Larry Boyer, 56, was told he had just six months to live after being diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer.
Not only is this type of cancer one of the deadliest in the world (only three percent of patients survive), but the initial tumor had spread to other organs and triggered the formation of 16 additional tumors.
As a retired data scientist, he knew the odds were against him.
But 18 months later, the Connecticut father of two is alive and, miraculously, cancer-free.
Boyer, a father of two, achieved remission thanks to an experimental therapy that involved freezing his tumors to death.
SIX MONTHS TO LIFE: Larry Boyer, 56, was diagnosed with ultra-deadly cancer
CANCER FREE: Connecticut father of two is still here and now in remission
Boyes said: “When I was initially diagnosed in May 2022, I was given one year to live on standard treatment alone (or six months without treatment).
‘(But) combining my treatment… with my standard chemotherapy treatment has given me the best possible results. A year later I have no signs of cancer in my blood tests or scans.’
Mr. Boyer was diagnosed with cancer in May 2022 after going to the doctor complaining of back pain that had recently enveloped his chest.
At the time he thought it was a muscle strain.
He had also lost 30 pounds in the four months prior to his diagnosis, which he attributed to his new fasting diet and walking 10 miles a day.
Initially, Boyer underwent six rounds of standard chemotherapy, which may have allowed him to gain a few more months.
But he also began researching experimental therapies online, which led him to the Williams Cancer Institute in California.
The clinic had just begun offering a pioneering new therapy that is not yet fully approved in the United States.
The two-pronged approach involves cryoablation, also called cryosurgery or cryotherapy.
In this procedure, 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.
A 2016 study Cryoablation stated that it is minimally invasive and has improved tumor localization. It is also potentially safer and less painful than traditional cancer treatments.
The second step uses intratumoral immunotherapy, in which drugs are injected directly into a tumor to trigger an immune response.
The treatment uses two drugs; Yervoy, which stimulates white blood cells to attack cancer, and Opdivo, which helps immune cells recognize and destroy cancer cells.
Taken together, the 2016 study stated that cryoablation and immunotherapy for advanced pancreatic cancer “may improve survival rates in patients with metastatic or unresectable pancreatic cancer.”
However, cryoablation has not been approved to treat pancreatic cancer in the US and has only been cleared by the FDA to treat prostate cancer and early-stage breast cancer.
The immunotherapy drugs Yervoy and Opdivo have also not been approved for pancreatic cancer, but rather for the treatment of other types of cancer.
The Williams Cancer Institute offers its treatments in Cabo San Lucas, in the Mexican state of Baja California.
Boyer received much of his treatment in Mexico, where drug prices are much lower than in the United States. He is photographed in front of the New York City skyline.
Some of the drugs they use cost only $1,000 in Mexico, compared to $10,000 in the United States.
Boyer received the Williams treatment program three times a week for three weeks on three separate occasions, with chemotherapy in between each.
For each session, he traveled to Cabo San Lucas, before returning to the United States to receive chemotherapy.
He had the first round in late September, and in late October, doctors said Mr. Boyer’s liver tumor was “liquefying.”
In early November, scans showed the large tumor in his liver had shrunk by 50 per cent and the large tumor in his pancreas had shrunk in size by 65 per cent.
It was also revealed that 13 half-inch tumors in his liver had disappeared along with one tumor 0.8 inches in size.
She then received three more rounds of chemotherapy, bringing her total to 12 rounds, the highest level of what patients typically receive.
Recent scans have detected no cancer cells in his body, and Boyer says the cancer appears to have been defeated.
However, you will not be declared cured and cancer-free until you have five years of test results that do not detect the disease.
Boyer had to pay more than $125,000 out of pocket for the procedures, which he said he was able to do because he has life insurance with benefits.
He added online on the second anniversary of the diagnosis: ‘Almost every day I am reminded of how lucky I am when people I have spoken to pass away.
“Just yesterday someone who went to Dr. Williams shortly after me ended up deciding to call it quits.
“I’m grateful for another year and for all the support everyone has given me.”
Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers in the U.S. because it typically does not cause symptoms until the late stages.
This means it is typically not diagnosed until stage four, when the five-year survival rate drops to about three percent.
Pancreatic cancer is the 10th most common cancer in the US, with about 66,000 Americans diagnosed with the disease.