Help and advise on treatment for advanced metastatic Stomach cancer.

My friend (38 yrs old), has been diagnosed with this ailment (this week) and doctors gave a very grim outlook. They suggested counseling and nothing like hope.

I have written to a Doc in India (refereed to by a survivor who is well known to me) and forwarded the scans and medical reports). He suggested palliative chemotherapy ASAP.

Advise sought on:

1. What is palliative chemo - sounds like terminal and scary. Is the same care available locally and is the cost affordable.
2. Beside what is the survival rate for my friend?
3. We are giving it our all believing its all worth the trouble.

Pole sana to your friend.

Metastatic cancer means the cancer has spread from its initial site. If it started out as cancer of the stomach it has now spread to other organs such as the liver, lungs, kidneys, bones etc.

The surest way to remove cancer cells is by surgery. If the cancer is localized in one spot the surgeons operate and remove all the cancerous tissue and cells. When the cancer has spread so much especially to vital organs then surgery is not an option because you would have to cut up the person in too many places and remove chunks of tissue such that by the time you are done the patient will be dead. The other problem is there is no way of detecting all the places where the cancer has spread to so the person can have a very expensive and complicated surgery only for them to recover slightly and discover there was some cancer that spread to places that were not operated and they continue to grow.

Chemotherapy as a treatment of cancer is given to kill cancer cells.......the only problem is cancer cells are not that different from normal body cells .. the slight difference being that they do not stop growing. So for certain kinds of cancer chemotherapy is given to slow down the process of cancer cells dividing while in hoping that the body will eliminate them when they are weakened. But people who receive chemotherapy also have their normal cells destroyed in the process that is why people lose hair and have crazy diarrhea. If the cancer has spread the difficulty you face is that if you were to give chemotherapy you would need so much of it and for such a long time that the chemotherapy itself would kill the patient.

Palliative chemotherapy is medication given not so much to cure the cancer but to alleviate symptoms and allow the patient to be free of pain in their last days. This is what hospices do.

Here is contact information for Nairobi Hospice:
Nairobi Hospice
Kenyatta National Hospital Complex Hospital Road
P. o Box 74818
00200 Nairobi
Kenya

Phone +254 020 2719383/2712361/2726502/27266300 Ext: 44000
Mobile +254 732690077
Fax +254 020 2722212

It is indeed very grim. The tumour has spread past the stomach into the abdomen and lymph nodes. Coupled with the young age (<40) and the fact that it is inoperable, well...

If the diagnosis was done at a reputable institution, evidence is shown on OGDs/CTs/MRIs/Ultrasound and reviewed by several doctors, then the prognosis is not very good. It is terminal.

Don't take the India route. It will only cost you lots of money and will add nothing to his quality of life. Stomach cancer at that stage is not responsive to Chemo.

@Kusadikika, jguru thanks.

The tests were done at Aga Khan and confirmed by three doctors, I also sought the opinion of an oncologist from India who recommended the chemo. The oncologist avers that by him getting the chemo he'd get like two more years. What alternatives do we have locally with palliative chemo? The India option costs 2k USD per session and there are six sessions.

jguru, Kusadikika, I can inbox you the reports for informed opinion. email add pls. Depressed.

Its with alot of hesitance that this is written, moreso when its a matter of life and death. But the feeling would be worse if it wasn't. (please don't ask what it would feel like if it was relied upon and a life was lost!)

2 alternative treatments have claimed to cure cancer.
1. Gersons therapy - A combination of Juice fasts, Oxygenation, Detox/Enemas, Diet and Supplements. I have some of their books and videos if you'd like to have a look

2. Hemp Oil - Oil derived from 'Mary J'. Available in a few countries other than Kenia. The site recommends you make your own. The tutorial and ebook are readily available

You might want to watch the documentaries 'Save your life interviews' by Sam Biser, 'World without Cancer' by G. Edward Griffin and the two made by the websites given above.