better for the people of Texas if they, just did some house cleaning with the administrative staff there
And what do you think about the way that, uh, Dr. Burzynski’s been , what’s the word, in England, he’s got a very bad press there
(Alright ?)
and, um, why do you think that is ?
Uh, why, well, I mean, look
I mean, I think, people have opinions
They’re,
they have the right to express opinions
I mean, I think, uh, some of his agents did some things that I think, were not wise, in retrospect
I mean
Mhmm
Uh,
The stuff with the, this kid, this blogger
Yes
(?)
And I think that, uh
I think you have to be very careful, about what you tell people that are expressing opinions, and, you know, I mean, I, I, I think, you know, I think there’s a reason why, lawyers get involved in these cases, and should be involved, and I think what happens is, you know, I think there was a, you know, a well meaning, individual, who just went too far, and I think stirred things up unnecessarily so
You know, I mean, I think someone who had some legal training, acting on Burzynski’s behalf, might not have made some of the, you know, just faux pas that were made
So, I mean, that stirred, some things up, and I think
(?) stirred something up that was already there ?
You know, ’cause, I know, I’ve spoken to so many people in the U.K., and, uh, and you find very few people that have anything positive to say
In fact, a friend of mine who’s a famous doctor on television, when I was here, he was on British television with a little girl, and her father, who were trying to, uh, raise money to, um, come over here and, um, in fact, they couldn’t come anywhere, come, they couldn’t come anyway, because, the, uh, FDA said that this type of brain tumor, she couldn’t be treated anyway
But this doctor, who’s a friend of mine said, uh, Dr. Burzynski is, you know, he’s a medical pioneer
He’s, uh, uh, he said that and then literally, for 2 months, non-stop, I think especially on Twitter, they said that he never should have said this, and the guy is a quack, and he’s a, he’s a fraud, and
So your, your friend got in trouble for saying that he’s a pioneer ?
He didn’t get in trouble, but I mean he got a lot of bad press, for speaking on television with this child next to him, saying that, Dr. Burzynski was, you know, a pioneer, and pioneers often have a hard time, and
Right, right
And, you know, you look at Twitter, uh, you probably don’t
You could be (laugh) and you just see, it’s probably, probably the only, 30, hard, hard core people, who spend, all of their time, trying to
Yeah, I think that’s right
I think it’s a very small group, of people, that are making pretend it’s a big movement
I mean, we’ve looked, at some of the traffic
We’ve analyzed some of the traffic
I don’t even think it’s 30
I think it’s more like, 3, or 4, or 5, that are creating things, and then someone had some friend who’s an actor, who has, you know, 3 million followers, and all
So it’s really a very small group of people, but historically, medical doctors who have stood up for Burzynski, have had negative consequences
We had, someone from the National Cancer Institute, NIH testify, this Nick Patronas, and he got in a lot of trouble for doing that
So, you know, it’s not, it’s, unfortunately, you know, speaking up for Burzynski can have, uh, negative career consequences, or, or just some bad P.R., but that’s, part of being a pioneer
It doesn’t mean that, uh, Burz, I mean, if anything, I mean, it shows, it shows that’s like the medical mafia
Yeah
So, that’s what I call, the church of medical orthodoxy
So, that’s what I call
So
Well I, I think it’s gonna be so interesting when I get this film broadcasted, to see what kind of reaction we get
It, it’s just a story I felt I had to (?)
Where are, where are you going to try and get it ?
I’m going to try and get it
I know people at the BBC
Right
I’ve worked in television
So I’m going to try
Oh really, (?)
I’m gonna try those avenues, but you know what ?
Even if it doesn’t
You have cable
You have some kind of public access ?
Yeah
I’ve, I’ve worked in television for years
So I’ve, I have a very good stab at getting it out there, but if I don’t, I’ll get it broadcasted on the Internet
Oh sure
You do, do a YouTube or something, or do what Merola did as a documentary
(?)
That’s had an amazing impact
Yeah
He’s making a sequel Eric was just over in England
Oh really ?
I looked after him when he came over
Yeah
He wanted to talk to some of the patients and doctors
Eric, I said, ah, you know, so, we’ll see
But listen, I really appreciate the opportunity to ah
Ok, no problem
really, to be able to talk to you
======================================
I will be doing some data clean-up and adding additional video transcripts
——————————————————————
What stood out to me in the first and lastvideos is that you could hear both sirens and birds
Unlike “The Skeptics™” (sirens) #whining, the birds were celebrating Hannah #winning
——————————————————————
Just as I did with the case of Burzynski patient Laura Hymas, so will I do with her friend, Hannah Bradley
Yes, unlike “Orac” I will let Hannah speak for herself instead of adding any bias as “Dr. Check my Facts” Hack does
—————————————————————— Team Hannah Blog
6/6/2013 – Posted by Hannah
(6:14)
Okay
Hello everyone
Hi
It’s uh Thursday the 6th of June
Yes
(laugh) And uh we’ve got some really good news
We’ve kind of been holding back a little but
we just wanted to be certain
so what were you going to say
Uh, I am finally off treatment
Finally off treatment which is great so as far as Dr. Burzynski is concerned, the treatment is now finished
Hannah is free
Free of the bag
Free of
Yes
Yes
How’s that feel
Yeah, it feels really kind of strange to be honest
Well you want to go back on it again
No
No
But I
I miss the bag, because I miss carrying around ohhh
Now you’re just being a little bit stupid
Um, but the great news is today, we went to go and see Hannah’s surgeon
Yes
Oncologist
A another surgeon another doctor um
Yeah
And that was a bit strange because the last time that we saw surgeon he gave us
it was probably one of the worst days of our life
Yep
He gave us the results of
Your biopsy
Yep
Which was a grade 3 tumor uh I can remember that like that was yesterday
I don’t really remember
Well but I do
It was amazing uh seeing him today because he’s just basically just agreed with everything that uh that’s been said in America that Hannah’s doing really really well she as far as she’s concerned you don’t have to have any scan for another 6 months
No
Uh so you know really kind of cancer free and
Yep
Now, you know, it is incredible
It’s a bit of a miracle and
it both hasn’t hit home
really
How much
Yeah
How much is
Well we can start our life
We can start our lives, again
Again (laugh)
And um we just want to say
a massive thank you
the list is just
this isn’t the end for us
I’m sure we
boring you
(laughing)
had a very long day
We had to wait an hour and a half (laugh)
(laugh) Sorry I couldn’t help
Calm down
The the list of people that we have to thank
Need
Need to thank is so long, and obviously way up at the top of that list has to be uh Dr. Burzynski and all of the people at the Burzynski Clinic who have been just amazing, you know
Just so supportive um and I suppose really without that treatment I don’t
I don’t think
I don’t
No
I don’t think
You don’t think you’d what ?
It’s not worth thinking about
Yeah, it’s not worth thinking about
But um we have to thank every single person that contributed and helped us and supported us along the way
Everyone that helped us raise money
Um
to thank
Here we go
Who else do we need to thank
I think
Come back up
Come on
(laugh)
We have to thank uh
like I said it’s been a long day today
Uh we have to thank Jamie Lowe
Yes
We have to thank Lindley Gooden
Who else do we have to thank ?
Uh all the people that were in Team Hannah
Yeah
All of your friends
My parents
Your parents
Mhmm
Um just everyone that’s been watching these blogs
We really, really couldn’t have done it without you
And um
We are really, really thankful
You don’t want to go do you ?
Hannah and I were thinking about doing our own comedy show because a lot of people
comments like we’re so funny
Yeah
And who’s the funniest
Uh oh you
Yeah you
Me
Me
Me
Um
So, I don’t know what else to say really apart from, you know, this is really a bit of a fairy tale for us
We know how fortunate
we are and we know how
people
who we met along the way
who weren’t
haven’t been as fortunate as us
So we uh
So, are you alright down there ?
we’re talking about something serious
Very
Yeah, we know a lot of people who haven’t been as fortunate
As fortunate as we have people are forever in our hearts
You know, um, we know how lucky we are and um
We’re going to make the most of our lives the most of our lives together
Um, yeah
We really do think that
No don’t
You know, there was a time
Many, many times where I really didn’t think that Hannah would be here but, you know, we’re talking 2 1/2 years ago that she was diagnosed and she’s doing better than ever even though she is yawning
(laugh)
Um
I don’t think there’s any words that really put into a sense of how so lucky we think we are, and I really think it’s how our legacy to live with that and try and inspire other people as much as we can as well
Ok
So, we’re not going to get go anywhere we’re still we’ll still let you know from time to time how we’re getting on
Uh um I also think we need to give a massive shout out to Ben and Laura Hymas as well who, who really, we went to see them the week before we went to, out to America, and it was there, was a, was a bit of a shock
Really
Realizing what we were about to take on but um she’s
I’m very sorry
She’s someone else who’s done well and we want to give a big shout out to them because we know that they’ve got their lives ahead of them as well as we do too
So, I think without any further ado we’ll give your famous wave
(wave)
It’s not really a wave, is it
Thank you very much everyone
Thank you
Big hug
Wanna hug ?
C’mon
C’mon hug us [10]
====================================== London[1]
4/2010 – first met Hannah and we fell in love and since then our relationship has gone from strength to strength [3]
Hannah (28) has great personality and fantastic sense of humour [3]
10/5/2012 – from Elstead[12]
4/4/2013 – Hannah Bradley (28)[11]
Hannah Bradley from London, UK [15]
====================================== MOOD ======================================
Looking back now, was quite naive [1]
2/2011 – world took dramatic turn [11]
Hannah Bradley from London, UK [15]
To my complete horror [11]
whole world was turned upside down [11]
confused [11]
scared of all the unanswered questions that lay before me
why was this happening to ME? [11]
What did the future hold? [11]
Will I be okay? [11]
absolutely terrified as realised something seriously wrong [15]
Everybody else went into panic, but shock calmed [15]
Inside, scared, could see how frightened Pete was [15]
wasn’t easy decision but really wasn’t another choice [15]
Fear pulsed through me as was wheeled to theatre for operation [15]
4/2011 – thought once surgery over, tumour would be gone [1]
“Hello,” I croaked [15]
“Have I still got all my hair?” [15]
beamed as Pete nodded [15]
long blonde locks were pride and joy, and surgeons managed to operate without having to shave any [15]
Waiting for results was one of most harrowing periods for me and my partner [11]
had to wait for results of biopsy for few weeks and remained positive [3]
while trying to remain positive throughout [11]
tried to keep busy so didn’t dwell on what doctors would say [15]
it was hard [15]
sensed before they even spoke [15]
faces were so serious it had to be bad news [15]
Obviously medical professionals have to be detached when deliver news, but we completely broke down [15]
tried to bite back sobs so could hear what they were saying [15]
blinked for moment, realising meant me [15]
left hospital, in daze [15]
went to sit in park for 2 or 3 hours, working out how to tell everyone [15]
rang dad, feeling ashamed he had to deal with news [15]
didn’t want to upset him [15]
Pete and I rang close friends and family and became easier each time [15]
got chain going to spread news so didn’t have to ring everybody, which was relief [15]
gave me space to come to terms with diagnosis [15]
Once able to get head around it, felt detached from it: [15]
needed to get through next stage now [15]
needed 6 weeks of radiotherapy, did that, thinking this would make me better [1]
Hannah’s bravery and resolve once again rose up as shortly after this she started 6 week course of radiotherapy[3]
news was not good and world was rocked once more as results showed Grade III tumour[11]
whole world suddenly fell apart again and that very moment I didn’t know how to go on [11]
knew had to carry on and from somewhere I didn’t know existed within me, found some bravery and started to have next course of treatment, 6-week course of radiotherapy[11]
hope you will understand this was REALLY difficult for me as I loved my hair and without it felt horrible and ugly [11]
coped well at first, until hair came out in clumps [15]
