Brave fight back to health

Brave fight back to health

 

Brave fight: Anton Kuraia fought has way back to health from an aggressive cancer. Photos - nzcpa.co.nz 

 

Healthy: Anton Kuraia the police officer.  

 

 

Whangarei Police officer Anton Kuraia set out on his own journey back to health after almost losing a battle to a very aggressive form of cancer.

He is now doing a walk to raise awareness of the more natural methods of dealing with the disease.

But good on him, he has been able to return to his job from extreme illness, with what he says has been a big change in his approach to diet and health, generally.

There are other ways of fighting the dreaded cancer and BTO hopes to profile someone else who has kicked it into touch totally without orthodox treatments.

BTO is definitely not advocating that people should ditch their health professionals' advice or recommended treatments but I think there isn't enough spoken about the possible other complimentary treatments and options for some people who wish to choose their method of treatment.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503450&objectid=11394896

Anton started The 809 Foundation, and you can read about Anton’s journey through to wellness and his return to work, after having gone into a good remission from the aggressive acute myeloid leukaemia. The link to the foundation is below where people can donate to help people who may want to look at alternative and complimentary methods of fighting the disease:

http://www.the809foundation.org.nz/

So what is acute myeloid leukaemia?

http://www.leukaemia.org.au/blood-cancers/leukaemias/acute-myeloid-leukaemia-aml

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is an aggressive type of cancer affecting the bone marrow and blood.

Immature white blood cells are overproduced, which are myoblasts or leukaemic blasts.

The immature cells crowd the bone marrow preventing normal blood cells to be made. The blasts can also get into the blood stream, circulating around the body.

These cells are unable to work properly to fight infections.

Anaemia can then be caused due to too smaller amount of red cells and platelets being produced by the marrow. Two other conditions that can be caused by this situation are bleeding and bruising.

How common is it?

Each year in Australia around 900 people are diagnosed with AML.

Overall AML is rare, accounting for 0.8% of all cancers diagnosed, at a rate of 3.7 per 100,000 of the population.

Who suffers from it?

AML can occur at any age but is more common in adults over the age of 60 years. Around 50 children (0-14 years) are diagnosed with AML in Australia each year. It occurs more frequently in males than in females.

What’s the cause?

It is largely unknown what causes AML but is considered to be associated with damage to one or more genes that usually control blood cell development.

Some people with pre-existing blood disorders like certain myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN), or certain genetic disorders like Down's Syndrome, Bloom Syndrome and Fanconi's anaemia may have a higher than average risk of developing AML.

Possible symptoms?

The main symptoms of AML are caused by a lack of normal blood cells. These include:

·         anaemia due to a lack of red cells; causing persistent tiredness, dizziness, paleness, or shortness of breath when physically active;

·         frequent or repeated infections and slow healing, due to a lack of normal white cells, especially neutrophils;

·         increased or unexplained bleeding or bruising, due to a very low platelet count.

Other symptoms may include bone pain, swollen lymph nodes, swollen gums, chest pain and abdominal discomfort due to a swollen spleen or liver.

How to treat it?

A fast moving cancer, means treatment needs to begin soon after AML is diagnosed.

A number of factors will determine the type of treatment; including the sub-type of AML, the genetic make-up of the leukaemic cells, general health and age of the person.

The main treatment is Chemotherapy.

The aim initially, is to destroy leukaemic cells and induce a remission. This means that there is no evidence of leukaemic cells in the blood and bone marrow and that normal blood cell production and normal blood counts are restored. Once a remission has been achieved, more chemotherapy is given in an effort to prevent the leukaemia from returning (relapsing).

A combination of drug Chemotherapy is usually given, usually over a period of a week or so. In most cases the drugs are given as infusions through a special line called a central venous catheter, which will be inserted before treatment begins.

People with a sub-type of AML called acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APML), may also be treated with a non-chemotherapy drug called all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), a derivative of vitamin A, which helps make the leukaemic cells either mature properly, or die.

Occasionally, a stem cell transplant may be used. This increases the chance of cure for some people with AML. 

What are treatment side effects?

The type and severity of side effects will vary between individuals, depending on the type of treatment used and how each individual responds to it. In general, more intensive treatment is associated with more severe side-effects. It is important that symptoms are reported immediately to your doctor or nurse, as in most cases they can be treated and are reversible.

AML affects the ability of the bone marrow to produce adequate numbers of blood cells and platelets, and chemotherapy reduces this ability even further. Blood counts generally fall within a week of treatment and may take some time to recover, depending on the type and doses of drugs used. During this time, you are likely to need antibiotics and other drugs to treat, or prevent infection. You are also likely to need blood transfusions to treat severe anaemia, and platelet transfusions to reduce the risk of bleeding.