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Bill O'Leary's Skin Cancer Story That's a Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC) on the tip of my snoz
That small red patch on the top of my nose is a BCC skin cancer caused from exposure to the sun as a child. Statistically 3 out of 10 caucasians will have to deal with Basal Cell skin cancer. If I had my life over, I wouldn't change a thing - except I'd always wear a hat and Sunscreen. WHAT FOLLOWS IS MY BASAL CELL CARCINOMA SKIN CANCER STORY DAY BY DAY AS IT HAPPENED FROM 3rd - 24th AUGUST 2009 I'm a 48 year old Australian from Queensland who lives in Phuket Thailand. I've been living on the island for 23 years working in the tourist yachting industry. As a kid I was always outside. I was a keen surfer, boater and played a lot of Rugby League outdoors. I hardly ever wore a hat or sunscreen and remember getting blister-burnt hundreds of times as a kid in Charleville out west and on the Gold Coast. In July 2009 I'd finally had enough of dealing with a recurent scab crusting on the tip of my nose that would come and go. When toweling off after a shower or swim I'd have to be careful not to bump it or it would bleed and leave a nasty-looking ugly scab. This had been happening, on and off, for about a year. I thought it must be an ingrown blackhead (my nose is very porous) that had 'touched' on an inderlying blood vessel that would bleed when I knocked it - that was all. I never for one moment thought it could be cancerous. But, my wife Carolyn and sister Catherine were worried, concerned that it might be a skin cancer. I laughed it off but promised them I'd have it checked out at the local skin clinic in Phuket. So, I finally decide to get into action on this scab. I get a surgical biopsy done at the Bangkok Phuket Hospital and it comes back from the lab as a Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC). The Thai doctor in Phuket and Steve, my surgeon friend in Australia recommend either wide excision surgery taking off a 4mm margin around the lesion and skin-grafting either some of my neck or earlobe there - or Mohs micrographic procedure where they'll screen the flesh cuts as they go - until the lab says it's all clear of the cancer. Then they sew you up. Phew... "Are there any other choices?", I ask to every doctor I know. They all answer the same - "No, unfortunately surgery is your only safe option" BUGGER! Anyway, I read through Elaine's book again looking up skin cancer hoping to find a miracle. Elaine writes all this scary stuff about the 3M topical cream Aldara for skin cancer. She's upset that it nearly killed her - and many others. She says she's currently making a documentary about it all, then she mentions this alternative skin cancer cure called "Black Salve". "Black Salve"? Never heard of it. It sounds weird? Elaine explains that it's a herbal paste that kills only the cancer cells and leaves the rest? ... What? That's exactly what I need. So I go search it out on the Internet. Bingo! There's heaps of info about this, but it's good, bad - and downright quaky. But, this stuff has been around for centuries. More has been written about Black Salve than Mohs or Wide Excision surgery or other mainstream medical BCC treatments. So I read and read and read some more. I'm so intrigued with all these hundreds of personal testimonials for Cansema or Black Salve. I start to check out Google Images for images of how it works - if it really works? Could it be? No, no way? Too simple - it must surely be quackery. But hundreds of real people are saying they've been cured of BCC, SCC and even Melanoma. And, they've got compelling stories and images that seem to substanciate their claims. What am I missing here? On all the Internet search engines an angry site called "Quackwatch" comes up when searching for Black Salve info. It's written by a Dr. Steven Barrett. It paints a very disturbing picture for Black Salve, Cansema and other cancer escoterics. 'Quackwatch' goes into detail about 4 different people who've been 'hurt' by using either Cansema or Black Salve. The pictures are for shock value but the stories are weak, some even showing that the salves do exactly what they're suppose to do. i.e. Burn off the cancer cells and leave the good ones. But there is a real nightmare story in there too. Apparently, this one lady put it on her nose and burnt it right off. It is very one-sided and I was surprised that Dr. Barrett didn't mention that it had helped hundreds of people and the ones that it hurt may have had cancers so large that the salve did its job and burnt the buggers off. i.e. they would have lost the flesh anyway in any proper Mohs procedure. Or, maybe the salve itself was not made correctly by someone with integrity and much knowledge of such things. But, it did scare me and I wondered how Dr. Barrett and "Quackwatch" could manipulate all the search engines to be right up there on top every time. That takes some serious money... Maybe Elaine's phobias about big pharma and the medical industry are right? There's too much money in keeping skin cancer patients in ignorance of such salves forcing them into surgical procedures, even if it's not their best action? Articles need to be more balanced when it comes to seeking the truth. What about acknowledging the success stories Dr. Barrett? There is an excellent point by point rebuttal of Barrett's Quackwatch article at - http://www.altcancer.com/docs/quack/eschar.htm But, where does that leave me? What if this Black Salve paste actually did work for my tip of nose BCC case? A lengthy, expensive wide excision or any other skin graft may still not get at all of the cancer. My long time good mate Dr. Stephen Markey, the Gold Coast surgeon also said the nose is a bad place for a BCC. Because it's so porous, the cancer may have spread and be hiding inside my sweat pores but outside of the Mohs procedure range. He's a very clever bloke and suggests I 'bite the bullet' and have wide excision surgery here in Thailand - just to be safe. Now, I'm really confused. Mohs surgery is definitely the statistically best bet, but what if it misses a bit outside the cut area? Looks like I should take Steve's advice and have the end of my nose taken off and my earlobe attached there. Bugger - my ear lobes are hairy. I'm gonna have a hairy nose. This Black Salve keeps coming into my mind. It is now starting to look like a very sensible first option. If it works, I'll at least see where the cancer was, right? It's certainly not a cure all, (nothing is a cure all with cancer) but it does have some obvious advantages for someone like me. i.e. with a nasty BCC growing right on the tip of my nose. If it does not work - I'll go the surgeon's knife. It's interesting that hundreds of Black Salve users have posted true pictures on the net showing exactly how it worked for them. How can hundreds of people be part of the same scam? If it was a scam, as "Quackwatch" claims, how could 1.6oz of this Black Salve stuff cost only A$99 for enough goop to kill 50 skin cancers? Nothing is adding up. Black Salve is a soft black home-made paste of Zinc Chloride and Bloodroot and galangal root that's applied directly to the skin cancer. It can easily be made at home. That's the problem. Big Pharma can't control nor patent it, so there's no money in it for them. Far better to discredit it - make us fear it? What about those of us who prefer targeted treatments rather than the butcher's knife? Anyway, once this mixture is applied to the tumor it permeates through the skin and cell membranes but only singles out and kills the cancer cells. Then supposedly the body's own immune system goes about detaching the ESCHAR (or -the dead cancer flesh ) from the good flesh. This all happens over a 7-14 day period then the Eschar cancer finally falls off, roots and all, leaving a clean ulcer divot under it - in my case an ugly hole in the end of my snoz. Well that's the theory anyway. The balm should not attack the good flesh - it makes it burn a bit but does not ultimately hurt it. It destroys the cancer cells only - well, so the hundreds of successful users say anyways. There are other more complelling reasons I think I'll go with a Black Salve for the first try getting rid of my nose BCC. Mainly, it's location right there in the middle of my face. I don't want the thing to grow back and there's no guarantee that any surgery will completely get rid of it. With the Black Salve pix on the internet of the eschars coming out of people who've used it, you can see there is no way to determine the size of the cancer from the surface. The scabs are usually only the tip of the iceberg with a ejected eschar cancer flesh resembling a bloody irregular spud-shaped lump with roots, eyes and all. This suggests that if I can get the whole thing out using this Black Salve and my own immune system, ( I mean roots and all ) there's a better chance of only getting the cancer and it's roots etc. than any type of surgery.
I could be wrong, but if I am, then I'll go the knife. If it was anywhere else on my body, I'd cut it out myself with a Swiss Army knife... Well no I wouldn't, but I'd have no worries about taking as much flesh as any surgeon would like to get rid of the thing. But right on the tip of my snoz, it's a different story. In the middle of any face is a terrible place to have a bad scar. With a scar on one side we can always present our best side, but having a nose like that evil bloke Voldemort from Harry Potter it's going to be hard to play with kids eh? Anyway, I'm approaching 50, I'm happily married and I've procreated 4 kids - so my looks are not that important to me anymore. Of course, losing any part of a nose would be be a terrible thing for anyone and I'm not as courageous as I'd like to think. The trouble with surgery is that no matter how much flesh ( good and bad ) they take off on the nose there's always a very big chance of recurance. And without a local Thai doctor who gives a fiddler's fart about me and my snoz I'm leaning towards the Black Salve as a first try to get rid of it. The entire health system in Thailand is geared to extract as much money from every foreigner who walks into any hospital. They've got girls making sure you've got the means to pay or have adequate insurance before you ever see a doctor. Show me the money! However, it's still shitloads cheaper than any western country, so I should count my blessings. Sorry, if all this rambling free-flowing thought above is repetitive and boring - but it's exactly how confused and afraid I really am. I feel like a kid in a thorny maze hedge who can't find his way out and the sun is setting... I'll keep this article fresh with the story and pictures as it unfolds - so that if my experience with my nose BCC can help anyone else, then it will be worth it.
