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 deadliest in the world – only three percent of patients survive – the initial tumor had spread to other organs and caused the formation of 16 additional tumors.
As a retired data scientist, he knew the odds were against him.
But 18 months later, the Connecticut father of two is alive and, miraculously, cancer-free.
Mr. Boyer, a father of two, achieved remission thanks to an experimental therapy that froze his tumors to death.
SIX MONTHS TO LIVE: Larry Boyer, 56, was diagnosed with ultra-lethal cancer
CANCER FREE: The father of two from Connecticut is still here and now in remission
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Mr Boyes said: ‘When I was first diagnosed in May 2022, I was given a year to live with only standard treatment (or six months without treatment).
‘(But) the combination of my treatment… with my chemo treatment has given me the best possible results. A year later I see no sign of cancer in my blood tests or on scans.’
Mr Boyer was diagnosed with cancer in May 2022 after going to the doctor complaining of pain in his back that had recently wrapped around his chest.
At the time he thought it was a pulled muscle.
He had also lost 30 pounds in the four months prior to his diagnosis, which was attributed to his new fasting diet and walking 10 miles a day.
Mr. Boyer initially underwent six rounds of standard chemotherapy, which might have given 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 started offering a groundbreaking new therapy that has not yet been fully approved in the US.
The two-pronged approach includes cryoablation, also called cryosurgery or cryotherapy.
In this procedure, doctors insert a small metal probe through the skin and into the tumor, where extremely cold gases are released directly into the mass to kill the cells.
A 2016 study stated that cryoablation is minimally invasive and has improved tumor targeting. It is also potentially safer and less painful than traditional cancer treatments.
The second step uses intratumoral immunotherapy, in which drugs are injected directly into a tumor to trigger an immune response.
Two medications are used in the treatment; Yervoy, which stimulates white blood cells to attack the cancer, and Opdivo, which helps immune cells recognize and destroy cancer cells.
Together, the 2016 study stated that cryoablation and immunotherapy for advanced pancreatic cancer “may improve survival in patients with unresectable or metastatic pancreatic cancer.”
However, cryoablation is not approved in the US for the treatment of pancreatic cancer and is only approved by the FDA for the treatment of prostate cancer and early-stage breast cancer.
Immunotherapy drugs Yervoy and Opdivo are approved by the FDA to treat several cancers, including liver cancer, melanoma and lung cancer. However, they are not approved for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.
The Williams Cancer Institute offers these treatments in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California, Mexico.
Mr. Boyer received much of his treatment in Mexico, where drug prices are much lower than in the United States. He is pictured in front of the New York City skyline
Some of the drugs they use cost as little as $1,000 in Mexico, compared to $10,000 in the US.
Mr. Boyer received the Williams treatment regimen three times a week for three weeks, on three separate occasions, with chemotherapy in between each time.
He traveled to Cabo San Lucas for each session before returning to the US for his chemotherapy.
He had the first round at the end of September and a month later the doctors said Boyer’s liver tumor became ‘liquid’.
In early November, scans showed that the large tumor in his liver had shrunk by 50 percent and the large tumor in his pancreas had shrunk by 65 percent.
It was also revealed that 13 half-inch tumors in his liver had disappeared, along with one tumor that measured 0.8 inches.
He then underwent three more rounds of chemotherapy, for a total of 12 rounds – at the higher end of what patients normally receive.
Recent scans have detected no cancer cells in his body, with Mr Boyer saying the cancer appears to have been defeated.
However, he will not be cured and declared cancer-free until he has five years of test results that do not show the disease.
Mr. Boyer had to pay more than $125,000 out of pocket for the procedures, which he said he was able to perform because he had a life insurance policy with benefits.
He added online to mark the two-year anniversary of the diagnosis: ‘I’m reminded almost every day how lucky I am now that the people I’ve spoken to are passing away.
“Yesterday, someone who went to Dr. Williams shortly after me finally decided to quit.
“I’m grateful for another year and for all the support everyone has given me.”
Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest in the US because it normally only causes symptoms in the later stages.
This means that the diagnosis is not normally made until stage four, when the five-year survival rate drops to around three percent.
Pancreatic cancer is the tenth most common cancer in the US, with approximately 66,000 Americans diagnosed with the disease.