Positive Experience at Oasis of Hope

Oasis of Hope is a hospital in Tijuana, Mexico, that combines conventional allopathic approaches with complementary alternative therapies that enhance effectiveness in fighting cancer. Working with cancer patients from around the world, Oasis of Hope is known for its leading-edge perspective on the treatment of cases thought incurable.

As reported in the Irish newspaper Longford Leader in April 2021, an Irish woman benefited from intensive four-week cancer treatment at Oasis of Hope in Mexico. The mother of two in her early 30s has been battling a persisting case of cervical cancer. After fighting off the disease twice, the woman’s cancer returned. This time, she was told by local physicians that conventional treatment would no longer work.

Rather than give up, the woman raised money through a Shroid Christmas Tractor Run fundraiser and a GoFundMe campaign to receive Treatment at Oasis of Hope. Her treatment has had a positive effect, with ultrasounds showing that some lymph nodes and tumors have been reduced, even in the short time of her treatment.

Emotional Care in Fighting Cancer

Oasis of Hope is a Tijuana-based hospital that combines conventional methods with alternative cancer treatments spanning modalities such as pancreatic enzymes, ozone therapy, and megadoses of IV vitamin C. Speaking with the nonprofit CANCERactive, director Dr. Francisco Contreras described a thorough protocol employed with all Oasis of Hope patients, who come from around the world and are often battling stage four cancers.

At the outset, medical history and lab results are carefully reviewed, with a focus on seeing if anything was missed by past physicians. At this point, lab work is undertaken once again, for comparison. One unique aspect of stays at the hospital is that they are often positioned as part of a broader two-year program, with patients receiving education throughout their stay that enables them to continue the program on their own, and with continuing consultative support, upon returning home.

Practical emphases at Oasis include the use of B-17, “nature’s chemotherapy,” and ozonation programs that utilize equipment similar to a dialysis machine in suffusing the blood system with ozone. Beyond these practical physical regimens, Dr. Contreras spends equal time attending to aspects of well-being that are emotional in nature. As he puts it, laughter “stimulates the immune system better than any drug.”

Emphasizing social activities such as sing-alongs and supportive conversation, Dr. Contreras takes impetus from US medical studies that have found that argumentative people often survive longer. Boiled down into a life-affirming credo, he clearly states this as “people who are more determined, beat it.” With patient stays typically lasting three weeks, foundational principles exercised throughout are those of “Do no harm” and “Treat the patient as yourself.” 

Science Validates “Whole Person” Approach to Cancer Treatment

At Oasis of Hope Hospital in Tijuana, Mexico, patients from all over the world have taken advantage of an integrative, complementary system of alternative medicine that has achieved significantly high survival rates for a range of common Stage 4 cancers. Oasis of Hope’s clinically supported approach is anchored first in doing no harm by avoiding the over-use of aggressive conventional therapies. It is additionally centered on treating the whole person - body, mind, and spirit.

The hospital’s philosophy puts individual patients, their families, and their quality of physical and spiritual life first when preparing any treatment plan. This outlook has won broad support over recent years, even within the conventional medical community. Physicians have begun to recognize that it is impossible to treat a tumor in isolation: Since disease affects the whole person, treatment must involve the whole person as well.

To give one example: In December 2016, the journal Integrative Cancer Therapies published an article noting the success of whole-person approaches, advocating for new systems that support ways of integrating each patient’s emotional, psychological, social, and existential needs in treatment. The article’s authors additionally noted that plans designed to support healthy lifestyle changes, among other factors, contributed to the overall success of cancer treatment in the groups studied.

Additionally, the American Cancer Society lists on its website a number of types of practitioners able to treat patients with cancer. The list includes professions, such as osteopathy, that focus on the “whole person” approach to care.

Active Hexose Correlated Compound - Boosting the Immune System

Oasis of Hope Hospital is a Tijuana institution that focuses solely on eliminating cancer through a holistic range of therapies. Oasis of Hope physicians possess extensive knowledge, which includes the use of nutraceuticals for controlling cancer. Among those actively used is active hexose correlated compound (AHCC), which is extracted from a number of mushroom types.