warned could be few patches of fall, but lost it all [15]
wore headscarves but mourned my hair [15]
work in skincare sales and used to having to look my best [15]
know it was vain, but hair was part of my femininity [15]
missed it [15]
awful but kept going, knowing had to [15]
Seeking alternatives [15]
full of hope [15]
know it’s long fight ahead but feel everyone is behind me and
get so much from that [15]
have a mantra, which like to think I made up but think I read somewhere: [15]
‘You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.’ [15]
exactly how I feel [15]
there was some hope [12]
was truly an incredible time and once again I was filled with hope as so many people came to my aid to support me by raising money and donating what they had [11]
still so thankful for all that support [1]
absolutely overjoyed [1]
wouldn’t turn my back on conventional medicine, but would advise anyone in situation like mine to look into other options – there could always be another way [1]
“If this whole thing has taught me anything, it’s that.” [1]
Thankfully along with other treatment, strategy has worked for me and I’m now trying to help others who are fighting against this horrible disease[11]
====================================== HEALTH ======================================
was salesperson when diagnosed with cancer[1]
ate on the run [1]
smoked[1]
had no real symptoms or warning signs[1]
2/2011 – out of the blue, Hannah had major seizure in middle of the night [3]
2/2011 – one night Hannah’s life changed drastically without any prior health concerns suddenly had major seizure[12]
2/2011 – had grand seizure while asleep [1]
2/2011 – major seizure in middle of night [11]
arms up in the air, body shaking [1]
2/2011 – lost consciousness and was rushed to hospital [3 + 11]
woke in hospital, had no idea what had happened, tests revealed brain tumour size of golf ball in frontal lobe [15]
didn’t know anything wrong before had massive seizure in sleep [15]
boyfriend thought was having nightmare at first, but when couldn’t wake me, realised was unconscious and called ambulance [15]
came round in hospital few days later and didn’t remember anything [15]
2/2011 – 4/2011 – don’t remember much about 2 months that followed apart from seeing many doctors, having constant headaches and a # of seizures[11]
had constant headaches and number of seizures[3]
Eventually CT scan showed brain tumour, turned out to be very aggressive, anaplastic astrocytoma[1]
week after CAT and MRI scans told had brain tumour size of golf ball [15]
in frontal lobe and probably growing there for years [15]
doctor gave 3 options: [15]
leave it and see what happened
have biopsy to discover what type of tumour it was and how aggressive
go for surgery to try to remove as much as possible [15]
diagnosed with very serious brain tumour[3]
diagnosed with very aggressive brain tumour[11-12]
2/2011 – 4/2011 – have no memories of that time, from the night of seizure to coming around from 8-hour operation to remove tumour 2 months later[1]
had about 4 more seizures – including one 2 nights before surgery last April – after discharged because tumour growing and putting so much pressure on brain [15]
Pain throbbed through inside of skull as peeled eyes open [15]
Groggy, focused and saw Pete smiling down at me [15]
was in hospital 5 days before going home to rest and getting biopsy results [15]
2 weeks later, went back to see consultant and specialist nurse [15]
news was not good and our world was rocked once more as results showed Grade III tumour[3]
tumour was cancerous and had scary name – anaplastic astrocytoma [15]
4 grades of brain tumours with 4th being worst [15]
Mine grade 3 [15]
statistics quoted said person with grade-3 tumour lives around 5 years [15]
life expectancy for people with tumours like this was 18 months[1]
2 weeks into treatment was hit by wave of tiredness [15]
so shattered had to go to bed for week [15]
went well for 1st few weeks but followed by hair falling out and bouts of tiredness and lethargy[3]
lost hair
started having seizures and didn’t know how long she had to live [12]
was still having seizures and lost independence with losing driving licence [11]
On top of all of this, dealing with losing driving licence as had number of seizures and now has epilepsy[3]
At end of July, had another MRI scan, revealed still residue left from tumour [15]
6 weeks after radiotherapy finished, had another MRI to see what was going on with tumour, Once again more bad news, as there were still remnants of aggressive tumour[3]
Although it was hard I remained hopeful that 6 weeks after radiotherapy would help and I could go on to live a normal life but again results of next MRI were not good [11]
There were still remnants of aggressive tumour[11]
At this point treatment options where very limited and life expectancy was not very long [11]
was told only options available on National Health Service were to operate or have radiotherapy again [15]
Chemotherapy also mentioned but not strong enough for that [15]
doctors said were really uncertain of expected life span if didn’t do anything and since treatment options in UK so limited, we want to try something else [15]
didn’t know 100% whether would work, but had to believe in something; wanted to be positive [1]
Just 8 months after starting treatment had some incredible news [12]
latest scans show she is cancer free[12]
desire to beat this disease led me to make number other lifestyle changes [11]
One of biggest changes has been dietary; specifically cutting out most sugars from my diet [11]
involved learning how to cook, which in itself was huge challenge because I hated cooking with a passion [11]
Over time I started experimenting with different foods and became more and more adventurous and dare I say it, I even started to enjoy coming up with new healthy recipes [11]
quickly learned that exclusive food of cancer is sugar, so quickly embraced this and cut out almost completely starchy carbohydrates and refined sugars by incorporating sugar free/starch free food plan [11]
idea being that diet would feed my body, mind and starve cancer into submission [11]
also learnt this type of diet is good for blood sugar regulation, body composition and is consistent with the way that our ancestors ate thousands of years ago [11]
After months of experimentation and with help of couple of great cooks, have learned to make delicious and nutritious healthy meals and this is why I decided to write my own book, The Team Hannah Cookbook[11]
It’s my contribution to helping and inspiring others to eat a better diet [11]
I would hope you can enjoy these recipes and make them part of your diet [11]
This book will show you how easy it is uto cut out the carbs and still eat “normally.” [11]
I now believe that dieting and counting calories doesn’t work [11]
Low carb is the way forward [11]
You will find in my book great low carbohydrate recipes for – Breakfasts, Breads & Pastries, Starters, Salads, Mains, Desserts, Treats [11]
====================================== TREATMENT ====================================== 2/2011 – partner, Pete, called ambulance, was rushed to hospital, unconscious [1]
decided to have operation, hopeful would get rid of it [15]
in hospital 2 weeks following 1st seizure and put on strong medication to stop from having fits [15]
kept awake 2 1/2 hours of 6-hour surgery – medical team wanted to make sure weren’t damaging any part of brain, where tumour was, relating to speech and language [15]
made list of what to talk about with speech therapist during operation, such as meeting Pete at conference in Croatia year before; favourite American TV series, Friends, niece who’d been staying with family week before seizure [15]
remember having to touch fingers with thumbs to check movement still there, hand or my leg would involuntarily move when surgeon touched particular part of brain and asking anaesthetist to scratch itch on nose [15]
“It’s going fine, we’re putting you back to sleep now,” voice said and everything went black [15]
4/2011 – 8-hour operation to remove tumour[1]
4/1/2011 – decided to have surgery underwent 6 1/2 hour operation[3]
4/1/2011 – surgery and underwent grueling 6 1/2 hour operation[11]
awake for nearly 3 hours of this operation [3]
nearly 3 hours of operation was awake [11]
——————————————————————
Pete Cohen chats with Dr. Juan F. Martinez-Canca, Neurosurgeon (Consultant) about Hannah Bradley:
—————————————————————— operation was success and they managed to remove nearly all of tumour[3]
To my relief
results of operation were fairly successful and surgeon managed to remove uhmost of tumour[11]
diagnosed with Anaplastic Astrocytoma brain tumour and over next few months endured 6-hour operation and 6 weeks of radiotherapy[12]
started radiotherapy 8 weeks after surgery [15]
full on – 6 weeks of treatment, Monday to Friday [15]
needed 6 weeks of radiotherapy, did that, thinking this would make me better [1]
radiotherapy went well for 1st few weeks but fears were confirmed when hair started to fall out [11]
was gruelling – hair fell out, had quite a few seizures – then, at end, scan showed still had remnants of very aggressive tumour[1]
Pete started researching alternative treatments from beginning and was Dr Stanislaw Burzynski, biochemist and physician in US, who seemed right choice for me [15]
found pioneering treatment in America which could give her a chance [12]
One name kept cropping up [1]
Dr Burzynski[1]
treatment is controversial – claims to have identified peptides called antineoplastons, which act as molecular switch to turn off cancer cells without harming normal cells [15]
After reading everything we could, decided to try it [15]
At his clinic in Houston he’s developed a treatment using anti-cancer compounds he discovered and now manufactures – and is treating aggressive tumours, especially ones in the brain [1]
controversial [1]
medical community claims unscientific and unproven [1]
oncologist didn’t want me to go – he wanted to monitor tumour and maybe give more radiotherapy in future [1]
that was like containing it, not getting rid of it, and treatment hadn’t worked so far [1]
Dr Burzynski seemed to be only hope of getting rid of cancer for good [1]
In order to get it needed to raise £150,000 [12]
treatment wasn’t cheap (about £200,000) [1]
treatment very costly, and even using all savings didn’t have nearly enough [15]
£200,000 (Dh1.16 million) needed to go to US, plus ongoing shipping of drugs from States and private monthly scans will need for 12-18 months, was out of reach [15]
Family and friends offered to help, soon there was Team Hannah website [15]
Within few weeks had £35,000, enough to go to US for consultation and start treatment [15]
didn’t know 100% whether would work, but had to believe in something; wanted to be positive [1]
Treatment available in America[12]
Luckily was able to take part in phase 2 clinical trial in Texas, USA [11]
treatment isn’t available via NHS so had to raise considerable amount of money [11]
12/2011 – flew with Pete to Burzynski Clinic[1]
—————————————————————— 12/10/2011 – Saturday – video blog
leaving tomorrow morning
—————————————————————— 12/11/2011 – Day 1 – Sunday
flew to USA massive headache
thought was going to faint
—————————————————————— 12/12/2011 – Day 2 – Monday Burzynski Clinic
temp check
vision test
meeting: Dr. Yi oncologist / Dr. Greg Burzynski
(Dr. Rowkowski)
—————————————————————— 12/13/2011 – Day 3 – Tuesday Burzynski Clinic
inject sugar syrup PET scan
MRI scan review
?’s memory / spelling jumbled
fill out form Valium
(as much local anesthetic as could give her w/o knocking her out) catheter – Hickman line
(painful / really painful)
—————————————————————— 12/14/2011 – Day 4 – Wednesday Burzynski Clinic
(feeling wrecked / absolutely wrecked)
start treatment 6 doses of antineoplaston a day 4 hours apart almost 24 hours continuously
(had chest x-ray)
(Dr. Barbera – talk pain medication)
lessons: clamps / hoses / pump
—————————————————————— 12/15/2011 – Day 5 – Thursday Burzynski Clinic
(Day 2 of treatment)
lessons: change pump
—————————————————————— 12/20/2011 – Day 10 – Tuesday Burzynski Clinic Dr. Yi / Dr. SRB enhancing – asked to stay month – next MRI to be done
—————————————————————— 12/22/2011 – Day 12 – Thursday Dr. Hilary Jones on Daybreak
(Pete’s colleague)
—————————————————————— 12/24/2011 – Day 14 – Saturday
fever
bad breathing
shivering all night
—————————————————————— 12/25/2011 – Day 15 – Sunday Burzynski Clinic
flu symptoms
breathing
headache
uncontrollable chills couldn’t stop
Monica off ANP
absolutely exhausted
in bed
little bit of swelling back of head
—————————————————————— 12/27/2011 – Day 17 – Tuesday
back on ANP
temp 102
called Burzynski Clinic off ANP
temp down / up
—————————————————————— 12/28/2011 – Day 18 – Wednesday Burzynski Clinic on ANP much smaller dose
exhausted
close to breaking / cracking
—————————————————————— 12/29/2011 – Day 19 – Thursday
hospital “I’m at my wits end” “I don’t feel I can take anymore”
—————————————————————— 12/30/2011 – Day 20 – Friday
last week up & down
off on off on off
fever
chills
shaking
viral infection
bacterial infection
had to go to E.R.
