The original complaint was tooth pain leading to oral surgery to remove what was believed to be a benign periodontal cyst. The biopsy results came back quickly determining that the mass was a Diffuse Large B-Cell Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Medivaced to Bethesda, MD, I underwent ten days of staging which included the following: CT/PET scans of head/neck/chest/abdomen, Bone Scan, Gallium Scan, MRI of head and neck, blood work, and bone marrow biopsy.

The results indicated there was no additional cancer other than the single tumor in my jawbone. Yet, Bethesda surgeons wanted to remove a significant portion of my upper right maxilla to ensure proper margins had been cleared of any residual cancer. Radiologists wanted to do radiation after surgery to an area of my skull that would no longer be in place. Finally, chemotherapy was to follow the radiation. After all tests showed no additional cancer, we pushed back against the recommended treatments.

We asked for a second opinion from the civilian Hematology-Oncology department at Dana Farber cancer institute in Boston, MA. They agreed that radiation did not make sense after having surgery removing the jaw bone and inserting a prosthetic to keep food from my sinus cavity, but then suggested double chemotherapy. Having a slow functioning liver due to Gilbert Syndrome which causes my liver to have degraded function but otherwise non-life threatening, I was concerned the extra chemo would be fatally toxic due to my condition. When I shared that with the civilian doctors they reconvened a modality board and returned with a new plan — half the chemo for four times as long.

My wife, Megan, and I realized the military and civilian doctors were both guessing at the best way forward. But with no survivors past five years, we chose to look at completely holistic, biological approaches to include diet and cleansing.

The day I received my diagnosis everything changed, but one thing remained resolute. My faith! In a short 20 minute discussion my oral surgeon broke the bad news. He handed me my medical record, reached for my hand, stared at the floor visibly shaken, and apologized for having to break such desperate news. Despite Doc being an older senior officer, I squeezed his hand with the deliberate attempt to capture his attention and he looked up at my eyes. With boldness and an optimism that was beyond my normal enthusiastic self, I told him, "Doc, I'm not dead yet and a strong will to win is second only to a deep faith in God. I have both! I will not only BEAT THIS DISEASE, but I WILL FLY again! At that moment I had no idea the power of those words. I had shared them to encourage my doctor but realized as I reached my car in the empty parking lot that God was actually speaking to me. Those words were not mine nor were they meant for the doctor. Those words were a gift from God to me. I believed from that very first day and still do twenty years later that God's Spirit breathed those words and I clung to them every day of my cancer fight!

After my first month of military and civilian staging, and receiving second and third opinions, Megan and I determined that the conventional options were not for me. Upon my request, my Bethesda doctors researched the NCI database to determine the actual number of cancer Warriors who had been successfully treated for my rare bone cancer. The total of NCI documented cases was 50 with no survivors past the five-year mark. With this knowledge, my wife and I chose to step out on faith and use the two years the doctors had told us that I had to live to do research on non-traditional options in hopes of finding a different path. We prayed that God would open the doors to any and all options available and within days doors were opening in the alternative realm! As we hung on for the emotional roller coaster ride we all experience right after diagnosis, we prayed each day for three things. We asked God for PEACE to get through just this one day. We asked for the DISCERNMENT to know what we should pursue, and what we should dismiss or ignore as we researched the internet, alternative reference material, and conventional studies. Finally, we asked for me to have the DISCIPLINE to execute the battle plan once we had the pieces in place. God provided liberally and graciously in all three areas and our home was filled with peace despite the daily rollercoaster of human emotions.

After three months of researching alternative options and with my tumor growing back in between the roots of my teeth, we moved from my base in South Carolina to my new duty station in Florida. My rapidly growing tumor created a sense of urgency to begin execution of our plans. However upon arrival in Florida, we learned that our city had some of the most toxic water in the country as cited in Newsweek’s top ten for unhealthy water. Though we almost had our alternative plan put together, this revelation led us to put everything on hold until we fully researched the water toxicity concerns. Upon determining the best method to purify all the water in our home, we installed a point-of-use whole house water filtration system. This action set in place the most important defensive measure we could employ to stop the flood of toxins from entering my body with each and every shower I took.

