From Athlete to Cancer Diagnosis

As an athlete for his whole life and a thirst for knowledge on biohacking and metabolic health, weight training, zone2 training, yoga, cold plunging, and watching his diet, Devon never thought he would get bladder cancer. The hospital said that if left untreated, he would have two years to live. And if he did the “gold standard” of cancer care (chemo, removing the entire bladder and prostate, refashion a new bladder out of his intestine, and more chemo) he would have a 50/50 chance to live five years.

After a lot of research on solutions, he came across Dr. Ann Lee at Anatara Medicine, and everything changed.

My name is Devon Hartman. I’m very happy to be able to talk a little bit about my experience here at Anatara. I’m a husband and a grandfather. Got two adult daughters who have given us two grandsons. I have a very rich life and since I retired in 2010, I was 60 years old and got very interested in health.

Healthy Lifestyle to Cancer Diagnosis

I have been an athlete my whole life, very interested in staying strong and got fascinated by all of the research into biohacking and metabolic health. And so, I took a deep dive for about the last eight solid years into ketogenic diets and improving all of my metabolic health markers. And I brought all of my markers in line. I’ve been doing weight training, zone2 training, yoga, sauna, cold plunge, watching my watching my diet and my health and feeling at 72 years old, feeling as healthy as you can be at 72, not quite what I was at 25.

And everything was fantastic until July when I was at the gym. I noticed a lot of blood in my urine. I finished a workout, I was lifting weights that day, it was fantastic workout. I felt great. I’m looking at blood going, this is very strange. I feel great. I finished my workout, drove myself to the hospital, Urgent Care. And July of this year, I was diagnosed with stage three bladder cancer. So, as you can imagine, that was a shock, to say the least, to me and my whole family.

Traditional Medicine Limitations

It just didn’t make sense. Why would I get bladder cancer? But the more I look into it, there are lots and lots of under underlying reasons. My father had bladder cancer. He didn’t die from it, but he had it. He didn’t have stage three, I think they caught it at stage one or two. And so that, of course, diagnosis led me down a research rabbit hole to try and find some solutions. Because I went to the hospital, they basically told me that if I did nothing, I had about two years to live. And if I did the gold standard treatment, which is Cisplatin chemotherapy, Radical Cystectomy, where they remove my entire bladder and my prostate and all my lymph nodes, refashion a new bladder out of my intestine, and then more chemotherapy, after the operation, I have a 50/50 chance to live five years.

I went to the hospital, they basically told me that if I did nothing, I had about two years to live. And if I did the gold standard treatment… I have a 50/50 chance to live five years.

Anatara’s Cancer Treatment Approach

So, in my in my research, luckily, I came across a video by Dr. Anne Lee here at Antara, and I fell in love with her entire demeanor, her intelligence and even the sound of her voice, the compassion in her voice. And she laid out a litany of all of the procedures and processes and modalities that they employ here at Anatara.

And all of that rang true with me based on my prior research. I also found a video of Dr. Herskowitz that was also very impressive. And so, I called the office and talked to Carmen and she was fantastic on the phone. I’ve had experience in other clinics and obviously kind of the whole hospital world, and I felt immediately that I had found a home. That these people truly wanted to respond to me as an individual patient, listen to me, responded to my individual concerns. And I felt like this was the place I wanted to come and try.

Preparing My Body for Cancer Care

The hospitals told me that I have a weakened kidney, and so I was not eligible for the gold standard care of a certain chemical that they would use for chemotherapy, Cisplatin. I was Cisplatin ineligible and so, they were going to do other, less effective chemotherapy treatments for me, and they were going to blast me with chemo to the exclusion of helping me revive all of my other metabolic markers that my entire system would be compromised. Whereas I come here to Anatara and they look at my kidney function and they built it up. My kidney function after two weeks at Anatara, was better than it’s been in the last several years.

My kidney function after two weeks at Anatara, was better than it’s been in the last several years.

They build up my kidney function to where it’s normal and now they can actually use low dose Cisplatin, which is the gold standard in the hospital world, but they can use it as a low dose with other chemo agents that I found out are particularly effective and aggressive with my particular type of Cancer. So not only have I revived my kidney function in my entire metabolic system, but I still get to use gold standard care in a much more targeted fashion, here at Anatara.

…not only have I revived my kidney function in my entire metabolic system, but I still get to use gold standard care in a much more targeted fashion, here at Anatara.

Anatara’s Medical and Personal Expertise

And I’ve been to several clinics, personal clinics, functional medicine clinics, I’ve been through the whole hospital world. And what I’ve discovered here at Anatara is that they have, because of Dr. Herskowitz’ experience in the medical industry and having run major departments in the classical medical world, understands the business of medicine and how to coordinate an operation and a business to be able to execute on a high standard.

Here at Anatara, they talk about personalized medicine, but they also execute. They have created an entire team of dedicated individuals who are world class in their expertise and personally, emotionally invested in making sure that they bring the best of cutting-edge technologies to the individualized patient. So let me give you an example. I came here and they ran blood tests that nobody ever ran for me before, in any of the hospitals that I’ve been to talking about my cancer.

They took those blood tests and they sent them to Europe to discover exactly what kind of Cancer I have, and cultured those Cancer cells to determine exactly what kinds of chemo agents and other supplements attack my particular Cancers. And they came up with a suite of chemo agents and supplements that I know are attacking my particular Cancer.

They took those blood tests and they sent them to Europe to discover exactly what kind of Cancer I have, and cultured those Cancer cells to determine exactly what kinds of chemo agents and other supplements attack my particular Cancers. And they came up with a suite of chemo agents and supplements that I know are attacking my particular Cancer. So now I can come in and work with an entire team of people who are versed in all aspects of medicine from East to West, and they have targeted and systematized their approach to my particular phenotype and the way I’m expressing my particular disease.

And it’s been extraordinary. Not only do I feel technically taken care of, but I feel emotionally and spiritually supported. I feel the personal attention from each person on staff. I get calls at my home, from Dr. Herskowitz to Dr. Lee to Dr. Mansour, from Dr. Mansour to the staff, making sure that I’m okay. My whole family feels supported by me being here. My wife has been here with me during my treatments. She feels excited and hopeful for me.

And so, for all of us, the experience here at Anatara has given me an emotional and spiritual and technical support level that is making me optimistic about, about my outcome. My quality of life, no matter what the outcome is going to be, has been and will be superb. And I’m just very grateful that I found Anatara and the entire team of people who are working here.