Episode 437: His Stage 4 Cancer Returned But He Beat It With Cannabis Oil

Welcome to Cannabis Health Radio, a podcast where we share stories from people around the world who are using cannabis as medicine. The information is meant to raise awareness about the health benefits of cannabis which should not be taken as medical advice. Now here are your hosts, Ian Jessup and Corey Yelland.

Welcome to the Cannabis Health Radio podcast. I'm Ian Jessup. Corey Yelland is under the weather and she won't be joining us today. But today at the age of 64, our guest was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer of the esophagus with metastasis to his lungs and lymph nodes. After initially undergoing conventional treatments, he managed to clear his cancer at the one year mark. Unfortunately, the cancer returned two years later and that's when he decided to explore alternative options. He began using cannabis oil and today he is cancer free. And joining us from New York State is Shane Gullop. Shane, thank you so much for joining us. We greatly appreciate it.

You're very welcome. Glad to be here.

Shane. One of the things I heard many years ago was that people who have had cancer and get through it successfully say it was one of the best things that ever happened to them. And when I first heard that, I thought you got to be crazy. But now I understand it because it changed their perspective on life. Did this cancer that you have undergone and successfully treated change your perspective on life?

Oh, without a doubt, without a doubt. It's, it gives you, it's taught me to be a far more patient, humble, forgiving, open to new ideas, not just related to cancer, but pretty much life in general. You know, things that. Now I've got my dog here too. But no, it's been a, it was a true eye opener. I mean, when you're faced with a prognosis that gives you, you know, percentage points of chance of living, then you really have to dig down and, and see what you're made of. And I mean, thankfully I had my wife to really, she was kind of, she was almost the driving force and keeping me going because it seemed like when I first got diagnosed it was, I went in for a simple stretch of the esophagus thinking, you know, my, our daughter's a nurse practitioner. She goes, not that uncommon for guys your age. So. And I go for that procedure two days before Christmas. And the first thing, the doctor, the guy that did the procedure, he came out and he goes, do you have an oncologist? My wife and I kind of like, what's he talking, what are you talking about? He goes, well, there's a big problem in there. He goes, don't worry about it. Go home, have some scrambled eggs. It won't kill you anytime soon. And at that point, I hadn't eaten solid food for three weeks at least, possibly a bit longer. So we're like. And he left the room. That's what he left us with. So we went home, had our crying jag, and then said, all right, we got to get on the horse here and see what we got to do. And, you know, that's when we went to work, basically. We contacted local hospitals, and then we reached out to Boston General, Sloan Kettering, Roswell, and Buffalo at Strong Memorial in Rochester, and in talking to different doctors. And at that time, Covid had kind of taken place, so traveling was difficult. Thankfully, the place in Rochester, we talked to the doctor there. They could get us right in. They had a doctor, my doctor, Wen J. Wang. Absolutely phenomenal, well versed in esophageal adenocar carcinoma, cancer. So we went out, and at that point, we didn't know what stage it was. They. We hadn't seen the PET scan results. So we went out, met with a circle surgical oncologist, and he said, well, we. You have mets to your lungs and lymph nodes, so you aren't a surgical candidate. So I went to the radiation oncologist next, and he goes. He goes, no, radiation is not. I don't advise that right now. So we went to my oncologist, and the first thing she said is, you're safe here. Yeah. And she goes, you have one thing to beat, and that's this cancer. So let's go about beating it changed my whole attitude.

Wow. That is very different than what most doctors would say.

I agree. I know. I've talked to a good friend of ours, and she, Carrie, who introduced us, and she had just a 180 degree opposite reaction from her doctors.

Carrie's the last interview we had, she said her doctor told her you'd be dead in two months.

Yep, Yep. And she didn't even have to Google search the bad stats because, of course, you know, we webmd it. And I'm going, wow, this is bad. This is really bad. But at that time, Ian, I was in probably. I was 64, had been retired for. For, at that point, five years. And I was in great shape. I hiked one or two days a week up in the Adirondacks, mountain climbing. I was in the gym most every day, lifting. My wife and I walk a ton. I play some bad golf. I was very active. And I think.

Things you Played some bad golf.

Yeah, but I go play.