AUGUST 3rd 2009 - Monday
Today is August 3rd 2009 and I'm waiting for the Black Salve to arrive. I've ordered a jar from Bevan Potter from Centreforce in Australia. Elaine Hollingsworth mentions Bevan in her book and also on her website. She says they're the only ones worth trusting for making proper BCC salves. If it's good enough for a Hollywood actress that looks as good as she does at her age, it's good enough for me. So here goes. I'll try to keep this article fresh throughout the process.
Red spot on the tip of my nose is the BCC on Monday August 3rd 2009
Someone, put me in the Psych ward!
August 4th 2009 - Tuesday
August 4th - Tuesday - The Black Salve arrives from Bevan Potter in Australia. Well - time to shit or get off the pot. I've got a bandaid on it because it leaks blood every night onto the pillow case.
I'm so sick of this bloody thing right now. I'll bite the bullet. Bugger it. I'm going to use the Black Salve...If it burns my nose right off - then I'll just have to accept that fact; knowing I'd have lost it anyway in any surgery. My family will be so ashamed of me if this all goes terribly wrong. Hmmmm. My old man, the famous Aussie Flying Doctor Tim O'Leary had 2 things to say about luck. He reckoned you make your own and that it always favours the brave. Thanks Dad.
I take a few more digital photos so that if my experience (good or bad) can help anyone else with a BCC on the tip of their nose anytime in the future, then my journey (and webpage article) will not have been a waste of time.
My nose - the way it's been for 48 years - shit, anything could happen - so I say goodbye to it.
Out comes the Centreforce's Black Salve and I scoop a big dollop on my snoz. It comes with clear and precise directions for its use and I intend to follow them exactly.
The black button-nose effect...
Good looking stuff this Black Salve I got from Bevan Potter in Gin Gin I finger some on and wait. Wowza! Didn't have to wait too long - within one minute it stings like a cigarette burn to the end of my nose. My eyes water and I have an uncontrolable itching desire to get it all off my skin. I must be mad. I grab a couple of Panandol 500mgs and throw them down. My whole nose starts to throb in time with my heart, a kind of stinging needling throb and every fibre in my body wants to get the paste off my melon. I read the instructions again. Relax. It must be working. Just need to keep this black paste on for the next 24 hours. Bloody hell. Lunch time tomorrow I can take it off. I'll keep you posted. Next Morning... Terrible sleep, lots of pain, throbbing nose - managed to get 3 hours rest after finding my daughter Bronty's old pain relief drugs from her skiing accident. I'll be better prepared if I ever do this again. Must remember to keep proper pain medication on hand. I'm burning a chunk of flesh out from my face...
August 5th 2009 Wednesday - Day 1
Wednesday 5th morning - Very tired. I add a top up of Black Salve on a bigger area of the nose - just to make sure I got this whole thing in one go. No burning - phew - I'm so glad. It looks like I'm not going to lose my entire nose like that unfortunate bird on the 'Quackwatch' site. That's most reassuring.
Not much sleep with that big black cone on my nose. I had to put a bandaid on it.
At midday (24 hours later) I take a shower. Slowly soak away the black salve off my face and see what has happened to the BCC in the process. Check this out...Well, I reckon it's a simply amazing result.
It went after just the cancer cells and left the rest. It's a well defined tumor with some smaller isolated burns outside the main one. Awesome.
Should have clipped my nostril hairs, eh?
Check out the few isolated pores that were also cancerous. It would have been near impossible to get all of this out with wide excision and maybe could even been missed by surgeons doing the Mohs procedure. What's important is that the main cancer tumor is dead now - you can see, it's about the size of a pencil eraser. Now it's going to be up to my own immune system to recognise the 'eschar' as a foreign body and eject it from my nose. Not sure what will happen to those few pores that have also been located and (hopefully) killed. That will be interesting to see how that plays out between my immune system and those buggers in the long run. I could always do a follow up blast once this is all cured. Well, I shouldn't get in front of myself.
I'm able to put a circular bandaid on the eschar and it looks ok from a distance so I'm happy that it was not a huge cancer. It feels like someone has punched me repeatedly in the nose. Throbbing.
Check the grin. I'm a long way from being cured of this thing but for the first time throughout this process I have hope. I expect my body to do its work now. Let's see. I'll keep you posted throughout the healing.
AUGUST 6th - Thursday - Day 2
Lot's of pain as my immune system rushes to my snoz to help eject the cancer eschar. Plenty of localised redness and swelling and very tender to the touch.
Owch! Fwwwwwaaaaaaaaaark! The biggest zit on the planet!
