Health
Breast cancer patient given 24 months to live has ‘miraculous’ recovery, says God led her to cure
Less than three years ago, Tina Willits, now 53, thought she had just two years to live.
Today, she is cancer-free and wants the world to know about the treatment that saved her.
The Florida mother and grandmother first felt a lump in late 2021, just months after a normal mammogram.
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In March 2022, she discovered that she had HER2 positive breast cancer, an aggressive form of the disease in which the cancer cells have an abnormally high level of a protein called human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2).
“I still remember the doctor coming in and telling us that it was in my lymph nodes, ribs, spine, sternum and bones,” Willits told Fox News Digital during an on-camera interview. (See the video at the top of this article.)
Florida mother and grandmother Tina Willits, now 53, thought she had just two years to live, but today she is cancer-free. (Tina Willits)
Willits was told that she had golf ball-sized tumors and that the disease was too advanced for a mastectomy. She was placed on end-of-care chemotherapy and told to “enjoy the time you have left.”
“The doctor told me, ‘We will try to stop the progression,’ but she said ‘the best we can probably offer you is about 24 months.’”
‘I wanted it gone’
Willits wasn’t satisfied with just stopping the progression of her cancer.
“I have five biological children and I was raising two of my bonus babies, and I had four grandkids at the time,” she said.
“And I was just determined that I wanted it gone. That was my goal. And I remember my oncologist telling me that was never going to happen.”
“The doctor told me, ‘The best we can offer you is about 24 months.’”
After doing some of her own research, Willits learned about an alternative treatment called immunotherapy, which uses the body’s immune system to identify and destroy cancer cells.
For decades, the go-to treatments for cancer have been chemotherapy, radiation and surgery — but some experts are calling immunotherapy the “fourth pillar” of cancer treatments.
“I have five biological children and I was raising two of my bonus babies, and I had four grandkids at the time,” said Willits about why she was so determined to beat cancer. (Tina Willits)
In her research, she came across Dr. Jason R. Williams of The Williams Cancer Institute in California, who offers a new cancer therapy that uses cold gases and the body’s own cells to freeze and fight tumors.
“Immunotherapy teaches the immune system to attack the cancer,” Williams told Fox News Digital. “So, like a vaccine, it can give you a long-term, durable response. This is what is needed to achieve cures.”
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Willits and her husband reached out to the doctor, who immediately began looking into her case.
“She physically was in good condition, even though her cancer was advanced,” Williams said about Willits. “She was on chemo, but still remained in very good health, even though she was advanced and metastatic.”
He added, “I was confident, but cautious. Cancer is a very challenging foe.”
Willits is pictured at her wedding, before being diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer. “I’m a part of my family’s life every day,” she told Fox News Digital. (Tina Willits)
Williams offered Willits something she hadn’t had until then: hope.
“He was just unbelievable. After seeing all of my tests, he said, ‘I can cure you,’” she told Fox News Digital. “And you don’t get those words as a stage 4 patient.”
Six weeks after receiving a course of immunotherapy treatments — in conjunction with supplements to ramp up the immune system and cryoablation, a procedure that uses freezing temperatures to destroy cancer cells — a PET scan revealed that Willits’ cancer was gone.
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Today, Willits said, she is stable and healthy.
“I exercise every day. I’m a part of my family’s life every day. Cancer, we feel, is completely behind us — and that was almost an impossible mission,” she said.
“People ask me all the time, you know, how did you cure your cancer? And I say, ‘Well, God led me to Dr. Williams.’”
“I cannot even imagine if I had stayed the course of traditional treatment and just tried to stop the progression,” said Willits. (Tina Willits)
Williams believes that immunotherapy is the future of cancer treatments.
“We first must target the tumor directly, injecting immunotherapy into it,” he said.
“In the future, the patient will be diagnosed with a suspicious lesion, and at the time of initial biopsy, we will begin treating it by injecting immunotherapy.”
Balancing risks and benefits
While immunotherapy has shown promise as an alternate treatment, it does come with its own risks and limitations for certain groups of patients.
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“Patients with autoimmune diseases have a higher risk, because the immune system is more primed to also attack normal tissues,” Williams cautioned.
“Though risks are higher, we do have techniques to overcome this, and so the benefits outweigh the risks.”
“As oncologists, we don’t want to expose a patient to a medication that can increase the risk of side effects without a clinical benefit.”
