Return to the Hospital That Gave Him Life Again, Feeling Warm in Modern Cancer Hospital

"From the first admission to the hospital to the successful discharge from the hospital, it was almost 9 months, and now is the 9th year of successful anti-cancer fighting, I have a great fate with NINE, and I’m very excited to return to this place which gave me a second chance at life." This is the emotion expressed by Prasit Sumonta who returned to our hospital in November 2023 to participate in the In Long Years of Fighting Cancer Feeling Warm in Modern Cancer Hospital—the Come-home Gala of Anti-cancer Stars event. NINE also has a long-term and eternal meaning in Chinese culture, implying eternal health and happiness.

(Comparison of the effect of Prasit Sumonta before and after treatment)

In 2023, Prasit Sumonta participated in the Cancer Warriors event

Recalling how he was first diagnosed with cancer in 2011, Prasit Sumonta never believed that the rest of his life could be associated with "longevity." When I was diagnosed, the local doctors gave me an ultimatum: I had two months to live with terminal throat cancer, I felt very bad, two months is 60 days, in the blink of an eye, a kind of fear of death by the throat".

(In 2023, Prasit Sumonta participated in the Cancer Warriors event)

"But now that I have entered my 9th year, I’m in good health as usual, and it cannot be too strongly emphasized to say that St. Stamford Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou has given me a second life." When telling about his heart-wrenching journey of battling the disease, Pratt is relaxed and determined at this moment, which is the unique temperament of the victor, and he has overcome the disease.

(Mr. He Langbing, Director of the International Affairs Department, presented a certificate of honor to Prasit Sumonta)

In order to convey his anti-cancer spirit, Prasit Sumonta also visited breast cancer patients and bowel cancer patients in Thailand. They were very excited to see their own country's anti-cancer star, especially the colorectal cancer patient Anocha, who decided to come to our hospital for treatment after listening to Prasit Sumonta's anti-cancer story at a live event in Thailand, and he said that he would follow Prasit Sumonta's example and follow the doctor's advice to strive to be the next anti-cancer star.

Surrounded by Nightmares, His Weight Plummeted

Around 2010, a tumor grew on the right side of Prasit Sumonta's neck. The tumor grew bigger and bigger, and when it reached the size of a coconut, it broke through the skin, festered, and bled out, also with a white fluid flowing out. Prasit Sumonta often couldn't sleep because of the pain and lost 20 kg. Once, when he slept and dreamed that he was drowning, he woke up from the dream to find that it was the festering tumor that had shed a lot of blood, which had soaked his clothes and pants, at that time he was lying in a pool of blood. Over the years, the cancer has almost brought Prasit Sumonta to a nervous breakdown, his classic daily action is to look in the mirror and measure this pesky tumor with both hands, thinking to himself how good it would be if one day it suddenly disappeared.

Conventional Chemoradiotherapy Can Result in Total Teeth Loss

In 2011, Prasit Sumonta was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer and underwent systemic chemotherapy on the advice of local doctors. However, the side effects of chemotherapy made him very resistant to this treatment. "I vomited as soon as I went through chemotherapy, and now I'm scared when I go to the hospital," he said. Later, the doctor recommended radiotherapy and told Prasit Sumonta that radiotherapy would cause all the teeth on the right side to fall out. It was recommended that they be extracted before radiotherapy to avoid suffering more serious side effects. So I had the teeth extracted, but later radiotherapy failed. Because it took a long time to queue up for treatment in a Thai hospital, Prasit Sumonta gave up on entering a Thai hospital after waiting for a while. And because he was afraid of the side effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, he did not undergo treatment at all and only did some daily conditioning at home. However, his condition worsened day by day. As he was dying, Prasit Sumonta and his family learned about our hospital with so many outlets. The idea of seeking medical treatment in a foreign country was like a seed that sprouted in the hearts of Prasit Sumonta and his family and slowly grew up.

My Virtuous Wife Shares Weal and Woe with me

“After seeing the information about St. Stamford Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou in the newspaper, I also looked up this hospital online, but we didn’t know whether it was true, and we were worried that treatment would cost a lot of money,” said Prasit Sumonta. After comprehensive consideration, he finally followed his wife's advice and came to St. Stamford Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou on March 12, 2015, but at the same time, he was psychologically prepared for not being able to return to his hometown.

