By Pam McGaffin

Colleen Webster was appalled when a surgeon warned her that it might be too upsetting if she actively sought out "other information" about her cancer.

She walked away from that doctor and proceeded to amass a file-cabinet's worth of research on non-Hodgkins lymphoma and its treatments. Over the next 10 years, she also "fired" a few more doctors before she found one who supported her involvement.

Upon meeting Dr. Nick Chen, an oncologist at Seattle Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center, she stole the words right out of his mouth.

"Have you considered mono..?" Chen started.

"Monoclonal antibodies?" Webster interjected, launching into some thoughts of her own on targeted therapies.

Chen was a little taken aback, but he says he's seeing more and more patients like Webster, who insist on being an active participant in their own care. At the Seattle clinic, which combines traditional and complimentary cancer treatments like naturopathy and Chinese medicine, that's not only tolerated, it's encouraged.
"In the old model of medicine, the patient was just expected to take the orders from Marcus Welby," said center naturopathic physician, Mark Gignac, referring to a kindly doctor from a 1970s TV show. "The doctors here like to think of ourselves as navigators. The patient is the pilot."

Webster, 53, is convinced she would have died if she followed the advice of some of her previous physicians. Today, this former Boeing technical professional is in her third full remission after a 14-year cancer battle that has included a bone-marrow transplant, five rounds of chemotherapy, radiation and a host of natural treatments.

She certainly looks healthy as she energetically talks about her ordeal. But the disease and the aggressive fight to stop it have left her weak and "damaged," she says.

An active woman who used to run, swim and canoe, she now has to rest after 10 minutes of doing the dishes. This wasn't the life she and husband Al Falco envisioned after the last of their four children left the nest.

Both their lives took a turn that October day in 1990.

She was sitting at a stoplight when she happened to touch a lump next to her collarbone. She felt the other side - no lump there - and promptly called her primary-care physician.

Two rounds of chemotherapy knocked the cancer into remission for six years. Then the lump came back. This time the lymphoma didn't respond to the chemotherapy drugs.

At the same time, Webster's younger brother was dying of leukemia.

She was in such bad shape physically and emotionally that a family friend was ready to stop everything and take her to Korea to be treated by an herbal healer.
Webster declined, but she did agree to see a local naturopath, who advised her to make changes in her diet and work schedule and put her on a regimen of teas and supplements.

The natural remedies brought some relief - alleviating her night sweats, high blood pressure and fatigue - but Webster knew she would need more chemotherapy.

She found a new oncologist, who, after a round on stronger chemo drugs, pronounced her in great shape and told her to enjoy life.

Taking his words to heart, she and her husband put money down on a five-acre piece of retirement property near Longview. They were within two days of closing when unusual fatigue sent Webster back to the doctor's office.

The news wasn't good. She was referred to a lymphoma expert at the University of Washington, who advised "emergency chemo" with a cocktail so toxic the nurses who handle it wear special protective suits, Webster said.

She did the chemo, but doctors were now talking about options to extend her life. She could undergo still more chemo or opt for a bone-marrow transplant. Either way, they predicted she'd get only about 18 months.

She chose the transplant in the hopes of pushing the cancer into remission and buying herself more time.

Dr. Paul Reilly, another naturopath at Seattle Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center, referred her to Cancer Treatment Centers of America's flagship hospital, Midwestern Regional Medical Center (MRMC) in Zion, Illinois. They would be able to do her transplant there, and she could continue with her natural therapies.

"There was hope," Webster said of the atmosphere at MRMC. "There was acceptance. There was partnership rather than condescension."

The transplant she received in the summer of 2000 in Illinois sent the disease into remission. But, two years later, CT scans showed the lymphoma was back again.

She then began monoclonal antibody therapy under Dr. Chen at Seattle Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center. Unlike traditional chemotherapy, monoclonal antibodies target and kill only cancer cells, leaving the other cells unharmed.

Webster also received acupuncture, mind-body medicine and naturopathic-nutrition guidance at the center.

Scans showed her cancer steadily shrinking, and then entering full remission in the fall of 2003.

Of course, Webster isn't naive enough to think her odyssey is over. "I'm living with cancer," she says.

The future is uncertain, but dealing with her disease doesn't feel as overwhelming as it once did.

"When you're first told you have cancer, it's like snow coming at the windshield of your car," she said. "If you can't be your own advocate, you need to find somebody who can."

Webster hopes that her knowledge and her experiences, good and bad, can help other cancer patients.

"Maybe that's what my life's about," she says.

No case is typical. You should not expect to experience these results.