Brian Slomovitz, director of gynecologic oncology and co-chair of the Cancer Research Committee at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Florida, noted that immunotherapy has transformed the way many cancers are treated, but that it’s not always effective.
“It is important to understand that it is not useful in all patients,” said Slomovitz, who was not involved in Willits’ care.
“As oncologists, we don’t want to expose a patient to a medication that can increase the risk of side effects without a clinical benefit.”
In “properly selected” patients, however, Slomovitz believes immunotherapy can prolong both the time to cancer recurrence and overall survival rates.
Today, Willits said, she is stable and healthy. “I exercise every day,” she told Fox News Digital. (Tina Willits)
“I’m excited to watch as the field of immuno-oncology continues to evolve.”
Willits now aims to raise awareness of the availability of this treatment, as many women assume that chemotherapy, radiation and surgery are their only options.
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“The reality is there are women out there who don’t know it exists,” she said. “And if we can get the word out, I can’t even tell you how many hundreds of women we could potentially save.”
She also said, “I cannot even imagine if I had stayed the course of traditional treatment and just tried to stop the progression. I mean, it’s out of my body. It’s gone. Life is back to normal again. And I am so grateful.”
“If we can get the word out, I can’t even tell you how many hundreds of women we could potentially save,” Willits said. (Tina Willits)
While Willits’ prognosis is “excellent,” Williams emphasized that “we must always be cautious and continue to monitor … Any person who has had cancer before certainly has a higher than normal risk for another cancer or a recurrence.”
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For patients just starting their cancer journey, Williams says it’s critical to take the time to research the options thoroughly.
“Numerous off-label medications and supplements that are available can help enhance treatment outcomes, and exploring immunotherapy should always be a priority,” he added.
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A new injectable therapy is showing positive results in reducing melanoma throughout a five-year period.
The personalized mRNA cancer therapy, called intismeran autogene, combined with the cancer immunotherapy drug KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab), is a collaboration between Merck and Moderna.
The results from the phase 2b KEYNOTE-942 study were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago on May 27.
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After about a five-year follow-up, the combo drug was found to reduce the risk of melanoma recurrence or death by 49% compared to pembrolizumab alone.
The researchers analyzed data from 157 patients with high-risk stage 3 and 4 melanoma whose cancer had been removed via surgery. The participants were split into two groups — one received the combo therapy and the other only received pembrolizumab, according to a press release.
The therapy was found to reduce the risk of melanoma recurrence or death by 49% compared to pembrolizumab alone after a five-year follow-up. (iStock)
The findings revealed that the combination group saw benefits that were “sustained and durable over time.”
Intismeran autogene is designed using mutations identified in a patient’s own tumor, with the intention of teaching the immune system what the cancer looks like so that it can recognize and attack it.
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According to the researchers, intismeran is “well-tolerated” with a “manageable” safety profile.
The most commonly cited side effects of the personalized mRNA vaccine plus KEYTRUDA were fatigue, injection-site pain, chills, fever and headache. The researchers reported no new long-term safety concerns and no severe vaccine-related adverse events.
The combination therapy is currently being evaluated in a phase 3 study — the final confirmation stage.
Patients with late-stage melanoma have a “significant risk” of cancer recurrence, according to an expert. (iStock)
In a Merck press release from January, Kyle Holen, MD, Moderna’s senior vice president and head of development, oncology and therapeutics, noted that this data highlights the “potential of a prolonged benefit … in patients with resected high-risk melanoma.”
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“We continue to invest in our platform in oncology because of encouraging outcomes like these, which illustrate mRNA’s potential in cancer care,” he said.
Dr. Marjorie Green, senior vice president and head of oncology, global clinical development at Merck Research Laboratories, also commented that for many patients with stage 3 or 4 melanoma, there is a “significant risk of recurrence following surgery.”
Researchers confirmed that the combination therapy is currently being evaluated in a phase 3 study. (iStock)
“As such, demonstrating the longer-term potential of intismeran autogene and KEYTRUDA to reduce the risk of recurrence for certain patients with melanoma is a meaningful milestone,” she said.
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The company cited encouraging five-year follow-up data and pointed to upcoming late-stage INTerpath trial results with Moderna in several hard-to-treat cancers.
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An accidental lab discovery has opened the door to entirely new ways of preventing the flu.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells, SWNS reported.
By targeting the specific molecules the viruses rely on, scientists found that they could block them from entering new cells and halt their replication altogether.
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Researchers say these “fundamental insights” into seasonal influenza highlight a clear path toward developing better preventive medications.