Now. Just prior to you going to the doctor, what sort of symptoms were you experiencing?

Go back to July of 2019, and my wife and I sat down for a steak dinner. I took one bite, and it got stuck. So we went to the emergency room because I could never get it out. And they said, well, we'll give you something to relax your esophagus, but if that doesn't work, we're gonna have to send you to upstate, which is in Syracuse, as we don't have the resources here to. To. To do that. In retrospect, I wish that hadn't worked, because I would have. They would have found that cancer almost six months sooner in the big picture would have made a big difference. I don't know. But anyway, I. They. It did work. It dislodged the steak, and I didn't eat steak again, but I was able to eat slowly and maybe not as much, and I started losing weight, and it got to the point where I'm gonna say probably late November, it was Thanksgiving time. I couldn't swallow solid foods, so I was eating nothing but protein shakes, yogurt, applesauce, jello. And that's the way it was until. Jeez. Until actually midway between first and second treatments is when I really noticed my throat opening up where I could eat. But in between there, back pain, between my shoulder blades, chest pain, where I would have to actually sleep in a recliner or in an elevated position in bed because the. The indigestion and acid reflux was just so bad that I couldn't tolerate it. So it worked. I mean, I was able to get through that portion of it. And after. I say after, I met with my doctor and they got a treatment plan in place. And after the plan was in place, I started within a couple days.

What was the treatment plan that was recommended to you?

I went on. It's called Folfox. It's folic acid, oxaliplatin, and also on Herceptin, which is the immunotherapy I was on. They were. They tried to get me in a clinical trial for keytruda, but because I'm HER2 positive, I was denied that. So she put me on Herceptin, which after I read about, it's more for breast cancer patients. But I tell you, I've just had my 72nd infusion of Herceptin last week, and I've never had a bit of problem with it.

Interesting. So when you say it was for breast cancer patients, I Assume that because it was in your chest area.

Correct. Yep. Yep.

Yeah. That's why they gave it to you.

Yes.

Yeah. Now, when that treatment was okay for you, you came through that quite well, did you?

Yep. To tell you the truth. Well, the folfox, I would go in for infusion. They were Tuesdays. I would do my infusion, which was six to seven hours long, and they would send me home with a portable pump for 46 hours that I would wear at home. Thursday morning, travel nurse would come and remove the pump. But in all honesty, it didn't. I didn't really have any problems outside of the neuropathy did get bad, so they cut out one portion of the cocktail. Excuse me. And everything is fairly resolved. I do have some residual neuropathy in my toes, balls of my feet, a little bit in my fingertips, but I just view that as a reminder to all the crap that I went through, so.

Sure as hell beats dying, doesn't it?

No complaints here, my man.

That's right. Now you took that for a year and then you were declared cancer free.

Yeah. Yep. I went out after my. I was still going to Rochester for scans, heart echoes, blood draws. And they said, well, she's said, well, we're, you know, there's no reason to keep you on chemo, so we will keep you on Herceptin. And that's when I came back to Syracuse. And I've really. I've had no problems until, like I told. It was almost two years ago now that it returned.

Yeah. What. How did you discover it returned?

Frequent scans. They still scan me every three months. In fact, I just had one this past Monday that I'm patiently waiting results on, thanks to insurance. But so they. They saw on the report, you know, and she. She goes, we have a little thickening that causes me some concern in your esophagus, but there's nothing else there. And so we're gonna just keep an eye on it. Well, the next scan I had three months later, she goes, there is something there. She showed me on the. On the scan image. It was about the size of a bb. And she goes. So she brought in the radiation oncologist and she said, here's what we're gonna do. 25 rounds targeted radiation, five infusions of carbo taxol. And she goes, that will eliminate it. And I said, for how long? She goes, well, it will eliminate it for now. And I said, so there's really. No, you're not gonna. You can't say this is gone for good. She goes, No, I can't say that. And that's when I said, well, what about? She goes, I said, I've been reading a lot. I've showed it to my, my oncologist, Dr. Kumar said, I'm going to share this information with you about full extract cannabis oil. And she goes, I have heard of it, but I'm not familiar with it. So I gave her all the information as well. And I went on the day before my infusion to talk to him about it. And they were both like gung ho. They said, we have no, no reservations whatsoever with you starting to use this along with whatever treatments you do. And, and we'll see where it goes. And. And it went far better than I could have expected because even my doctor, after I got done, he looked at my first scan. He's like, these are, these are excellent. He goes, I've never seen a scan show up that quickly post radiation and look this clear.

