Winter 2011/2012:

After three intense years of full-time education and upon successful completion of a second apprenticeship, I rewarded myself with a three-month journey along the Eastern coast of Australia.
For three years, the idea of this journey had motivated me to keep strong and steady and to study hard during this time of educational trial.
At the beginning of my well-earned holiday on day six, I experienced intense back pain, a pain that would be my constant unwelcome companion for the next two years, a pain for which no doctor could find a cause.

Easter 2013

Despite physiotherapeutic treatments and various back exercises the pain continued, so I took this permanent discomfort to be a God-given trial. Only after the appearance of other symptoms did I turn my attention again to my physical ailments. It began with a few insignificant blisters on my hands. Even after giving up gluten and being given cortisone treatments, plus doctor’s orders to not wash my hands so often, the blisters did not disappear.

Gradually, more symptoms appeared. The smell of my perspiration changed so dramatically that I had the feeling I simply couldn’t shower enough. Then came the itch. It would start in the evening and was only under my arms, but it spread so quickly that I could hardly bear wearing clothes and would scratch until I bled. Numerous visits to dermatologists brought no relief, as my skin was otherwise normal. I’d be sent home under the presumption that I suffered from an autoimmune disease. I recently went back and read the reports from my health insurance and discovered that psychosomatic reasons were suggested as a trigger for the itch but these reasons were not
communicated to me and simply glossed over.

I eventually figured out that my well-being always improved significantly when I was on holiday, and it occurred to me, without doctor’s opinions, that stress could very well be the cause for my physical ailments.

For approximately a year and a half, I suffered from extreme discomfort and had seen multiple medical professionals. With each new doctor I had to explain everything from the beginning, so I eventually collected my symptoms and findings in an Excel spreadsheet. I turned to “Dr. Google” and would read voraciously, trying to find a reason for my issues.

September 2013:

Through my googling research, I concluded that I suffered from Hodgkin’s lymphoma. I voiced my suspicions to all the physicians with whom I came in contact in emails that contained all my test values, and even sent my findings to a professor of rare diseases.

The very curt answer I received was:

Stop googling and leave it to the professionals.

At this point, the itch and the back pain had taken such a psychological toll on my life that I ordered further blood tests at my own expense. One of these blood tests showed that my prolactin value (a hormone value) was clearly too high. This was explained to me as a sign of a prolactinoma - a benign brain tumor.

30.05.2014:

Armed with the knowledge about the prolactin values, I had an MRI done of my head and the results came back negative. I was, to this effect, healthy.

11.06.2014:

As the results that came back read that I was “healthy”, I felt my values were still abnormal so I consulted an endocrinologist, a specialist in diseases related to glands. I expressed my suspicions that I had Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and he was the first doctor who took the time to listen to me and pay attention to my history but informed me that cancer was not his specialty.

A follow-up examination of my thyroid revealed that my throat was full of tumors. The doctor ordered another round of blood tests and informed my own doctor of the situation to discuss the next steps. After the results of these tests came back, he recommended that I get an MRI of my throat as well as an X-ray of my chest, so I contacted the nearest oncologist.

My suspicions, after a long and frustrating two years, were confirmed. I was scheduled for the next available appointment in six weeks but due to fortunate coincidence I was able to have an appointment two days later.

18.06.2014:

My suspicions became certainty. My house doctor called me to tell me the results of the imaging and had made a list of appointments that she had arranged for me for the next week. It was not a shock to me at this point but rather a relief because the combination of my symptoms left little room for another diagnosis. However, a lack of holistic consideration had cost me a lot of time.

Knowing that chemotherapy treatment would change my life as I knew it, I stayed positive, knowing that I would defeat the cancer. I went with my football team - as I had planned for a long time - on the following weekend for the season ending team-bonding trip and three days later I was in the hospital to undergo chemotherapy.

In hindsight, I spent a great deal of time concerning myself with a diagnosis and not with the alternatives to chemo. I spent the next five months studying chemotherapy and its side effects.