surreal
—————————————————————— 12/31/2011 – Day 21 – Saturday
fever in middle of night
temp 102 Dr. SRB thinks flu-like symptoms or tumor actually breaking down ->
——————————————————————
1/2012 – started treatment[11]
—————————————————————— 1/1/2012 – Day 22 – Sunday Burzynski Clinic
feel drunky
prob w pump – not closing
felt like completely drunk
double vision
Nurse said anti-seizure drug she hadn’t taken before
bit shaky
Gary – directions re pump equip
—————————————————————— 1/17/2012 – Day 38 – Tuesday Burzynski Clinic
temp 101.8
throat infection
If 102 take off ANP
BC 3x – blood – supplies
antibiotics 1 day
antibiotics 2 day – over 102 last night
fever
antibiotics been on 3 days off ANP
disappointed
pointless
—————————————————————— 1/20/2012 – Day 41 – Friday
fever
104 (103.9)
Friday night
—————————————————————— 1/21/2012 – Day 42 – Saturday Burzynski Clinic
temp up to 104
Dr. on-call – Ibuprofen 102.5
yesterday afternoon (blood) rash ? off ANP Dr. Popper
—————————————————————— 1/23/2012 – Day 44 – Monday Burzynski Clinic Dr. SRB
gave name from pic
some itch MRI – was to have Wed (12/29/2011 prev MRI) less tumor less enhancement shrunk by at least 10%
call Dad
Been 1 month
Discharge
take Ashley
Rick
Fri – leave
—————————————————————— 1/26/2012 – Day 47 – Thursday Burzynski Clinic Stable Disease
stabilization
—————————————————————— 1/27/2012 – Friday – leave
—————————————————————— medication is administered directly into your body through Hickman line 24 hours a day[1]
not an easy option [1]
Pete and I learnt how to prepare and administer treatment ourselves and carried on in Britain for another 18 months (1 year 6 months)[1]
were there for 7 weeks, and scans showed in that time tumour reduced by 11%[1]
Thankfully has been successful in shrinking tumour[11]
blood was checked twice a week, was scanned every 6 weeks at private hospital [1]
Most importantly, seemed to be working [1]
—————————————————————— 6/2012 – back 6 months 3 scans
6/13/2011
12/7/2011
3/21/2012 – 1
5/2/2012 – 2
7/29/2012 – 3
7 weeks at Burzynski Clinic
Complete Response
—————————————————————— tumour kept getting smaller, in January this year it was all gone [1]
started treatment and after 9 months had complete response and will continue on treatment until 4/2013 / 5/2013[3]
now off treatment but still being monitored [1]
Dr Burzynski isn’t miracle worker [1]
There are well-publicised cases of families raising money for children to be treated at the clinic but children still tragically dying [1]
People have posted on our website that it doesn’t work, but I’m convinced that, if we hadn’t found him, I wouldn’t be here today [1]
====================================== SUPPORT ====================================== Pete Cohen:Team Hannah set up to save life of my partner, Hannah Bradley, who’s 28 years old and has brain cancer[3]
All this time, without knowing, Pete had been looking into things, searching, talking to anyone and everyone who could possibly help [1]
needed to raise around £200,000 to give her opportunity to have life-saving treatment at The Burzynski Clinic in Houston, Texas [3]
Pete launched campaign – friends and family gathered around, held events, our local radio station supported us – in 2 months already had £100,000, enough to start treatment[1]
You helped her to get it… [12]
Eagle Radio wanted to help give Hannah hope by raising money towards her fund [12]
you wanted to help too [12]
Hannah came in to Eagle Radio to meet Breakfast Show presenters PG and Bev[12]
Listen to interview here: [12]
Pete (Hannah’s boyfriend) met our reporter Anthony Zahra and starts by talking about how couple met: [12]
Jeremy (Hannah’s dad) spoke to our reporter Elizabeth Williams:[12]
photos on Hope for Hannah appeal [12]
——————————————————————
Fundraising events you told us about [12]
—————————————————————— 7/21 – Matthew Cank from Farnham doing sponsored bike ride with friends riding from John O’Groats to Lands End[12] http://2theend.co.uk
——————————————————————
** 2/24 (Friday) – Pure Dance at Backline, Guildford from 8pm to 2.30am House, electro & trance music with DJs on rotation Entry £10 with all proceeds going to the appeal [12]
——————————————————————
** 2/25 (Saturday) – Dinner, Dance and Auction at The Mandolay Hotel, Guildford (6.30pm to 12.30am) evening of fantastic food & excellent entertainment [12]
——————————————————————
** 3/3 (Saturday) – special night held at Godalming Naval Club by Hannah’s best friend
£7.50 a ticket All money to the appeal Includes – food, disco, raffles, auction and more [12]
——————————————————————
** 5/19 (Saturday) – Health, Beauty & Fitness Fair at Clock Barn Hall, Godalming Free admission, free talks on health, fitness and nutrition Includes – mini treatments, fitness drop in classes, taster sessions, new health products Raffle & bucket collection to raise money for Team Hannah [12]
——————————————————————
Your generosity was astounding and Hannah surpassed her target much earlier than she could have dreamed [12]
Hannah’s Annectdote
A film about Hannah’s journey to The Burzynski Clinic
film we made called Hannah’s Anecdote [3]
made to share with world Hannah’s journey to beat cancer and live normal life [3]
you can see Team Hannah blog we started October last year as well more information about Dr. Burzynski and treatment for cancer [3]
totally aware of controversy surrounding Dr. Burzynski but have seen with our own eyes he saved Hannah’s life [3]
share this with everyone you can, so together we can raise awareness of Hannah’s success and of Dr. Burzynski [3]
cookbook by Hannah available at teamhannah.com [1]
Any help you give will be most appreciated and will keep you updated with Hannah’s journey [3] http://www.teamhannah.com/
Thank you for donating, raising awareness and simply helping to give Hannah hope [12]
—————————————————————— Hannah’s Annectdote: (40:42)
——————————————————————
A film about Hannah’s journey to The Burzynski Clinic
——————————————————————
Look
You’ve got a spirit level in the cam, in the front of the camera for a reason
I know
Ok
—————————————————————— Hannah’s Anectdote
——————————————————————
I’m Hanna Bradley and I’m 27 years old
I have
Well, I found out I had a brain tumor in February 2011
The way I found out is, I had a seizure in, during the middle of the night
I don’t remember anything, but my partner Pete tells me that I did
Rushed to hospital and about week later I was diagnosed with a, an aggressive brain tumor
And then I had to have an operation to remove the brain tumor and I went back for the results, which weren’t that good and I had to go for a radiotherapy
And I spoke to a friend of mine, an incredible man, he’s a doctor, he, he’s retired, he said, why don’t you just look and find people in the world who still have this condition and still alive
So, that’s what I did
And I found some people, and it, and they all led to this guy Burzynski, but you mention Burzynski to uh people who work in the world of cancer, and it’s just like, they, you know, the barriers come up immediately Chemotherapy, radiotherapy, there’s no question about the fact that these things uh, are reflective and they are, save people’s lives, but that’s not what Hannah wants to do
(If I could go there, and take myself off there, I could) Burzynski’s work is, some people wouldn’t say it is gene-targeted therapy
Basically it’s peptides Peptides uh form amino acids in the body, and he’s found from his research that uh, certain people do not have these types of peptides, and uh especially people with certain types of cancer
What have you got to lose, and what’s the worst thing that can happen, if it doesn’t work ?
What’s the best thing that can happens ?
It saves her life
(laughter)
(I’ll give the ass a smack)
—————————————————————— video blog 13th of November 2011 (2:00)
——————————————————————
(Come sit down)
Good morning
Good morning
Good Morning
Why this week is such a big week is we go to see Hannah’s uh GP tomorrow, and we really need him on side with the treatment that Hannah’s going to have, and, and that could pose a bit of a challenge, because this treatment with Dr. Burzynski is not peer-reviewed, and what that means is that, with the NICE guidelines in this country, people are
very unlike to promote a uh treatment that isn’t peer-reviewed in the way that they would want it to be, but, we’re hoping that he will help and support is when we come back
Yeah
We will also go and see the oncologist this
Yes
which is gonna be a very interesting conversation because again, we want their support
It’s unlikely, very unlikely that they’ll give us the support that we need
because when Hannah comes back, she’s going to need MRI’s every month, and that’s just not gonna happen
We’re going to have to pay for that, but, we’ll let the pets do that of course
We’ll let you know next week, but this week is gone, but for now this is Team Hannah saying, Team Hannah, Team Hannah saying
Goodbye
Bye
Goodbye
That the wave that you do
(laugh)
I’m getting better at the wave
I don’t know about that, darling
—————————————————————— Royal Free Hospital London – December 2011 (3:19)
——————————————————————
You know, maybe I’ve been led down a garden path if you like, going to work with Burzynski, because you speak to any oncologist; which we have, lots of (?) specialists in this field and they say:
“No don’t do it”
“The guy’s a charlatan”
“You’re wasting your time”
“You’re wasting your money”
“It’s not going to work”
“There’s no clinical research”
But I feel in my heart that we’ve gotta do this
Not just because, you know, what is there left to do, but I actually think it’s going to work
Is it going to be a placebo effect, or is it actually going to be that what this guy does works ?
I’ve spoken to people who he, who he’s treated uh and they all can’t speak highly enough of him and of the clinic that we’re going to
So I’m going to film as much as I can of her journey, and she’s happy for me to film
And the clinic in Houston are happy for me to film whatever I want
So I’m going to
—————————————————————— video blog 10th of December 2011 (4:10)
——————————————————————
I don’t know how many blog videos we’ve done but we’ve done quite, quite a few and I think it’s amazing that we’ve got to this point
It doesn’t seem very long ago that we were sitting and talking about doing this, and within a few months we’ve raised all this money and we’re, my bags are packed
Your bags is almost packed
My bag is packed
And your bag is packed and we’re leaving tomorrow morning
I know there’s been a little bit of controversy
Yeah
about what we’re doing, but please, whatever you hear about it, we have done a lot of research into this
and we feel very confident about what we’re doing, were going to get very well looked after and we’ll be able to share all of that with you
So, next time you see us we’re going to be in
Houston
Texas
—————————————————————— Day One (4:52)
——————————————————————
Good morning Hannah
Good morning
And where are we ?
At the airport
So, you ready for this ?
I’m ready
Ready to start this next phase of our journey ?
Yeah
Ok
I’m really ready
I hurt, like I’ve got a massive headache
Yeah
That was pretty traumatic for you, wasn’t it ?
Yep
Pressure
Um, and getting through customs and everything like that
I felt like I was going to faint
Um, yeah, apart from that all good
Yeah ?
Yeah
And how’s it feel to be in Texas
It doesn’t feel any different at the moment
(laughing) (?) that’s a (?) Avis rent-a-car thing-a-ma-bob
—————————————————————— Day Two (5:37)
——————————————————————
(?) there you go
Right-o
Hello everyone
Hi
I’ve
Ok
I’ve got less hair than Pete
Are you looking in the camera or are you looking in here ?
I’m looking in here
Uh what are you looking there ?
(laughing)
Hello
Everyone
Today is going to be a very interesting day
We’re going to film, all that we can
We’re not going to meet Dr. Burzynski
We won’t be meeting him until the 19th, but we feel more than happy to be meeting his fellow doctors
What’d you reckon ?
You’re going to kill me in the car before you, we get there ?
Why
Because you’re trying to film and drive, and you don’t know where we’re going
Well spotted
Look
There it is
We’ve finally made it
So how’d you feel, that we’re finally here ?
Yeah
I feel good
Do you ?
Yeah
You ready ?
What are your expectations ?
I have no idea
Well, lets go and find out
Don’t have any expectations although I sure don’t want to be disappointed
——————————————————————
[Temperature]
(Close your lips please)
——————————————————————
[Eyesight]
(Ok
How about this one ?)
D
(Ok. We’ll have to go )
(laughing)
(I’m sorry)
Should I actually be able to ?
(#5)
Ok
P E C F D
(Ok. Good)
——————————————————————
So, was that bad ?
Uh, can’t see any of them
Oh, ok
—————————————————————— Meeting with Dr. Yi and Dr. Greg Burzynski (7:14)
——————————————————————
(?) we’ve reviewed your scans, your MRI, and we’re very aware of your case
Yes
We have permission to start you on the antineoplastons
Mhmm
which as you know are in the final stages of drug approval
Yeah
Dr. Yi is the oncologist on this case
Yeah
Likewise Dr. Rowkowski will be involved
Likewise I’ve an I’ll, I’ll be on the case
Ok. Great
And my father as you know is aware of what we’re doing here
Yeah
So as early as Wednesday we’ll be starting treatment
Mhmm
Tomorrow we can put in the catheter, and this is an external
—————————————————————— Day Three (7:44)
——————————————————————
What else is happening today ?
Look
Don’t want to think about it right now
Gonna have some sugar syrup put into me
(?) PET scan
Yeah
Which they inject sugar
I’d rather eat some
Yeah
Inject sugar and then you’re also having a, this Hickman line fitted
Yeah
Hopefully they’re gonna let me put on a white coat and come and be by your side
You can’t put on a white coat
You’re not a doctor
Well hopefully they’ll let me film
Well I don’t care about filming
I just care about you being there
—————————————————————— Hannah’s MRI scan review (8:15)
——————————————————————
So this is the one that was done in December, right ?
Yeah
This is the one that was done in December, and it has increased
‘Cause if I look at the, it’s more intense
Yeah
There’s more weight
Yeah
upon the image
Ok
Seen change in a month, right ?
Yeah
It’s in a month
That’s why
Less than a month
Yeah
That’s why kind of it’s a little scary
’cause it has
I mean it looks like it’s more prominent now
Yeah
—————————————————————— (8:46)
——————————————————————
after (?) this MRI scan, and you can see that the tumor is enhancing
She doesn’t know that
How will I tell her ?
Probably not, but she’s probably going to ask, and if the tumor grows like it’s, then you just saw in the scan, then how long does Hannah have left
—————————————————————— (9:06)
——————————————————————
Yeah
That would mean very
That’s pretty good
Ok
That’s good
That’s good enough
So any memory problems ?
Any speaking proc, speaking problems
No
No, not really
Ok
Spelling
Spelling, yes
Ever since surgery
So, what kind of problem ?
Like when you spell you miss letters ?
Yeah
Her spelling
Why, yeah
It’s just I’m jumbled
Ok
Yeah
—————————————————————— (9:28)
——————————————————————
Right
So uh were just getting ready now for Hannah to go in and have her PET scan and uh catheter Hickman line fitted and she’s just filling in the form
I’m not even going to ask her how she’s feeling or anything like that ’cause she’s feeling a little emotional
—————————————————————— (9:48)
——————————————————————
(?)
(laughing) You’ve just taken some , some Valium as well, have you ?
Not helping
This is like your biggest con, fear, isn’t it ?
I just show everyone what you’ve just done to my hand as well
—————————————————————— (10:04)
——————————————————————
What I’m doing is I’m creating a little tunnel under the skin
So I have to use just a little bit of pressure
So if I hurt you, you tell me
Ok ?
How are you feeling ?
Shhh
(laugh)
Well, you’ve done so well darling
I’m feeling really cold
Hungry ?
