Finding Hope: The Fight of My Life

“You have about three more days left to live.
Go home and get your affairs in order.”

In 1991 my doctors told me that over 90% of my body had cancer. They had essentially thrown in the towel as far as my treatment was concerned. I wasn't given much hope. What did I do?

Cucumber of the Sea

How Sea cucumber has changed my life

My life has changed so much since beating cancer and beginning a daily regimen of Sea Cucumber*, which was a huge part of my recovery. I believe the supplement has anti-aging and anti-oxidant properties that keep my immune system strong and make me feel vibrant and alive.

How I found out about Sea Cucumber

In 1992, just after my stem cell transplant, a friend brought me back two boxes of something called "sea cucumber". I'd never heard of it.

My friend met a man while in Australia visiting his daughter who explained that people had been coming to Australia for centuries to harvest sea cucumber to use as dietary supplements that help people with all sorts of ailments.

Herb made me promise to take two every day. When the doctor got my latest blood results and saw my counts had dropped faster than any of his other patients, he wanted to know why. I told him about the Sea Cucumber and he asked me to bring it in. I did, and when he smelled it, he told me I was nuts. However, he also told me to continue taking it.

My body has been free of cancer for 20 years. With this amazing result, I realized that I could help others and hopefully make a difference in their lives. I started a not-for-profit company to import and distribute 12/ Sea Cucumber. I believe that it's kept hundreds of people feeling great for many years.

For more information visit:
www.Sea-Cucumber.com

The beginning: January 1991 - New York City

I had waited three weeks for an appointment with one of the best diagnostic internists in the country. After the examination and many tests, I was admitted into the hospital. My wife and children were in my room holding hands when one of the doctors came in and said the words that I will never forget: “You have cancer and it is very serious. Do you have your affairs in order?”

I was transferred to New York Hospital for a battery of tests. It was touch and go. They had me on so much morphine that I have almost no memory of that time. After countless blood tests, X-rays and other tests, the doctors informed us that I had Multiple Myeloma, a type of cancer of the blood that specifically affects the plasma cells and bone marrow, Melanoma, and Bladder Cancer. I was told my cancer was incurable.

One morning, I awoke to find my lawyers, accountants and friends standing over my bed. I asked, "What are you all doing here?" They asked if I could think of anything else that needed to be taken care of regarding my estate. I promptly told them all to go straight to hell. I had no intention of dying, and I planned to beat this thing called cancer. The fight was on.

Finding the best of the best

After almost a year of treatments and upwards of $440,000 in medical bills, I confronted the oncologist I'd been seeing. He told me that over 90% of my body was cancerous. "I've read all the books on your type of cancer, and I'm afraid there's nothing more we can do."

“Well I want the guys who wrote the books on multiple myeloma!” I looked him in the eye and very slowly and firmly said, “Listen, I'm going to ask every person I know to help me hunt down the right doctor and the right treatment for me. I hope to God there's someone out there who can help me, and if I find out that there is someone somewhere who could've made a difference and you're not telling me, you can bet that I will come back here and take you with me.”

Without missing a beat, the doctor picked up the phone and arranged an appointment for me in Little Rock, Arkansas, with a top doctor at the Arkansas Cancer Research Center, the highest-rated treatment center for multiple myeloma.

January 27, 1992 - Little Rock, Arkansas

Upon arriving at The Arkansas Cancer Research Center, in Little Rock, Arkansas, I was asked to sign a form acknowledging the drug they planned to give me might kill me. I smiled and signed, willingly accepting the risk, as I felt I had no choice.

After months of being in and out of the hospital in Little Rock, the doctors decided that I would need a stem cell transplant. It was one of the first in the country.

April 1992 - Westport, Connecticut

We returned home in April and I began taking Sea Cucumber, feeling better day by day. My local doctor agreed to work with the program. Every week I had both an Aridia Drip and a blood count checkup, which was sent to the doctor's team. Every other week and then month, I returned to Little Rock.

The regimen went on for over a year. My blood counts got better and better. My days were consumed with hospital procedures and tests including regular bone marrow biopsy tests to check the protein levels of the cancer, which thankfully continued to decline.

While in Arkansas, I met Dr. James Suen, the Director of the Arkansas Research Center and one of the top otolaryngologists (specializing in head and neck disorders) in the world. He asked me to give a keynote to share my story of survival during University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Grand Rounds at the Arkansas Cancer Research Center. Doctors, nurses, patients, attendants, even secretaries contributed to the standing-room-only crowd in the auditorium. It was an amazing experience. So many people reached out to me. They were all seeking the same thing – hope!