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Immunotherapy A Powerful Anti-Cancer Treatment
A deeper look at this remarkable option for many types of cancers
One cancer treatment I am responding really well to is immunotherapy.
While many people have still never heard of this treatment option, it was actually first tried in 1891 by William B. Coley. In fact, the first time I got cancer, 18 years ago, I read about his treatment. Because of the success he’d had in helping patients with inoperable cancers, I started to use heat therapy myself.
Coley injected patients with bacteria to force a fever. I went to the sauna instead. In fact, heat therapy is actually an effective preventive for cancer — there is research from Scandinavia that is suggestive. Apparently there is enough evidence that firefighters in Madison are trying sauna therapy to prevent cancer.
Coley did not use sauna with his patients. Instead, he injected them with streptococcal bacteria. The infection triggered the patient’s immune system, causing malignant tumors to shrink. This was first case of immunotherapy being used to treat cancer. (The image below is of streptococcal bacteria)
