Learn About Enzymes’ Role In Your Fight Against Cancer

Linda Isaacs, MD

Well, thank you for inviting me.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

For our listeners and viewers, Linda Isaacs is a graduate of the University of Kentucky and the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. While she is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine, she has spent her professional career providing enzyme-based nutritional programs to patients with cancer and other illnesses. She has published case reports and reviewed articles in peer-reviewed medical literature with her colleague, the late Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez. She co-authored the book The Trophoblast and the Origins of Cancer. At this point, it is going to be exciting to be chatting about this, because this is a completely different viewpoint than what a lot of people who are addressing cancer have. It is going to be fun. Dr. Isaacs, in your mind, what is cancer?

Linda Isaacs, MD

Well, I think cancer is defined as the uncontrolled growth of a set of cells growing and spreading through the body, interfering with various functions, and eventually causing death. That is how I would imagine the orthodox medical world would define cancer. I believe that cancer cells are cells that have reverted to a more primitive way of acting, and by that, for instance, if you think of an embryo, the very early stages of life. An embryo goes from one cell, big or small, to the size of a baby in nine months. That is a remarkable amount of growth over that period. A rapidly growing tissue is an embryo, but a rapidly growing tissue can also be cancer. I think that cancer has reverted to a more primitive stage in life, so to speak.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

Why does that happen? Because when a baby develops, say, a set of controls, certain tissues, let us say the fingers, develop to a certain point, they do not continue to develop. It stops at that point. What is different about cancer? Why do you think that process was initiated?

Linda Isaacs, MD

Well, it is throughout the body. Some cells are present to serve as a reservoir for the replacement of tissues. For instance, the gut replaces itself. The lining of the gut replaces itself every ten days, is what I have heard very rapidly. Some cells are there to create replacement cells. But if the signaling gets messed up and those stem cells, the replacement-type cells, wind up happening, then cells can start to grow in a more uncontrolled fashion. There are a lot of possible reasons why that might happen. Bear in mind that there are plenty of people theorizing about why cancer develops. A lot of this is very theoretical. But having said that, a lot of different things can stimulate that. Environmental toxins, for example, or the role of diet, are becoming more and more recognized. Some of these well-known things, like cigarette smoke, can influence cells to, in effect, start behaving badly.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

As for this theory, is this a theory that is called the Trophoblast theory that you are discussing in regards to the cells reverting to more of a more primitive state of being and then replicating at a faster pace?

Linda Isaacs, MD

Yes. Well, I suppose in some ways, the Trophoblast theory was something that was devised or put together by an embryologist named Dr. John Beard 100 years ago. My introduction to all of this came about not so much through reading theoretical discussions about why cancer develops but rather having encountered the work of a man named Dr. William Donald Kelley, who had been treating people with pancreatic enzymes. The possible reason why pancreatic enzymes work ties into the trophoblast in the early stages of life. There are other theorists out there; there is something called the tissue organization field theory about cancer. That talks about cancer as a reversion towards a more primitive type of cell.

Some people have mentioned going back 150 years. The trophoblast theories of cancer certainly tie into that. But I guess I am a physician. I am a clinical scientist. Not so much of a basic scientist. In some ways, talking about elaborate theories of what is happening on a molecular level is not my strength. What I want to see is, does it work? I have seen cases where the enzyme treatment of cancer has kept people alive who should have been dead a long time ago. That is the thing that makes me tick.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

The thing is that a lot of times we can theorize and think that maybe this is the reason, and that is a reason. But at the end of the day, does it work? We have not solved the riddle of cancer yet. But there are a lot of tools out there that have benefited a large number of people. Using the tools that William Kelley used throughout his life. then I know you and Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez have continued, and that has helped a lot of people. Explain a little bit to me. Here you are, a medical doctor, and you have the intention to just do exactly that. What made you shift? Was it meeting Dr. William Kelley? Was it seeing his work, or what was it?

Linda Isaacs, MD

Now, when I was a third-year medical student, I was assigned to one of their rotations through the different fields of medicine. I was assigned to an internal medicine team, and the intern on the team was Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez. He was at that time engaged in reviewing Dr. William Donald Kelley’s charts, and Dr. Kelley was an orthodontist by training, but he had gotten quite ill in the early sixties with what was probably pancreatic cancer. There were no needle biopsies or CAT scans in that era, it was a presumptive diagnosis based on feeling a mass in his abdomen and losing enormous amounts of weight. But he had something bad going on, and he had put himself on a protocol and gotten better. then, as the community learned, as the word spread, so to speak, that he had gotten better. 