Yep
Alright
—————————————————————— (10:30)
——————————————————————
You look like you’re some sort of Holy Woman
People are going to come in here and bow to you
Did, did, did you feel that when it was going in and stuff ?
Not really
Little bit
It’s a little bit painful now ?
Yeah
It’s quite really painful now
Yeah
Well, it’s a massive tic, of something we have to get done
Yeah, I know
—————————————————————— Day Four (10:52)
——————————————————————
I’m feeling wrecked, absolutely wrecked
(laugh)
Well you had, bit of Valium yesterday
Yeah
And you had as much um local anesthetic
Yep
as he could give you he said, without knocking you out,
Yeah
but you were very, very brave yesterday, do you not think ?
I don’t think so
Why not ?
I wasn’t brave about the (canada ?) they put in here
—————————————————————— (11:23)
——————————————————————
Yes
What’d you think of
What, now what did you think of Judith Curran ?
Talk to
Oh, she’s great
( Skype on at the same time)
She’s like a mother
Yeah
Yeah
Is she ?
Yeah
(Yeah that’s fine. Whatever)
Yeah, she really does love you
( I’ve got something)
More than most
(?) all mom’s girlfriends
Mum uh Hannah just, I said, I just asked what she thought of you and she said she thought you’re like a mother
(Pete’s Mum)
Ohhh
I really do need you here
Oh dear
Well you have to have a partner mother at the moment
Yeah
But you need cuddles you mean ?
Yeah
Ohhh lots of cuddles
Oh no, no, no don’t
I asked
I’ll go
I need something dressed there
She needs help getting dressed
—————————————————————— (12:16)
——————————————————————
It’s, it’s, you know, it’s basically it’s uh, it’s a little roadway right into your bloodstream, so yeah, it has to stay very clean, and our thing is that we have to teach you
Yeah
how to do this
Yeah
—————————————————————— (12:32)
——————————————————————
You get 6 doses of antineoplaston a day,
Mhmm
they’re 4 hours apart
So, yeah, it’s almost 24 hours continuously
Mhmm
—————————————————————— (12:41)
——————————————————————
These are your bags
Ok. Thank you
and I’m going to wait until Dr. Barbera comes and talks to you about the pain medicine
Yeah
Then we will go ahead and hook up
Yes
because she did get the chest x-ray and everything’s a go
—————————————————————— (12:51)
——————————————————————
And everything goes in with a push and a twist
Ok
Quite simple
Alright
Yep
So obviously we’re gonna, when the fluid, we need to open up the clamp
Mhmm
And I always double, triple-check, make sure all the clamps are open
Yep
—————————————————————— (13:10)
——————————————————————
I’ve been on the treatment, I don’t know
It, it’s about
I don’t know
Half day ?
How are you feeling ?
It doesn’t hurt
Yeah
And this is what you’ve got to carry around with you
Yep
Now it’s like
It’s (?) my new bike
a baby
Something you have to have with you all of the time, and me with you all of the time
Oh (laugh) Oh god
I can cope with that
Ever since this all happened it seems like it’s just been one thing after another
Yeah
of obstacles
Yep
But we’ve got this far
Who woulda believed that we’d raise the money to get out here
Mhmm
which we have done, and now we’ve started on the treatment and I am pretty impressed with them there I must admit
Yeah
They’re really nice
—————————————————————— Day Five (13:52)
——————————————————————
Yeah
This is day, it’s day 4 yeah ?
Day 2 on the job
Day 5
Day 2 on the treatment
Mmmm I need a bit of a shave
um and um yep
You need a bit of a shave
So do I
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
—————————————————————— (14:08)
——————————————————————
Hi
So, can I get ya
You need a pen ?
Uh, yes please
So pull this back ?
Pull it back to undo the lock
Ok, pump is off, so your next step is to disconnect it
So push in and twist, clockwise
—————————————————————— (14:26)
——————————————————————
How’s your new friend ?
Yeah, she’s good
Yeah ?
Mmm
What have we done today ?
We’ve learnt more lessons
I’ve learnt more lessons about changing the, changing the pump
How did I do ?
Honey you did well
You think so ?
considering
Considering what ? (laughing) How challenged I am
No, considering how hard it actually is
That you did well
—————————————————————— Day Ten (14:54) Meeting with Dr. Yi and Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski and
——————————————————————
Yeah, I think so far where we are we have been very impressed with all we’ve seen
Thank you very much
It looks like (?) we should not (?)
a pretty traumatic day because uh we met with Dr. Burzynskibut he didn’t give us the sort of news that we wanted uh because he’s concerned that the treatment may be enhancing uh and he wants us to stay here until at least um Hannah’s had one month on the treatment and to do MRI and see what’s going on
We can stay here
That’s the most important thing
Just imagine if we had to go home
You know ?
I know you’re tired of all this, you know, and its hard work, and it’s, you know ?
—————————————————————— Day Twelve (15:46)
——————————————————————
So the last time we kind of filmed was when we were with Dr. Burzynski and him saying do we want to stay and that
Yep
And how, how do you feel about that now ?
Yeah, i’ve got my head ’round it
Do you have faith in him and ?
Yeah, again I know that I’m in the best hands
—————————————————————— Pete’s colleague Dr. Hilary Jones appears on ‘Daybreak’ morning TV show in the UK (16:04)
——————————————————————
Are there question marks for you with regards to going over there to this particular clinic ?
I think what we have to bare in mind is that uh the treatment that, that Dr. Burzynski is offering is, is very uh experimental
It’s pioneering research, and pioneers in medicine tend to get a rough ride to begin with, and uh he hasn’t uh uh published the numbers of people in trials that convince the established authorities that his treatment uh works
It’s very interesting treatment
We’ve known about these peptides which can switch uh tumor genes on or off, and this is a different approach to these kind of tumors, that’s uh over and above oncology, chemotherapy, radiotherapy
Um, his results um, if you look at them um, sometimes appear extraordinary in some cases um but of course not in all cases
So it’s very difficult to evaluate, how effective it is
I I researched it pretty carefully myself because I have a friend there at the moment with his partner and the reports I’m getting back are they’re getting excellent treatment, excellent support, very impressed
This is somebody who, who knows a lot about medicine
Very impressed with what’s going on there
Um, we need to keep an open mind
Yes
Um it’s unfortunate it costs so much money but pioneering treatment does, and I really hope, that if you go that route that it works out for you
I really hope
Thank you
Indeed
—————————————————————— (17:20)
——————————————————————
So, that was uh, I didn’t know uh he was doing that, and actually the weird thing was that the day before I had actually contacted him just to say that we were doing really well
Yeah
But poor old Hilary was so caught up in that yesterday
On Twitter, I mean it was just nonstop
People just saying
“Burzynski’s a fraud”
Um, but we certainly don’t feel that he’s a fraud, do we ?
No
No
I get the impression that he’s 100% genuine
—————————————————————— 12/25/2011 – Christmas Day (17:50)
——————————————————————
Hello there
Hi. How are you today ?
We’re doing ok
Documenting that ?
Um yeah I’m documenting
(laughing)
everything
That’s against the rules
Really ? Oh dear
(? again)
Collecting evidence ?
Yeah, I am
We’re gonna sue
We’re gonna, we’re gonna sue a few people
(laughing)
That’s what you love to do in America, right ?
—————————————————————— (18:10)
——————————————————————
So same symptoms ?
Yeah
The flu symptoms
Mhmm
Yeah. Ok. How’s your breathing ?
The same
That was, really bad yesterday, wasn’t it ?
Yeah
Ok. Um, any headache ?
Yep
Ok. And you said you had, are they tremors or are they like shakes, like chills ?
Yeah, chills
Chills, ok
But, you know, like I couldn’t stop
Ok.
myself
It was just
Yeah
Ok. So it was un, uncontrollable ?
Yeah
Ok
—————————————————————— (18:41)
——————————————————————
This is how we spent Christmas Day, in the Burzynski Clinic
With the lovely Monica
Of course
And
How (?) would you have it any other way
And the Christmas songs
Hey (mouthing words to song)
—————————————————————— (19:04)
——————————————————————
We went to the clinic this morning, and she was shivering all night, fever
So she’s off the antineoplastons for the day, and she’s just basically in bed now, just absolutely exhausted, and now she’s got a little bit of swelling on the back of her head, which obviously is a ca, cause for concern when you’ve got a uh, a brain tumor
—————————————————————— Day Eighteen (19:04)
—————————————————————— Hannah was back on treatment yesterday, and last night her temperature went up to 102
So I phoned uh the clinic, and they said take her off the medication, the anti, antineoplastons
So I took her off
Her temperature came down
Then it went up again, and then we went back to the hospital today, back to the clinic, and they’re giving her a much smaller dose um and she’s on much smaller dose and she’s just come back, and she’s just exhausted
And she, I can see she’s just so close to breaking, which is cracking completely
(Christmas tree)
—————————————————————— (20:07)
——————————————————————
um and I’m just, got to the point where I can’t, I’m just, don’t know what to do
—————————————————————— Day Twenty (20:22)
——————————————————————
Well the last week has been very up and down
Um I have come off the dose
Gone back on it
Come
Come off it
back on
Yeah, and then come back off it again um, for several reasons: Fever, um shaking, chills, fever, and bacterial infection, um viral infection, every infection, um and then ended up with me having to go to E.R., the Emergency Room
Well at that point I was really fearing the worst
Mhmm
Because you’d a scan when we got out of here, right ?
Mhmm
and the scan definitely showed some tumor growth
Mhmm
um and I was thinking, what 2 and 1/2 weeks later from that
Yeah
That we were going back in the hospital
Mhmm
Because the tumor had gotten bigger
Yep
What has this whole experience like for you at the moment
Oh it’s just surreal
I just, I can’t explain it
It’s just surreal, to me
What, like its not happening to you ?
Yeah
You did actually said to me yesterday in the hospital, you said:
“I’m at my wits end”
“I don’t feel I can take anymore”
Yep
And what about today ? (laugh)
Well, I reckon I’ve been, I’ve just realized I’ve got to get on with it again
—————————————————————— Day Twenty-Two (21:53)
——————————————————————
So it’s, January the 1st, 2012, and we haven’t really got the,
We haven’t got off to a great start, have we ?
No
Why ?
Because I’ve had a fever
Uh you, when did you start, feeling feverish ?
In the middle of the night ?
Yeah. Yeah
And your temperature went up to 102
Yeah
What Dr. Burzynski thinks you, why you’re having a fever
you’ve either still got some flu-like symptoms or it could be the, the tumor actually breaking down
We’ve also got some problems with our pump this morning
(So what do you think ?)
Yeah, it’s not closing again
(And then you can also see the)
Uh, there it goes
(?)
But
It ain’t gonna stay that way
I don’t think it’s going to stay closed
Huh, what’d you think about that ?
(unintelligible)
(? get it fixed)
(and this looks like it’s ?)
(? fix ?)
Love you
—————————————————————— (23:09)
——————————————————————
The last time we saw you, you felt like you were completely drunk
Yeah
And you had double vision
Mhmm
So,then what, ended up, happening ?
Well, one of the nurses, kindly, pointed out
She said: “What have you taken ?”
That is where we recognized it was an anti-seizure drug, that I hadn’t taken before
And how do you feel now ?
I feel ok
I feel a but shaky
Yeah
I just have to (?) something to eat
Um, I’m just so tired
—————————————————————— (23:50)
——————————————————————
Hi, I’m Pete Cohen
Uh you might recognize me
Oh god
from morning television in the
Yeah
U.K.
Nobody recognizes you anymore
—————————————————————— (23:58)
——————————————————————
You should keep your fingers above the little
Ok
guard thing, yeah, and try to hold this
I’ve done it
as straight as you can
Ok. I’ve done it there Gary
and put some support
Yeah
on it
In there
and then you twist them down
Easier said than done (?)
I know
You can give it much more of a whack and you can u, use the other end as well
Ok
No, like this
(laughing)
Got no chance
Use the other end
(?) better
Ok. Thank you
(laughing)
You’re welcome
There you go
There you go (?)
There you go
—————————————————————— Day Thirty-Eight (24:33)
——————————————————————
I’ve never had to take care of anyone, the way I’m kind of having to take care of Hannah, and its just constant, and I get stressed around her, which isn’t fair, you know
She’s now got another temperature
She’s got a throat infection
Her temperatures up, uh and uh if it goes up over 102, it’s 101.8
If it goes up over 102 she’s got to come off of the treatment again um, oh, just, just feels like non-stop, you know
Cooking, and changing the bags
I’ve been into this, the clinic 3 times today
Taking her blood
Taking her back, get supplies
Take her back there
—————————————————————— (25:24)
——————————————————————
I’ve got a fever
It was over 102 last night
Yep. And
I’ve got antibiotics
Which you’ve been on for how many days ?
3 days
And we’re off the treatment
So, all in all
But you feel bad because you just want to be on the treatment, and just keep coming off
It’s just
How does that make you feel ?