November 2014:

I endured the chemo successfully (PET negative) but with the usual side effects.

February 2015:

For several weeks, I had once again noticed the very striking "cancer smell". A CT showed enlarged nodes, but this was explained to me as a result of the chemo as normal. Since I had now proved that I was not a hypochondriac and once again had a (relatively) good feeling with my body, my oncologist at the time asked for a PET-CT just to be on the safe side.

The PET-CT showed that only three months after a (more or less) “successful” chemo treatment that my condition had escalated according to BEACOPP, that I had developed a rapid-growth recurrence that had spread to my bones and was already in the 4th stage.

Though doctors gave me three to five months to live, I decided I would not endure the proposed treatment, a double-high dosage of chemotherapy with stem cell transplantation.

I terminated all mandatory examinations (ultrasound, hearing test, blood test, lung function test) that were necessary for this chemotherapy. Since I had not recovered from the effects of the first round, I was not ready to accept that there was only one way to combat my disease.

In the days that followed, I looked for other oncologists to get a second, third, fourth opinion, and to find a doctor who was ready to accompany me along a path that I had recently discovered with a friend. The seeds for alternative healing had been already been planted and were starting to grow. Unfortunately, the meetings with various doctors were sobering and useless as I often felt as if no one was listening. Western medicine-trained medical professionals can be a stubborn lot, and finding ones who will listen in earnest and take all methods of healing seriously are few and far between.

The plan was to take into account as many aspects as possible that should help my body to get back into balance. In addition to more mindfulness and a deceleration of all aspects of my life, my main focus was on my acid-based ome based on the findings of Otto Warburg, coupled with a strictly raw vegan, chlorophyll-free diet without sugar and carbohydrates.

Otto Warburg had discovered about 100 years ago that cancer cannot sustain itself in an oxygen-rich environment. So I created exactly this by ingesting rizol oil to increase oxygen saturation, as well as the administration of bicarbonate soda to increase my PH value. I mixed bicarbonate of soda with sugar-cane molasses as a trojan-horse method to fool the cancer cells. This method, which essentially starves the cancer cells, was also discovered by Otto Warburg. These findings by Otto Warburg are used in medical school when producing PET CTs (for diagnosis).

21.03.2015:

Since I was still not 100% sure whether I would have the courage and the discipline to go against all medical opinions and options and to reject the planned chemotherapy on my own, I considered briefly the option of a second round of chemo. While I was in the waiting room, my attending doctor came to me and gave me a 58-page document which was marked with colored notes in various places, saying:

If you sign at the marked places, then we can start directly on Monday.

This was another factor that showed that chemotherapy is not for me. I was shocked by the fact that I had to sign a document for a treatment that involves so many risks, including sterility, without even having the chance to read, let alone understand, said long and complicated document in an overcrowded waiting room in ten minutes. I took the documents home and agreed to discuss upcoming questions with my doctor on Monday.

Having arrived home, my friends and family were already there to help me with my moving of house. We moved my belongings all day - which is admittedly not very much fun with severe pelvic injuries. Since I did not know how the future was going to be for me, I took my move as an occasion to throw a proper farewell party in the evening.

I enjoyed the evening with delicious food, a few beers, and the company of my friends, but also realized that “Cancer” (with a capital C) hung so heavily in the air that it put a rather heavy damper on the night. All I wanted was to feel normal and….alive, if not for my sake then for the people around me.

22.03.2015:

In the morning I awoke so short of breath that it felt like a baby elephant was sitting on my chest. This exact moment was my absolute wake-up call which few people in my personal circle could fully understand.

I set a four-week deadline for my personal healing therapy. Sunday evening - after two days of salad and still water - I was convinced that this way deserved a legitimate chance, so I called the hospital and left a message cancelling the room I’d had reserved for the next day.

With enormous support from my friend, who had already encouraged me greatly during the planning stages of my new journey, I forged through the next few days and felt much better after just over a week. Still, I was looking for a doctor who was willing to accompany me on my path to healing.

