Dr Tina Willits was told she had just 24 months to live after being diagnosed with stage four breast cancer.
The mother of five’s illness was “everywhere,” with three golf ball-sized tumors in her breast and cancerous masses in her ribs, spine, lymph nodes and legs.
She was told she was too advanced for a mastectomy and was put on end-of-treatment chemotherapy and told to “enjoy the time she had left.”
That was almost three years ago, and against all odds, the 53-year-old Florida man is now completely cancer-free thanks to a revolutionary new cancer therapy that uses cold gases and the body’s own cells to freeze and fight cancer. tumors.
Dr. Willits, a data science researcher and professor, has been in remission since then.
She told DailyMail.com: ‘When my cancer was detected, I was already past stage four of diagnosis and was too advanced to have a mastectomy.
“So they put me on what they called palliative chemotherapy with only one drug, and also not the most powerful one against cancer.”
Tina Willits, now 53 and from Florida, was given just 24 months to live after being diagnosed with stage four breast cancer. But the mother of five is still here 31 months later and cancer-free. She is pictured above holding one of her grandchildren.
She continued: “I was devastated, but I also thought that no, I didn’t agree with that diagnosis.” I felt like I had to do something.
“I was really determined that I didn’t want to live my life with this cancer, even if they could stop its progress, I didn’t want that, I just wanted it to go away.”
Dr. Willits is not a doctor, but he earned the degree after earning a Doctor of Education in educational technology from Pepperdine University in California.
The mother of five was diagnosed in March 2022 after going to the doctor complaining of a lump in her breast.
At first, doctors weren’t concerned, believing the lump was related to breast implants she had had for 17 years.
She had a mammogram in October 2021, which showed no cause for concern.
But after surgery to replace her implants in early 2022, she woke up to find they had been removed and she had drains placed in her breasts. The doctors suspected cancer.
She was referred to an oncologist, who diagnosed her with breast cancer after tests and scans.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the US, and about 270,000 women are diagnosed with the disease each year. A total of 42,000 women die annually from this disease. Cases are most common among women aged 50 and older.
Dr. Willits’ cancer was HER2 positive, which accounts for about 20 percent of all diagnoses, and she had no family history of the disease.
Dr. Willits is pictured above on her wedding day and before her diagnosis. She attributes her survival to a therapy that involved freezing her tumor and attacking it with immunotherapy drugs.
Dr. Willits underwent four rounds of chemotherapy before seeking alternative treatment at Williams Cancer Institute.
He discovered the institute in June after reading a book by its founder, Dr. Jason Williams, about his novel cancer treatment.
She contacted the team just before the 4th of July and they said they could help her. The institute sent him a list of supplements to start taking and advised him to avoid sugar.
Researchers suggest that some supplements may help reduce inflammation in cancer sufferers, while other articles have pointed out the idea that cancer cells feed on sugar, meaning eating less of it may slow their growth.
Once under the institute’s care, he began a treatment regimen that is not yet fully approved in the United States.
This is why the center carries out the treatments in Mexico.
They also say it can save patients money, since some chemotherapy drugs priced at $10,000 in the United States cost only $1,000 in the country.
First up in the treatment regimen was cryoablation, in which doctors insert a small metal probe through the skin to the tumor, where extremely cold gases are released directly into the mass to kill its cells.
He then received immunotherapy, during which Dr. Willits was administered eight drugs directly into his tumor, which doctors say can cause the immune system to recognize cancer cells as a threat and trigger an immune response.
Dr. Willits is now running a marathon against breast cancer. She is pictured above at a breast cancer awareness event.
Dr. Williams, who founded the center, developed the treatment regimen over several years and maintains that it could offer a better way to treat cancer.
He said he is currently conducting a trial of the treatment in patients with difficult-to-treat prostate cancer.
Early results show that more than 50 percent of patients are still alive, he said. In comparison, the five-year survival rate for patients with stage four prostate cancer is 34 percent.
He did not reveal how long the study had lasted or how many rounds of treatment the patients had received.
For breast cancer patients, there are no statistics on the survival rate of those who visit the Williams Center.
Overall, statistics show that the survival rate for stage four breast cancer patients is 31 percent.
Dr Willits said she was surprised to receive the results of her six-week post-treatment scan with the Williams Cancer Institute, which revealed the disease appeared to have disappeared.
‘There was none, no tumor. They had just completely disappeared,” he told DailyMail.com. “All the metastases (cancerous growths outside the breast) had completely healed and the cancer in my lymph nodes was no longer there.”
After treatment, he received four more rounds of chemotherapy. He still undergoes PET scans every six months to ensure the cancer does not return.
So far, no cancer has been detected in their body since the treatment, but they need to wait five years of clear results before they can be declared cancer-free.
The treatment was not covered by insurance and cost $65,000, which she said she was able to pay for by cashing in on her life insurance policy.
Dr. Willits said the diagnosis has left her with a much deeper appreciation for life.
Dr. Willits shares her story to raise awareness about the treatment and urge more medical professionals to refer cancer patients to Dr. Williams.
He said that upon returning to Florida and seeing his initial oncologists, they were surprised by his progress, but never asked him what treatment he had received.
“These oncologists don’t even think about other treatments,” he said. ‘They just didn’t want to know what I did.
“People have asked me who cured my cancer and I said it was God and Dr. Williams.”
Dr Willits is now making the most of her life since her diagnosis and says she appreciates it again.
She traveled to Honduras and Colorado, tried mountain biking and trained to run a 5K this month to raise awareness for breast cancer. She can also dedicate her time to caring for her disabled mother and her new grandchildren.
“I wouldn’t appreciate a life like that if I hadn’t gone through cancer,” he said.
“No one on their deathbed says they wish they had worked harder or gotten that job, everyone says they wish they had spent more time with my parents and kids or gone to that place I always wanted.”