Gary Collier’s Cancer Journey – a 6 month report.

The first few days after my diagnosis back in late November 2020 were the “stunned mullet days”. 

The day my poor G.P broke the news to me felt a bit like a mirage, telling Georgie, Finn and Allissa, letting it sink in, wondering what to do next. The funniest and possibly one of the weirdest moments was during a walk in the Dandenong Ranges when I started orchestrating my own funeral. I realized that I needed to put together an extravaganza that might keep the memory of me going a bit longer. If I had of continued with my planning it would have been a ripper. But I ended up having a good laugh and decided that living was a far superior state to dying. 

Weird reactions occur. 

And then the dust settles and you either go along with what the medicos suggest or become the captain of your own ship.

I had never captained a ship like this before but now was the time to learn. The initial days and weeks were jumbled. Trying to get as much information and as many contacts together as possible. Looking for a point to begin the journey and then a direction to go in. Slowly the sun started shining and optimism mixed with fear to help thrust me forward in a direction that I felt comfortable with. 

During the first few weeks I laid myself bare to anyone and anything I could – mainstream, alternative, integrative, internet. I had to look at anything and to a degree to trust everyone until I could find my own legs and walk forward with an unsteady confidence.

My biggest enemy was fear and anxiety. Luckily I didn’t fall prey to either, although I have to admit there were a few moments when I lost myself, but not for too long.

The direction I chose to chart my journey was quite typical of me. I’ll call it an “eclectic mix of complimentary and integrative therapies” that I dug up myself or should I say through my own research and for some reason this seemed to feel right for me.

I was already on a ketogenic diet but once the cancer diagnosis happened I had to ramp this up, decreasing my carbs down to close to 20 grams a day with limited protein and more fat. My goal was to get my body transitioned to using ketone bodies as my main fuel source. From what I had learnt cancer thrives on glucose but conversely cannot use ketones as a fuel source. This meant my blood glucose had to be low and stable and my ketones needed to be well above .8 millimolars which is the lower level of ketosis. My insulin levels also had to remain low with no spikes. I was successful in achieving this and ended up the way is averaging 2 (ketones) and above. My overall goal was to have a Glucose Ketone Index (GKI) of 1, which by the way is bloody hard to achieve.

The transition to a cancer driven ketogenic diet morphed slowly. One of my most valuable tools was an app called “Cronometer” in which you record every bit of food and drink that goes into your mouth every day. This was indispensable to my control. The data you get from it is crucial to the control. I also did blood glucose and ketone tests every day and recorded all of the results.

That was the foundation of my treatment. The rock upon which I built my house. I firmly believe that lowering my blood glucose, controlling my intake of protein (glutamine) and keeping my ketones high slowed the proliferation of the cancer cells to give me a head start for the other therapies that I was doing plus to combat any side effects that I might have had.

I have used a plethora of other therapies. Here’s a vaguely sequential list.

• Mainstream head and neck oncologists at Monash Health. I had 2 operations to search for the primary source of the cancer and 2 biopsies. I’m not certain if this was the best place to begin but it was. They recommended surgery to remove the cancerous lymph node (and other surrounding lymph nodes, just in case). I declined.
• Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT). Good move. I firmly believe that this has been hugely effective in controlling and possibly minimising the cancer and lowering the side effects of other more toxic and dangerous therapies.
• Dr Peter Eng. A medical doctor who specialises in oncology. He is 83 years old and has cured his own cancer. His rooms are full of well off people with cancer who have the utmost confidence in his treatments. I had 13 weeks of Intravenous Vitamin C and Curcumin, plus other IV infusions and immunotherapy.
• The Internet and Information. This is where I got my education. I spent hundreds of hours sifting through YouTube clips and online articles about cancer. It was littered with positives and negatives. I had to use whatever intelligence I possessed to wade through the data but I slowly found people and researchers who I could trust. People whose ideas, research and advice aligned with my own sense of what was right. I came across some amazing people including Dr Thomas Syfried, Dom D’Agnostino, Valter Longo, Rhonda Patrick, Peter Attia, Miriam Kalamian. The list is extensive and I’m sure to have left lots of names off it. I had no foundations in biochemistry, metabolic health or cancer so I had to begin my learning  journey from scratch. At times it felt like I was actively involved in piecing together a jigsaw puzzle based on an Escher drawing. Almost impossible. Slowly data started falling in place and making sense (based on my limited understanding) but it gave me enough confidence to realise that I was on the right track for me. I’m not going to attempt to write a treatise on integrative cancer treatment here and now but I came out the other end of the rabbit hole with enough knowledge to move forward.
• Stress Pulse Theory. This theory is based on the research and work of Dr Seyfried who has written a huge book called “Cancer as a Metabolic Disease”. The basic premise is that cancer cells thrive through fermentation in the absence of an oxygenated environment. A bit like making kombucha. The idea is to lower the fuel sources of the cancer and then hit it as hard as possible. Simply stated it is based on observations of species extinction. First there is a long period of chronic stress like inclement weather, food shortages, minor illness then there is an acute event which wipes out the species. Well that’s my take on it anyway. He applied this to cancer eradication. Stated simplistically, the stress comes from the elimination of glucose from the diet. This starves the cancer of it’s main fuel. Then there are infra red saunas, cold therapy, good quality sleep, exercise, lowered stress and other relatively simple and economical actions. Then the acute pulse (attack) comes from the HBOT (Oxygen), IV Infusions, Radiotherapy, Immunotherapy and any supplements which attack the cancer cells.
• Radiotherapy. I chose radiation therapy over surgery and chemotherapy. I had 33 sessions of mild radiation therapy over a 6 week period. Almost every day. 66 Gy of radiation in all. I believe firmly that I protected myself from side effects and made the cancer cells more susceptible to being wiped out by all of the earlier natural therapies that I applied. The nurses and doctors were all very pleased with the lack of side effects that I experienced from the radiotherapy. The nurses pointed out that I was one of the “luckiest” patients that they had ever had.

Here I am now. 6 months in. I reckon that the cancer had been brewing for sometime before my diagnosis. I won’t speculate here on what may have caused the DNA and cells to start to mutate and proliferate. I’m still on a pretty strict ketogenic diet. I am still in a constant state of nutritional ketosis. I am currently at about day 20 of a personal 30 day sauna and cold plunge challenge. I continue to test my blood and now wear an Oura ring which accurately measures my activity and sleep biometrics. This allows me to tweek my sleep quality and exercise. I’m still pretty much stress free and overall I am very aware of my body and the slight changes that can occur when things go awry.

I have had a huge amount of support from my family and close friends for which I am very grateful.

As I said at the beginning of this post. I feel great. I feel healthy. I feel strong and full of energy. I feel optimistic. I love life.

What more could I ask for?