Amazing. Yeah.

I said, well, and do I talk a little bit? Not much, but briefly about the fecal oil? And I said, I believe full, full heartedly that this is, this is really what's going to put me over the edge. Yes, the chemo and the worked and the Herceptin worked, but what damage has it done to my body? I know it's already done some because of my neuropathy. I said, if I can get rid of doing any more chemo the rest of my life and stay on this. And they were both like, we're with you. You know, we're gonna obviously keep an eye on you with our scans, but if you have any problems or any questions or if we have any questions for you, then, you know, we're gonna keep that conversation open.

Boy, Shane, you're one lucky guy to have a team medical professionals like that.

Yeah, I mean, truthfully, for the five years that I've been on this journey, I really can't say anything, I can't say anything negative about any of the care I've had.

Now, when you started taking the cannabis oil, tell us how much you were taking.

Well, I started, I kind of, I got the protocol and I looked at it and I go, geez, you know, I want maybe, you know, I wanted to get involved quickly. So I said, geez, I've got to have a pretty good tolerance built up because I was eating a lot of edibles. I was taking like a 30 milligram tincture per day. And that was helping, I think, as much with my anxiety and stress and sleep. Anything but. So anyway, fast forward I skipped the first two weeks of the protocol. Jumped right in, feet first. That was as high as I've been in some time. It worked. It put me right on the couch immediately to sleep. And I woke up the next day and my wife's like, wow, you were out cold for 12 hours. Best night's sleep I'd had in months.

Yeah.

If not years. And so anyway, I scaled back a little bit on that, and then I picked up the protocol from week two and I followed it right on through to the end till. So I finished the. The entire 90 grams or 60 grams.

60 grams in 90 days. Yeah. So you just. Initially, you just ignored the start low and go slow.

Yeah. Thinking that it was not. And I've talked to some other folks that. That are also. I've introduced a number of people to it through our support group, and I've talked to a few people and I've told them, I said, I don't think you know how potent this is, so make sure, even if you're like a regular cannabis user, that you follow that protocol. And one guy thought like me, and he didn't. And he messaged me right back a day later. And he goes, I see what you mean. He goes, I'm gonna regroup and go back to the small doses. It's the smart start. But I have a number of people that I talk to that they're doing well.

Yeah. How much do you take a day now?

Now I do about. I do between a grammar, a gram and a half per month.

Okay.

And it depends on when I do it. I sometimes was doing it like every third day, but I was doing too much to, like, catch up. So I've scaled it back. I do it every other day and I. I don't measure it out. I just. I know what I've got to do to get through that gram and a half per month or thereabouts. And so that's the way I've been doing it is just kind of like I just lay out a little bit on my finger and it. It seems to be working well that way. I talked to a couple other people. If they weigh it out. Neither. None of them weighed it out. They, you know, I get. Mine comes in a. In a one. It's a five and a half. It's about five and a half. Six milliliter tube. That's not. Separate ones. So I can monitor it. It's all graphed, so I can monitor it that way as to how much I do just to make sure I get. Want to get that gram and a half per month in me.

Have you ever thought of taking it via suppository and not getting high?

I have.

And yeah, I know what you mean.

I just actually, you know, I mean, I talked to a girl, she's in Ohio and her mom didn't have the ability to swallow, so she goes, I can't. I said, well, I said, they do make a suppository. So she texted me back like a week later and she goes, this is so good. My mother is so happy and she's so relaxed now that she's got something that she fully believes is going to work for her.

Yeah, you got to do what works for you.

Yeah. And you know, I, I still like my cannabis. It's finally legal in New York. So I, you know, I don't mind it as I do it at night when my wife and I don't have anything going on. We, and we're both retired, live by ourselves. So yeah, we, you know, I'll do it at 8:30, 9:00, we watch some TV or something. And that puts me right to sleep. Good.