Other people started coming to him, and he eventually had a practice treating people with an alternative method that involved diet, enzymes, and detoxification. Nick had met Dr. Kelley probably about three years before I met Nick, and so he was already in the process of gathering together case reports about patients that Kelley had treated. He was willing to talk to anyone who would listen. Unfortunately, not too many people were willing to listen because this was all. What do you mean an orthodontist is curing cancer with nutrition? That is considered crazy now, but it was even crazier back then, in the eighties. But I was willing to listen. What I saw in the case reports that Nick was putting together was pretty amazing, and he had the medical records; he had interviewed the patients. It was obvious that these things were real. It also became obvious that somebody needed to follow up on it. Those somebodies were me, then Nick.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

Tell me a little bit about what you were seeing. Obviously, at that time, medical cancer treatments were quite in their infancy. It has evolved quite a bit since then, even though they use very similar techniques and are just much more refined in how they do them. What was it that you came for? Can you tell some stories about some of the things that touched you or connected with you at that time?

Linda Isaacs, MD

Well, sure. The ones that stick in my mind. There were a number of them. By the way, this whole Dr. Gonzalez research into Dr. Kelley is available as a book called One Man Alone by Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez. But having said that, some of the ones that stick out to me are: there was a gentleman with prostate cancer, and by the time that was finally diagnosed, he had it and practically every bone in his body, because, again, this was the 1970s. A lot of the diagnostic techniques for measuring PSA, for example, did not exist back then. He wound up being diagnosed at a stage where he was so sick that he had to be hospitalized for pain control. He got radiation. He got some hormone treatment, which existed at the time. But he was doing it horribly. This was 1975 or thereabouts. He wound up deciding to go on the Kelley program. He was a chiropractor. He had learned about it through word of mouth. He wound up deciding to go on the Kelley program. At the time that Nick spoke with him, and we are talking 11 years later, okay, he had completely recovered symptomatically. He was feeling great. He was working part-time, and he was playing violin in a ragtime band.

Now, bear in mind that around the same time I was doing rotations, I did a couple of rotations in Urology. I was seeing patients who were hospitalized for pain control with widespread prostate cancer, and they looked like they were not long for this world. They did not look like 11 years from now they were going to be playing violin in a ragtime band. Now, having said that the treatment for prostate cancer is a lot better than it used to be. It might be that one of your listeners might say, Oh, well, I know somebody who has widespread prostate cancer, and they are doing great. Well, that was not the case in 1975, I can tell you.

Another one, there was a woman, and bear in mind that some of these dates may be a little off here, but she had it when she was in her late thirties. Around 1970, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a mastectomy. A year or two later, she had cancer in the other breast. So now we are talking about a very poor prognosis because she is a very young woman with bilateral breast cancer. This is not good. Sure enough, a few years later, around 1975, she developed back pain that was so bad that she was having trouble moving around and getting dressed in the morning. After several months of pleading with her doctors to figure out what was wrong, they did some regular X-rays and a bone scan and established that she had metastatic disease in her shoulder blade and her skull. The only form of hormone treatment they had at that time was to remove her ovaries, which they did. But otherwise, she was told, Get your affairs in order; this is going to progress. That is the way it is. 

She went on the Kelley program. At the time that Nick spoke with her in the mid-eighties, she felt fine and was doing extremely well, and I spoke to her in 2016. Now, bear in mind that this would be 40 years after the diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer. She had an unusual name, and I decided to see if I could reach her. I called her up, and she was very happy to speak to me. She was extremely grateful to Dr. Kelley, of course, but also to Dr. Gonzalez and myself for continuing the work. Now, I did find online that she did pass away in 2019 or 2020 somewhere. But at that point, she was in her late eighties, and this was again more than 40 years after the diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer. That is astonishing.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

That is incredible. Can you give me a little bit of an idea of what the Kelley protocol and program look like? For a person doing it, what would that entail?

Linda Isaacs, MD

Okay. Well, I will say that our attitude, with Dr. Gonzalez and my attitude as we tried to recreate what Dr. Kelley had done and move forward with it, was that only Dr. Kelley can do the Dr. Kelley program. I do not call what I do the Kelley program per se. Having said that, though, the general structure of what I do is pretty much the same as what Dr. Kelley was doing. There are several different aspects to it, and they are all important. Sometimes people want to pick and choose, but I can tell you from watching patients that it is not a good idea. Having said that, what are the big aspects? First of all, there is the diet. 

