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Francisco Contreras, MD serves as director, president, and chairman of Oasis of Hope Hospital. A distinguished surgical oncologist, Dr. Contreras is renowned for combining conventional and alternative medical treatments with emotional and spiritual support to provide patients with the most positive treatment experience possible.
After graduating from medical school at the Autonomous University of Mexico in Toluca, Dr. Contreras specialized in surgical oncology at the University of Vienna in Austria, where he graduated with honors. Dr. Contreras has authored fifteen books concerning integrative therapy including: The Art and Science of Undermining Cancer, 50 Critical Cancer Answers, The Hope of Living Cancer Free, The Coming Cancer Cure, Beating Cancer and Dismantling Cancer.
In addition to writing for medical journals, Dr. Contreras has participated in medical conferences such as the World Conference on Breast Cancer and is active in the Cancer Control Society. He has addressed governmental organizations, including the Georgia House of Representatives Health Policy Task Force and the Japanese Medical Association. He has also been on special assignment to Slovakia as a member of the Mexican Health Advisory Board.
About Oasis of Hope
Oasis of Hope was founded in 1963 and was the first alternative cancer treatment center in Mexico. It has treated over 100,000 patients from 60 nations over the last 56 years. It was the first center in Mexico to offer laetrile and it is fully staffed with oncologists, internists, radiologists, nutritionists, nurses and counselors. It is recognized as one of the top body, mind and spirit medical centers in the world.
For more information, please visit his website www.oasisofhope.com
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Pamela: Hi. This is Pamela Worth with the Hello Health and Encourage Your Wellness podcast. And today, I have doctor Francisco Contreras. He serves as his director, president, and chairman of Oasis of Hope Hospital, a distinguished surgical oncologist renowned for combining conventional and alternative medical treatments with emotional and spiritual support to provide patients with the most positive treatment experience possible. Thank you so much, doctor, for being with us.
Dr Francisco: Pamela, thank you very much. It's my honor.
Pamela: So tell us a little bit about how you got into health and wellness, about your journey, oncology. What's conventional? What's alternative?Please walk us through.
Dr Francisco: Well, I was born into it, actually, because my father is the one that, founded the Oasis of Hope in 1963. And, I always wanted to to work with him, but in my heart, what I wanted to do was surgery. From a very young age, what I wanted to do wanted to be was a surgeon. And so that's why I chose, surgical oncology as my specialty, and, I wanted to spend as much time possible in the conventional realm to understand it.
So I did my specialty in the University of Vienna, and did cancer research for 5 years there there. Once I was finished and I felt that I was ready, I came back, to Tijuana to work with my father because he he he was an oncologist, and he he had a very different philosophical, approach to cancer, in comparison to the to the rest of the world. And the difference was that, in in the conventional realm, the focus of of research is the tumor. And you you will say, well, obviously, you wanna get rid of cancer, so the focus should be the cancer. But, it it goes to the extreme to the point that, everything that you design is to destroy tumors.
And you then evaluate the results by what happens to the tumor. And in some cases, it goes to the extreme, whereas if you have a therapy that destroys the tumor but the patient dies, it still goes into the books as a success because what you're looking is at is is the tumor. So philosophically, our aim is the patient, and we have 2 philosophical pillars. One was stated by Hippocrates, the father of medicine, who said, first, do no harm. And so the, translation for us is we're going to do anything and everything possible to improve the quality of life of our patients.
And so the first aim of our design of the therapy is to improve the quality of life of the patient. And you know for for sure, as most of your listeners, that many of the therapies against cancer, they actually destroy the quality of life of the patient. And so our first philosophical pillar says, first, improve the quality of life of the patient. 1st, do no harm. The second pillar was, stated by Jesus, and he said, love your neighbor as you love love yourself.
So what we do that there is that we say love your patient as you love yourself. In other words, I would never do anything to my patient that I would not be willing to do for myself, and and that radically changes the way you design a therapy for a patient. Right? There are polls, where they ask oncologist, would you give multiple chemotherapy for a patient with stage 4 carcinoma of the lung, for instance? And they they all said yes.
And then the next question, would you take chemotherapy if you had stage 4 cancer of the lung? And only about 17% or 16% said yes. And, I came to the conclusion that they were lying. They would never take it. So, when you focus on the patient, everything changes.