Just, I don’t know, angry
Disappointed
Pointless
What you mean like
The while things pointless
Yeah
because you can’t stand
I just hope one day we can look back at this and laugh
Yeah
and just think: “We beat that”
because you couldn’t be doing anymore than what you’re doing
You know ?
You really couldn’t
Should really get a few of your friends to come over
Yeah
’cause you must be a bit bored of me
(laughing). No
C’mon, I’ve been really annoying
How grumpy was I yesterday ?
(laughing)
on a scale of 1 to 10 ?
(laughing)
I don’t know
C’mon
6
Really ?
Yeah
—————————————————————— Day Forty-Two (26:54)
——————————————————————
It’s 6 o’clock in the morning, and Hannah is lying here
Her temperature went up to the highest I’ve ever seen a temperature, on the thermometer
Where is the thermometer ?
Up to 104
I’m gonna just, I’m just trying to cool her down
I just phoned the doctor on-call and she said take some ibuprofen which Hannah has, and the result is ?
It’s come down a bit
Where is it ?
There it is
102.5
Well you’d think it’d come down
My god you’re so hot
I can’t believe how hot that is, thats got
Unbelievable
—————————————————————— (27:50)
—————————————————————— Hannah
Show me what’s going on
This all came up
When did you notice this ?
Yesterday afternoon, but its got worse since then
Yeah, lift up a bit higher if you can
Just zoom in on that
Yep
So it’s just one thing after another at the moment, isn’t it ?
Aye ?
Yes
Open your hands a little bit
Yeah (?)
And obviously we’re off, treatment at the moment
Mhmm
And we’re just waiting for who ?
Dr. Popper
What do you think he’s going to have to say ?
Mmm I don’t know
Ok
Ok, bye
—————————————————————— Day Forty-Four (28:35)
——————————————————————
Who um gave it a name ?
I sent a picture of it to Dr. B and he came back and said I think that’s what it is, and I looked into it and could see that that’s exactly what it is
Well does it bother you or does it just ?
No, it does
Like
Yeah
And itch ?
In some cases
Oh I’m sorry
Especially under the dressing
(?) Hannah had a fever 104 on Friday night
104 ?
103.9 I should, if I’m being absolutely, precise
So I think it’s brought this out
I think you can, you can say 104
—————————————————————— (28:50)
——————————————————————
So, we’re now going to have the MRI that we were going to have on Wednesday
We’re going to have it today
(laughing)
—————————————————————— 1/23/2012 MRI (29:29)
——————————————————————
This is one that was just done today ?
2012 Jan 23
Acq Tim: 12:13:09
955000
320 x 230
Today
2011 Dec 29
Acq Tim: 14:50:12
497500
256 x 192
Today
So the difference is that you can see there
How would you describe the differences between
and what you see here ?
Well 1st of all the size of the tumor is less, and um, if you see the actual, the solid enhancing part of the tumor
This is how it looks now
So from that you can see that it’s definitely, something definitely is going on
It’s changing
Yes
There’s no question about that
The size is less
The intensity of the enhancement is less
So wha, whe, whe, when you see something like this, wha, what does that show you ?
Well, certainly the, we see that the tumor’s most likely working, as the tumor is showing less enhancement, meaning less activity
Yeah
And the tumor’s by effect smaller
Yeah
So, ideally the next scan should be better
So we, we’re definitely going in the right direction
That’s, great
That’s for sure, and it’s brilliant that uh we’re going home on, on
On a high note
On a high note
Especially after our trials and tribulations
So
Certainly
—————————————————————— (30:47)
—————————————————————— Hannah’s tumor has started to shrink, and she doesn’t know
She doesn’t know that
So I’m going to go in the house
I think she’s still asleep, and give her the good news
(?)
Hannah
Can we go home ?
Can we go home ?
Guess what ?
We can go home ?
Yeah
Yea !
And guess what ?
Guess what
Your tumor started shrinking
Yea !
It shrunk by at least 10%
Let me just give you a kiss
Thank you
It’s ok
It’s ok
—————————————————————— (31:30)
——————————————————————
Hi Daddy
Hello, how are you ?
Yeah, I’m sorry for ringing so late
That’s alright
Um but I’m ringing with really, really good news
Good, that’s what I wanna hear
Go on you tell
No, you tell him
I don’t think I can
(Go on ?)
(? tell me ?)
Um
C’mon
my tumor
Yeah
has already shrunk by 10%
You’re f’n ‘ell man
F’
(?)
That is absolute, amazing
And considering I haven’t been on the treatment for
You’ve been on the dose, off the dose, and on it
F’n ‘ell
What
When you get started on the
F’n ‘ell man
(laughing)
I’m glad you phoned me
Yeah, you’re the 1st person I called, obviously
—————————————————————— (32:22)
——————————————————————
So what can you believe we’ve now been here for one month
Yes
And we’re going now
What are we going in to have done ?
Hopefully, be discharged
And are you pleased with the progress you’ve made ?
Yeah
It’s been up and down
Yeah it’s been up and down
(Trip, trip ?)
You look like a Hollywood star
(laughing)
Not many Hollywood stars have a backpack like this though
Yeah but it was also a week ago
I don’t know how long ago that was where you couldn’t even
What ?
What ?
In you go
In I go
Hi
We can’t stay away
(laugh)
We’re getting discharged now
Oh really ?
I think so
Well that’s wonderful
Yeah
Well yeah, oh we, we don’t wanna go
Right turn mate
Which floor ?
2nd floor
Oh, you’re still filming
Yeah, I just, you know, I mean, you know, why not ?
I haven’t filmed all of this
We’re going up
This was great when I was feeling really sick, ’cause it
Seems like we’ve spent a lifetime together, we used to go to the 4th floor
(laugh)
(Ok)
Hi
Ohhh
Hello
Hello
Hi
Hi
Hi everyone
Hello
Hello
Um Hannah and I are leaving on Friday
What’s going to be your overriding memory of us ?
No
What are we gonna do ?
Hey
Are you going to miss us ?
What are we gonna do ?
Of course
Peace and love
(Remind me, is Hannah ?)
Why don’t you stay
(?) who’s your favorite, because you remember we said we were gonna say
(laughing)
‘Cause, ’cause we can o, we can only take one of ’em home, and who’s it gonna be ?
(? the rash (?) dude)
(laughing)
Well you can only take one attribute from each person, what would it be ?
I’m going to take Ashley home
(laughing)
Really ? Why ?
Yes, I like that
Because she’s, because she has the same condition ?
Yep
(laughing)
Because she can look after
Very good
(laughing)
So Rick you were told I was a big shot
Yes, going to film everything so
(Who knows ?)
you have to watch out
So, c’mon, what, what point in your head did you think: “My god this guy’s an absolute idiot”
(laughing)
—————————————————————— Day Forty-Seven (34:55)
——————————————————————
This, this December 29
This is January 27
Here we have the tumor, visible previously
And we have now
Certainly, outside diameters have decreased
Mhmm
So to some extent, but also the, the intensity of the enhancement, has decreased
Mhmm
As you can see this was much brighter before, now is less
Which means that the tumor is decreasing and it’s uh losing its activity at the same time
Mhmm
Which is a good news
But, again, we are not at the remission
This is called Stable Disease
Stabilization
Mhmm
Probably next time we see this is shrinking more and this wide band is getting thinner, and thinner, and finally
Mhmm
it should disappear
So that’s what you should be looking for
Ok
—————————————————————— (35:43)
——————————————————————
There’s some hair on the camera
Well it’s not mine
It’s definitely not mine
Hmmm
Um
No
I’m gonna start
Ok
(laughing)
Go on then
Ok
So it’s June 2012, and we have been back for approximately 6 months from the, America, and generally it’s all going well
I’ve had about 3 scans since I have been back, and they’ve all looked fairly positive
I think they’ve looked more than positive but yeah, go on
Carry on
(laughing)
Um, yeah, so the tumor, well the enhancing part of the tumor is getting smaller
Basically there’s such a small little part left that I’m sure when you watch this you’ll be able to see some images so people can see your scans
December 7th 2011 scan
Yeah, mhmm
March 21st 2012 scan
and we know that if Hannah hadn’t had this treatment, with the type of tumor that she had
May 2nd 2012 scan
she might already be dead, or she probably wouldn’t be here
June 13th 2011 scan
Yeah
much longer
July 29 2012 scan
She is very much alive at this point in time
Yeah
And what’d you think about all this controversy, because the controversy around what we’re doing, and it’s just, just
I can’t believe it personally
I find it very, very hard the, the hatred and the skepticism, of, um, what Hannah’s doing
What, what, what’s that like for you ?
Well, as I, as I’ve always said along the way, you know, any of the skeptics, what would they do, if they were in my position ?
Would they want to die in 3 to 5 years or ?
Probably less than that
Uh (both)
And that’s a horrible thought
Um
Yeah, uh everyone has a, has a right to be sceptic and everyone has a right to their own opinion
Yeah, they do
Um, and, but the funny thing about people’s opinions is, opinions are often based on, what they’ve heard
Yeah
or what someone hasn’t done, whereas uh, we spent 7 weeks at the Burzynski Clinic uh
And we saw everything
We saw everything
We spent time with this man um, and I tell you from my, from, from, I think from both, I can maybe speak for you hey ?, but uh
(laughing)
he’s one of the most honest, kindest people
Yeah, he is
‘Cause I, I said to you, the other day, about making this film, and you said: “Even if I was going to die tomorrow, I would still want this to be made”
Yeah
You remember saying that ?
Yeah
What, what, why did you say that ?
Why ?
Because, it might give other people a shake up
Mhmm
Yeah
Yeah, because uh, yeah
Why did we make this ?
Well I made this because I thought it was a journey that was well worth documenting
(?)
and maybe could help other people, and maybe help people realize there are other options, apart from the conventional treatment for cancer, and to inspire people
I hope you’re inspired by Hannah’s story because she’s an amazing, she’s a, honestly she’s annoying sometimes
(laugh)
but not very often
So are you. Yep
She has such a desire to live, uh and to enjoy her life, and I think
I don’t know, if there’s anything else that we
Ok, that’s enough for now
Hannah’s most recent scan confirmed she has now had a complete response to the treatment
—————————————————————— (39:35)
—————————————————————— Special thanks to
Bacon, Lesley
Bradley, Jeremy and Irene
Cank, Elizabeth
Cohen, Judith and David
Gooden, Lindley
Jones, Dr. Hilary
Levitt, Chris and Gina
Martinez, Dr. Juan
Merola, Eric
Newman, Ofir
Norouzi, Minou
Ramsey, Anna
Rowkowski, Dr. Bob
White, Gemma
Hannah Bradley’s GP The Eagle radio station
—————————————————————— (39:40)
—————————————————————— Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski
and all the staff at the Burzynski Clinic
—————————————————————— (39:48)
—————————————————————— camera Pete Cohen
additional camera Lindley Gooden
editor Jamie Lowe
—————————————————————— (39:54)
—————————————————————— A film by Jamie Lowe & Pete Cohen
—————————————————————— (40:00)
——————————————————————
This film is dedicated to all the people who donated their time and energy to raise funds to save Hannah’s life
—————————————————————— (40:08)
——————————————————————
To follow the progress of Hannah’s recovery and find out more about the treatment she received please visit: http://www.teamhannah.com/blog
====================================== [15] – 2/17/2012 – Friday – REAL LIFE – ‘I’ll try anything to beat brain cancer’
—————————————————————— http://m.gulfnews.com/i-ll-try-anything-to-beat-brain-cancer-1.981203
====================================== Team Hannah Blog (2:46) 4/1/2013 – Posted by Hannah
======================================
(laughing) Don’t
‘Cause you’ll put this bit in
Promise ?
Yeah
Ok
(laugh) Ok, so, it’s April the 1st and it’s 2 years on since I had my operation and but ? obviously is out
So, I just wanted to (laugh)
Start again
Start again
Start again
Start again
Ok
Ok
I don’t believe you
I have
Start today again
(laugh) I don’t believe you
It didn’t go “beep beep”
Because it’s on silent
(laugh) Do you think that I’m an idiot ?
No
(laugh)
Ok
3 2 1 go
Hi there um it’s (laugh) the, the 1st of April and it’s 2 years on since I had my operation and I’m pleased to tell you that I’m obviously still here, and um that’s thanks to you guys and thanks to me I suppose from, for fighting so hard for my life
And what, and what have you been up to then ?
I have been up to um just resting a lot and uh making up new recipes uh
Your next book
Yeah, for my next book and
Yeah, that’s pretty much it
And when are you thinking you might be able to come off the treatment ?
June
End of May
June
I have a scan in a couple of weeks and we’ll update you after that
And what will that be like, coming off the treatment ?
Oh, it’ll be amazing
Yeah, amazing
So you won’t be walking around with
No
this fellow here ?
No
Ok
Is there anything else you’d like to say ?