Now, diets can vary from person to person. But as a general rule, just to keep it short, the people that have carcinomas, which would be breast cancer, colon cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, and pancreatic cancer, most of the common cancers fall into that category. Those people would typically be on a more vegetarian diet, not 100%. They would still be eating eggs, fish, and dairy, but very little animal protein. But then there are people on the other end of the spectrum who get different types of cancer: lymphoma, leukemia, and cancers of the immune system. Those patients would frequently be told to eat meat.

There is a long explanation for that that I do not think we have time for. If you want to ask me, you certainly can. But I do not think we will go there now. Then there were also supplements—a lot of magnesium and potassium for the vegetarians and a lot of calcium for the carnivores. All of them, though, would get a lot of pancreatic enzymes, according to Dr. Kelley and Dr. Beard way back, and we feel, is the primary agent to try to control the behavior of cancer cells. Then, finally, there is detoxification, which means getting rid of the waste materials that can form as the body repairs. The backbone of that is something called coffee enemas, which I would imagine you are familiar with. Some of your viewers might not be, but the coffee enemas, almost without exception, make people feel tremendously better. Nobody ever believes it when they first hear about it. I did not believe it myself, but almost everyone feels so much better that the procedure sells itself once they try it. Diet, supplements, and detoxification. That is the program that I offer and what Dr. Kelley did.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

You told me about the pancreatic enzyme, which controls the behavior of cancer cells. How did he come up with that? Where was that founded?

Linda Isaacs, MD

Where did that come from? Well, in Dr. Kelley’s case, according to the stories I have heard, it came about purely by luck because he had what was probably pancreatic cancer. He was having terrible digestive problems. He started taking pancreatic enzymes to help his digestion. But in the process of doing that, he discovered that the nature of the mass he could feel in his abdomen was changing. That made him say, Hmm, I wonder if anybody else ever thought that pancreatic enzymes worked against cancer. That is where he found the work of Dr. John Beard. Dr. Beard was an embryologist, a student of the very early stages of life. 

He had observed from other scientists before him that, under the microscope, cancer cells and cells from the embryo look a lot alike. Specifically, he was looking at what is called the Trophoblast. The trophoblast is the early stage of the placenta, and the trophoblast job is, it forms very early in development, its job is, as the embryo travels into the uterus, to latch on and work into the uterus to create a connection so that the baby is anchored and so that nutrients and waste from the mother can be exchanged back and forth, from the mother to the baby, and vice versa. The trophoblast has to invade, and it has to create a blood supply.

Cancer does the same thing, and it turns out that in the recent scientific literature, there are a lot of articles talking about how the actual mechanisms on a molecular level that the trophoblast and the cancer cells use are the same. There are a lot of similarities there. But there is one big difference. At a certain point, the trophoblast stops invading, matures, turns into the placenta, and then, at delivery, it just peels itself off and leaves the uterus intact for the next pregnancy. The cancer just keeps going. So Beard speculated that if he could figure out what the signal was that made that trophoblast stop invading, then maybe that would be a solution for cancer. What he found was that at the same time that the trophoblast stopped its invasion, the baby started making pancreatic enzymes months before they would be needed for digestion. Well, before that baby’s going to see a meal two months into a nine-month gestation, that baby’s making pancreatic enzymes. Why? Well, if the reason is to control the behavior of the trophoblast makes all kinds of sense. So Beard speculated that that was the signal that controlled the trophoblast and that it could also control cancer. He was not a clinician himself. He was a scientist, a PhD, or the equivalent of a PhD.

Various physicians tried it out back at that time, which is the 1900s–1915 or thereabouts. Various practitioners tried it out with mixed success, but that was partly because there was no refrigeration back in that era except for big meatpacking plants. Here is this enzyme soup, sitting on a counter, waiting for the cancer patient, to show up. Meanwhile, the enzymes would be breaking each other down, Beard said if it does not work, you do not have good enzymes, but that there was a lot of back and forth. Meanwhile, radiation came along and was billed as the magic cancer bullet. So enzymes got brushed aside. There have been several investigators over the years since then who have looked into that. There are some people now investigating, possibly creating an intravenous form. But generally speaking, enzymes got put on the back burner around 1914 and have yet to get the place that they need. I am hoping that will change, but we will see.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

I am curious, almost, about the rate of cancer or if a person is getting cancer when they are in a place with a pancreatic enzyme deficiency, because the pancreas does so many different things, and an individual that eats a lot of sweets or food that is very hard to digest has a depleting effect on the pancreas. Then, due to that, they have less ability to control cancer activity in the body. Would there be any truth to that?