“The hope is that fundamental, curiosity-based research like this helps to pave the way for novel strategies to treat and prevent influenza infections,” principal investigator Dr. Emily Bruce, from the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, said in the SWNS report.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells. (iStock)
While several flu strains cause illness, H1N1 and H3N2 influenza A viruses are the most common. However, current flu tests cannot differentiate between them, and clinical treatments are identical for both.
Although vaccines and antivirals are available, Bruce noted a “dire” need for better medications to stop the virus from spreading cell to xxcell.
“You don’t get sick when a virus is in one cell,” he noted. “You get sick because a virus replicates itself and goes into many more cells.”
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The study, which was published in The Journal of Virology, originally aimed to map how viral RNA segments are transported within cells to create new viral particles.
The team used H1N1 and H3N2 viruses isolated from the nasal passages of positive patients in 2022.
Clinical treatments remain identical for both primary strains of the flu virus. (iStock)
During the investigation, the team unexpectedly stumbled upon a cellular pathway that blocked the virus from entering lung cells, SWNS reported.
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The data revealed that when a specific human protein called Rab11B was depleted, H3N2 viruses failed to enter human lung cells. H1N1 viruses were completely unaffected.
Using reverse genetics, the team mapped this defect and uncovered a brand-new, H3N2-specific role for Rab11B during viral entry.
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This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way.
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“Viruses are like pirates from different countries hijacking someone’s ship,” Bruce said. “Different viruses, like different types of pirates, use different methods to get onboard.”
This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way. (iStock)
“We had previously thought that all flu viruses used the same way to get into a cell, but we discovered that this is not true,” she went on. “H1N1 and H3N2 need different proteins to get in, and if you get rid of the right protein, a specific virus can’t get in.”
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While these findings identify a critical cellular pathway for viral entry, the study was conducted using isolated cells, the researchers acknowledged.
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Further research is needed to determine whether blocking the protein is safe and effective within a live, complex human respiratory system.
Bruce and the team hope to conduct further research to determine whether this Rab11B-dependency is a fundamental property of H3N2, or if it’s a trait unique to currently circulating flu strains.
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Eating processed meat like ham, sausage and bacon may be linked to a higher risk of certain types of cancer, according to new research.
While health organizations have already confirmed that processed meat can contribute to colon cancer, this study looked closer at cancers in the upper digestive tract, where the link has historically been less clear.
To understand these connections, researchers from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), one of the world’s largest long-term nutrition and cancer cohorts, tracked the health and diets of 450,112 people across Europe for an average of 14 years.
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The study group included 131,426 men and 318,686 women, according to the study’s press release.
During the follow-up period, 876 people developed stomach cancer and 215 people developed esophageal adenocarcinoma, which is cancer of the tube connecting the mouth to the stomach.
For female participants, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk of developing the disease. (iStock)
Researchers tracked where the stomach cancers grew, separating them into the upper part of the stomach near the throat and the lower part of the stomach.
The researchers also sorted the tumors into two categories based on how the cancer cells appeared under a microscope: intestinal, which forms more organized structures, and diffuse, in which the cells are more scattered throughout the tissue.
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After adjusting for other lifestyle factors, the researchers found that for every extra 30 grams of processed meat a person ate per day, their overall risk of stomach cancer went up by 9%. Eating that same extra 30 grams a day was also linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma.
A standard single slice of regular deli-sliced ham or lunch meat averages around 28 grams, according to USDA data and nutritional tracking databases.
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken and turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach. (iStock)
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken or turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach, the researchers noted.
The study also revealed differences between men and women. For male participants, only processed meat showed a clear, statistically significant link to a higher risk of stomach cancer. For female participants, however, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk.
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These findings align with global health benchmarks, particularly those established by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer.
The agency has long classified processed meat as a known human carcinogen, primarily due to its strong, well-documented links to colorectal cancer.
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However, health organizations have also consistently pointed to a potential, yet less definitive, relationship between these meats and cancers of the stomach.
Eating 30 grams of processed meat a day, or the equivalent to one slice of ham, was linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma. (iStock)
Further scientific investigation is needed to confirm the findings and to account for other underlying risk factors, such as certain stomach infections, which could interact with dietary habits.
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A key limitation of the study is its reliance on self-reported diets, which can sometimes lead to inaccuracies in how participants recall their meat consumption over time, the researchers noted.
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The findings were published in the International Journal of Cancer.
Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers requesting comment.
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