Um, just love to you all
Oh
The wave
—————————————————————— Team Hannah Blog (3:34) 3/2/2013 – Posted by Hannah
======================================
Hi
This is the Team Hannah blog and it is the 3rd of March and Peter is actually filming me today
He’s not there, where he normally is
Yeah
Exactly
So I’m on my own
Flying solo
Um I’d just like to say how well I’m doing and my last
Ohhh went a bit northern then
My last scan um was mid-February and it showed no enhancing tumor
So that’s really good
Um I’ve just got um a really cystic area in my head
So it looks like they’ve predicted June me me to be off the treatment
So, fingers crossed for June
What will that be like to, to come off the treatment ?
Um, yeah, it will be
The treatment is so uh, restricting I would say
Yeah, it would be good to come off
And what else have you been up to ?
I have been (holding up Team Hannah Cookbook) selling lots of copies,
Yeah
and, and,
the other book a little bit
I know that you mentioned in the last blog, but just
What, what’s the book about ?
Well it’s low-carb recipes and I’ve
Been on the radio
I did a radio
promoting it and um it’s great for anyone who wants to cut out sugar
to lose weight and decrease their, and what, decrease their
Risk
Yeah, risk of getting disease
Yeah, ’cause we saw a doctor in America, Dr. Rowkowski
and he, and one of the things he said to you was you really need to cut sugar out of your diet
to
sugar is what he said
Yeah
Um, and you’ve been getting a lot of people that
trying your recipes and taking photos
Yeah
picking up
on Facebook on Pete’s favorite page
to cook something from the book
put them up on the
page as well
And um where can people find out about your book
Um just slide over to, to Hannah Cookbook and you will find it there
And your blog as well, yeah ?
Yeah
So, I think we’re done
I just want to say there’s an airplane going overhead
Thank you to everyone whose supported us
it seems a lot of, a lot of film
And why are you laughing
Pajamas
pajamas
I didn’t quite
yep
What are those
(laughing)
This bench has seen a lot of action
Yeah, it has
Video action, that is
(laughing)
And we’re very thankful to everyone
Yeah
Thank you, yeah, again
Yeah
We try and do one after next scan
Big wave, please
Bye bye
Bye
====================================== Sapphire Sings For Team Hannah
1/3/2012 – Posted (3:00)
====================================== (Last) Christmas, I gave you my heart
The very next day, you gave it away
This year, to save me from tears
I’ll give it to someone special
Once bitten, and twice shy
I keep my distance, but you catch my eye
Tell me baby, do you recognize me ?
Well, it’s been a year, it does not surprise me
Happy Christmas, I wrapped it up and sent it
With a note saying, “I love you”, I meant it
Now I know, what a fool I’ve been
But if you kiss me now, I know you’d fool me again
Last Christmas, I gave you my heart
The very next day, you
—————————————————————— (1:04)
——————————————————————
Ok Sapphire, all I have to say is “Thank you, thank you, thank you
You have compiled a CD, um, in aid of Help for Hannah, and you have had quite a lot of sales so far, and you have got a beautiful voice, and I’m sure you’ll go very, very, very far, but “Thank you”, and this is just a little “Thank you” for you, but obviously other people are going to hear it Thank you Love you
Bye
Did you
Sorry
Did she also, sing this yesterday, uh, somewhere?
Yeah, she sung it at Aldershot uh Football Club
Again, so Aldershot was playing football against another team
Plymouth, yeah
Plymouth
And she sang it for everyone ?
Yeah
And they raised some money for you ?
Yep
Yes, so this has been a big “Thank you” from both of us (laughing)
Let’s, let’s play out a bit more of that song
Ok
‘Cause we love this song
It’s off
Uh yep, it’s my favorite Christmas song
It’s the only Christmas song
(gave it away)
we can hear when it’s not Christmas This year, to save me from tears
I’ll give it to someone special
A crowded room, friends with tired eyes
I’m hiding from you, and your soul of ice
My god I thought you were someone to rely on
Me ? I guess I was a shoulder to cry on
A face on a lover with a fire in his heart
A man undercover but you tore me apart
Now I’ve found a real
Thank you so much
——————————————————————
An Update For You
10/21/2011 – Posted
A Message From Pete About Team Hannah (3:07)
A MESSAGE FROM PETE
Hi it’s Pete Cohen and I just wanted to share something with you
Uh in February this year my girlfriend was diagnosed with a, with a brain tumor and when this happened it really obviously rocked our world
You know, everything seemed to be ok
Everything was great in life
And then something happened, and everything changed
And I don’t know whether anything like that has ever happened to you
But these things happen don’t they
And when they happen they really test you
They really challenge you
They, it’s very easy
It made me question lots of things
It made me think to myself, well, you know, what, is life, really fair ?
You know, should this happen to such a young person ?
These things do happen
And it really puts us in a position where it questions what we have
What we have to deal with such difficult circumstances
And I’ve definitely found things in myself that I didn’t know wa was there, you know, resolve, compassion, determination just to, to keep going
And this is the thing human beings we all have this kind of, we all have something else don’t we
All, we all have something more than our stress, and our worry, and our anxiety
We have a our true nature I think can overcome so much, of what life throws at us
You know, obviously we can’t overcome, everything
But what I really wanted to share with you is something that I’ve been so taken aback with, and that’s the beautiful nature of human beings, because we’re trying to take my girlfriend over to America to be treated over there, and we’re having to raise a considerable sum of money, and we’ve actually had to ask people, for help
Now that’s something that’s a bit alien to me, is to ask people and say, you know, can you help me, can you help us
Maybe that’s an insecurity that I have
Bur we’ve asked for help and it’s been amazing to see people all over the world spread the world, donate some money
And I’ve been so touched by that
It’s so life affirming
It so, it gives us such great strength
Any my girlfriend and I have been
so touched by that
So what’s my point here ?
Recognize how important it is for all of us to support each other
Recognize how important it is to affirm each other
You know, that’s one of the most important human needs we all have;
affirmation, it’s the fact that, to take the time to recognize each other
Hello
How are you
I care for you
So, thank you so much for watching this, and if you want to help us out please just uh visit the web-site we’ve put together for Hannah
It’s just called Team Hannah . com, and on there you can see a little more about Hannah and what’s happened to her, and the treatment we’re looking for her to have, in America
So, I hope you all have a great day and please, take the time to be there for other people, to care for other people, because that’s what makes this world great
Thanks for watching
Bye, bye
======================================
v=p5tAeYsNOZQ?rel=0
======================================
——————————————————————
Hannah’s message [3]
——————————————————————
(3:02)
——————————————————————
Ok
So what’s your name ?
I’m Hannah Bradley, and I’m 27 years old, and I come from North Hampton
And what happened to you ?
I had a seizure in middle of the night and my partner tells me I was rushed to hospital
That was in February 2011
And from there I had lots and lots of tests, and they decided that I had a brain tumor, and they were going to operate, and they successfully operated on the 1st of April, 2011, and they, the biopsy went off to be um checked
I found out that I had a grade 3 tumor
I then, under, underwent a, I had a 6 week course of radiotherapy, and that left me with no hair, and can’t remember what else (laugh)
And um that I went under another MRI scan 6 weeks after radiotherapy and we, that again wasn’t particularly good news, and we found out that there was still remnants of the tumor, and the future for me is very uncertain
So what, what are you looking for ?
What are you looking to do ?
Um, I, sorry
What do you want Hannah ?
What is it you’re looking for ?
Um, mainly I, um, I can’t
You just want to live, right ?
Yeah
So what are you asking for ?
What, what, what do you need ?
I um, I need people to raise money, for, uh, my treatment
I’m looking to going to America because there are things that they can offer me here on the NHS or locally (?) is very, very limited, and there’s a doctor in Houston, and he’s able to help
So you want some help in raising some money, yeah ?
Yeah, it’s completely out of our reach to raise that much money, and it’s, I’d like help to raise the money
——————————————————————
9/17/2012
Monday, 17 September 2012 07:23 | Written by Administrator
Hannah Bradley
Hannah’s amazing story, fighting and winning over her Brain tumor (Anaplastic Astrocytoma) is available on her support site
Team Hannah
There are more videos by Pete and Hannah, documenting her fight and the Burzynski Clinic
======================================
[1] – September 28, 2013 “The Skeptics™” Burzynski discussion: By Bob Blaskiewicz – 2:19:51
====================================== BB – Bob Blaskiewicz
—————————————————————— DJT – Didymus Judas Thomas
====================================== 0:47:00
—————————————————————— BB – “Ummm, o-kay”
“Uh, I want to turn this over to the people who are watching”
“Um, I want to give them a a chance to address you as well”
“Uhmmm, hi everyone”
—————————————————————— 0:48:00
—————————————————————— 0:53:00
—————————————————————— BB – “A every time that I and and and and, and David (James @StortSkeptic the Skeptic Canary) points this out, that um, you you know you’re not going to speculate about the the FDA but then at every turn you’re invoking the FDA as being obstructionist“
—————————————————————— 0:54:02
—————————————————————— BB – “I, I just find that to be contradictory and and self-defeating“
====================================== DJT – Bob, exactly where did I invoke “the FDA as being obstructionist” ?
====================================== 1:02:00
—————————————————————— BB – “Um, it’s it’s it’s not the FDA’s, but you understand it’s not the FDA’s job to tell someone that their drug doesn’t work“
—————————————————————— 1:03:00
—————————————————————— BB – “it’s it’s it’s up to Burzynski“
“It’s up to Burzynski to show that his drug does work”
“And it’s always been his burden of proof“
“He’s the one that’s been claiming this miracle cancer cure, forever”
====================================== DJT – Bob, Burzynski showed and proved what he needed to prove to the FDA in order to do phase 2 clinical trials, 9/3/2004 – FDA granted “orphan drug designation” (“ODD”) for Antineoplastons (A10 & AS2-1 Antineoplaston) for treatment of patients with brain stem glioma, .10/30/2008 – FDA granted “orphan drug designation” (“ODD”) for Antineoplastons (A10 and AS2-1 Antineoplaston) for treatment of gliomas, and FDA approved phase 3 [1-2]
Oh, and Bob, exactly when did Burzynski 1st claim “this miracle cancer cure” ?
====================================== 1:04:02
—————————————————————— BB – “Um, that we’d love to see, however we can’t see, however we can’t see it because of proti protri proprietary uh protections that the FDA is giving to Burzynski, right ?”
“They’re not sharing his trial designs because they are his trial designs, right ?”
“That the makeup of his drug that he’s distributing are his, uh design, and his intellectual property“
“So the FDA is protecting him, uh from outside scrutiny“
====================================== DJT – Bob, you make it sound like it’s part of some grand “conspiracy” between Burzynski and the FDA to keep information from “The Skeptics™” [3]
——————————————————————
21CFR601
Subpart F–Confidentiality of Information
Sec. 601.50
Confidentiality of data and information in an investigational new drug notice for a biological product
(a) The existence of an IND notice for a biological product will not be disclosed by the Food and Drug Administration unless it has previously been publicly disclosed or acknowledged
====================================== BB – “While you may imagine that that, that that the FDA is is somehow antagonistic toward him“
“They’ve given him every opportunity, over 60 opportunities to prove himself worth uh their confidence and hasn’t“
====================================== DJT – Bob, that certainly explains the 9/3/2004 and .10/30/2008 ODD’s and phase 3 clinical trial approvals by the FDA – NOT [1-2]
====================================== 1:05:00
—————————————————————— 1:42:00
—————————————————————— BB – “I don’t, the thing is though that, that that’s a inver, shifting the burden of proof off of Burzynski”
“Burzynski has to prove them wrong, has to prove him right”
“The FDA is not there to say this doesn’t work”
====================================== DJT – Bob, who initiated and put into place the clinical trial hold ?
Burzynski ?
FDA ?
Both ?
====================================== 1:43:30
—————————————————————— BB – “So, I mean, honestly, um, saying “Well, when the F, FDA tells you that it doesn’t work, the FDA’s never gonna say that because that’s not their job“
—————————————————————— 1:44:00
—————————————————————— BB – “That’s not an option, because they’re never gonna do it“
“They relinquish, a lot of authority, over to Burzynski, and his Institutional Review Board, which, I would mention, has failed 3 reviews in a row” ====================================== Bob, where are the “final reports” for those “3 reviews” ? ====================================== BB – “Right ?”
“It is Burzynski’s job to be convincing”
“It is not our uh, uh, it it it he hasn’t produced in decades“
“In decades”
“In hundreds and hundreds of patients, who’ve payed to be on this”
“Hell, we’d we’d we’d like a prelim, well when you’re talking about something that is so difficult as brainstem glioma, that type of thing gets, really does in the publishing stream get fast-tracked there”
====================================== DJT – Bob, Burzynski has provided numerous phase 2 clinical trial preliminary reports, which our #fave oncologist has chosen to ignore [4]
====================================== BB – “they test it”
“Yeah, and they they they want uh, that was evidence of fast-tracking is what, that rejection was uh e was very quickly“
====================================== DJT – Bob, have you checked The Lancet Oncology [5] to see what was so much more important than Burzynski’s “phase 2 clinical trial Progression-Free Survival (PFS) and Overall Survival (OS) re patients 8 – 16 years after diagnosis, results” [6] and the Japanese antineoplaston study ? [7]
====================================== BB – “So, how long will it be before Burzynski doesn’t publish, that you decide that uh perhaps he’s he‘s, doesn’t have the goods ?“
“Um, so, uh, uh again, the FDA is not the arbiter of this“
“It’s ultimately Burzynski”
“You’ve been speculating about what the FDA’s motivation are like crazy”
“Why not speculate about Burzynski a little bit”
====================================== DJT – Well, how have I been speculating ?