Linda Isaacs, MD

Well, I think that certainly makes sense. But I would also say that the enzymes that the pancreas makes have two purposes, I believe. One is to digest food, and that is the one that is commonly accepted and known. The other is to control the behavior of the stem cells out there, and the thing is if you think about what is the immediate need and what is the long-term need, the immediate need is for digesting food because if you do not digest your food, you are done in a very short period. The diagnostic tools for looking for pancreatic enzyme deficiency are focused on just the ability to digest food. Most people are managing to take care of that reasonably well. But if the first goal of the body is to digest food and secondarily just to do the surveillance for cancer cells, then there are probably a lot of people walking around who do not have enough enzymes to do both jobs well.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

I know, I am sure you know the book, The Enzyme Therapy. I am trying to remember who wrote that book. Edward: Yes, but.

Linda Isaacs, MD

I think it starts with a C, and I cannot pronounce it. But yes, there are a lot of different books out there.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

Yes, but one of the things was that if you eat food that contains enzymes,  then the food will help to digest itself. When you see.

Linda Isaacs, MD

That sounds like Edward Howell.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

Oh, yes. That is Edward Howell. Yes, exactly.

Linda Isaacs, MD

Yes.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

This then depletes, and you have to utilize or use your resources of enzymes because the food in itself is deficient in enzymes. I am just wondering if we overcook food and that just depletes the enzyme resources of an individual, and then that puts you more at risk. That is a thought that I’ve had.

Linda Isaacs, MD

Yes, that is quite possible.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

With these pancreatic enzymes, and this is that in what quantity is there a certain timing for them? Are there certain times throughout the day? Yes. It takes a couple of digestive enzymes with each meal. This is a certain type of enzyme. I know you say pancreatic, but there is one. I would assume there are different types of enzymes that are produced by the pancreas that have different purposes.

Linda Isaacs, MD

Well, the pancreatic enzymes that Dr. Gonzalez and I have used over the years are a fairly simple product that is simply freeze-dried pancreas. It has all of the different enzymes that the pancreas makes preferentially from the pig source, simply because a pig pancreas is closer to a human pancreas than other animals that are consumed as meat. For instance, sheep or cows are ruminants, which means that they have multiple stomachs, and a lot of digestion happens in those multiple stomachs by bacteria. Their pancreas does not make quite the same complement of enzymes as a pig does, so prefer pig enzymes for that reason. 

Now, in terms of dosing, that is the thing that can be very variable from person to person. But typically, we would recommend anywhere from 15 grams to 45 grams over a day, in divided doses for the day, and even in the middle of the night and away from meals. Now, the middle of the night dose is, of course, the least popular among my patients. But interestingly enough, there was a study, I think a year or two ago, where some researchers in a hospital in Europe somewhere drew blood for circulating tumor cells at something like four in the morning and then again at 10:00 in the morning. What they found was that there were a lot more tumor cells running around in the middle of the night than there were during the day. There is a real argument for taking those enzymes in the middle of the night. Many of the patients get to the point where they keep the enzymes in a glass of water by their bedside. They knock, the alarm goes off, they knock them back, they go back to sleep, and they do not even remember. They did it. It is something that they can get used to.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

Would you divide it then for four equal doses through your 24-hour cycle, or

Linda Isaacs, MD

More typically six. But, of course, it is going to vary somewhat from patient to patient, and, to some extent, I am not supposed to encourage people to go out and try to treat themselves either. This is not something you can learn from a cookbook, so to speak.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

Yes. That is, that is an important point to make. Even though we are talking about these different protocols, it is important to be under a physician’s care while doing this program. This is a very detailed, step-by-step program, and there are a lot of things that can take place that need a physician to adjust the protocol to what is going on. Yes, thank you for making that point.

Are there any? Having said that, what are some things that can happen while doing this program? Because it is a very powerful program and, I would assume, toxic, or cancer and tumors, they contain a lot of toxic materials. When that starts to break down, some of that will be released. then your body has to deal with that.

