Kathy Seiffert

Diagnosed December 2006

High Dose Vitamin C IV Treatment

The Martha C. Kinnecom Peritoneal Cancer Foundation Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation
www.PrimaryPeritonealCancer.org
PRIMARY PERITONEAL CANCER FOUNDATION
   Keep Hope Alive
May 6, 2009

Dear Andy,

Firstly I would like to thank you very much for this informative website. I was diagnosed
with PPC in December 2006, one month before my 30th birthday. I have searched for
information about this cancer and this is the best website by far, I am glad to see people
are now paying attention to this cancer.

On September 24th 2006 I gave birth to our son, Lachlan Mark Seiffert, by c-section and
6 weeks prematurely. I went back to my gynecologist/obstetrician 4 weeks later to have a
check up. During this appointment my doctor performed a pap smear which came back
showing I had cervical cancer on the surface of my cervix. I was then sent in for a Letz
procedure to remove the abnormal cells.

I returned to my Dr for a check up following this procedure and all was well apart from
some abdominal pain (I had just put this down to having a caesarean). After a physical
examination my doctor sent me straight away for an ultrasound where a large mass in my
abdomen was found.

The next day I was sent to see a gyno/oncologist and after examination he sat my
husband Mark and I down and told us he thought it was a benign tumor. Our doctor
wasn't too concerned as the tumor was free moving and didn't seem attached to anything.
As it was the 22nd of December and my surgeon was going on holidays, he booked me in
for the 11th of January to have surgery to remove the tumor. I was obviously quite
distressed to have to wait this time for surgery especially after one week the tumor had
stopped moving.

On the 11th of January I woke up from surgery to find out that they had performed a
radical hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy-omentectomy and debulking for
Primary Peritoneal Carcinoma. After tests were performed I was diagnosed with
Peritoneal metastatic disease, hepatic metastasis and left inguinal lymphadenopathy stage
4. After the main tumor was removed I was left with lesions on my liver, bladder, bowel
and lungs.

I had my first round of chemotherapy on the 23rd of January 2007; this was a course of
Paxlitaxol/Carboplatin. After 3 cycles of the Paxlitaxol I had shown no signs of
improvement and had neuropathy in my hands and feet. I also suffered severe side effects
with my nausea being unmanageable. My oncologist decided to stop this treatment and
change me to the sister drug Doclitaxol. After another 4 cycles of the Doclitaxol, with
still no improvement, I was changed to the drug Caelyx. This was to try and control the
cancer and give me more time. The doctors had already told me that from diagnosis to
death with this cancer was usually 18 months, as I had become so sick from the
chemotherapy they believed I only had 6 months left. The treatments of Caelyx left me
with severe nausea, constipation, skin peeling from my hands and feet and ulcers all
through my mouth.

In August 2008 I decided enough was enough and I stopped all types of chemotherapy.
Unfortunately the treatment was not working for me, only killing my body quicker than
the cancer. During this time I had started seeing a naturopath was put me onto a doctor
who did intravenous vitamin C treatment and I thought what did I have to lose.
I have now been having weekly high doses of Vitamin C and alpha lipoic acid, for a year.
My tumors have all calcified and my CA125 is sitting just above the normal range. This
treatment not only is making a difference to my cancer cells, it also makes my immune
system stronger to fight the cancer. The only down side is that it does harden my veins
and we have to search for a working vein each week, I would prefer to deal with this than
the side effects chemo had on me. My doctor also put me onto Melatonin, as I suffer
insomnia, and also as research has shown that Melatonin affects the immune response to
cancer, inhibiting tumor growth.

Thanks for your time Andy and I hope this is of benefit to someone who is going through
this fight.

Kind Regards

Kathy Seiffert
Australia