Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has returned to Cuba to resume a second course of chemotherapy treatment for an unspecified cancer. He has delegated some of his presidential powers to his finance minister and vice president as he receives treatment.

The socialist leader, who is 56 years old, had cancer surgery on June 20th in Cuba. The excellence of Cuba’s healthcare was well-documented in the 2007 Michael Moore documentary Sicko, in which the peripatetic director rowed some Americans to Cuba to receive healthcare they were unable to obtain in the United States.

Armoring The Body Against Cancer

Chavez has described this stage of his treatment program as an effort to “armor the body against new malignant cells of this type.” In addition to conventional cancer treatments such as surgery (Chavez had his on June 20th, also in Cuba), Chavez may be receiving functional treatment of his cancer. The functional approach to cancer treatment includes integrative treatments designed for immune support and regulation as well as cancer suppression – including therapies such as hyperthermia, ozone therapy and ‘live cell’ therapies for example.

Chavez has not revealed the type of cancer he has been diagnosed with, saying only that it is in the pelvic region – which means it could be bladder, kidney, prostate, rectal or colon cancer.   His first operation, nearly six hours, removed an encapsulated tumor he described as “the size of a baseball.”

Since his return to Venezuela on July 4th, Chavez has appeared on television only a few times saying he is under doctor’s orders to limit his public duties.

The Rise of Integrative Cancer Therapies

Many integrative cancer treatments are science-based with a rich body of evidence supporting the safety of efficacy of the treatments, however have gained little acceptance in the United States. In 2006, NBC featured a story on the subject, “Late-stage cancer patients flock to Mexico“, showcasing the more questionable of the 35 or so cancer clinics located at the Baja California border.

However, setting aside the obvious quacks – small clinics and spas without JCI or ISO accreditation top these lists – there are several top hospitals and clinics in Tijuana successfully treating third and fourth stage patients of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, lung cancer, prostate and colon cancer.

Among the most famous of these is the Angeles Functional Oncology Cancer Treatment Center, at Hospital Angeles, founded by Dr. Ariel Perez, who has developed similar programs at several hospitals in Northern Mexico until he was wooed to Angeles, the largest private hospital network in Mexico.
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“I came here for the technology, what it enables us to do,” says Dr. Perez, and although when one plays word association, “technology” isn’t the first thing that comes to mind for “Mexico”, the private Hospital Angeles franchise has medical technology that is surprisingly state-of-the-art, including a stem cell center of excellence partnered with a US University and medical device company offering adult stem cell therapy protocols for more than ten disease conditions, such as Multiple Sclerosis.

Why Functional Medicine is the Future of Medicine ~Dr. Ariel Perez

The Great 8-Medical Procedures Where Mexico Leads the U.S.

Most American physicians don’t know much more about complementary and alternative medicine than their patients do (Doctors: We Have Very Poor Knowledge of Alternative Medicine). However, there are signs that the US healthcare system is creakily catching up with the integrative bandwagon: Duke as well as the famous Mayo Clinic each have integrative/complementary cancer treatment centers.

Playing the word association game with Chavez, one might expect to hear ‘revolution’. And it is a revolutionary time to have cancer, with the understanding of the disease and the tools to treat it continuing to undergo revolutions of their own – like the dendritic cancer vaccine and the recently touted functional cure for HIV. Here’s to finding the answer to cancer!

To learn more about the Angeles Functional Oncology 6 Step Smart Cancer Treatment program, click here.
To hear a cancer patient and her husband talk about functional cancer therapy, click here.
To request a free, no obligation consult with a functional physician click here.