The other major difference at the OASIS in comparison to the rest is that, the patients not only have physical needs. Right? They they don't only just have the cancer, then it's, damaging whatever organ and whatever function. But patients have tremendous emotional and spiritual needs, and we feel that if you do not address those needs, the patient is not going to fare as well as the patient should. And and so we not only provide, treatment for the physical entity, but we want to provide resources for the emotional and spiritual needs of our patients.
And we've seen that that improves tremendously, the outcomes, and, statistically, our results are so much better because of that. And and so my journey has been, being in the very conventional well well, have being born in in the alternatives with my father, being prepared as an oncologist in the very convent in a very conventional, format, and then making a combination of of everything that I know with my father in in the conventional here. So we're actually an integrative, hospital, meaning we're going to integrate from whatever, for the benefit of our patient as long as our philosophical pillars are kept intact. And so that is what motivates me tremendously to do this. What you know, for I was we've been criticized from all over, from the conventional and from the alternatives, because sometimes we do chemo and sometimes we don't.
And so one doctor asked me, well, make a decision. Are you going to do alternative medicine or conventional medicine? I said, no. I'm just gonna do good medicine. Yeah.
Right? I'm gonna pick from wherever or have specific needs of a patient, and and so we're going to create a very personalized approach to help very specific needs of a very specific patient.
Pamela: Well and I like a lot about what you're saying. So we we ended up finding you, because of of my own mother, and she's doing so much better now. So her history was that, nearly 6 years ago, actually tomorrow, she was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer and was given 90 days to live. So they did the initial surgery. She got the port. She got the bag on the outside of the body because the ovarian cancer had wrapped around part of her colon. She and and then she progressed through 18 different chemotherapies, a couple of radiations, and then subsequently, 1 or 2 other surgeries. And she got so weak that they started talking to her and us about palliative care.
And, you know, she was just really, really sick and weak. And she says, I don't wanna go yet. What else is there? And I said, well, let me start thinking about it. And, it was through a colleague of mine that said, you know, there's other types of cancer treatment that instead of kinda like what you were saying, focusing on decreasing the tumors, building up the body's own immune system and making it stronger such that you can then use targeted therapy to help reduce those tumors.
Okay. Now the thing that I also really appreciate is that, you're using data. You're using real lab tests, real, imaging. You know, you're not just saying, oh, I think it's this. I think it's this.
And then the other thing that I found that was very different, was that you're because you're a surgeon, you were able to not only take from the imaging exactly where the tumors were, but then go in, reverse the bag, which we were told by an international organization was was, impossible, but it wasn't. And then you actually took one of those tumors, sent it to the lab, and taught her own body how to kill that type of tumor, and and then put it back in her body almost like a vaccine. And so and and then subsequent imaging showed that those tumors were not only going down in size, but in fact disappearing. And so it's it's this type of of personalized, unique treatment plan, along with obviously other supplementation and medicines and things, that is just very, very impactful, and it makes the person feel more in control. It makes them feel better about themselves.
It makes them feel better about the situation. It makes the family members feel better. But in addition and and then she also does do some low dose chemotherapy. And so while she doesn't feel great on it, she doesn't feel nearly as sick. She still has her hair.
And so, her case obviously was so dire that she's really doing great, in the whole scheme of things, and she's able to travel and go to church and go to dinner and all the things that she enjoys doing. You know? But talk to us a little bit about some of the other alternative treatments that you have found, like, you know, cancer does not like oxygen or, some of the other things that you have found that really help.
Dr Francisco: Well, we treat cancer more as a metabolic disease than a than a genetic disease. And, obviously, cancer is a genetic disease, not in the sense that it's hereditary, but it's caused by mutations.
And those mutations happen in the genes. And, so there's no question that cancer is genetic. But those genetic changes have a direct impact on our metabolism, on how our body works. All the research now is aimed on the genes because genes that are mutated are going to produce certain proteins that benefit the cancer and and not the host. And, so, the development of target therapies is what's what's mobilizing the research world nowadays.
And and just about every week, a new targeted therapy is coming out, maybe every month, the which is very exciting. But the problem is that a patient on average has about 75 to a 100 mutations. So in order to cure cancer, you would have to give that patient 75 or a 100 targeted therapies because they only target 1 mutation. And even though that sounds colossal in the future, right now, we don't have those those, targeted therapies. By far, we're far away from achieving the hundreds of mutations or if not thousands of mutations that are possible in many cancer patients, and not every cancer patient has the exact exact same mutations for the same cancer.
