Cancer Study Participants Find Hope and Health at Bastyr Integrative Oncology Research Center
The Bastyr Integrative Oncology Research Center (BIORC) opened in February 2009 with the goals of improving the quality of life of people living with cancer, reducing their risk of cancer recurrence and tracking the effectiveness of complementary, alternative or integrative therapies in treating the disease. BIORC was made possible through a grant from Cleavage Creek Cellars winery founder Budge Brown, who lost his wife to breast cancer and has since donated a percentage of his gross sales to breast cancer research. In collaboration with Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, BIORC researchers are conducting a matched controlled outcomes study to compare "disease-free survival" and quality of life in research participants with others who do not receive complementary, alternative or integrative therapies. Below are the stories of research participants who have found hope, healing and recovery with the help of BIORC clinicians.
"We're going to try to keep you going for a year." Such was the news Barbara Nord's oncologist delivered in August 2008. Cancer had so invaded Barbara's body — with three tumors in her brain — that doctors had given her only six to eight months to live, perhaps up to a year with aggressive radiation and chemotherapy treatment. Now, almost a year later, Barbara is still here. And, most importantly, she has found hope. Barbara became a Bastyr Integrative Oncology Research Center research participant in March 2009. Read more...
Cynthia Buxton, ND, has nice skin — a remarkable development for someone undergoing radiation therapy for breast cancer. "As I was going through radiation treatments the technicians kept telling me, 'Wow, your skin looks really good,' " says Dr. Buxton, a 1999 graduate of Bastyr University. "I really wasn't experiencing the horrific side effects (blistering and peeling) I was told about." She attributes the health of her skin to the naturopathic care she receives at the Bastyr Integrative Research Oncology Center. Read more...
A family doctor for more than 30 years, Dr. Larry Johnson considers himself rather knowledgeable about preventative and complementary medicine. So when doctors diagnosed a lump on his neck as squamous cell cancer — a type of tumor that affects the skin — Dr. Johnson knew he wanted to incorporate complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies into his conventional treatment. Now cancer free and preparing to go back to work just six months after his original diagnosis, Dr. Johnson credits BIORC clinicians with helping support his quick recovery. Read more...
