Great Stories

By Dr. Richard Stockton Weeder

"Great Stories" consists of five parts. The first details my discovery of the cause of cancer, with implications for the cure. It also tells stories of great doctors I have come across. The second part tells non-medical tales of general interest. Part three is devoted to my close friend, "The Commodore",

• Language: English
• Publisher: AMZ Publishing Consultant
• Release date: Mar 19, 2024
• ISBN: 9781963961188

Book preview

Introduction

I'm a storyteller. My first stories were in Surgeon, The View from Behind the Mask. The book put me on Oprah Winfrey's show and was a best seller. I've tried other genres, and none felt right. The next story, The Key to Cancer, told how cancer works and has been responsible for oncologists largely replacing surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy with immunotherapy. The result has been millions of lives saved, including Jimmie Carter's. Since then, I've told more good stories in Crowded with Luck. Hope you like this current crop, and may they also bring good health.

The book is divided into five parts. The first part describes in detail how cancers start, progress, and what to do about it. It also deals with other health matters and extraordinary doctors I have known.

Part two describes other happenings in my unusual life that are worth talking about. Part three tells tales about the most extraordinary man I have ever met. The Commodore was a tugboat captain whose wisdom and exploits deserve reporting. He was a man who had unusual things happen to him but who put his characteristic stamps on them.

In part four, I comment on a time which tries men's souls, trying to add a bit of wisdom to the telling.

Part five is a collection of aphorisms going back twenty years or so. My last thought up a few days ago sets the tone. Thank God for dementia. It has wiped out all my mistakes.

Enjoy.

Disclaimer

This is a group of stories I have heard or lived myself, not made up. I am not an historian and make no guarantee as to the accuracy of the details. The messages are what are important, and I think the stories are faithful to the spirit of those messages, if not the details.

PART ONE:

Cancer And Health

The Story of Cancer

A frequent and seemingly simple condition, cancer is probably the most complex disease we treat. First, the cause.

As we grow from youth to adulthood, all the cells of our body age and are replaced by new ones, on average once every eight years. The rate varies with the tissue involved; hair, nails, and mucous membrane cells having the shortest lifespans; bone cells, those of the nervous system, and others having the longest. If this phenomenon were not so, none of us would grow past the age of eight!

Like most processes, this may go awry. When the replacements do not obey the constraints of a mechanism that says, That’s enough, an overgrowth, or tumor, may develop. Pollution, stress, excess sunlight, genetics, or some other factor may encourage this overgrowth.

There are two ways of removing a tumor: grossly or microscopically. The direct approach is with surgery, chemotherapy (poisoning), and radiotherapy (cooking). All three modalities, however, damage tissues around the tumor as they remove the malignancy.

The indirect, or microscopic approach, has several advantages over the direct one. Recently, we have become increasingly aware of immune cells known as T cells, which prevent excessive growth into tumors by destroying rogue (disobedient) cells. The exact method is complex and only beginning to be understood. But these cells remove cancer cells one at a time without disturbing the rest of the organ involved.

Some cancers disappear without surgery, chemotherapy, or radiotherapy, spontaneous remission, due to an abundance of T calls. By the same token, cancer can reappear in a patient previously in remission, a so-called delayed recurrence. This is thought to be caused by a drop in the T cell population. In some patients, it seems, a balance occurs where the cancer doesn’t bother me, and I don’t bother it.

If surgery, chemotherapy, or radiotherapy can remove the tumor and lower the tumor burden on the patient, this may lessen the need for T cells. But the damage done to the organ involved, or to the immune system, should not exceed the benefit. Both chemotherapy and radiotherapy are known to damage immunity and may alter the balance spoken of above.

Cancers have two effects: they impair the functioning of the organ involved, and they take a toll on nutrients and energy needed for their own growth. The result is a loss of nutrients and energy for the patient’s everyday physical maintenance.

The process is similar