Next, we removed every cleaning chemical from our home such as bleach or Windex, etc. We believed that pursuing an alternative cancer battle plan was our best option. Yet if we wanted the offensive weapons we had found to be most effective, we had to ensure that each step forward we took through diet, etc was not countered by a step backward in the shower, or from the other chemicals found in our personal care and cleaning products. Having removed all toxins from our home environment, we were ready to engage our offensive battle plan!

The day after the water filtration system was installed, I shifted to a completely raw diet of fruit smoothies in the morning with organic fruit and flax seeds or oil. The mid-morning meal was salad loaded with veggies and cancer-fighting mushrooms with nothing but pure olive oil for a dressing. This was followed by the big guns of 96 oz of veggie juice with 32 oz of carrots and 64 oz of green leafy veggies like kale combined with celery and cucumber and many other nutrient-rich cancer-fighting foods. The diet plan was simple: No processed food, no dead food, no cooked food — all raw and all organic. Diet change was immediately followed by 714-X injections from Canada. This non-FDA-approved Canadian immune-boosting product was mainly nitrogen injected paranodularly near the largest grouping of lymph-nodes in the body near the groin. It’s purpose was to liquefy the lymph to help sluggish lymph drain freely. This injection combined with a daily three-mile walk with deep-cleansing breathing helped to get the lymph moving and the detoxing and regeneration of my immune system started!

After a couple of months of disciplined battle plan execution, the tumor in my jaw began to shrink. I added the removal of all mercury amalgam fillings around the sixth month and then spent a month at a Switzerland clinic. The 30 days in Switzerland focused on immune-boosting which would allow my body to fight cancer on its own rather than using therapies to fight cancer. I share the details of my time in Switzerland, as well as all our cancer-fighting strategies in my book "Grounded and Cured."

Halfway through my 30 days of treatments I told my main doctor that I knew the cancer was dead and I was cured. Despite my conviction, we continued the full month of treatments, and upon my return to the United States my first CT scan confirmed what I already knew in my heart and soul — I was cancer-free! It had been eleven months since my diagnosis. We had used nearly one full year of my two years that my doctors told me I had left to live. Time well spent!

It has been two decades since doctors told me I was cancer-free. Just as God had promised, I not only beat my disease but I also flew for my country again! I finished my military career retiring after 25 years of service. During my military years my wife, Megan, and I worked around my military responsibilities to pay it forward sharing encouragement and knowledge with hundreds of fellow cancer Warriors. Having written out our testimony and cancer battle plan in “Grounded and Cured,” I hope to share our story with many more cancer Warriors, PTSD veterans, and other life-crisis-burdened people as I pursue a second 25-year career as an encourager and motivational speaker. Thanks for reading, Warrior. YOU GOT THIS!!!

Semper Fi,

T-Bone

Psalm 91

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Heavy metal and Petroleum toxicity combined with mercury amalgam fillings and a military career worth of immunizations — that definitely correlates to toxicity and cancer. I started pumping gas at my father's gas station in the '70s for quarter tips. I have been inhaling gas fumes and fuel oil fumes since childhood, also helping my father deliver fuel oil to New England homes in the wintertime. I spent time in the automotive garage and then went to college to become an airplane mechanic and pilot working with solvents and fuels without gloves or any form of breathing protection from the fumes. In the military, I flew jet aircraft and inhaled raw jet fuel vapors as well as burned exhaust. These vapors stored in the tissues around my sinuses and in my blood. The tumor grew in my maxilla near my maxillary sinus. I consider this a pretty straightforward correlation. The toxicity was there. My immune system was weakened due to a poor diet from many years with little fruits or vegetables. I mainly ate carbs and proteins or high-fat meals void of nutrition. All the while, I was demanding more of my body as a Marine than I was supporting it with healthy diet and supplementation.