[Music]
Show Host: You know there’s long been this deep divide between traditional and alternative medicine but I can tell you that is certainly not the case at the Seattle Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center.
Show Host: It was about two years ago when Aaron Barrett was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. After two rounds of traditional chemotherapy he was told that nothing more could be done and that he had just nine months left to live.
Aaron Barrett: I was so sick that I couldn’t proceed with anymore and it just took the wind right out of my sail.
Show Host: It was then that Barrett and his family discovered the Seattle Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center.
Aaron Barrett: We got an ambulance scheduled and hauled me up here in a wheelchair and I saw Dr. Chue the first night and he looked at me and just decided that the very first thing I needed was a very large bag of vitamins basically to try to kind of boost my system.
Show Host: An affiliate of the Cancer Treatment Centers of America this center is a mix of traditional and alternative healthcare working in harmony to help patients triumph over cancer.
Dr. Ben Chue: We are open to new treatments that we see are effective for patients and also will help decrease side effects associated with treatment.
Show Host: When Barrett arrived at the center with a cancer at a fairly advanced stage the first few months would prove to be terrifying, uncertain if it would all be just too late.
Aaron Barrrett: Oh, for three months I would come here flat on my back on a stretcher and an ambulance because I couldn’t get out of bed; I couldn’t walk. I was extremely immobilized by the cancer and some back pain and just I was in pretty bad shape basically.
Show Host: But once he was able to start regular treatments – both everyday and alternative, the change from hopeless to hopeful has been steady.
Aaron Barrett: After four and a half months of being in the hospital and the transition of care unit, I was able to start to walk with just a walker and then eventually with a cane and so that was sort of the progression that they saw here was me from an ambulance to a wheelchair to a walker to a cane and now no cane, no brace.
Dr. Ben Chue: We have people who had survivals on the order of months, who are years out for diseases that were thought to be very short – three to six months, where we had people five years out or more. We have been in the forefront and been the vanguards in treatment of many types of cancers including breast cancer, lymphoma, bladder cancers and we hope to be so in these other cancers that are very difficult to treat, including pancreatic cancers, melanomas and others.
Show Host: Naturopaths like Mark Gignac use herbal and homeopathic medicines to take care of some of the cancer treatment side effects balancing the promise of naturopathic medicines with proven scientific results.
Aaron Barrett: He has placed me on a regimen of vitamins, minerals, other supplements, things to mitigate the neuropathy that comes as part of one of the chemotherapy drugs, and between all of that it has really made the whole chemotherapy treatment much more tolerable I think.
Show Host: Chinese medical practices like acupuncture can be incorporated into a person’s individualized care plan focused on providing pain relief. When treatments like chemo feel as draining as the cancer itself, it’s about personal care that focuses on each patient’s individual fight against cancer. Folks here believe caring is part of the cure and that it’s important to make the patient part of the treatment team.
Aaron Barrett: There’s a personalized concern for not only myself but for my wife and for the rest of my family when they have been here in town and they have been able to come appear with me for a treatment. They are very personable and they like to know how are you doing, you know, they don’t just see you as a patient; they see you as a person I think.
Robin Adler: Our mission here is to provide holistic care, comprehensive care for our patients and so we have an integrated care team that all works together to provide supplemental services.
Show Host: Natasha Young was diagnosed with stage-4 melanoma and was given a year to live. At first she was overcome with fear.
Natasha Young: I was terrified.
Show Host: But with the treatment she found and with the people to help her along she also felt a sense of overwhelming kindness.
Natasha Young: Everybody here met me not only with their intelligence and their exquisite skill but with a compassion. They didn’t have it in their head that they knew better than I did, any step of the way. What I am trying to say is I got to be part of the team.
Show Host: Now at age 36 after scores of chemotherapy treatments Aaron Bérard’s cancer is expected to go into remission.
Aaron Barrett: After today it will be 52 treatments of chemotherapy and this is my last one today.
Show Host: Aaron also attributes his progress to the time and care his wife Tiffany has devoted to his recovery today. Things are looking up for Aaron and Natasha both, looking forward to life beyond cancer.
Natasha Young: We did another test and nothing showing up in the bones and that’s never happened before.
Aaron Barrett: If it wasn’t for Dr. Chue’s clinic, honestly I wouldn’t be here, I mean without a doubt.
Show Host: You can find out more about the Seattle Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center online at SeattleCancerWellness.com.