155: No Evidence of Disease Was Not the Finish Line She Expected, Breast Cancer | Maria Schenkel, Part 2

When Maria Schenkel first joined Jim Mann, she was days away from a mastectomy. Months later, she returns to share what happened next. She walks through the pathology results that surprised her, including a primary tumor that had not doubled in size and partial necrosis, along with lymph involvement that brought hard new decisions. She explains why she chose to continue her own integrative plan rather than pursue a full axillary lymph node dissection. She also describes two circulating tumor DNA tests that showed no evidence of disease, and the moment her new oncologist acknowledged the work she had done.Then the conversation turns to what comes after. Maria speaks openly about the heartbreak she never expected in survivorship, including the loss of her grandfather, whose bedside she kept in Germany, and of several friends from the cancer community. One of them passed just before this recording. Out of that grief comes a message about life being precious, purpose, and community. She stresses that she is not advocating skipping conventional treatment, but encouraging people to ask more questions and look within. Jim adds his own perspective from ten years out.Listen to Part One of their conversation on episode 121.121: Breast Cancer, A Wheelchair, Fear & A Different Way To Heal | Maria SchenkelHealingStrong's mission is to educate, equip and empower our group leaders and group participants through their journey with cancer or other chronic illnesses, and know there is HOPE. We bring this hope through educational materials, webinars, guest speakers, conferences, community small group support and more.Please take advantage of our FREE resources below to help you along your health and healing journey:Support Group DirectoryHolistic Curriculum - Participant GuideSupport Our Mission - DonateAdditional Health ResourcesListen to Previous EpisodesWebsite: healingstrong.org

Three Words: A Couple's Journey from Cancer to Wholeness streams globally from September 25 through October 4, 2026. Learn more at threewordsdoc.com or get tickets and watch the trailer at https://buytickets.at/globalstoryfilms/2412234.David and Kathi Peters return to the podcast almost three years after their first appearance (Episode 116), this time to talk about the documentary they've spent that time filming. It releases September 25 as a streaming premiere on Redeem TV. David is still living with stage IV metastatic prostate cancer. The growth has slowed but continued to spread, and he has since gone through radiation on his spine, sacrum, and prostate, a shift away from the purely natural approach they hoped would be enough toward a blend of traditional and integrative care. They talk candidly about the parts of the journey that didn't make it into a tidy ending, the fear, the disappointing test results, and the isolation that can creep in even inside a strong community. Kathi speaks openly about caregiver burnout and the discipline of caring for herself, through red light therapy, sauna, exercise, and simple things like a cup of coffee with a friend, so she has something left to give. David shares how a newer clinic in Tennessee has brought encouraging results and how living with purpose, rooted in their faith, has shaped how they've faced this diagnosis. It's an honest look at what a cancer journey actually looks like when it doesn't wrap up neatly, and a reminder that showing up for each other, and for God, matters more than having all the answers.HealingStrong's mission is to educate, equip and empower our group leaders and group participants through their journey with cancer or other chronic illnesses, and know there is HOPE. We bring this hope through educational materials, webinars, guest speakers, conferences, community small group support and more.Please take advantage of our FREE resources below to help you along your health and healing journey:Support Group DirectoryHolistic Curriculum - Participant GuideSupport Our Mission - DonateAdditional Health ResourcesListen to Previous EpisodesWebsite: healingstrong.org

Mark Mateya, a Carlisle, Pennsylvania attorney and former studio musician, was diagnosed with large B-cell lymphoma after a routine biopsy on a small arm growth came back malignant. After a rocky first appointment with an oncologist who initially confused his chart with another patient's and warned that forgoing chemo would be "suicide," Mark declined chemotherapy and found Chris Wark's Square One program and Healing Strong. He shifted to a whole-food, plant-based diet with juicing, reduced stress by selling his law practice (while staying on part-time), and pursued a mix of therapies including RGCC/SOT (a blood-based treatment through a lab in Greece) and multiple visits to the Immunity Therapy Center in Tijuana. He's candid that he does not have a formal NED diagnosis, but reports his circulating tumor cell count has dropped from 2.8 to 1.4 over roughly three and a half years. Mark credits his faith and connection with fellow Healing Strong leader Karen McKeon/Maxson for keeping him grounded early on, and now leads a Healing Strong group in Carlisle, where he originated the "Heal-a-Thon" fundraiser (modeled loosely on Penn State's THON) to raise money and awareness for the organization. The episode closes with his message to newly diagnosed listeners: they are not alone, cancer is not a death sentence, and they have time to think, pray, and take responsibility for their health.HealingStrong's mission is to educate, equip and empower our group leaders and group participants through their journey with cancer or other chronic illnesses, and know there is HOPE. We bring this hope through educational materials, webinars, guest speakers, conferences, community small group support and more.Please take advantage of our FREE resources below to help you along your health and healing journey:Support Group DirectoryHolistic Curriculum - Participant GuideSupport Our Mission - DonateAdditional Health ResourcesListen to Previous EpisodesWebsite: healingstrong.org