Through a recommendation from my physiotherapist (who treated me weekly because of my joint pain caused by chemotherapy), I was introduced to a practice for holistic medicine, a chance to explore alternative medicine and challenge my own ways of thinking.

I implemented my ideas and radically changed my life and, above all, my diet. Through it all I was accompanied by my friend, who at the time was my greatest support. As we say in German, “Four ears hear better than two,” thus easily facilitating a thought exchange between the two of us. Unfortunately, the appointment with the holistic center was disappointing because even the alternative doctor told me that he could not imagine that my “vegetable plan” would have any effect and that he would also recommend the suggested treatment route.

Despite this, the appointment was very valuable to me, as the doctor said something crucial as we got up to leave that would serve as the foundation for my current success:

You must look at your life! Something must be in your life or lifestyle which serves as a breaking point in your health. You've received such strong chemotherapy, and yet you're full of cancer, including bone, after three months.

He sent us to a professor/specialist in Bonn. The professor wasn’t there, so a young assistant doctor looked at my documents and he also said that with these findings, the path chosen by my hospital was the one to take. He realized, however, that it was important to me to find a way which did not include chemotherapy, and so I set up an appointment with the professor.

31.03.2015:

Ten days after the start of my experiment, I carried out my plan and the suggestions from the specialist in Bonn. Although he is also a Western-educated physician and had initially recommended the path of chemotherapy as the first choice, he discussed my thoughts with me and surprised me with this:

You know, we do not know where cancer comes from, and it would be presumptuous to say that if you help your
body in this way, it will disappear simply because the patient is convinced that the healthy living will work. If you are
not convinced by the chemotherapy, then carry out your plan, but give it 4-6 weeks and then do another CT. Strong
chemotherapy also takes effect between 4-6 weeks. If nothing changes, then consider a different route, knowing you
have done everything you can and tried every possible solution.

This inspired me and motivated me all the more to stay strong.

01.04.2015:

The last contact I’d had with my regular doctor was two weeks before when I first received a call from my oncologist. I told him on the phone what I was doing and we agreed to make an appointment after Easter. In the hospital I was greeted by a doctor who was a stranger to me, since my doctor had been transferred to a different hospital. The new doctor talked AT me and said that the bone stamping made especially for chemotherapy was now no longer useable due to my age. I told him that I was more afraid of chemotherapy than before the cancer, and I didn’t want to depart from a path that seemed more promising than a body-ravaging treatment. I told him what I had done the last few weeks, that I felt better, and that I would not begin chemotherapy before I had received a new PET CT. His
response shocked me:

We have a PET CT that is five weeks old that is more than clear. Today you want a PET CT because you have
changed your eating habits, and so then what? The next time you refuse chemo because you had went to get a foot
massage?

My ever-supportive friend was just as disillusioned as I was. But I remained stubborn and we interrupted the appointment, so that the doctor could discuss with my previous treating physician. After nearly 20 minutes, in which we already thought of alternative plans like how I could get a PET CT in another way, he came to us and told me that I would get a low-dose PET CT. With a low-dose PET CT, fewer images are taken to reduce the radiation load.

17.04.2015:

On this day, the hard-won second PET-CT was performed. Since PET CT examinations are always discussed on the once-weekly tumor board, it was now just a matter of waiting. My biggest concern was that one couldn’t see enough because there wasn’t enough time for results to show.

The preliminary result fortunately showed a different picture and read as follows:

» Schnellbefund PET CT 23.3.2015 «

In the context of the panel discussion 22.04.2015, the following recommendation is as follows:

Recurring FDS recordings in axillary, mediastinal lymph nodes, as well as in the LWS retrograde findings. Currently
no reference to progress - further conservative approach recommended.

After only four weeks of consistent nutrition and I had proof there in black and white, that the cancer had regressed! The physicians re-thought their opinions that only a double high dosage therapy could save me in the fight against cancer and recommended from now on a conservative procedure - also called "wait and see".

What success!