So it's it's it's very daunting, but but, again, at the same time, exciting. To me, the biggest complication is not only that to find all the all the mutations, but the cost. Every targeted therapy on average is about $10,000. So imagine that you need a 100, that's, you know, just about $1,000,000 every 3 weeks because we the therapies are about every 3 weeks. So not even Americans are gonna be able to pay for that.
So we we've said, you know, as long as possible and whenever possible, we're going to aid our treatment with, targeted therapy. But our main focus is on on the metabolic impact, and the metabolic impact, is is very manageable. There's less than ten common denominator, metabolic impacts that all cancer patients have. So you were mentioning about oxygen. Tumors or malignant cells are hypoxic.
They hate oxygen. And it doesn't matter if it's if it's cancer of the colon or cancer of the breast or cancer of the ovary. They all hate oxygen. And so oxygenating tumor tissue will affect all cancer patients in a positive way. All because of that, the metabolism of the carbohydrates is very poor.
So for instance, a normal cell produces 32 units of energy for every one unit of carbohydrates they metabolize. Malignant cells with one unit of carbohydrate, they produce 2 instead of 32 units of energy. So they're bullies for sugar. They need a lot of sugar. And so while starving the tumors of sugar by a special diet, a low glycemic diet, the tumor is going to suffer.
You know, a lot of the doctors say, oh, diet is nothing of it, and then they write up a a PET scan. How does a PET scan work? Well, they inject sugar into the patient that is tagged with a radioactive material. Because the tumors consume so much sugar, the tumors actually light up, and you are able to see the tumors. So, you know, they're they're just don't want to accept the fact that diet can make a tremendous difference in how you help a patient.
And and so like that, we will find the the all tumors are acidic and all tumor and it doesn't matter which one. So we have a part of the therapy that is aimed at those metabolic changes, and it is a therapy for all tumors no matter what. But on the other hand, we have a very potent immunotherapy that is extremely personalized. So a big part of the therapy is a general therapy that it's good for everybody. But then on the immune side, we prepare what is called the dendritic cell vaccine, and that is a an a very personalized therapy.
It's a therapy designed for that patient and for that tumor alone. It cannot be used for any other patient or any other tumor. And so we have this combination of a very generalized therapy with a very personalized part on on the other hand. And that is something that we would take if if we were in in a position where cancer was diagnosed as doctors and that, as your mother has experienced, has very good results with very good quality of life. So, because our philosophy is different, our approach is different, our results are different and much better.
Pamela: The other thing that I think is interesting, well, first, not all dendritic vaccines are the same. I've learned that when I was interviewing different different, places of care. Some people will pull from a bank, for instance, of a certain type of disease state and say that it you know? But it really needs to come from your own body, to be personalized. So that's something for for people to to be sure to ask about as well.
Dr Francisco: You're absolutely right. So here we only use the antigens from the patient Right. Or the patient's tumors.
Pamela: Yeah. Which is super.Heat is another really interesting element. Talk to us a little bit about the impact heat has on cancer and when to use it, when not to.
Dr Francisco: So, another common denominating factor is that because tumors grow so rapidly in comparison to normal tissue, the production of their vessels, arteries, veins, the lymphatic system grows very convoluted, whereas the, vasculature of our normal tissue is extremely well organized. So it's it's like, if you see the map of a city, an American city, you know, it's very well organized. And so they go south and and and north and west and east.
And so it's very organized. The tumors are like very old European cities. They go all over the place. And our circulatory system works as our radiator. It's a way to for us to be able to dispel or get rid of heat.
And and so tumors, because of of that very convoluted circulation, cannot get rid of heat. So if you heat them up, you those parts of the that tissue can be destroyed with heat, but our normal tissue can withstand that heat. So in a very specific way, high temperatures, very high temperatures, can kill tumor tissue without damaging benign tissue. And that's the purpose of hyperthermia. Now, so we use hyperthermia as an antitumor agent.
