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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The keto diet may help individuals with anorexia nervosa, new research from UC San Diego School of Medicine suggests.
The small study, published in the journal Nature, enrolled 22 women between 18 and 45 years old who had a history of anorexia nervosa and a BMI (body mass index) above 17.5.
Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a severe psychiatric disorder involving food restriction and low body weight, the researchers describe. This is often followed by body dissatisfaction, an intense fear of eating, and a preoccupation with body shape and size even after weight restoration.
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The participants followed a ketogenic therapy plan for 14 weeks, aiming for a diet consisting of 70% fat, 20% protein and 10% carbohydrates, according to a press release.
The participants followed a ketogenic therapy plan for 14 weeks, aiming for a diet consisting of 70% fat, 20% protein and 10% carbohydrates. (iStock)
The goal was to maintain weight while inducing nutritional ketosis — a metabolic state in which the body produces and uses ketones for energy because carbohydrate intake is low enough to shift metabolism toward fat burning.
The researchers monitored the participants via ketone testing, weekly weight checks, symptom questionnaires, and nutritional and psychiatric support.
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Among the remaining 18 participants, eating disorder symptoms reportedly improved in several areas, including restraint, depression scores, and concern with eating, shape and weight.
Overall scores on the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) also improved, with 72% of participants scoring in the recovered or normal range.
Eating disorder symptoms reportedly improved in several areas, according to the study findings. (iStock)
The participants’ body weight did not change significantly, and no BMI fell below 17.5, according to the results.
Those who continued to follow ketogenic therapy three months after the intervention had slightly better EDE-Q scores.
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The study authors concluded that ketogenic dietary therapy is “well-tolerated” and demonstrated “potential efficacy” in reducing anorexia nervosa symptoms in adults who are mildly underweight or weight-restored.
Although the study was “sufficiently powered,” the authors noted that the small sample size of predominantly White females limits the scope of the findings.
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“Future research should replicate these findings in more diverse populations and incorporate objective assessments of brain function, such as metabolic PET imaging, to assess brain glucose metabolism,” they wrote.
Those who continued to follow ketogenic therapy three months after the intervention had slightly better scores on the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire. (iStock)
Lead study author Guido Frank, MD, professor of psychiatry at the UC San Diego School of Medicine, who has studied and treated anorexia patients for more than 25 years, launched this study to broaden treatment options for this high-risk population.
Frank wrote in a statement that new approaches to anorexia nervosa are “urgently” needed.
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“Our work with ketogenic therapy looks beyond standard therapies and potentially at the underlying physiology of the disorder,” he went on.
“Growing evidence links anorexia nervosa to neurometabolic dysfunction, and we are hopeful that direct metabolic intervention can regulate neural function and address the psychological symptoms patients experience.”
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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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