Scientist reveals how he beat terminal cancer thanks to incredible new treatment
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 world’s deadliest — just three percent of patients survive it — 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 father-of-two from Connecticut is still here and, miraculously, cancer-free.
Mr Boyer, a father-of-two, achieved remission thanks to an experimental therapy that involved freezing his tumors to death.
SIX MONTHS TO LIVE: Larry Boyer, 56, was diagnosed with an ultra-deadly cancer
CANCER-FREE: The father-of-two from Connecticut is still here and now in remission
Mr Boyes said: ‘When I was initially diagnosed in May 2022, I was given one year to live with standard of care treatment alone, [or six months with no treatment].
‘[But] the combination of my treatment… with my standard of care chemo treatment has brought me the best possible results. A year later I have no sign of cancer in my blood work or on scans.’
Mr Boyer was diagnosed with the cancer in May 2022 after going to doctors complaining of pain in his back that had recently wrapped around his chest.
At the time, he thought it was down to a strained muscle.
He had also lost 30lbs over the four months before his diagnosis, which he had initially put down to his new fasting diet and walking 10 miles per day.
Mr Boyer initially went through six rounds of standard chemotherapy, which may have bought him a few extra 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 US.
The two-pronged approach involves cryoablation, where an extremely cold liquid is injected directly into a tumor to kill its cells.
This helps to fight cancer by killing the cells and because the dead cells attract the immune system, which may then attack other cancerous cells.
The second step uses intratumoral immunotherapy, or where drugs are injected into a tumor to trigger an immune response.
Mr Boyer received much of his treatment in Mexico, where drug prices are much lower than in the US. He is pictured in front of the New York City skyline
The treatment uses two drugs; Yervoy, which stimulates white blood cells to attack the cancer, and Opdivo, which helps immune cells to recognize and destroy cancer cells.
Cryoablation has not been approved to treat pancreatic cancer in the US, and has only been cleared by the FDA to treat early stage prostate cancer and benign breast cancer.
Immunotherapy drugs Yervoy and Opdivo have also not been approved for pancreatic cancer, but instead for treating other types of cancers.
The Williams Cancer Institute offers its treatments at Cabo San Lucas, in the Mexican state of Baja California.
Some of the drugs they use cost just $1,000 in Mexico, compared to $10,000 in the US.
Mr Boyer received the Williams treatment schedule 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 US for his chemotherapy.
He had the first round in late September, and by late October doctors said that Mr Boyer’s liver tumor was ‘liquefying’.
By early November, scans showed that the big tumor in his liver had shrunk by 50 percent and the large tumor on his pancreas had reduced in size by 65 percent.
It was also revealed that 13 half-inch tumors in his liver had disappeared along with one tumor that was 0.8 inches in size.
He then had three more rounds of chemotherapy, taking it up to 12 rounds in total — at the higher end for what patients normally receive.
Recent scans have not detected cancerous cells in his body, with Mr Boyer saying the cancer appears to have been beaten.
He will not be declared cured and cancer free, however, until he has five years of test results that do not detect the disease.
Mr Boyer had to pay more than $125,000 out-of-pocket for the procedures, which he said he managed because he has life insurance with benefits.
He added online on the two-year diagnosis anniversary: ‘I am reminded nearly every day how fortunate I am as people I’ve talked to pass away.
‘Just yesterday someone who went to Dr Williams soon after I did ended up deciding to call it quits.
‘I’m grateful for another year and for all the support that everyone has given me.’
Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest in the US because it normally doesn’t cause symptoms until the later stages.
This means it is not normally diagnosed until it is stage four, when the five-year survival rate drops to about three percent.
Pancreatic cancer is the tenth most common cancer in the US, with about 66,000 Americans diagnosed with the disease.
