Mitch Johnson is a Utah resident with 30 years of contracting experience. He has worked hard and dealt with a lot in his life, including childhood abuse and trauma. Using a combination of modern techniques and cannabis, he has also overcome cancer twice.
Initial Cancer Diagnosis
In 2003, Mitch was diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma, an especially rare type of soft tissue cancer that can appear nearly anywhere in the body. For Mitch, it was his left testicle, which was removed to eliminate the cancer. Doctors warned him the cancer could return, as leiomyosarcoma is known to sometimes recur after years of dormancy.
Indeed, in September 2013, a chest X-ray revealed the cancer had returned with a 1.5cm tumor in his left lung and a shotgun pattern of small tumors in his right lung. Mitch had been promoted to get this X-ray because he was coughing up blood, although the cause of this bleeding turned out to be a sinus infection rather than the cancer.
Although Mitch had not smoked cannabis for 25 years, he was aware of the research surrounding its medical benefits, including for fighting cancer. A 2007 Harvard study shows tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) can shrink lung tumors in animals. THC, along with cannabidiol (CBD), also help the body’s own immune system destroy lung cancer cells.
Within a week of being diagnosed, Mitch had resumed smoking cannabis in the hopes it would fight his cancer. At the end of October, he went to Washington and procured cannabis oil in the form of “Trippy Stix”, vaporizers with pre-loaded cannabis oil. In addition to smoking cannabis and vaporizing oil, he ingested edibles when possible.
Mitch made nutritional changes like cutting out soft drinks and mostly eating vegetarian meals. He also took Essiac tea and Tru-Pine (other alternative anti-cancer treatments), and began exercising more, walking about two miles a night.
According to CancerTutor.com, Essiac is a product that is composed of 4 or more herbs, two of which (Sheep Sorrel and Burdock Root) are known to kill cancer cells. The other two herbs build the immune system and deal with detox and protecting the organs.
In June 2014, Mitch had surgery to remove a third of the lower left lobe of his lung. A subsequent X-ray revealed that not only was the operation a success, but eight of the nine tumors on his right lung were gone. The doctors didn’t know how to explain this, and said he was a “unique case.” Also unique is the fact Mitch has not been sick for one day in the past 18 months, and lung tests show he is blowing at 125% of normal.
Besides the potential direct anti-cancer effect, cannabis has been amazing for Mitch’s mental well-being. Every time he thought about dying and got anxious, he would take a hit and stop worrying within three minutes. This anxiolytic effect also helped Mitch deal with issues related to past abuse and his divorce.
Smoking Cannabis vs. Eating Cannabis Oil
Most people using cannabis to fight cancer ingest large amounts of extract. This is by far the most common practice, and it is generally unwise for any cancer patient to try and fight their cancer with smoking. Mitch was aware of this, but knew his cancer was slow-growing and wanted to see what smoking and vaporizing could achieve. He did not want to eat oil due to the significant costs and the fatigue high doses of THC can induce. Thankfully, things still worked out despite the incomplete treatment.
Remissions from cannabis smoking are not unheard of. In fact, of the only two articles in the formal scientific literature focused on cannabis-related remissions, one of them deals with smoking. A 2011 article in Child’s Nervous System reported on two children with astrocytoma brain tumors.
“During Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) surveillance in the first three years, one case was dormant and the other showed slight increase in size, followed by clear regression of both residual tumors over the following 3-year period. Neither patient received any conventional adjuvant treatment. The tumors regressed over the same period of time that cannabis was consumed via inhalation, raising the possibility that the cannabis played a role in the tumor regression.”
Although Mitch is not 100% cancer free, his remarkable success using surgery, nutrition, and cannabis, but not chemotherapy or radiation, is impressive. He is hopeful that with more time and hopefully a true course of extract treatment, he will regain perfect health.
Editors note: As cannabis is illegal in the state of Utah, Mitch has chosen to use the placeholder last name “Johnson”. We look forward to the day when people are not forced by governments to hide what medicines are really helping them.
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