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From I Beat Cancer: 50 People Tell You How They Did It; Awareness Publishing, Oxnard, 2003. 70-75.
Torrey Morse
Lymphoma
Not many people believe me when they learn that I have had cancer. I am 33, a new homeowner and a workaholic, who has always been involved in a variety of activities, from varsity volleyball in high school to hiking, to overseas travel during college and since. Today, baking cakes for sale, taking salsa dance lessons and enjoying mountain biking help fill my time away from the office. I have a Masters in Education and am a Certified Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor. Most people with whom I come in contact are unaware that I am also a cancer survivor. Twenty-five years this year!
October 9, 1978, I was diagnosed with Diffuse Histiocytic Lymphoma, an aggressive Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, uncommon in children. I was 8 years old and had undergone a routine tonsillectomy. Within a week's time I experienced the rapid growth of a tumor in the place of my left tonsil. Upon removal of the tumor I began chemotherapy at Yale New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut. My parents were told that with a two to three year regimen of chemotherapy and possible cranial radiation my prognosis would be five to seven years. After three months of chemotherapy I was not doing very well. At that time there was very little variance between treatment dosages of chemotherapy for children and adults. I became bloated and lost my hair. I often vomited within the first hour after receiving my outpatient treatments. The vomiting would usually continue fir several hours and throughout the night. Chemotherapy was halted when I became exposed to the flu and then Chicken Pox. The doctors informed my parents that since my white cell count was low and my immune system weak, I would likely have a sever case of the Chicken Pox. Although I was given an injection of Gamma Globulin to diminish this possibility and stayed with a family friend while my sister, Jessica, was ill, they were correct.
During that time in February 1979, my parents made a decision to explore other cancer treatment options. They read about Laetrile available in Mexico, a Vitamin C therapy offered by Dr. Linus Pauling, and researched a variety of nutritional approaches such as Macrobiotic Diet. Through a friend in our church they learned about Dr. John T. Beaty in Greenwich, Connecticut who shared with them information about a new non-toxic therapy, Immuno-Augmentative Therapy (IAT), which treats an individual's immune system. He informed my parents that IAT was researched and offered at a clinic in the Bahamas by founder Dr. Lawrence Burton. Lawrence Burton, Ph.D, had begun his cancer research at New York University in 1955, and prior to opening the IAT Clinic had spent 11 years at St. Vincent's Hospital in Long Island, New York, where, as a Senior Investigator and Zoologist, his research had focused on the factors involved in cancerous tumor growth and the blood components of the human body's immune defense program.
On March 16, 1979, my mother and I flew to Freeport, Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas so that I could begin treatment at the Immuno-Augmentative Research Centre. Dr. Beaty had strongly recommended Dr. Burton's treatment and advocated for Dr. Burton to accept me as his first child patient. He had seen Dr. Burton's success first hand in his nurse, Becky Hall, who was treated for Esophageal Cancer. Becky's esophagus had been burned by radiation treatment and she had nearly died. She went to the IAT Centre for further treatment. Dr. Beaty, told my parents that Dr. Burton's therapy, which was comprised of immuno-protein injections, did not cause debilitating side effects such as those often associated with orthodox cancer treatments. In fact he stated that there were no side effects other than occasional fatigue. My parents opted for pursuing a treatment which would allow me a better quality of life. Their decision, I believe, has played a significant role in my being alive today.
The IAT treatment is not what orthodox medicine would classify as an aggressive treatment, but is an individualized treatment that works with one's immune system aiding it to fight the cancer. It doesn't work overnight; it takes time. Thus, a new patient's initial time was 6-8 weeks when I started in 1979 and today it is 8-12 weeks. Each patient receives a daily blood pull to monitor the immune system and to determine the best combination of sera, serum injections, needed. The blood test, developed by Dr. Burton, evaluates the relative activity of the body's natural tumor kill process and immune responses. Injections of sera are prescribed by timing and sequence to promote immunologic response. (IAT pamphlet, 2000) Currently, patients return every four months for a two-week tune-up following their initial visit. In between visits, the clinic provides each individual with serum and a printout to prepare a series of daily injections just as he or she has while at the clinic. This routine continues until the individual is told otherwise. The next step: return visits every six months for two weeks, and, for some, eventually once a year.