(Prasit Sumonta in his daily life)

"Thanks to my wife I can survive today," Prasit Sumonta said, "She has been by my side for the past four years, changing my medicine two or three times a day, and suffering with me." Because the tumor compressed his airway, esophagus, and larynx trachea, he could only eat liquid food. His breathing gradually became difficult and his voice became hoarse. His wife beat the food into juice and put a tube in it for him to drink. Prasit Sumonta and his wife won the race against time. They waited until St. Stamford Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou and had the opportunity to successfully fight cancer.

The MDT Reduces a Coconut-sized Tumor to the Size of An Egg

It was this journey of seeking medical treatment that brought a turning point for Prasit Sumonta! "It's a miracle. After just over 20 days of treatment, my tumor has changed from the size of a coconut to the size of an egg, and my sense of taste also recovered two days before I was discharged from the hospital," Prasit Sumonta said in surprise.

After admission, the diagnosis was that the size of the tumor in the right neck was 20x18x10cm, and there was also a swollen lymph node in the left neck about 5x4x3 cm. Mr.Pai was diagnosed with laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma and bilateral cervical lymph node metastasis (stage IVb). 

Taking into account the serious condition of the tumor compressing the laryngeal trachea and causing an inability to breathe, the MDT of St. Stamford Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou decided to first perform a tracheotomy on Prasit Sumonta to solve the symptoms of dyspnea and ensure the safety of subsequent minimally invasive treatments. On March 14, hospital surgical experts successfully performed a tracheotomy and then underwent interventional therapy and right neck tumor cryosurgery on March 23 and March 30. Prasit Sumonta's attending doctor compared the photos of the tumor taken when he was admitted to the hospital on March 12 and when he was discharged on April 5, and said: "The tumor has shrunk by four-fifths."

"After the intervention, I could see the tumor-shrinking every day," Prasit Sumonta said. "Especially on the fourth day after the intervention, the tumor had shrunk by 40%. From that day on, I gained confidence and laughed – I haven’t laughed truly happily in four years!”

Hale and Hearty in His 70s

The subsequent treatment went surprisingly smoothly. Now, nearly 9 years have passed. Prasit Sumonta, who is in his seventies, has black hair and is energetic, with a cheerful and warm smile on his face. The disease seemed to be just a joke on him. It tried its best to strangle his throat, but it fled in a hurry in front of the advanced medical technology of mankind and then disappeared without a trace.

Prasit Sumonta's anti-cancer story has infected many patients, and his success stories are and will continue to inspire more cancer patients.

"Stay optimistic and never retreat", this is what Prasit Sumonta said to the patients who are suffering from the disease. "Choose the right treatment method, St. Stamford Cancer Hospital Guangzhou will be your correct choice." This is Prasit Sumonta's most loyal advice. He hopes that all cancer patients will succeed in fighting cancer as soon as possible.

【Cryotherapy】

      

Cryotherapy is also called Argon-helium Knife treatment, when argon is rapidly released in the needle tip, it can freeze the tumor tissue to -120°C to -180°C within 10 seconds to form ice balls, causing coagulation necrosis; when helium is rapidly released in the needle tip, the temperature will rapidly rise to 20 °C ~ 40 °C, the hard ice ball is quickly thawed and blasted to destroy tumor tissue.

1. Argon-helium Knife is a physical treatment with few side effects.
2. Almost all solid tumors can be treated with Argon-helium Knife

【Interventional Therapy】

Interventional therapy involves puncture under the guidance of medical imaging equipment, using special guide wires and other precision instruments to directly inject anti-tumor drugs that are 2 to 8 times higher than intravenous drip drugs into the tumor, and at the same time embolize the blood supplying arteries of the tumor to achieve tumor recovery. The purpose of shrinking or even disappearing.

1. It has the advantages of less trauma, fewer complications, safety and quick recovery.
2. Suitable for patients who have poor results from traditional radiotherapy and chemotherapy and are unwilling or unsuitable for surgery.

*Surgery, in addition to the appropriate chemotherapy and radiotherapy, are effective in treating early cancer, but certain patients in late stage of cancer may not be tolerate surgery well as they can be relatively weak. A combination of carefully planned minimally invasive therapy, chemotherapy or radiotherapy can effectively reduce the side effects and discomfort of treatment and may help patient get better efficacy.