The extracts possess both antitumor and immunomodulation properties and are effective in strengthening the immune system. This is particularly critical for patients who are undergoing chemotherapy, which severely impacts the immune system. Through the use of AHCC, the immune system is protected. In addition to restoring the depressed immune system, it is effective in reversing the effects cancer cells produced immunosuppressive factors. It also boosts the activity of healthy killer cells that target cancer cells.

AHCC’s benefits extend to decreasing radiotherapy side effects and reducing nausea and anxiety while boosting appetite. Its effects are similar to melatonin in that it also stimulates the system of immune surveillance that acts as a sentinel against cancer.

Gerson Therapy Uses Natural Approach to Treat Chronic Diseases

Oasis of Hope offers cancer care and treatment through a multidisciplinary team of physicians that combine conventional and alternative methods for a comprehensive patient experience. Based in Tijuana, Mexico, Oasis of Hope also supports Cancer Aid and Research Fund, an organization that collaborates with a range of leading alternate cancer resources.

Cancer Aid and Research Fund promotes the use of the Gerson Therapy, a holistic and natural approach to treating chronic debilitating illnesses. Patients of the Gerson Therapy follow a natural wellness regimen that stimulates the body’s ability to heal itself. 

According to Gerson Therapy physicians, an organic diet of plant-based food, raw juices, coffee enemas, and natural supplements boosts the patient’s immune system, allowing it to treat the toxicity and nutritional deficiencies that cause many degenerative diseases. The increased supply of enzymes, nutrients, and minerals also helps break down diseased tissues.

Dr. Max Gerson developed the treatment in the 1930s and over the course of 30 years refined it through empirical observations and careful experimentation. His daughter Charlotte continued his research after his death in 1959 and later established the Gerson Institute to enhance Gerson Therapy protocols.

Erbitux and Rituxan - Drug Treatments for Addressing Specific Cancers

Located in Tijuana and emphasizing integrative therapy pathways to treat cancer, Oasis of Hope offers treatments ranging from epigenetics to insulin potentiation chemotherapy. Oasis of Hope also provides access to leading-edge drug therapies, including those involving the administration of erbitux and rituxan. 

The latter drug is employed in treating B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and stands as the first FDA-approved cancer fighting therapeutic monoclonal antibody. This relatively recent therapy approach targets CD20 antigens on both malignant and normal B-Cells. This type of white blood cell lymphocyte is essential in producing antibodies. While the immune system naturally attacks and eliminates marked B-cells, it does not attack the young stem cells in the bone marrow which do not possess the CD20 antigen. This enables the regeneration of healthy B-cells following treatment. 

Erbitux is used to address neck, head, and colorectal cancers through targeting malignant cells that contain the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). Inhibiting the activity of EGFR, erbitux selectively blocks signals that generate cancerous growth and also triggers an immune response against these cells.

The Metronomic Approach to Cytotoxic Therapy for Cancer

Located in Tijuana and with offices in Southern California, Oasis of Hope provides a range of cancer treatment pathways under the Contreras Alternative Cancer Treatment (C-ACT) collective protocol. Oasis of Hope employs multiple therapeutic approaches, including cytotoxic treatment, which may or may not include very mild oral chemotherapy.

The effectiveness of traditional chemotherapy often is hampered by hypoxia, or poor oxygenation of tumors, and decreased activity in specific signaling pathways, which enables cancer cells to survive. An innovative approach involves the use of metronomic chemotherapy, or low doses of chemotherapy applied daily. This causes a continuous death of cancerous endothelial cells, which attempt to expand by forming new blood vessels. Metronomic chemotherapy slows down the angiogenic process significantly.

The metronomic approach has also been shown clinically to kill regulatory T (T-reg) cells. A type of immune cell, T-reg cells can congregate in tumors and suppress the beneficial activity of other immune cells that are able to fight tumors. When the T-reg cell population diminishes, T-cytotoxic cells and natural killer immune cells are better able to do their work of attacking the tumor.