====================================== 1:46:00
—————————————————————— BB – “Well actually I’m not even asking you to speculate about Burzynski, I’m only asking you to tell me, how long would it take, uh how, for him to go unpublished like this, um, for this long, before you would doubt it ?” ====================================== DJT – Note how, above, without proving it, Bob claimed “at every turn you’re invoking the FDA as being obstructionist”, and now, directly above, again, without proving it, Bob claims “You’ve been speculating about what the FDA’s motivation are like crazy” —————————————————————— DJT – what the journals keep saying, in response
====================================== BB – “What ?”
====================================== DJT – You know, are they going to give The Lancet response, like they did in 2 hours and such, saying, “Well, we think your message would be best heard elsewhere,”or they gonna gonna give The Lancet response of, “Well, we don’t have room in our publication this time, well, because we’re full up, so, try and pick another place”?
====================================== BB – “But these but but but that doesn’t have any bearing on“
“That doesn’t”
“Oh I’m not asking you how long, how long, would it take you for you to start doubting whether or not he has the goods ?“
“How long would it take ?”
“It’s a it’s a it’s a question that should be answered by a number uh uh months ?“
“Years ?”
“How long ?”
“It’s been 15 years already”
====================================== DJT – Well, you like to jump up and down with the “15 year” quote, but then again I always get back to, Hey, it’s when, when the report, when the clinical trial is done
—————————————————————— 1:47:06
—————————————————————— DJT – Not that he’s been practicing medicine medicine for 36 years, or whatever, it’s when the clin, clinical trial was done
====================================== BB – “I could push it back to 36 years”
“He hasn’t shown that it works for 36 years”
“I can do that”
“I was being nice” ====================================== DJT – Note how Bob acts like he’s been hit with “The Stupid Stick”
If he wants to go back “36 years”, I can refer back to 1991 (11/15/1991) – Michael J. Hawkins, M.D., Chief, Investigational Drug Branch, Department of Health &Human Services (HHS), Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Cancer Institute (NCI), sent a 1 page Memorandum Re:
Antineoplaston to Decision Network, which advised, in part:
“It was the opinion of the site visit team that antitumor activity was documented in this best case series and that the conduct of Phase II trials was indicated to determine the response rate”[8] —————————————————————— DJT – The FDA A believes there is evidence of efficacy
====================================== BB – “Perhaps based on bad phase 2”
====================================== DJT – Well, we don’t know that
We don’t have the Freedom of Information Act information —————————————————————— DJT – Remember, Bob is the one who told me during the 9/28/2013 Google+ Burzynski Discussion Hangout:
“You’re you’re you’re assuming”
“You’re you’re you’re assuming that”
“You’re assuming that”
“Um, I’m not assuming that”
“There is a correct answer here”
“You don’t know”
“You don’t know”
“You need to look into it”
“Alright ?”
“Before you dismiss it you have to look into it”
“Everytime somebody throws uh uh something to me, I have to look into it”
“That’s just, it’s my responsibility as a reader”
“T t and what I would honestly expect and hope, is that you would be honest about this, to yourself, and and and that’s the thing we don’t, we often don’t realize that we’re not being honest with ourself“
“I try to fight against it, constantly”
Bob just ASSUMED that the FDA approved phase 3 clinical trials for Burzynski “Perhaps based on bad phase 2”, but tells me NOT to ASSUME ? ====================================== BB – “He withdrew”
“He withdrew the the phase 3 clinical trial”
“I that before recruiting,
although I’ve seen lots of people say they were on a phase 3 clinical trial“
“I wonder how that happened”
====================================== DJT – Well, we know what happened in the movie because Eric particularly covered that when they tried to get what, what, was it 200 or 300 something institutions to take on a phase 3, and they refused
====================================== 1:48:01
—————————————————————— BB – “Uh did do do you think that if they thought that he was a real doctor that they all would have refused like that ?“
====================================== DJT – Well, Eric gave the reasons that they said they would not take a particular uh phase 3
And so using that excuse that you you just gave there, I’m not even gonna buy that one, because that’s not one of the reasons —————————————————————— Note how Bob pulls out the old “if they thought that he was a real doctor” line ?
Is Bob now claiming that Burzynski is NOT even a “real doctor” ? ====================================== BB – “He’s changed things”
====================================== DJT – Eric said they gave
====================================== BB – “That The Lancet is a top-tier journal like New England Journal of Medicine“
“It’s basically be, besieged by uh 100′s of people submitting their, their, their reports”
“Um, it’s just, you know, let’s say he, someone has such a thin publishing record as Burzynski does, do you think that it’s likely that he will ever get in a top-tier journal ?“
“What about the the Public Library of Science?”
“It’s not the only journal there”
“What about BMC Cancer ?”
“There’s lots of places that he can go”
====================================== DJT – We’ll I’m
====================================== BB – “Um, and he doesn’t seem to to have evailed himself of that, as far as I can tell“
“And I would know because he’d get rejected, or he’d be crowing, you know”
—————————————————————— 1:49:02
—————————————————————— BB – “Either way, he’s gonna tell us what happens”
“He told us what happened with The Lancet, you know”
“I don’t have any evidence that suggests to me that he’s even trying” ====================================== Note how Bob refers to Burzynski’s numerous publications as “such a thin publishing record”
Bob, do I need to count all of these for you ? [9] —————————————————————— DJT – Well, I’m, I’m sure that they’re going to keep you appraised just like they have in the past, just like Eric has done in the past
So
I mean, we’ll see what happens with the Japanese study [7]
====================================== BB – “So let’s go back to this”
“How long will it take ?”
“How long will it take before you, the Japanese study’s interesting too because we should be able to find that in the Japanese science databases, and we can find, we can’t find it at all“
“We can’t find it anywhere”
“And, and those are in English, so it’s not a language problem“
“We can’t find that anywhere”
“We’ve asked”
“We asked Rick Schiff, for, for that study”
“And, and it hasn’t come to us“
“He is now I believe on the Board of Directors, over there”
—————————————————————— 1:50:00
—————————————————————— BB – “He should have access to this”
“We can’t get it”
====================================== Bob, did you ask:
1. Annals of Oncology 2010;21:viii221 ?
2. European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), Colorectal cancer, Abstract: 3558, May 17, 2010 ?
3. Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada, COLORECTAL CANCER RESEARCH, Month Ending June 19, 2009
11. Antineoplaston Therapy Doubles 5-Year Survival Rate Following Curative Resection of Hepatic Mets (May 27/09) pg. 5 of 20 ?
4. Kurume University School of Medicine (Japan) Department of Surgery ?
5. Hideaki Tsuda ? [7]
====================================== BB – “How how long will it take before you recognize that, nothing is forthcoming ?”
“How long would that take ?”
====================================== DJT – Well that’s like me asking “How long is it going to take for y’all’s, y’all‘s Skeptics to respond to my questions ?”
Because y’all haven’t been forthcoming
====================================== BB – “Well, I mean, were talking about a blog here“
“We’re talking about life”
“No, we’re talking about a blogger’s feelings in that case“
“In in this case we’re talking about, 1,000′s of patients, over the course of of of generations, you know”
“This is important stuff”
“This is not eh eh equating what’s happening to to patients with what’s happening to you is is completely off-kilter as far as I can tell“
“It’s nothing”
“It’s nothing like you not getting to say something on my web-site”
“You know”
“This is they they have thrown in with Burzynski, and they’ve trusted him, and he’s produced nothing“
“Nothing of substance”
—————————————————————— 1:51:00
—————————————————————— BB – “Nothing that that has made all of that um, uh, n nothing th th th that uh his peers would take seriously”
“The other thing that that that strikes me now is that, you know, you you you you keep saying that, well Eric is going to to share things with you”
“Does it ever concern you eh uh eh occur to you that Eric might not be reliable ?” ====================================== Bob, do you want to have a contest to determine which of you is more “reliable” ? ====================================== DJT – Well, he gave you The Lancet information and he posted the e-mail in the movie, and Josephine Jones posted a copy of it [6]
====================================== BB – “He then, and then he”
“And then he he, you know, the the the the dialogue that sprung up around that was, well see, he’s never going to get to get published”
“Well you’re just setting yourself up for wish fulfillment”
“You want him to be, persecuted, so you are ecstatic when he doesn’t get to publish, which is unfortunate for all the cancer patients, who really thought that one day, all the studies were going to be published”
—————————————————————— 1:52:00
====================================== DJT – Well, y’all are free to, you know, claim that all you want, because I don’t always agree with Eric, and uh, he’s free to express his opinion
====================================== BB – “Where has Eric been wrong ?”
====================================== DJT – Well I don’t necessarily believe, what Eric would say about, you know, The Lancet that refused to publish the 2nd one, for the reasons he stated, and which y’all have commented on, including Gorski
You know, I don’t necessarily agree with that
I am more agreeable to y’all, saying that, you know, they’re busy, they’ve got other things to do, but I’m kind of still laughing at their 1st response which he showed in the movie about how they felt about, you know his results would be better in some other publication
I thought that was kind of a ridiculous response to give someone
====================================== BB – “It’s it’s it’s it’s a form letter“
“You know”
“They’re just saying, “No thanks””
““Thanks, but no thanks” is what they were saying, in the most generic way possible”
“Like I said, they’re besieged by researchers trying to publish“
—————————————————————— 1:53:05
====================================== DJT – Well you would think that if its a form letter they would use the same form that they used the 2nd time
You know, they didn’t use the same wording that they used the 1st time
I would have think that, you know, their 2nd comment
====================================== BB – “So, so, possibly”
“So possibly what you are saying is that they in fact have read it, and after having read it they’ve rejected it”
“Is that what you’re saying ?”
“Because that’s what peer-review is”
====================================== DJT – Nah, I’m not saying that they did that all
I’m just sayin’, you know, that they gave, 2 different responses, and I would think that the 2nd one they gave
====================================== BB – “Do you know it was the same editor, that it came from the same desk ?”
“You can’t make that assumption that that the form letter will be the same form letter every time”
“I mean you just can’t“
“I mean in in some ways we have a lot of non-information that you’re filling in, with what you expect, as as opposed to what’s actually really there, and I I I just think you’re putting too much uh stock in one uh, uh, in in in in this uh the publication kerfuffle“
—————————————————————— 1:54:16
—————————————————————— BB – “Um”
====================================== DJT – Well I find it funny, something along the lines of, you know, “We believe your message would be received better elsewhere, you know
I don’t see that as a normal response, a scientific publication would send to someone trying to publish something
I mean, to me that sounds, like, if you’re doing that, and you’re The Lancet Oncology, maybe you need to set some different procedures in place, ‘cuz you would think that with such a great scientific peer-reviewed magazine, that they would have structured things in as far as how they do their operations
====================================== BB – “Well, not necessarily“
“I’ve been in any # of professional groups where the organization is just not optimal, and publications certainly th there are all sorts of pressures from all sorts of different places”
—————————————————————— 1:55:08
—————————————————————— BB – “I I have no problems whatsoever with seeing that this might not be completely uh um uh streamlining uniform processes as possible“
“The fact that it’s not uniform, doesn’t have anything to do with Burzynski not publishing, not producing good data”
“Not just going to a, you know, god, even if, even if, let’s put it this way, even if he went to a pay to play type publication where you have to pay in order to get your manuscript accepted; and he has the money to do this, it wouldn’t take that much, and he were to put out a good protocol, and he were to show us his data, and he would make his, his his stuff accessible to us, then we could validate it, then we could look at it and say, “Yeah, this is good,” or “No, this is the problem, you have to go back and you have to fix this””
“Right ?”
“So we really, every time we talk about the letter that he got, yeah that doesn’t have much to do with anything, really”
—————————————————————— 1:56:02
—————————————————————— BB – “We wanna see the frickin’ data”
“And if he had a cure for some cancers that otherwise don’t have reliable treatments, he has an obligation to get that out there anyway he can“
“And if if peer-review doesn’t, you know, play a, if peer-review can’t do it, you know, isn’t fast enough for him, then he should take it to the web, and he should send copies out to every pediatric, uh, you know, oncologist that there is“
“That’s the way to do it”
====================================== DJT – Well, I’m sure, I’m sure Gorski would have a comment about that, as he’s commented previously about how he thinks uh Burzynskishould publish
====================================== 1:57:10
—————————————————————— BB – “It’s the, it’s the data itself“
“If if Burzynski is is, is confident in his data, he will put it out there“
“Right ?”