My mother and I stayed in Freeport fro six weeks initially. I then returned to the island every six months for a five day tune up. Following each visit to the island, I was provided with serum and a six-month schedule of injections for my maintenance treatment. Every six weeks, I would visit Dr. Beaty and have a blood pull that would be sent to the IAT Centre in the Bahamas. My injection schedule was adjusted as necessary. During my third visit to the clinic in November, 1980, Dr, Burton informed my mother and me that I would no longer need to receive treatment except when at the clinic for tune ups. One year later, after just two days at the clinic for my fifth visit, Dr. Burton said to go home and spend the Thanksgiving holiday with my family. In addition, I did not need to return for a year. I have since continued to return to the clinic annually for the most part. As an adult I have never been away from the IAT clinic for more than a two-year period. Although I could probably stay away longer, and annual tune up in the Bahamas has simply become a part of my life.
The following is an excerpt of a paper I wrote as a sixth grader regarding my experience with cancer. It was the fall of 1980, just prior to what would be my third tune up visit at the IAT Centre. I was eleven years old.
It has been a terrible experience for my family and me during these two years I have had cancer. The beginning fears, treatment, decisions that were made, and traveling in and out of the country. However, I know I will be fine and that, because my parents love me and trusted God, they were able to get through and make hard choices. My family has come closer to each other, and believes God has used Dr. Burton as a tool in healing me. I was fortunate that my family found, and felt they had the right to make a choice, treatment for me. I believe they made the right choice (Morse, 1980).
Twenty-two and half years later, my opinion has not changed. It is my faith in a higher power and belief in the right as an individual to make choices about my personal wellness and healthcare that I share with others. And, of course, information about a very special cancer clinic located in the Bahamas.
Immuno-Augmentative Therapy (IAT) is an individualized treatment. In the twenty-six years since its founding in 1977, the IAT Centre has treated over 5,000 people who have had a wide variety of cancers, and many, surely a greater percentage than we would likely have in this country, have lived longer, healthier lives. However, not everyone responds as well as I have. Type. Grade of cancer, age, stage, immune system function prior to onset of illness, lifestyle (diet, exercise smoking, drugs, etc.), how long one has been battling cancer and previous treatment affects/complications play a role in the success.
I know many people with diagnoses of colon, liver, breast, malignant melanoma, lymphoma and other cancers, who are alive and well 5, 10,17,20, and 25 years later. Most of these people still return to IAT on a yearly basis or more frequently. Sometimes those visits become a family affair. I now have two aunts who have been to the clinic. One is a 12-year survivor of Pseudomyxoma Peridtnei, a rare abdominal cancer. The other is just completing her second year in treatment for Uterine cancer. Several individual who, like me, have gone off the serum other than when at the clinic, have experienced reoccurrence, and have gone back on the injections full time. Others I have met responded well to the treatment, but did not get to the IAT clinic soon enough. Letters of gratitude, however, sent to the clinic from family members and friends voicing thankfulness for the additional time and quality of life their loved ones gained, and numerous survivor stories, like my own, are evidence of Dr. Burton's achievement.
A pioneer in unorthodox cancer research, Dr. Burton passed away in May of 1993. The IAT Centre continues to survive under the direction of Dr. R. John Clement, who has been involved since its inception. Three medical doctors are available to address the daily medical concerns of the patients, and offer weekly planned or as hoc discussions on a variety of wellness related topics. Staff do their best to assist patients with all their needs, from living arrangements and car rentals to planning annual Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. For many patients, my self included, the IAT Centre is a home away from home, in part due to tenured staff who are not just employed, but who are dedicated to maintaining the existence of a therapy they have seen work. Dr. Clement and the IAT staff make no unkept promises, but practice a motto of honesty as they educate prospective patients about what IAT has to offer, and continually inform current patients of treatment status and likely prognosis.
Other publications which offer information about the IAT Clinic and other alternative cancer therapies include New Cancer Therapies: The Patient's, by Penelope Williams (Canada: Firefly Books, 2000), and Cancer Syndrome: 'Proven Methods' (New York: Grove Press Books, 1980) and other titles by Ralph Moss.
My personal story and the journey my family experienced in choosing to pursue an alternative cancer therapy is told from my mother's perspective in Torrey's Miracle-A Matter of Choice (1st Books Library, 2001), and can be obtained via the internet a www.1stbooks.com or directly from her.
Both my mother, Margaret Berger Morse, and I can be contacted via e-mail at cplottie@aol.com.
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