But in order to kill tumor cells, the heat has to be very prolonged, and and not every patient can withstand heat for many, many hours. You have to be in very good shape to do that because hyperthermia is like running maybe 1 mile or 2 miles. It takes a lot out of you. So the second thing that, hyperthermia does is that it increases the, oxygen the oxidation level of a tissue. And the best way to kill cancer cells is through oxidative stress.
So for instance, vitamin c, in very high dosages converts from an antioxidant into an oxidant in the presence of oxygen. So the actual killing agent is hydrogen peroxide, who would who would think. But it's the same mode of action as radiation therapy. All radiation therapy consumes through oxidative stress. So hyperthermia causes oxidative stress.
And in combination with vitamin c, and that's that's a combination of the therapies that we do here, we provoke oxidative stress at the level of chemotherapy and radiation without side effects. So that's why we use heat therapy here.
Pamela: And to clarify for for those that may not understand, it's different than a sauna.
Dr Francisco: Yes. Now with sauna, even though the it's very hot, it does not break your your regulatory system within your body.So your body is never gonna go above 39 degrees. Whereas in hyperthermia, we get the temperatures to 41 and a half, 42 degrees Celsius, which is what you need in order to be able to kill cancer cells. And and and it's a special type of cocoon where the patient goes in that has the capability of breaking this barrier. Sauna will not do it. Now Sauna is is very good.
It detoxifies, immune, simulation. Just makes you feel good. Either the typical old school saunas or the new type where they use infrared, to heat the the the people up, Either one of them is very good, and I recommend them. But they can be considered, antitumor therapies.
Pamela: The interesting thing with the machines that you have is the head sticks out.The body is getting hot, but the head is not.
Dr Francisco: And the reason for that is that the brain is more sensitive to heat than the rest of our cells. And so patients, if you heat them up for a long time, they can develop, seizure like symptoms and or or faint, and that's why we keep the head out. Yeah. And so usually, we have no problems with that at all.
Pamela: And then particular types of of vitamins or, IVs or things that you've you know You know, we touched on vitamin c. Obviously, b 17, has been a slightly controversial, but it certainly hasn't hurt.
Dr Francisco: Oh, yes. Lateran has proven to be an antitumor agent since the fifties by the by the Sloan Kettering, Institute, no less. Yeah.
So we've been using that for 60 some years very effectively. And it's called vitamin b 17, but it it's not a vitamin. It's it's a it's a it's a phytochemical that, kills cancer through, actually cyanide poisoning, and that's why it's so scary. But the truth is that we need cyanide in order to survive in in very small amounts. So cyanide is the raw material for cyanocobalamin, which is vitamin b 12.
So if we do not consume cyanide in the small of us, we would die. That's why God put on this earth many foods, about probably 1200, that have, certain amounts of cyanide. All berries or many berries have cyanide. But malignant cells do not have the enzymatic capability to convert it to cyanocobalamin, and it leaves the the cyanide alone. And that's what kills specifically a malignant cell and cannot kill a benign cell.
So it's a very targeted therapy in that sense. Many, many other nutrients we use as targeted therapies. So mutations provoke the formation of proteins that are beneficial to tumors. And in order for a cell to produce that that, protein specific protein, it has to go through a very specific metabolic route, and routes have signals. And so what controls the signals are nutrients.
So for instance, curcumin does exactly the same as Avastin. Avastin is a target therapy to avoid the production of new vessels, Costs around $10,000 a month. Curcumin does exactly the same, pennies on the dollar. But you have to get the curcumin inside of the body, so we we've developed ways for a good absorption of curcumin, which is the main problem why curcumin is not widely used because it's it's, very poorly absorbed. But at any rate, there are many there are many, vitamins and minerals that can help open up or close down, metabolic routes of proteins that are beneficial to tumors.
And so that's why our nutritional program is very broad and robust.
Pamela: No. It's it's super. So you focus just on cancers. Correct?
Dr Francisco: Correct. Okay. We are since because our our our immunotherapy laboratory, has now acquired a lot of experience. We are, open now, and and and, hopefully, within the next 6 months, we will treat some chronic degenerative diseases and some autoimmune diseases, for which we can treat immunologically in a very effective way, especially autoimmune diseases. And, we're also working on a vaccine for Lyme disease.