Linda Isaacs, MD

Yes.  On a day-to-day basis, that is where the coffee enemas come in because we feel that they can help the body go ahead and process and get rid of stuff. The daily coffee enemas are very important and will typically have people take the enzymes for several consecutive days and then stop them for a few days to let the body clear out. That is a very important part of the protocol as well. Certainly, sometimes people can develop symptoms like aches and pains, for example, flu symptoms. But if somebody starts getting nausea, that is a sign that the protocol needs to be stopped for a few days and the body needs to clear out.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

A coffee enema, that is once a day or every other day, or what tends to be a pattern for a person so that they can mentally prepare themselves for the coffee enemas.

Linda Isaacs, MD

Yes, my recommendation for patients is that they plan to do a session of coffee enemas in the morning and again in the afternoon. Again, patients, when they first hear that, they are, Oh my gosh, but they try it and they feel better, especially once they get into the protocol. Those aches and pains that I was talking about, the coffee enemas help with that. Once people understand the process and the reasoning behind it, it sells itself.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

Yes. I can agree so much. All the patients that I have can come and have a coffee enema. That is weird. The body is not meant to do that. Then once they start doing it, they get through that learning curve, which is just a few, a few times of awkwardness. Then they just notice how wonderful that feels. The energy is picked up. Yes, skin is better. If they deal with skin rashes, hives, or whatever takes place, that is reduced, and I feel more clearheaded, and sleep better—all of these things. Yes, it is. It is a tool that everyone should use.

Linda Isaacs, MD

Absolutely. Sometimes people will wonder, Well, maybe it is just a caffeine high. But the coffee that is used is a lot weaker than drinking coffee. Not only that, somebody did a study with some investigators in Thailand, and they found that when you give people the same amount of caffeine, either to drink or on a subsequent day, they use a coffee enema. The peak level of caffeine in the blood was much higher when they drank it than when they did the coffee enema. It is not a caffeine high. I wrote a whole article that is available for those who sign up for my email newsletter. I wrote an article about the coffee enema. It was published in a peer-reviewed journal as well. that is available for people if they want to read more about it.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

As you mentioned, it is not regular coffee, it is a certain type of coffee. Also for them, there is a certain coffee enema kit. Yes. It is not just rubber bladders that you can buy at the pharmacy; it is a certain kit. You do not get all that plastic and stuff, and you are doing the coffee enema.

Linda Isaacs, MD

Right.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

Are there other detox strategies along with the coffee enema, or is that the main component?

Linda Isaacs, MD

On a day-to-day basis? That is the main component. But there are other things, for instance, liver and gallbladder flush, which is another one that is pretty common in the alternative world. It has been around for a long time. We have a version of that, a version of a procedure that helps clear the gut was psyllium, chia, and bentonite. Saunas, which I think are extremely helpful, or skin brushing, is another way of getting rid of stuff through the skin. There are a lot of different things that we have people do. But on a day-to-day basis, the coffee enemas are the main thing.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

From all the patients that you have seen, I think Dr. Kelley gave a certain percentage of all the cancer patients that he felt improved. What have you seen in regards to people improving using this protocol to deal with cancer?

Linda Isaacs, MD

Yes, it is a tough question to answer. Part of the reason for that is that people come in at all different stages of their lives. I see, for example, a fair number of people who have already undergone their orthodox cancer treatment and are doing fine. As far as you can tell, it is cancer-free. But they also realize that there must have been something off for them to develop cancer in the first place. They are looking for a program to get better. Those people get better. They feel better. But can I prove that I helped them? Not really, in the ultimate scheme of things. 

Dr. Gonzales and I used to estimate that among the patients who had active cancer and who followed their protocol, roughly three-quarters of them would get better. But that is a very rough estimate. We wound up writing an entire article on the topic of statistics and why you cannot generate them from a medical practice because there are just too many variables. The biggest one is adherence; it is one of my poor patients. Not only are they trying to make a lifestyle change, but some of them get bombarded by well-meaning family members or other doctors or whatever, trying to persuade them that they should not do this. It is not an easy thing to rely on the advice of the Orthodox medical world, even when the Orthodox medical world does not have much to offer.

Just recently, I had a patient tell me his siblings had informed him that he had fallen into the hands of a quack. Meanwhile, this particular patient does not have something that Orthodox can cure or even treat very well. But his family members are still going after him about it. It has been a tough world for some time. But having said that, my patients are a remarkable bunch of people. It is a pleasure, and there are a lot of ways to be able to work with them.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

It is something that can be done at the same time as people get traditional oncology care, or it is an either-or thing.