We have made it to the final podcast of the Top 10 Tour, celebrating 100,000 downloads. We're revisiting our most-downloaded conversations ever: Jim's talk with John A. Richardson Jr. John shares the story of his father, Dr. John Richardson Sr., who left a conventional medical career in the 1970s to treat cancer patients with laetrile, a compound found in apricot seeds. He walks through his father's clinic, the patients he treated, the raids and lawsuits that followed, and how that legacy became John's own life's work through Richardson Nutritional Center and Operation World Without Cancer. Jim also shares a piece of his own story, a stage four melanoma diagnosis in 2016 and a recent scan that came back clear. Together they talk about faith, trials, and staying hopeful in the middle of a hard diagnosis.HealingStrong's mission is to educate, equip and empower our group leaders and group participants through their journey with cancer or other chronic illnesses, and know there is HOPE. We bring this hope through educational materials, webinars, guest speakers, conferences, community small group support and more.Please take advantage of our FREE resources below to help you along your health and healing journey:Support Group DirectoryHolistic Curriculum - Participant GuideSupport Our Mission - DonateAdditional Health ResourcesListen to Previous EpisodesWebsite: healingstrong.org

The Top 10 Tour continues with one of our most-downloaded conversations of all time.John Richardson — president of the Richardson Nutritional Center and Operation World Without Cancer — joins Jim Mann to tell a story that's been in his family for over fifty years. His father, Dr. John A. Richardson, became a Bay Area folk hero in the 1970s for offering laetrile to his patients, and a national headline in June 1972 when his clinic was raided. The arrest didn't end the movement — John says it started one, leading to G. Edward Griffin's book World Without Cancer and a grassroots network that grew to a million members strong.John walks Jim through the science as he understands it: what amygdalin is, why he believes the cyanide warnings have been overstated, and what his father documented in Laetrile Case Histories. He also opens up about the family business, where the seeds are grown, and why he believes this story is finally getting a hearing.Jim also shares his own first encounter with apricot seeds after his 2016 stage four melanoma diagnosis.HealingStrong's mission is to educate, equip and empower our group leaders and group participants through their journey with cancer or other chronic illnesses, and know there is HOPE. We bring this hope through educational materials, webinars, guest speakers, conferences, community small group support and more.Please take advantage of our FREE resources below to help you along your health and healing journey:Support Group DirectoryHolistic Curriculum - Participant GuideSupport Our Mission - DonateAdditional Health ResourcesListen to Previous EpisodesWebsite: healingstrong.org

After being diagnosed with cancer as a young man, Chris turned to research, whole food nutrition, and radical lifestyle change, and has spent the years since helping others do the same. In this conversation, Chris and Jim talk about what he calls the "beat cancer mindset": taking full personal responsibility for your health, forgiving yourself and others, and choosing daily to trust God with your fear instead of letting it drive the journey.Chris opens up about the early days after his diagnosis, reading George Malkmus's God's Way to Ultimate Health, converting to a raw food diet almost overnight, and searching for confirmation that he wasn't just following "some quack." He and Jim talk candidly about faith under pressure, the discipline of forgiveness, why gratitude functions like a "superpower," and how a cancer diagnosis can turn life "from black and white to color." Chris also shares how becoming a father mid-treatment gave him a new reason to fight, and why community, not a single expert, is what actually gets people through.Whether you're newly diagnosed, walking alongside someone who is, or simply working on your own health, this episode is a reminder that the most powerful tools for healing (diet, movement, faith, and forgiveness) cost nothing but your willingness to change.HealingStrong's mission is to educate, equip and empower our group leaders and group participants through their journey with cancer or other chronic illnesses, and know there is HOPE. We bring this hope through educational materials, webinars, guest speakers, conferences, community small group support and more.Please take advantage of our FREE resources below to help you along your health and healing journey:Support Group DirectoryHolistic Curriculum - Participant GuideSupport Our Mission - DonateAdditional Health ResourcesListen to Previous EpisodesWebsite: healingstrong.org

Julie DeKam was diagnosed with stage 3 invasive ductal carcinoma in December 2015 after insurance requirements delayed proper imaging and a thermography doctor misread her lump as hormonal. She underwent a double mastectomy and six rounds of chemo, then discovered Chris Wark's Square One program and fired her oncologist when he pushed further treatment. She went all-in on a plant-based, holistic protocol (juicing, coffee enemas, supplements, detox work) alongside naturopathic care, and her hormone markers normalized within a year. She later joined Chris Wark's support team, where she's worked since 2017. She also shares how her cancer journey and a difficult divorce deepened her trust in God's sovereignty, and how she eventually remarried.HealingStrong's mission is to educate, equip and empower our group leaders and group participants through their journey with cancer or other chronic illnesses, and know there is HOPE. We bring this hope through educational materials, webinars, guest speakers, conferences, community small group support and more.Please take advantage of our FREE resources below to help you along your health and healing journey:Support Group DirectoryHolistic Curriculum - Participant GuideSupport Our Mission - DonateAdditional Health ResourcesListen to Previous EpisodesWebsite: healingstrong.org