So, yes, we have been working for 60 years only on cancer, but our our our immune therapy experience, I think, is broadening our spectrum where we believe that in the near future, we're gonna be able to help other diseases as
Pamela: well. Yeah. Which is super. I mean, there's so many neuro disease states out now and one in every 5 people is now being diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder due to all the toxicity and Correct. Frankly over sugar.You know, you touched on that but I mean, there's really nothing worse for you than than eating a lot of sugar, unfortunately.
Dr Francisco: Yes. And it's so ubiquitous. Yeah. It's it's amazing.
Pamela: Is there anything else you know, one last thing I wanted to touch on, and I think it's sadly a strange, perception or myth, probably mostly in the US, but it could be elsewhere, which is, you know, going to Tijuana is frankly kind of weird and scary. And, you know, I was frankly very thankful and and lucky to have found you. Your particular, hospital was actually recognized by someone that I know that has worked with the NIH and, you know, in terms of of the groundbreaking research and work that's being done. And it's just so easy. We fly in on Southwest Airlines.
They have flights all the time. You know, we we get picked up at the airport. It's only about 20 minute drive. You know, I just don't think any of us necessarily have thought about how close San Diego is with Tijuana and Yeah. Going back and forth is really not that big a deal.
So, it's been very interesting.
Dr Francisco: Tijuana is famous and infamous. It's it's a fairly large town, about 3a half 1000000 people. And, like many large cities, especially in Mexico, there are problems with crime and all of that. But, you know, a lot of people feel safer in Tijuana than in LA or in Chicago.
We've never had an incident, thank god, in in as many years as we've been here. None of our patients have ever had any any, problems. We had a problem with the patient. I'm driving with my car, but I'm so afraid that I'm going to leave my car in San Diego. Okay.
And to pick me up at at a place where I'm parking it. Yes. So we picked the patient up. When we went back, the car wasn't there.
Pamela: I must be Diego.
Dr Francisco: It's all in San Diego, not in Tijuana. That's a funny story. But, obviously, there are problems. But thank God here in in Playas, especially where we are, is an area of very, very low crime, and, so it's it's it's not it's not problematic.
Pamela: I had learned, I think it's, like, 50% Americans living in Playas now or something.
Dr Francisco: There's a lot of people going back and forth. Or Very high. Not 50%, but probably in the thirties. Yeah. For sure.
There's a lot of people. Tijuana, the the border crossing is the most busy in in all of the world, and one of the reasons is obviously tourism. But the other is that many people live in Tijuana and work in in San Diego Mhmm. Because of the cost of living is much cheaper here, and so their money goes further. So, yes, there's a lot of, Americans that live in Tijuana, and work in San Diego.
And and one of the things is that, for instance, all of my children are US citizen. Mhmm. They were born in San Diego. And we're we're as Mexican as beans, but but they they have this dual citizenship. And and so there's, a large part of the population that they want is like that.
And so they're Americans. They live here, and they work in the states.
Pamela: Yeah. I get it. Is there anything else that I could or should have asked you about that I didn't? Or anything else that you can
Dr Francisco: I think you were very thorough, and thank you for letting letting me, talk a little bit about about who we are and what we do? Yeah. I think that, that, you know, touching on on on the type of therapies and especially on the immune therapy is probably the most important. And that's something that really separates us from many other cancer institutes around the world. Yeah.
And I'm I'm sure that because of that, our results are are so much better.
Pamela: Well and I think it's important too for people to realize all immunotherapies are not equal. The word immunotherapy can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different organizations. You've gotta ask a lot of questions.
Dr Francisco: And it's it's, it's a very dynamic process.
The vaccines that we were doing, let's say, 2 years ago have improved tremendously because we have new equipment is always being developed, new techniques. Our personnel improves those techniques with experience. Mhmm. And, we decided very early on that we were not going to use antigens from the market. Mhmm.
Because, that that's not a personalized vaccine. It's a it's a it's a tumor specific but not personalized. So I'm I'm glad and thankful that you made that distinction.
Pamela: Yeah. Well, thank you so much, doctor.
Dr Francisco: We really appreciate it. And I'll be sure to add your bio.
All the way Thank you very much. My regards to your mom. Yes.
She was here just a little while ago. She's doing and agreed, for the problem that she had. She's a miracle, and she should be on her knees. Thank you for that miracle.
Pamela: Absolutely.Well, thank you so much, Bob. Take care. God bless you.
Dr Francisco: God bless you too.