A few things I've noticed now. Outside the main dead cancer are those few pores with cancer that were detected with the Black Salve. It's worth repeating, had I been cut up, they may not have found these isolated cancers and they would have grown undetected until they needed more surgery.
Also, on my left cheek close to my nose a bit of Black Salve 'touched' a raised freckle and the freckle reacted to the speck. So, there is another cancer that has not yet begun to be a problem. Black Salve saves on surgery biopsy - I've already found another BCC on my face. So as soon as the nose is healed, I'm going to have to blast that bugger too - and the rest of them. One at a time.
Notice the small 'black-head' looking raised pimple that was also burnt from the Black Salve. This is the cancer spot I mentioned that would have surely been missed with wide excision and Mohs. Thursday today and honestly, it's bloody painful, throbbing away in time with my heart - but I know that my system is working hard to 'eject' the eschar and heal itself. Contacted Bevan Potter from Centreforce Australia by email yesterday. He's the man who helps skin cancer sufferers like myself by making Black Salve - for Dogs Cats and Horses. Hahaha. Whoof, Meow and Whinney. My sense of humour has returned, and why not? If this continues to work, I'm not going to lose my nose. What a lucky break to have found Elaine's Book and Bevan Potter just before I was due for wide excision surgery in Bangkok next week. I hate testimonials but if you or someone you love thinks they might have a skin cancer, I urge you to use Black Salve. If there is no cancer, nothing happens - if there is you cure it immediately. I'm still 'blownout' by my own unfolding story - and it's true. I was 100% diagnosed correctly with a lab biopsy of Basal Cell Carcinoma. The tumor is now dead (I hope) on my nose and so far so good.
August 7th - Friday - Day 3
Pain pain pain...
August 8th - Saturday - Day 4
Less swelling redness and the eschar is hardening
It's still sore but not anywhere near as sore as it was yesterday. I can feel the hard eschar about 1cm under the surface - sort of like the size of a pencil eraser. But that could be a phantom pain - will only know when my body rejects it and we see the ulcer divot under that will remain.
August 9th - Sunday - Day 5
Looking and feeling much better - well that could be debated. Feeling much better anyway.
Back to front - photo into the mirror Was on the blower to Bevan in Queensland today and had an email from Elaine H as well. They tell me I'm on the right track with my Black Salve treatment and wish me well. I'm very blessed to have these 2 people come into my life to help me with this problem.
Shared the Black Salve with 3 friends. Simon who had a spider vien looking thing on his cheek asked to try it so we dolloped some out and whacked a bandaid on it. Steve had a mole wart looking thing on his inner thigh so we did the same there and Rock had a odd looking freckle on his forehead. Steve and Rock had no reaction at all and after 24 hours washed it off with no ill effect. Simon's face burnt all night and now he's got a dead cancer on his cheek. We're all amazed so here's a picture of Simon's reaction to a bit of Black Salve on a skin irritation on his cheek.
Click Here for Simon's complete story August 10th - Monday - Day 6
Feeling much better today Monday 10th. It seems to respond better if I keep it dry. Less discharge. But I'll start on keeping it a bit moist tomorrow since Bevan tells me to keep the scab on as long as I can to save the new skin underneath. It's itchy like hell which is also a good sign. Thank God for Black Salve! Quackwatch are wrong - so very wrong...
August 11th - Tuesday - Day 7 At sunrise this morning I woke to find the eschar had fallen out of my nose. CHECK THIS OUT...
Open Sesame! A trapdoor. Whooaa!
It's a much smaller crater than I thought it would be. It definately feels like all the cancer is dead and gone. I'm over the moon with gratitude and joy.
Here's the ESCHAR against a Thai Baht coin and a Q-Tip. That thing came out of my nose? Amazing stuff.
And for the Aussies - the eschar and 20 cent coin. Looks like a mullet's eyeball. Amazing eh? A lump of dead cancer from the tip of my nose? Who woulda thunk?
Get a load of the crater in the end of my snoz! Now I've got somewhere to hide my stuff. haha. But still far less flesh taken this way than by Mohs or Wide excision. I'm blown out in every way by this 'underground' skin-cancer removal process. Can anyone please tell me why this simple effective procedure is not an intergral part of mainstream medical practices for Skin Cancer? Especially since Dr. Mohs himself used Escharotics in his skin cancer surgery procedures to locate, burn and mark exactly where he should cut, to make sure he got the lot! Why is there no mention or modern day use of this seemingly safe way to diagnose, locate and kill topical skin cancers?