“One way or the other”
====================================== DJT – Like I said before
Like I said before on my blog, you know, even if Burzynski publishes his phase 2 information, Gorski can just jump up and down and say, “Well, that just shows evidence of efficacy, you know, it’s not phase 3, so it doesn’t really prove it”
—————————————————————— 1:58:04
—————————————————————— DJT – So then he can go on, you know, for however many years he wants to
====================================== 2:01:00
—————————————————————— BB – “Um, almost no treatment goes out without trials“
“Massive amounts of data are required” ====================================== Bob, do you think that’s the 2.5 million pages of clinical trial data that Fabio said Burzynski sent to the FDA ? [10] ====================================== 2:02:00
—————————————————————— BB – “Uh, in in in that sense, you know, uh all the the the, you know, kind of back-peddling and and and trying to defend him is is going to, not going to help his case at all“
====================================== Bob, exactly where did I exhibit any “kind of back-peddling” ?
====================================== 2:03:03
——————————————————————
BB – “You are, honestly as far as I can tell you are doing the um, you know, you’re you’re ah throwing up uh, uh, uh, you’re giving me another uh invisible dragon in the garage, um”
====================================== DJT – Well y’all, y’all can call things what y’all want
I mean, y’all can give these, fallacy arguments and all that garbage that y’all like, because that’s what y’all like to talk about instead of dealing with the issues
I mean, Gorski doesn’t want to deal with the issues
====================================== 2:04:11
—————————————————————— BB – “Okay, so”
“What you’re telling me is that you trust the FDA to to be able to tell you when he’s not doing, good science, but also that you don’t trust the FDA”
“Do you see an inherent conflict there ?”
====================================== DJT – How did I say I, I didn’t trust them ?
====================================== BB – “Well, when I, whenever I would ask about, like, why would these trials aren’t happening uh and, you know, you say well the the FDA’s arranged it“
“The FDA’s in control”
“They sign off on these things”
“But they’re they’re they’re they’re at the same that they’re, they’re trustworthy they’re also not trustworthy depending on what you need for the particular argument at the time“
—————————————————————— 2:05:12
—————————————————————— BB – “You’re suggesting that they’re untrustworthy”
====================================== DJT – No, I’m just sayin’ that I’ve raised questions and none of The Skeptics wanna to uh talk about ‘em [11]
====================================== BB – “Do you know that the FDA pulled out of the prosecution ?”
“Did you know that the FDA pulled out of the prosecution um of his criminal case, because they were backing a researcher ?” ====================================== Bob, would that “researcher” be Dvorit D. Samid, who was in Burzynski: Cancer is Serious Business (Part I) ? —————————————————————— DJT – Well, we know a lot stuff they did, but that still doesn’t impress me that they pulled out of the prosecution
I mean
====================================== BB – “Yeah, the the the it wasn’t the FDA who was pressing charges, it was a Federal prosecutor“
====================================== DJT – Right
====================================== BB – “Right”
“And and, they declined to provide information that the prosecution needed“
“That’s important”
“That that that’s really important“
“That he has been given the benefit of the doubt, and he has come up wanting, for decades now”
====================================== DJT – Well I find it interesting a lot of this uh, a lot of these letters that were provided between, you know, the government and Burzynski, when the uh phase 2 study was going on, at the behest of the NCI
You know, anybody who reads that stuff knows, that when you just ignore the person that’s been doing, do treating their patients for 20 something years, or close to 20 years, and you change the protocol without his approval, and you don’t use the drugs in the manner that he knows works
====================================== 2:10:15
—————————————————————— BB – “One of the interesting things about Doubting Thomas that I think you should definitely consider for yourself, is that at some point, when faced with the real opportunity to prove or disprove his assertions, he doubted himself”
“And that’s important”
“And that’s where you’re falling short in the analogy”
====================================== DJT – Well, I think The Skeptics, Skeptics are falling short because, you know, they don’t own up to
====================================== BB – “I’ve laid out exactly what it would take for me to turn on a fucking dime”
“I have, I have made it abundantly clear what I need“
“Gorski has made it abundantly clear”
“Everybody else, Guy, and David, and Josephine Jones, uh, the Morgans, all of them have made it abundantly clear, what it would take to change our minds, and you’ve never done that”
—————————————————————— 2:11:02
—————————————————————— BB – “And even in this, this was an opportunity to do that“
“To come up with a basis for understanding, where it’s like, you know what, If we can show this, you know, if we can show a this guy, that, that, there, that his standards are not being met, then, you know, we could possibly have some sort of ongoing dialogue after this”
====================================== DJT – So I can say that since the Mayo Clinic (Correction: M.D. Anderson) finished their study in 2006, and it took them until 2013, to actually publish it, then I can say, well, Burzynski finished his in 2009, which was 3 years later, which would give Burzynski until 2016
====================================== BB – “Why wasn’t that study”
====================================== DJT – for me to make up my mind (laughing)
====================================== BB – “Why wasn’t that, that that that, still . . again, it it doesn’t seem really to to approach the the the, main question here“
“You know, um . . what are the standards that you have that it isn’t, what are your standards to show that it isn’t efficacious ?“
—————————————————————— 2:12:05
====================================== DJT – Well I can say, well I’m going to have to wait, the same amount of time I had to wait for Mayo (Correction: M.D. Anderson) to publish their study; which was from 2006 to 2013
====================================== BB – “Why was the Mayo”
“Why was the Mayo (Correction: M.D. Anderson) study delayed ?” ====================================== Note how Bob ASSUMES that the publishing of the final results of the M.D. Anderson study were delayed —————————————————————— DJT – How do you know it was delayed ?
====================================== BB – “Well you said you had so many years before you finish it and go in”
====================================== DJT – I mean, has anybody
====================================== BB – “Why, why did it take so long ?“
====================================== DJT – done a review of when a clinical trial is studied, and completed, and how long it took the people to publish it ?
You know
If they could point to me a study that’s done that, and say, well here’s the high end, here’s the low end of the spectrum, here’s the middle
====================================== BB – “I have something for you, okay ?”
“Send me that”
“Could you send me that study the way that it was published because um, just just send me the final study, um, to my e-mail address”
====================================== DJT – Sure
====================================== BB – “Um, because, I can ask that question of those researchers, why was this study in this time, and what happened in-between”
—————————————————————— 2:13:03
—————————————————————— BB – “Why did it take so long for it, for it to come out”
====================================== DJT – Sure, but that’s not gonna, you know like, answer an overall question of, you know, somebody did a comparative study of all clinical trials, and, when they were finished, and at, and when the study was actually published afterwards
You know, that’s only gonna be one, particular clinical study
====================================== BB – “Right”
“Um, but it it would, perhaps, answer the question; because you’re using it as an example on the basis of which to dismiss criticism, whether or not, uh, it is the standard, and therefor you’re allowed to accept that Burzynski hasn’t published until 2016, or, um, it’s an anomaly, which is also a possibility, that most stuff comes out more quickly“
====================================== DJT – Well, we know that the Declaration of Helsinki doesn’t even give a standard saying, “You must publish within x amount of years,” you know ?
So, I’ve yet to find a Skeptic who posted something that said, “Here are the standards, published here”
====================================== 2:14:07
—————————————————————— BB – “I I, yeah, the other thing that David James points out is you know, why 2016 when he’s had 36 years already ?“
====================================== DJT – Again, we get back to, when the clinical trial is finished, not when Burzynski started
====================================== BB – “Treating people”
====================================== DJT – I mean, you would expect to find a results to be published after, the final results are in
====================================== BB – “You would expect the Burzynski Patient Group to be a lot bigger after 36 years, and in fact is
====================================== DJT – You would expect some people would want to have confidentiality, and maybe not want to be included
====================================== BB – “So, if you’re unsure about this stuff, if you’re unsure about the the time to publication, why are you defending it so hard, other than saying, “I don’t know, I really need to”
====================================== DJT – Why am I unsure ?
====================================== BB – “Uh about the
====================================== DJT – (laughing) I just gave you an example
====================================== BB – “The reasons, the reasons for which that he’s, no, why are you defending him so hard, when you’re unsure ?
—————————————————————— 2:15:02
====================================== DJT – Oh, who said I was unsure ?
I just gave you an example
—————————————————————— Note how Bob ASSUMES that I’m “unsure” when I had the same answer since 0:32:07 [12]
Bob, who approves “Accelerated Approval” ?
1. FDA ?
2. A peer-reviewed scientific journal ?
3. The Skeptics™ ?
Bob, It’s your unlucky [13]
====================================== REFERENCES:
====================================== [1] – September 28, 2013 “The Skeptics™” Burzynski discussion: By Bob Blaskiewicz – 2:19:51
——————————————————————
====================================== [8] – Critiquing: National Cancer Institute (NCI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) CancerNet “fact sheet”:
——————————————————————
====================================== [10] – Critiquing: In which the latest movie about Stanislaw Burzynski “cancer cure” is reviewed…with Insolence:
——————————————————————
====================================== [12] – The Biggest Loser: “The Skeptics™” Guy Chapman (guychapman @vGuyUK @SceptiGuy)http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk/blahg/– September 28, 2013 “The Skeptics™” Burzynski discussion: By Bob Blaskiewicz – 2:19:51
——————————————————————
====================================== [13] – Burzynski: Why has the FDA NOT granted Accelerated Approval for Antineoplastons A10 (Atengenal) and AS2-1 (Astugenal) ?:
——————————————————————
Musings on the intersection of Articles, Bias, and Censorship
(The Big 3: A.B.C.)
4/19/2013 @ 9:43PM
Randy Hinton issued a challenge on Peter A. Lipson’s article comments, for a “Live Debate in front of 10,000 people,” a week ago
Boris Ogon, 6 days ago commented:
“You are right now having a live “debate” in front of more than 10,000 people, … “
Considering that the article now reflects 3,601 views
NOT SO MUCH
Waiting for the 10,000
Randy Hinton reissued his standing challenge 10 hours ago
lilady 1 hour ago
“I already offered you a forum on a science blog to debate with a real respected surgical oncologist, with a guarantee that he never moderates the “debate”.”
We are supposed to believe that he’s now NOT going to block someone’s comments???
#66
Didymus Judas Thomas
IMPORTANT: The live “debate”-A Film Producer, A Cancer Doctor, And Their Critics | Didymus Judas Thomas’ Hipocritical Oath Blog
April 27, 2013
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
Seriously ? Gorski ? Let’s remember that it is YOU who would NOT answer my questions, and instead inacted your “Hold the Mayo” posture re post 73
Let’s review your
“deconstructed his “evidence” in depth before”
claim
1/21/2013 Orac posted THIS blog:
“Quoth Joe Mercola:
I love me some Burzynski antineoplastons
Posted by Orac on January 21, 2013″
” … In particular, a multicenter phase II trial carried out by investigators at the Mayo Clinic was a big failure, with a median survival of 5.2 months in patients with anaplastic oligoastrocytoma, anaplastic astrocytoma, or glioblastoma multiforme that had recurred after radiation therapy
Burzynski naturally has lots of excuses for why the trial failed and tried to blame the investigators, but his complaints are not convincing” http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2013/01/21/quoth-joe-mercola-i-love-me-some-burzynski-antineoplastons
I challenged Orac about this and this reply was posted which included my point at the beginning of the reply:
1/29/2013
“An excellent explanation of how dubious Stanislaw Burzynski’s activities are”
Posted by Orac on January 28, 2013 http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2013/01/28/an-excellent-explanation-of-how-dubious-stanislaw-burzynskis-activities-are
Post #52 – Orac
January 29, 2013
“CONCLUSION: Although we could not confirm any tumor regression in patients in this study, THE SMALL SAMPLE SIZE PRECLUDES DEFINITIVE CONCLUSIONS ABOUT TREATMENT EFFICACY.”
“You do realize that that means that the Mayo trial failed to find evidence of efficacy, just as I said, don’t you?
The default of a finding like that is that there is no evidence of efficacy, not that failure to have adequate numbers to show an effect means that there’s an effect there
If SRB wants to convince skeptics that his treatments work better than conventional therapy, let him publish the evidence in a peer-reviewed journal in a manner that it can be independently verified
Thus far, he has failed to do so”
I responded to Orac, quoting his reply at the beginning of my reply:
Post #73 – Didymus Judas Thomas
At the Tu-Quack Center Oracles of Deny to Respond tree
January 30, 2013
Post #52 – Orac
“You do realize that that means that the Mayo trial failed to find evidence of efficacy, just as I said, don’t you?
The default of a finding like that is that there is no evidence of efficacy, not that failure to have adequate numbers to show an effect means that there’s an effect there
If SRB wants to convince skeptics that his treatments work better than conventional therapy, let him publish the evidence in a peer-reviewed journal in a manner that it can be independently verified
Thus far, he has failed to do so”
Orac, I thoroughly enjoyed; with a dismissive limp wrist, you posted:
“Burzynski naturally has lots of excuses for why the trial failed and tried to blame the investigators, but his complaints are not convincing.” http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2013/01/21/quoth-joe-mercola-i-love-me-some-burzynski-antineoplastons INCREDIBLE !!!
Didymus Judas Thomas' Hipocritical Oath Blog 