Dr. Kelly Turner (PhD, Radical Remission & Radical Hope author) joins Jim to discuss her 15 years researching unexplained cancer recoveries. After discovering 1,000+ documented "spontaneous remission" cases in medical journals, she found these healings aren't random. Survivors share 10 common factors (diet, exercise, stress reduction, intuition, positive emotions, and more) that boost the immune system, working alongside conventional treatment rather than replacing it. Kelly and Jim talk about why this research often falls outside oncologists' focus, the science behind laughter and immunity, and how these same healing factors have shown up in recoveries from ALS, Alzheimer's, and HIV. A hopeful, science-grounded conversation about the body's capacity to heal.HealingStrong's mission is to educate, equip and empower our group leaders and group participants through their journey with cancer or other chronic illnesses, and know there is HOPE. We bring this hope through educational materials, webinars, guest speakers, conferences, community small group support and more.Please take advantage of our FREE resources below to help you along your health and healing journey:Support Group DirectoryHolistic Curriculum - Participant GuideSupport Our Mission - DonateAdditional Health ResourcesListen to Previous EpisodesWebsite: healingstrong.org

This is a Healing Strong podcast episode featuring Kathy Gilkey, a Florida-based follicular lymphoma survivor.Kathy was diagnosed with follicular lymphoma in 2017 after finding a lump under her arm. She declined chemo and radiation, instead following a protocol from a fire captain whose wife had stage four kidney cancer: 100 days of juicing (about 90% greens with apple), no solid food. Her tumor shrank from a 4 to a 1, and her oncologist told her to keep doing what she was doing.After moving from California to Arkansas, the stress and emotional upheaval of leaving her home church and community led to depression, and the cancer returned as a spinal tumor. She did 10 rounds of radiation but had a severe reaction when starting chemo (throat closing, numbness) and stopped, returning to diet-based healing plus emotional/inner healing counseling. She's now been in remission for three months, with oncologist visits every six months.Other points covered: she still juices (using an inexpensive Black & Decker juicer, running pulp through twice for more yield), largely avoids sugar and carbs while having added back some meat and fruit, and her husband hasn't adopted her diet but is supportive and healthy in his own way (they cook separate meals). Her background as a florist exposed her to chemical sprays, and she later became a church counselor. She's now launching a new Healing Strong support group in Englewood, Florida, hosted at a faith-based community facility called EPIC. She closes by encouraging newly diagnosed listeners with Jeremiah 29:11 and a message of trusting God and avoiding negativity.HealingStrong's mission is to educate, equip and empower our group leaders and group participants through their journey with cancer or other chronic illnesses, and know there is HOPE. We bring this hope through educational materials, webinars, guest speakers, conferences, community small group support and more.Please take advantage of our FREE resources below to help you along your health and healing journey:Support Group DirectoryHolistic Curriculum - Participant GuideSupport Our Mission - DonateAdditional Health ResourcesListen to Previous EpisodesWebsite: healingstrong.org

Dr. Jimenez cites a 2024 Lancet study reporting a 79% rise in cancer among young adults globally between 1990 and 2019, with a 28% increase in deaths, across 17 cancer types. He attributes this to environmental toxins, obesity, diet, and early-life exposures, and names three top toxicities he targets in treatment: aluminum, glyphosate, and EMF radiation. He walks through daily detox practices (coffee enemas, shilajit, hydrogen water) and practical EMF-reduction steps (Wi-Fi off at night, phone away from the bed, grounding sheets). He explains when Hope4Cancer still uses chemo, radiation, or surgery — low-dose IPT chemo for tumor debulking, targeted "spot radiation" for pain control, and stents for obstructions — despite the clinic's non-toxic-first philosophy. He then details the clinic's "seven key principles," spending the most time on emotional/spiritual health (his upcoming book, Emotions and Cancer, out March 2025) and introduces Davida, a new five-part bioimmunotherapy meant to upregulate the immune system without targeting specific cancer-cell receptors (unlike checkpoint inhibitors such as Opdivo/Keytruda). Host Jim, a stage IV melanoma survivor, shares his own remission story, and Dr. Jimenez recommends he ask his oncologist about the Signatera circulating-tumor-cell test for ongoing monitoring.HealingStrong's mission is to educate, equip and empower our group leaders and group participants through their journey with cancer or other chronic illnesses, and know there is HOPE. We bring this hope through educational materials, webinars, guest speakers, conferences, community small group support and more.Please take advantage of our FREE resources below to help you along your health and healing journey:Support Group DirectoryHolistic Curriculum - Participant GuideSupport Our Mission - DonateAdditional Health ResourcesListen to Previous EpisodesWebsite: healingstrong.org