Yeah, it mean sleep is very restorative and you really need it. And you know, I suspect if you have cancer and you're not taking cannabis oil, your mind is going crazy. Oh my God, you're just thinking about your illness possibly dying and Christ, that can, that can have a devastating effect.

The anxiety, the stress, the PTSD is just debilitating. And I've read a lot on mindfulness to fight not just cancer, but you know, whether it's Ms. Or diabetes, pretty much any debilitating disease. And if you can, that, it's a terrible word I said, word that I never thought I would use when I thought of me. And that's being selfish because if I had to realize I got to take care of myself, otherwise that stress that I'm feeling, that anxiety, it just, it just relays to my wife, to my friends, to my kids. So, you know, I enlisted the aid of the counselor where I go to to get my infusions. Super helpful, super helpful. She, you know, she goes, it's something, it's difficult for a lot of people to really, to grasp that you have, if you don't take care of yourself, nobody else is going to physically, anybody can take care of it, but it's all between your ears. And that's what it was. I mean, I had so many two guys that I worked with for 15 plus years. They both died before me of esophageal cancer. One was, they were both heavy drinkers. One was a super heavy smoker. They addressed their illnesses far, far later than I did. I mean, I would have addressed it earlier if I'd known, but, you know, they. They overlooked a ton of, you know, things that were going on with their body that they never looked at. And sadly, it took them. And I just had a friend six months ago, he called me up, he goes, I got esophageal cancer. What should I do? And then I talked to him, met with him. He was really opposed to doing any cannabis. I said, well, that's, you know, here, they're there, that's up to you. But he went in for one chemo infusion and passed away two days later. Yeah, it was not great physical health to begin with, but still, he'd still be here if it weren't for that.

It baffles me when you're going through a life crisis like you've gone through and other people have gone through, and you mention cannabis oil to them and all of a sudden they reject it.

Yeah.

And I can't understand why. It's probably just a lack of education, lack of understanding, and the fear factor that we've been subjected to over the last 70, 80 years.

Oh, without a doubt. It's terrible, the bad press that cannabis has gotten for too long and still gets in some. I'll pay a lot of attention to the media when it comes to this stuff, but, yeah, you know, I mean, yeah, it's becoming a little more common for it to be legalized, but, you know, if you talk to somebody that's not. That doesn't know about cannabis, whether it's smoking it, edibles, or the oil, and they think it's another form of a.

Hard drug or you just want to get high.

Yeah, And I've tried. Like, actually, my wife's parents are both one's 86, 182. And they're like, after we talked to them about it and introduced it to them, they. They're like, I never knew anything like this existed. And all we hear is like, how, you know, it's just a gateway drug and this and that. I said, yeah, it's all old school stuff. I mean, this is. There's like a lot of medical proof that this is good for you. It's not gonna hurt you. It's all natural. So. And they're like, they're very interested in what this does for me, and they're actually very excited because it's done. It's already done something for me. I mean, it's kept me, in my view, it's kept me cancer free for the last last couple years or thereabouts.

Well, it is, it is a gateway drug to better health.

Bingo. Yes. That's it right there.

Yeah, yeah. It's not, it's not harmful. Now, during, during the years that you've gone through this, what was the, what was the lowest point for you?

The lowest point outside of the initial reaction? The initial. When they initially found it, the lowest point was, I guess, sorry, it's really hard to say. I'm gonna say, you know, the wondering if I was going to see my. Both my son and daughter ever married or have grandchildren and have that, like, that that unknown was just. It was terrifying. And I guess the second lowest point was actually, I shouldn't even say it was low because I knew I had beat the worst of it. When it came back the second time, I knew I had gotten rid of like the goliath in the room and this was going to be no problem. So that didn't bother me as much. But it was that initial reaction. I think it was the first until I started treatments because there's so many unknowns. How are you going to handle, you know, you hear horror stories about, you know, what chemo does to people, and I said, if I can't handle chemo, what am I going to do then? And it was just that, that period, not knowing what lied ahead as far as my wife and my kids went, that was really the. That was the lowest point that I can think of. Yes.

It really does send a message to you on what's important in life, isn't it?

