Hello there,
This is my first post on Permies forum. I'll add my 2 cents, as a physicist who works in radiation oncology, and has an interest in the basic science of cancer, especially nutritional approaches to managing cancer, and how insights from ecology can be translated to studying cancer.
While it's understandable that many people distrust the medical establishment and would want to experiment with alternative or natural treatments, it's really important to seek out professional care from qualified health care providers. I've seen several cases of cancer that could have been managed easily or even cured if the patients had followed the current state of the art in cancer care, but that ended up in a horrible mess of untreatable metastases because the patients had tried alternative treatments. Alternative treatments should complement, not replace conventional treatments.
The key advances in cancer treatment are early detection and intervention. Today, if cancer is detected early enough and is still localized, it's possible to treat it locally, often without chemo. This is especially true for the most common cancers, such as breast and prostate cancers. It just requires regular screening tests such as mammography or PSA tests. Women who go in for yearly check-ups with their gynecologists usually catch any gynecological malignancies like ovarian or cervix cancer at a stage when they are still treatable. It's also a good idea to do for regular skin checks with a dermatologist to catch melanomas.
Current technology such as radiation therapy with or without local surgery is very effective, with low toxicity and minimal side effects, but only while the cancer is still in an early stage. Lots of people have an irrational fear of radiation, without good reason. Today it's possible to shape beams of high energy x-rays and create plans that are optimized to each patient's specific anatomy that deliver a high dose to the tumor while sparing the surrounding tissues. Anyone with experience in gardening knows that it's easier to pull up weeds when they're still small. If you wait until they take over the garden, you'll have a much larger problem to deal with. In cancer, that's when you have to bring on the chemotherapy. Furthermore, once you bring on the heavy chemical treatments, you have to deal with problems of resistant organisms (whether they're weeds, bacteria or cancer cells).
It seems like there is good evidence that small doses of natural chemotherapy could help prevent the initial development of cancer or recurrences after treatment, but it shouldn't replace conventional treatments. If you want to experiment with natural chemotherapy, I've seen research on dandelion root, milkthistle and vinca alkaloids (these compounds are the basis for several modern chemotherapy treatments). I personally would not mess around with plant-derived substances unless I had someone who knew what they were doing advising me. Just because something is natural, doesn't mean it's not toxic.
The most convincing studies I've seen are on the potential of periodic fasting to prevent cancer. It's not easy, but I think that would be your best bet. If you get regular screening tests, don't smoke, eat a clean diet with plenty of vegetables and good fats, get enough rest, exercise and fast every now and then, you'll be doing a lot to reduce your risk. And remember that in many cases these days, a cancer diagnosis is not a death sentence.