Who scraped the icecream scoop out of my snoz? Well, I was no oil painting to begin with. :=P
AUGUST 12 - Wednesday - Day 8 Wow, it's healing at a miracle rate - already begun to fill itself in. Check these out...Today Wednesday 12th midday
Amazing - you can hardly notice it anymore. I only see it when I shave and brush my teeth anyway. So,if it's ugly - it's not my problem :p
THIS PHOTO 17th AUGUST - DAY 14 AFTER BLACK SALVE
It's healing very well with the sides comming in to fill the divet nicely. This second scab is hard and pea-like. I'm keeping it dry with Hydrogen Peroxide. I'll upload more photos when I lose the scab. WELL THAT DAY HAS COME - TODAY 24th AUGUST - IS 20 DAYS LATER THE SMALLER SCAB CAME OUT THIS MORNING- CHECK THIS OUT!
Well; the hair is greyer but the end of my nose has grown back by itself. No need for plastic surgery. And they wanted to take a wide excision removing my entire tip of nose - to just above my nostril holes. This is a much better outcome, nes par?
Side view - filled in nicely eh? Saved my nose and 20 grand in the process.
From the top - hardly notice it at all.
My nose was too pointy anyway... This makes me look more like a Thai local.
31st August
SEPTEMBER 9th 2009
Now, it's only the size of a belt notch - hardly noticable against the rest of my melon that looks like a busted crab anyway. Adds character eh? I don't know about you -- but I'm totally 'blown away'...
My good friend Patrick had a BCC taken from his nose with Moh's Surgery. Unsure whether they'd got the lot, he tried my Black Salve on the area and also on a troubling spot on his chest. CLICK HERE TO READ PATRICK'S AMAZING STORY I'm delighted with these early results using an 'alternative' herbal skin cancer treatment called 'Black Salve' from Centreforce in Australia. This is not the end of my story. I'll continue to use my stash of Black Salve on any and all suspected skin cancers, I'll visit skin cancer specialists and have a follow-up biopsies if and when symptoms dictate. If there is more cancer on my nose or anywhere else; then I'll make educated decisions concerning each lesion at that time. I'm certainly not against mainstream medicine nor alternative natural treatments - I'm against ignorance and condemnation prior to investigation - on both sides. Herbert Spencer
My personal experience with Black Salve cannot be ignored - nor condemed. Although, I'm also sure that it probably will be... I have absolutely no commercial interest in any product or person mentioned in this article. I only hope that my experience and photos might help someone else in making educated personal decisions in relation to their own skin cancer treatments. My special thanks go to my version of a Higher Energy or Higher Power - or my latest non-religious acronym for the concept of G.O.D. (the Great Out Doors), my wife, family and friends, Elaine Hollingsworth for her strength and courage to write her wonderfully venomous book (and rightly so) "Take control of your health - and avoid the sickness industry" and Bevan Potter from Centreforce Australia. Elaine's book told me about Bevan Potter's Black Salve for Dogs Cats and Horses. I believed they were telling the truth and they were. To Elaine and Bevan - God Bless you both and thank you, thank you, thank you. You saved my nose and more importantly you gave me hope. I will ever more be actively ( and annoyingly ) involved in deciding exactly what treatment I will allow on my body. The less invasive the better. Being the son of a doctor, I have always scoffed at alternative remedies and thought those that used them were a bit 'soft in the head'. This experience has taught me a lesson and made me much more willing to 'try' aternative treatments - especially if they're less invasive - and cheaper... I must continue to do all I can to remain well educated and assertive - so I can actively dictate and control my own health destiny. I urge you to do the same. Blind trust in our current health system is expensive, naive - and bloody dangerous. I'm happy for this webpage to be passed around to promote educational awareness of alternative skin cancer treatments, Black Salve, Elaine Hollingsworth projects, Bevan Potter and Centreforce Australia. I can be contacted personally on my Thai Mobile +66-81-8912895 or at the 'Contact Us' link email on this website for verification of these facts or comments. Every Good Wish for a skin-cancer-free future to everyone who reads this, Billo'
THIS IS WHAT I LOOK LIKE TODAY 22nd April 2010 - Hardly notice my nose at all. PS. As of August 2010 - my stats show 20,200+ visits to this article page, between 100 and 150 new visits a day. I'm amazed. Alternative Skin cancer treatment must be a hot topic. Email me with any questions at the contact us button. Ciao. Nirvana Anderson read this article and decided to do the treatment and keep an amazing blog about the process called The Black Salve Blog. Here's Nirvana Anderson's fantastic webpage.
Elaine Hollingsworth who gave me this answer has just come out with a documentary about 2 cures for cancer. The legal one harms and the illegal one heals. Here's the website about it. Check it out - could save your life. www.oneanswertocancermovie.com Here's the Youtube site about it. |
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