Henry went through his first cycle of chemo on the 29th of February..  The following two days he was on steroids and these kept him in kind of like " a high" so his body really did not feel the chemo's hit.  On the 4th day after chemo  he started to feel unwell, tired, "funny".  His stomach was very upset and this must to be due to the medication he took prior and post chemo.  I was reading about steroids and yes, they can have a bad effect on patients.

Henry was starting to eat less, he was also getting fed up of being on pain, yes, I can imagine that constant pain must be hard, also, it is like a continuous reminder that you are ill.

On the 6th of March Henry started taking Aloe Arborescens.  We got to hear about Aloe Arb. from Connah's granddad. Connah is a boy from Wales  that is being treated with PDT in the same clinic that Henry wants to go to for his treatment (by the way, we have a video of Connah's case on the "Testimonial" page).

Ok, so we ordered  Aloe Arb. and Henry started taking it.  I must be honest and tell you that I was a little afraid of this herbal medicine, the only thing that put my mind at ease was the fact that I spoke to the distributor in England, Mark, a really nice guy from Canada that was totally honest about the product.  He did not try to sell the product nor did try to tell me what he knew I wanted to hear, so that made us buy the product.

Funny enough at the same time I had a good feeling about it.  Maybe it is because just days before I watched a BBC documentary about plants and their internal wonderful, powerful and amazing way of working.  

Maybe it was that, maybe it is that I just wanted to believe that it could work.  Don't know.

So, Henry started taking the juice, 10ml 20 minutes before meals.  Nothing really happened for the first two days, in fact, Henry was still having stomach pain.  One night, just after taking the juice, he could not even finish his dinner due to his stomach pain. For a moment I thought we had really messed up with the juice.

But suddenly, from being unwell and lacking energy, out of the blue, Henry got up the third day of taking the juice,  free of stomach-ache.  He had energy and not one day since then has had to lye down because he has been feeling run down.  
His temperature has been stable (fingers crossed). This is great considering that Henry is underweight and weak due to the illness.

He started developing spots, first on his face, mainly on one side, the right side and around the nose.  Since the biopsy Henry has had problems, his nose bleeds most nights. He also got spots around his ears, but this only lasted  for a few hours (no that I seat right next to him with a chronometer....)

The interesting part is that the spots, little white spots, came on mainly on the right side of his chest, over the lung area; the lung that is ill.  

Before Henry started taking the juice, I read a lot about it, I read as much as I could as really, to get the proper information you need to get an specific book that talks about the plant 's scientific research and foundlings with regards to this formula. But I got to read that people who take the juice can get spots, this is because the body is going through a detox process. When spots come out it is because the treatment is really working.

I did not mentioned this to Henry before taking the juice as I did not want him to get paranoid about "nasty spots".  I waited to see...and yes, it did happened!

I think it is interesting to see how spots only come on the right side of his body.  The right side of his face, the right side of his chest and around the nose, which , as I have already said, has also been affected by the biopsy.

No temperature, good appetite, no stomach -ache and excellent levels of energy.  I don't think this is coincidence, I have seen it my self, I have seen the change from no taking Aloe Arborescens and taking it.  So far Henry, considering...., is doing well.

A couple weeks ago somebody told me that if we wanted to raise money for Henry, we would have to make very sad statements, but fortunately... or unfortunately, Henry and I are not like that.  I can't seat here to tell you sad things so you will put a tenner,  £100 or £1.000 for Henry's appeal. No this way, no!.
 
This is about fighting cancer, fighting to get treatment and fighting the chemo's symptoms until we can get the treatment, and if we can find ways of making this nasty journey easier then we are going to share it with you just because you may know somebody who is living with cancer or at some stage of your life you will know somebody who has also been affected by cancer.

I do not think none of us can go through a life time without being touched direct or indirectly by cancer.

For anybody wanting details from "Aloe Arborescens", please, just ask.  We are happy to pass on information.

Salud!!

Keith, one of Henry's work mates, used to be his team leader in a different branch at Tescos (so they have not been in touch for a while now), has come to visit Henry.  

Since Keith found out about Henry, he has been ringing very often, he has also donated money.  He is giving so much to support Henry....

Today I overheard him talking on the phone to someone , he said "Today is my first day off in six weeks".  And I thought to my self, and he is here, with Henry.  That is a friend!!

He does not ask for nothing in return, he does not set rules and he does not expect recognition. It really brings tears to my eyes to know that Henry has this support and people that cares for him.

What I have learn in this journey with Henry is that it comes clear very quickly when people do things coming from their heart and understanding on what life and friendship is about .

So to Keith and people like Keith, thank you.

Henry's sister, Sophie, contacted the Hounslow  Chronicle to see if they could place an article with regards to Henry's situation to get help with raising the money we need for Henry's treatment.

At noon Max, the photographer, came.  What a nice guy, what a wonderful and positive person to have around.

Henry has had a fantastic time. Max has dedicated plenty of his time to get a good photo.  He was also interested in Henry  situation and treatment.  

 Henry says " Max has made me feel very important"

It is really nice to have visits that bring a different vibe and that break up with the continuous thoughts we are having for the past several weeks.

