Dear friends of Dan - Let me reiterate appreciation and acknowledge the powerful encouragement of your prayers. Dan says repeatedly to me how he can sense your prayers. Please continue fervently to intercede for him.
On the medical side, Dan will go in for another biopsy on Wednesday. This will be a needle biopsy that should provide more conclusive information regarding the nature of his tumor. I have a college roommate, Dr. Sam Dement, that is a pathologist that Dan has called a few times to get a second opinion on what is happening. Dr. Dement said that the endoscopic ultrasound biopsy taken from moving inside the stomach can give false indications sometimes due to the ability to properly reach the tumor. So the current fact that the first biopsy of two locations not returning cancer cells may not be a complete foundation of information - hence the needle biopsy this week ahead. This will be a more accurate representation as the needle will be guided by near real-time CT scans to get the samples.
The result of the first biopsy being inconclusive (showing no cancer) is that the chemo and radiation treatments cannot commence until the end of October. In the mean time, we have been studying and learning about nutrition as an approach to cancer destruction. It appears that cancerous cells are chemically very different from good cells in the following ways: 1) they metabolize sugar, not oxygen to get their energy, 2) they like an acid pH not an alkaline one, 3) the concept of “free-radicals’ and anti-oxidants play a role in its spreading. With this in mind, Dan has been juicing a lot (raw foods are more alkaline than cooked food and they retain more enzymes that can help the immune system) and cut out the sugars (turns out the PET scan is nothing but radiated sugar water that shows where sugar is being metabolized). He has been taking a detox called Zeolite made from volcanic rock that attracts and captures toxins in the body fluids. He is exercising daily to strengthen and oxygenate his body and remains in good spirits with his faith strong.
Dan had visits from his brother, David and other family members this weekend. It was a very special time for Dave & Dan (first & second of nine siblings) as they got to hike & hang out, but also spoke about the things that really matter for eternity, and how salvation thru Christ alone is such a precious gift of grace from God to us. David shared about a 67 year-old lady evangelist who is one of his patients in Illinois. They desire for every member of our Kuban family to know this incredible truth (Jn 3:16, Rom 6:23), and anyone else who may be reading this!
Please pray specifically that the next biopsy might also show no signs of cancer, that the juicing would be reconditioning his digestive system to fight off disease, and that his physical pain would diminish.