James "Rhio" O'Connor Memorial Scholarship Contest

Whenever someone is told they have cancer, especially one as serious and life threatening as Mesothelioma, its difficult to digest. The options presented to the person are often limited, leaving them with a sense of hopelessness. I hope that James “Rhio” O’Connor, as well as other long-term survivors, continues to inspire doctors and patients to consider alternative medicine and therapies as seriously as they do conventional treatments.

I consider myself as someone who has a unique understanding of what James “Rhio” O’Connor and other Mesothelioma survivors have been through, between the emotional rollercoaster of learning and understanding the prognosis to considering all the treatment options. Although I haven’t been diagnosed with Mesothelioma, I have had a serious encounter with cancer that’s put me in the same situations that many Mesothelioma patients have had to experience. I would like to share how I have incorporated a similar approach to cancer to that of James “Rhio” and others.

I had just graduated high school, and I was excited to start college and what I thought was the beginning of a bright future. I had finished my freshman year, and I had done very well, made some friends, and had adjusted to the new environment and lifestyle. The last thing on my mind was cancer, but it was going to have a profound impact on my life from that summer on. When I began vomiting from headaches twice in one week, I knew I needed to get evaluated. At first, the doctor insisted that it was probably a sinus infection, but I convinced him to give me a CT scan.

When he returned, I never expected him to tell me that I had a tumor, 3 centimeters in diameter, in my brain and then simply leave the room. Maybe he thought that I needed some time to understand the gravity of my situation or maybe he thought he wasn’t the best person to fully explain my diagnosis. All I know for certain is that the doctor didn’t make me feel more at ease. In the next few hours, I had to make important decisions about what treatment options to pursue to increase my chances of beating this cancer. While other college adolescents were making decisions about classes and finances, I was making decisions about treatments that were going to save my life. Although Mesothelioma and Glioblastoma Multiforme, my tumor diagnosis, have different physiologies, causes, and symptoms, many of the same treatment options are offered for both.
Over the next few months, I followed the recommendations of my doctors because I knew my cancer was too serious to take the risk of forgoing treatment. I underwent several surgeries followed by radiation and chemotherapy, was based on a clinical trial from Duke University that had shown to be quite effective. I was left several neurological and physical impairments as a result of the surgeries and treatments. Chemotherapy and steroids took a toll on my body, but they were necessary. Alternative medicine was never mentioned, so I never really saw it as an option.

Throughout my treatments, I choose not to rely just on the medicine and treatments to get me through my ordeal, even though my tumor was reacting well to the treatments. I didn’t want to just rely on conventional treatments because I read about people on Glioblastoma Multiforme forums and many of them had disheartening outcomes because the traditional therapies didn’t work. I knew I needed to look for other, safe ways to increase my chances of really winning this battle. Even music, as simple as it may be, played a big role in motivating me to keep fighting and in pushing myself in physical and occupational therapy. I ate totally different from my usual diet, consuming nutrient dense foods and foods thought to have cancer-fighting properties, like asparagus and berries, lean red meat, and dark, leafy greens. I figured I might as well eat these types of foods to keep me healthy and well instead of other less beneficial choices. A year had past since I was diagnosed and several of my MRIs showed no visible cancer. This encouraged me to really begin researching the benefits of nutrition and alternative medicine to reduce the chance of the cancer ever reoccurring. Since beginning this new way of living, I’ve received information from nutritionists and considered and the benefits of methods like yoga, chiropractic care, deep breathing, and massage to obtain a more holistic healing effect. I even contacted one of the longest living survivors of my type of cancer, a professor who has written a book on how he battled what doctors told him was “terminal” cancer, He shared with me what foods and supplements he uses. I still use some of the information he gave me on his diet and supplements, like genistein, silymarin from milk thistle, green tea extract, curcumin from turmeric, fish oil, and borage seed oil.

I know nutrition and alternative medicine aren’t widely accepted in the medical world, but I hope people like James “Rhio” O’Connor continue to prove that it does have benefits and shouldn’t be entirely ruled out in the treatment of cancer. Now, I am back in college fulltime and moving on with life, but still using nutrition, supplements and alternative medicine. It’s unlikely that the untraditional methods I used were the main reason I had a positive outcome with my cancer so far, but I will never rule out the probable benefits that they had on my mind and body. Instead of dwelling on a possible recurrence of my cancer, I think about what cancer has taught me, how it has changed my life, and how it opened up new approaches to living a healthier, cancer-free life.