Max visit and Henry not having stomach-ache today makes today a really nice day. 

We are grateful! 

For the past four days Henry has had stomach-ache.  Everything started with a strawberry's tart.  Maybe it was the cream, milk products seem to upset henry's stomach, but never this bad. 

Maybe the tart is just a coincidence and has got nothing to do with it.


Today he could not finish his dinner and that is a big problem.  Henry only weighs 52 kilos, if he does not eat, not only will lose weight but will get low on body defences.

Henry has been eating very healthy, plenty of fruit and vegetables on a daily basis.  Also Manuca honey that we have at Henry's and that I read somewhere it is good as a stomach protector. He was not given any stomach protector for all the medication he had to take prior to the treatment (and afterwards).  So possibly it is a bit of both; the chemo and the medication.

We have just spoken to the hospital, they recommended Gavescon, so tomorrow Henry will get some. 

Meanwhile Henry will stay in bed, trying to sleep to forget he has got this terrible pain.

Henry woke up last night with the same symptoms as the night before. 

This evening Henry has been feeling unwell.  His temperature has been up and down.  Nothing to worry about but since the chemo treatment he has been so well that today's symptoms caught him by surprise.  

For the past few days, 3 days to be exact, we, in a way, forgot a little bit about the cancer, (cancer has been ruling our days since the 10th of February) but today we have remembered that we mustn't forget and that we need to be on guard.

Well, maybe it is just about finding the balance between remembering and forgetting...


Now Henry is off medication post-treatment so probably his body is staring to feel the nasty chemical inside him.

Last night he woke up with a strange sensation in his arms.  In the morning he could only say " I felt something funny in my blood".  But he did not say nothing as it was happening. I can imagine him sitting in the living room, on his own, waiting for "that funny thing in his blood" to go away. 

And finally it seems it went.  Still, without saying anything, he went back to bed, to sleep.  But when we got up in the morning, still sitting on the bed, he said to me "last night I felt something funny in my blood, I think it is the chemo, in my body"...

This evening he was not feeling well.  He needs to watch his temperature and if it raises to 37.5, we need to phone the hospital to seek advice.  The hospital will then tell him if he needs to go to A&E or...not sure what.  If it happens we will know.  This is how it goes.

The thing is that between 7 to 10 days after treatment, a person treated with chemo is prone to get infections easily as the body's defences get really low.  If he does not have cells to fight infections ( white blood cells) he is in trouble.

But he is not going to be in trouble because he will monitor his temperature and he will be ok.

We have decided that from Wednesday, 7 days after chemo, Henry won't get visits in the house. He will still go out (if it stops raining), as sun and moderate exercise such walking is beneficial but he will not have visits, just in case somebody has a cold or a little infection that a healthy person can have without even notice it.  So it is not a matter of being isolated but just for a few days to stay in his own environment  or in open spaces.

The order for a  bottle of Aloe Arborescens was sent on Friday. Henry will start having it as soon as he gets it. Maybe tomorrow.  It is not that he is willing to try anything of the Net, it is that we have been looking into medical studies (in PubMed) and all we have found is positive feedback .  It is made out of plants and/or herbs and even though that does not necessarily mean that it is healthy (just because it comes from nature), the medical studies we have looked into estate that Aloe Arborescens is not toxic.  It can also be combined with chemo.  The treatment is 10 days on and 10 days off, non-stop.

  .

On Henry's behalf to family, friends and workmates:

A randomized study of chemotherapy versus biochemotherapy with chemotherapy plus Aloearborescens in patients with metastatic cancer.

Lissoni P, Rovelli F, Brivio F, Zago R, Colciago M, Messina G, Mora A, Porro G.

Source

Division of Radiation Oncology, St. Gerardo Hospital, Monza, Milan, Italy. [email protected]

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

The recent advances in the analysis of tumor immunobiology suggest the possibility of biologically manipulating the efficacy and toxicity of cancer chemotherapy by endogenous or exogenous immunomodulating substances. Aloe is one of the of the most important plants exhibiting anticancer activity and its antineoplastic property is due to at least three different mechanisms, based on antiproliferative, immunostimulatory and antioxidant effects. The antiproliferative action is determined by anthracenic and antraquinonic molecules, while the immunostimulating activity is mainly due to acemannan.

PATIENTS AND METHODS:

A study was planned to include 240 patients with metastatic solid tumor who were randomized to receive chemotherapy with or without Aloe. According to tumor histotype and clinical status, lung cancer patients were treated with cisplatin and etoposide or weekly vinorelbine, colorectal cancer patients received oxaliplatin plus 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), gastric cancer patients were treated with weekly 5-FU and pancreatic cancer patients received weekly gemcitabine. Aloe was given orally at 10 ml thrice/daily.

RESULTS:

The percentage of both objective tumor regressions and disease control was significantly higher in patients concomitantly treated withAloe than with chemotherapy alone, as well as the percent of 3-year survival patients.

CONCLUSION:

This study seems to suggest that Aloe may be successfully associated with chemotherapy to increase its efficacy in terms of both tumor regression rate and survival time.

PMID:

19368145

[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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