On this episode of the @CancerInterviews podcast, Mark Kageyama tells host Bruce Morton about his surviving three cancers.  A diagnosis of prostate cancer became metastatic prostate cancer when it was learned his cancer spread to his lungs and bones.  To fight the cancer, Mark had to experience an aggressive chemotherapy, with the medication, taxotere.

 

Mark Kageyama of Granada Hills, California was in his mid-sixties in October 2020, and in great shape.  One day he was just unable to get out of bed.  He required his wife’s help to get to the car and the doctor, who sent Mark to see an oncologist.  Over a period of weeks, he was put through a long line of tests.

 

Mark and his wife were called into the oncologist’s office.  That’s when the oncologist told Mark his cancer was so bad it could not be cured.  He had Stage IV prostate cancer that had metastasized to his lungs and bones.  The oncologist said there were things she could do to Mark more comfortable, but that he should get his affairs in order because the end was near. 

 

Mark’s relationship with his oncologist was contentious at first.  She would try telling him what course to take and he would say that first he wanted to research what the doctor had mind.  The relationship evolved so that no move was made without Mark’s approval. 

 

When treatment began, Mark went through a lung biopsy.  He saw a live screen of his lungs and said there were these “black globs” floating throughout his lungs, which looked really bad.  His bones looked really bad as well.

 

In terms of a gameplan, Mark Kageyama opted for a combination of conventional methods and natural methods.  He hoped the conventional approach of chemotherapy would help him get ahead of the cancer so that the natural methods could take over.

 

In the spring of 2021, Mark says he was at his weakest.  He could barely walk.  However, even though he had trouble leaving his bedroom, he kept his mind sharp.  He used LinkedIn to connect with cancer survivors and cancer patients all over the world.  Interacting with them helped him mentally and emotionally.

 

His conventional way of getting to survivorship was his chemotherapy regimen, and the medication taxotere.  Meanwhile, Mark changed his diet completely.  He had been a vegan, but added grass-fed beef, organic chicken, organic turkey and wild salmon to his diet.  At one point down to 123 pounds, his daughter moved in to cook for him, and he craved the protein, eating sometimes as many as six meals a day, and started to pit the weight back on. 

 

Mark wants people to know that if he survived the three-pronged attack of prostate, bone and lung cancer, they can survive, too.  He just wants people to realize there is hope and that one can overcome cancer if one believes.

 

Additional Resources:

 

Mark on YouTube: 2byourownhero

 

Mark on Clubhouse: https://www.clubhouse.com/house/cancer-conquering-community

 

Book: “Radical Remissions” by Kelly Turner