Linda Isaacs, MD

Well, here’s my take on it. There are some forms of treatment for hormone blockade for prostate cancer or breast cancer that I think are reasonably compatible because those things are not particularly toxic. But there are other things about standard cytotoxic chemotherapy that, to me, are: first of all, the patient will probably wind up with a lot of side effects or issues, and nobody’s going to know what the problem is. What happens is that the patient is stuck in the middle. They would have somebody me saying it is the chemo. Then the oncologist says, It is the other stuff you are doing. It just winds up being very confusing. Also, to me, the underlying ideas behind the treatments are so different; in other words, I am trying to strengthen the natural forces of the body that are trying to deal with cancer, whereas the oncology world is trying to poison the cancer cells more than they poison the rest of you. It is a very different model. 

I do not mean to sound like I am trashing the oncologists. They are doing the best they know. For some cancers, it works. But for a lot of them, it does not, and it is almost as if, say, you had mice in your basement and you decided that you wanted to get a cat to go after the mice. But then you think about it a little more and decide to throw a grenade down there. It is just a way of tracking and attacking the problem. To me, it just makes more sense to go one way or the other, but not to try to do both at once.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

Yes. The grenade will then shake the foundation, shake the basement, and open up opportunities for more mice to get in there after you kill the ones that were there. Tell me, we talked about some stories from Dr. Kelley. But tell me if someone touched you on one of your patients that you treated and you saw the incredible effect of what pancreatic enzymes and this protocol can do.

Linda Isaacs, MD

Yes. One of the cases that I talk about fairly frequently, just because it is a very straightforward case, is a woman who was diagnosed in December of the year 2000 with pancreatic cancer. She had had a little bit of abdominal pain and some weight loss that she had not planned on losing. She had a very astute doctor who realized that those two things were going together and a woman who is a little over 50—I forget how old she was exactly—all of that is not a good sign. This doctor came for a CAT scan, and she was found to have a mass in her pancreas, which was biopsied and shown to be an aggressive type of pancreatic cancer. She was told that she could have surgery. 

Generally speaking, if surgery is possible, I am all for it. But in the particular case of pancreatic cancer, it is a very tricky surgery, and not everybody even survives the operation. Also, it is not all that successful when you get down to it. 75% of the people that have an operation where the surgeon comes out and says, It looks like we got it all. Will then have a recurrence and die within five years. The odds are not fabulous, and it is not a trivial procedure. She decided she did not want to have it, and she had already told three different surgeons no by the time she got to me. I said, Okay, this sounds like an informed decision. I went ahead and treated her, and the last time I spoke with her was last December. That was 22 years out, after her diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. This is the diagnosis that, quite frankly, most people in her situation would be dead in a year. She is 22 years out. She is over 80 years old now. She has some other health problems. But overall, she is still with us. 

I think what was striking about the conversation I had with her in December was that she wanted me to talk to her granddaughter because her granddaughter is studying to become—I forget if it is a nurse or physician’s assistant, something like that. Her granddaughter had suddenly realized how remarkable her grandmother’s case was, so she wanted to talk to me. But what is interesting about it is that had this protocol not worked for this patient, she would have never known her granddaughter because her granddaughter was born after she was diagnosed. They are super tight. that helped, just made a special little spot in my own heart because this has not always been the easiest road to travel. But those two people have that relationship because Dr. Gonzalez and I chose to pursue Dr. Kelley’s treatment, all those years ago. That was just a nice feeling.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

What an incredible blessing. Yes. The thing is that this type of work is impacting people in such a way that the ripple effect that it has and how enriched a grandchild is are both. Just a ripple effect from that. That is so wonderful. 

Linda Isaacs, MD

Exactly.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

Well, Dr. Isaacs, thank you so much. Thank you for all the work that you are doing. Thank you for spending the time to explain to people the power of this type of therapy. I am so grateful for the impact that you have on the world. Thank you so much.

Linda Isaacs, MD

Well, thank you for the opportunity to be with you and your audience. I hope you will not mind if I just mention my website address, which is www.drlindai.com. That is Dr. Linda, I for Isaacs, drlindai.com. Please come and sign up for my email announcements and learn more about what I do. Thank you so much.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

You are very welcome. Where is the book available that you coauthored? The Trophoblast and the Origins of Cancer?

Linda Isaacs, MD

That can be purchased on Amazon. There are several other books with Dr. Gonzalez as the author that I think your audience would find interesting, too.

Michael Karlfeldt, ND, PhD

Great. Thank you so much.

Linda Isaacs, MD

Thank you.