You're exactly right. I've cut out the clothes.

Yeah.

Yeah. It's odd, I just. When you mentioned that I just saw, like, my daughter sends me these little TikTok videos or something, but there was something on just that about, you know, your priorities in life and all the other noise. And like, I very seldom watch the news now. I don't get caught up in the election crap, you know, it's just not. There's nothing I can do about it. So I just grasp onto, like, our granddaughters here today. So I'll get to play with her when I get done with talking with you. You know, it's things. It's the little things like that that kind of settle you down, I guess. Put you back in your space right now.

Your story is fascinating. Along with Carrie Law Lewis, who we. We posted her interview last week because here in British Columbia we had a premier which is the same as a governor of your state. He had esophageal cancer and he was in his early 60s and he died a couple of weeks ago.

Oh, damn.

And he. He just went. He did conventional treatment and I suspect, having talked to you and Kerry, that if he tried cannabis oil, he may be alive today. Yeah. You agree?

Yeah, 100%. I mean, without. This is another. I've thought of this multiple times, and I agree to. I agree almost wholeheartedly with you that he would be alive. I mean, why not give it a chance? That's my big issue is when you're faced with a life and death situation, damn. You pull out all the stops in my view. You know, like, I was never opposed to cannabis. I just didn't know anything about RSO or fecal oil until I really. Carrie is the one that pretty much introduced me to it. And once she did, and I started researching more, I talked to a couple of, excuse me, places that make it, and that was sold. I just seen so many. There was just so much positive news about its use, its benefits, and, and it's success stories that I just saw. This is a no brainer. And My wife agreed 100%. She goes, yeah. I go, it's expensive. She goes, I don't care. Without you, what are we gonna do? So we. We just felt that that was the way to go. And, you know, as it turns out, I have a friend of our daughters who's a chemist, and he actually makes it for me. Oh, yeah, he's right. He's like literally 10 miles away. I talked to him about. About it. He goes, I don't really. He goes, I don't really know about it because I. He goes, I have all the equipment to make it. I just have to do some digging. So he called a place called King Harvest and they actually offer a consultation. He talked to whoever it was. I gave him all my cancer information. They told him what strains to use, and he's been making it for me ever since.

Amazing. One of the things you said earlier in this interview was that your doctor was amazed at how quickly the transformation in your body took place from bad to bitter to excellent.

Yep.

And we've heard that in our interviews over and over and over again. And some doctors are just flabbergasted by it, and others are supportive like yours was. Other doctors say, no, it wasn't the cannabis oil, it was the chemotherapy.

Yeah.

Yeah. And so you think, okay, well, that's, that's fine. You're not a believer. Let's just continue to move on. And so I think it speaks to the fact that people have a misunderstanding about cannabis because they associate it with just smoking, getting high and yep, you're 100% right.

It's, it's, I mean, to me and I don't think it'll, it's not, maybe not happen in my lifetime but you know, the pharmaceutical industry surely doesn't want a plant to take away their ability to freaking make money. And I worked for a big pharmaceutical company and actually one of the chemos that I did, I remember working at Bristol when they developed it and I remember how toxic this stuff was because whenever you worked around it, you were gowned up with a Scott air pack and the whole bet. Now granted that's in a raw form, but so you know, if, if people would research before they say no or before they answer, I think they would have a different response because I, that's what changed, you know. Yes, Carrie's input was huge and I had already been researching some, but I dug deeper, a lot deeper into it after talking with her and boom, I was sold. I said, we got to start this asap. And my wife's like, yep, let's get it. So yeah, going back to my doctor when he said that, that verified my belief that this was really working.

Shane, it's been wonderful to hear your story and it's fantastic. And I know people listening to your story, it'll change your life somewhere. And that's all we ask for on this program. Thank you very much.

I surely hope that, yeah, if one person benefits, then I feel it's a success. And I have a lot of people that are interested in and they've listened to Carrie, they want to listen to this episode too. And you know, people that are on the fence about it, maybe this tells them that, hey, this is all right, I'm going to do it. And, and I really think it's just, it's the best tool you can put in your tool chest to fight cancer.

Great. Congratulations on being cancer free.

Thank you very much. I truly appreciate that.

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