Since my body had already given me extremely positive feedback during these last few weeks and I had always been able to rely on how I was feeling, I had expected nothing differently from my own body. But medical results, based on objective images and facts, is a very different animal. The doctor who had so kindly (insert sarcastic snort
here) talked at me with his foot massage statement, proved to me that not everyone wants to change and learn. When I asked him if he wanted to know what I had done in the last few weeks, his answer was short and painless: "No."

I regret that I as a patient had to experience the extreme reactions from doctors and that I had to bear the reactions from people who are educated in this area and that I had to be the one to challenge their sense of professionalism and what they know to be the norm. I have the feeling that I often missed the fact that my doctors helped me with a decision that affected my life. This decision whose responsibility I was willing to take and the consequences and hardships I have had to bear with chemo was mine and mine alone.

I have, in effect, saved my own life. It is not always easy because I did enjoy eating meat, as well as many other things I have since relinquished. At first glance, this drastic change might make it seem as if one is “giving up” so many things because this lifestyle might seem so limited. But the exact opposite is the case: During the time in the hospital I was allowed to eat as I wished but my mucous membranes were so damaged that the choice of the things I could eat was extremely limited. Over the course of time, my horizons have broadened enormously regarding raw-vegan and no sugar, but I live with pleasure and I live joyously. A huge discovery for this was for me the restaurant Mei Wok Vegan in Cologne. It is cooked individually for me and it is possible for me to eat without sin and to eat enjoyably.

I am sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that this diet saved my life, in conjunction with a general change in my "life routine". The attempt - not only with regard to cancer - to try it simply 4-6 weeks, is always worthwhile. In today's fast-paced "to go" time, where we often rush through life and take already prepared food from mostly quickly bred plants and animals, it is extremely enriching to be able to slow down and be more mindful, more deliberate with our food. In addition, veganism is a very gentle method with no side effects, creating the framework for the body so it can help itself with its own amazing self-healing powers.

It is important that you live 120% consistently. You wouldn’t cheat at chemo, would you?

After seven days, I had the of my symptoms in the line of fire, depriving all the cancer cells of their energy. This only works with absolute discipline. Cancer is like a fire, as long as it glows, sugar is like gasoline.

You can influence your body by feeding it good energy (vegetable protein and vegetable fat, chlorophyll-containing food, lots of green raw food). Through coconuts, walnuts, almonds, various oils, avocado, etc., energy is given to the body which can be metabolized by healthy cells.

I started on this journey on 22.03.2015. From week to week I felt better and could slowly lead a life without restrictions (such as avoiding too much human contact due to increased risk of infection, nausea, daily medical appointments, etc.). My immune system is strong, and I haven’t been sick all year. I was doing sports and ran my first 10 KM race in 1:08 on 18.10.2015. Certainly not an Olympic time, but it might have well been for me because running or doing sport during chemo was simply unimaginable. I felt better than I did even before I was diagnosed. At the last CT in December 2015, no metabolic activity was detectable, that is to say that the cancer is gone. The time needed for this was comparable to that which would have been the same for chemotherapy. In my opinion, the risk was lower and the quality of life significantly higher.

I try to see both sides of everything in life. The disease is, to say the least, not fun and I endured a lot of pain because of it, and sometimes still suffer from the consequences of the treatment. Without the cancer - especially without the recurrence - I would never have paused to critically examined my life. I have learned to be more relaxed and to value things differently, especially the value of my health. I always try to see something positive out of everything. I was fortunate that I had survived the disease twice and perhaps even beat it for good this time. Not everyone in my environment was able to handle my situation well and I lost many people who were very important to me and who left a hole in my life. To understand this was not easy for me because I held no tangible fault with my illness and situation. Still, I must admit that if someone is not able to deal, he will suddenly be able to see a person suddenly in a state that is not very beautiful. On the other hand there were people who came into my life only fleetingly and who were extremely caring. I was especially glad personally for the ones who treated me “normally”.

Although the cancer has caused many pain and problems, it was cancer that was the catalyst for a decisive change in my life, of which I don’t want to miss a second more.