Stage Four Cancer Survivor: My Fight With Metastatic Cancer
Follow my stage four cancer journey as I document treatments, immunotherapy, carnivore diet, and integrative strategies in my fight against metastatic cancer.
In this comprehensive guide, Wayne Schlicht shares both the medical facts and his personal experience living with metastatic head and neck cancer. Learn how Stage 4 cancer is diagnosed, the latest treatment options, what metastatic cancer means, and why a Stage 4 diagnosis is not always the end. Whether you are newly diagnosed, supporting a loved one, or simply looking for hope from someone living this fight every day, this cornerstone article offers practical information, encouragement, and real world perspective.
Can improving metabolic health help in the fight against cancer? After being diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, I spent thousands of hours researching the metabolic theory of cancer, the Warburg Effect, ketogenic and carnivore diets, and the latest scientific studies. In this deeply personal article, I share what I discovered, why I chose a carnivore diet alongside conventional treatment, and the evidence that shaped my decisions. Read the full story and learn why becoming a student of cancer changed my life forever.
After receiving a terminal stage 4 cancer diagnosis, I combined a strict carnivore diet with Keytruda immunotherapy and an integrative treatment plan while carefully tracking my progress. Six months later, my CT scans showed two lung tumors were no longer detectable, while the remaining tumors had shrunk by approximately 50 percent. Read about my personal experience, the changes I made, and the results that have given me renewed hope in my fight against metastatic cancer.
High-dose IV vitamin C has emerged as one of the most discussed complementary therapies in integrative cancer care. In this article, I explain how intravenous vitamin C differs from oral supplements, review the current scientific research, discuss potential benefits and safety considerations, and share why it became an important part of my stage 4 cancer treatment alongside conventional therapy. Whether you’re researching integrative oncology or seeking evidence-based information on IV vitamin C and cancer, this guide provides a balanced overview for patients and caregivers.
I’m Wayne, a stage four cancer survivor and dad from Southwest Florida. I am the author of Still Here: How Faith, Food, and Family Beat Stage Four Cancer. A memoir about my head and neck cancer that spread to my lungs, and I’ve stayed on the protocol ever since, monitoring closely to keep it that way. I’ve walked the traditional path with 70 radiation treatments, 20 rounds of chemo, a five-hour radical neck dissection, and immunotherapy. When that wasn’t enough, I became my own patient. I tracked my labs and clinical data, optimized vitamin D, zinc, and magnesium, added repurposed medications, high-dose IV vitamin C, and a carnivore diet.
Six months later, two lung nodes were undetectable, and two had reduced by 50 percent.
This blog documents my stage four cancer survivor story and the integrative treatment protocols I’ve built along the way. I’ve documented everything in a 73,000-word memoir that I believe is one of the most detailed accounts of its kind. Every decision. Every result. Every lesson. This blog is where I share all of it: the medical details, the emotions, the fears, the small victories, and the faith that keeps me going.
My Voice Came Back: A Stage 4 Cancer Miracle, Hope, and My Latest CT Scan Behind the CT Scan, A Week I Won’t Forget There are weeks that quietly change your life. This was one of them. In just a few days, I had a CT scan, met with a speech therapist who gave me new hope, and then sat across from my oncologist to discuss my CT scan results and the next steps in …
I have been blessed. For a long time, I wondered if I would ever be able to say those words about my voice again. Many of you know that one of the hardest parts of my cancer treatment wasn't just the surgeries, radiation, chemotherapy, or the uncertainty. It was losing my ability to communicate. In the mornings my voice was usually manageable, but by afternoon and evening it had faded so much that people often …
There is a certain kind of anxiety that only cancer patients understand. It doesn't happen during chemotherapy. It doesn't happen during surgery. It doesn't even happen during treatment. It happens while waiting. Tomorrow I have another CT scan. If you have never had cancer, a scan might seem like just another appointment. Show up. Get scanned. Go home. For me, and for millions of other cancer patients, it is so much more than that. What …
I Was Never Supposed to See This Father's Day. It is Father's Day. And I am so thankful. This time last year, I was given four months to live. By the grace of God, a miracle, and one knowledgeable pharmacist, I am still here. I have had a year I was never supposed to have. I did not waste it. Choosing Gratitude Over Fear. If you read my last update, you know where things stood. …
After Keytruda treatment is paused due to immunotherapy-induced pneumonitis, Wayne shares the emotional reality of sleepless nights, uncertainty, and recovery. Despite the setback, recent scans remain stable, faith remains strong, and hope continues to guide his journey through stage 4 cancer. There is a particular kind of quiet that shows up at three in the morning. The house is dark. My wife is asleep. And I am lying wide awake, staring at the ceiling, because …
I have had so many CT scans over the past four years battling cancer that I have lost count. You would think it gets easier. It does not. The night before, you lie there in the dark and your mind starts going. You replay every cough, every ache, every weird feeling you brushed off. You pray. You try to sleep. You mostly do not. Then you go in. You lie still on that cold table. …
There is something that happens when you have been living with stage four cancer long enough. You stop treating days as ordinary. You cannot afford to. Every morning you wake up, and your feet hit the floor, you understand in your bones that this day was not guaranteed. It is a gift. And you try, you really try, to treat it like one. But some days carry more weight than the rest. This Tuesday, May …
A chapter from Still Here: How Faith, Food, and Family Beat Stage Four Cancer Let me start with something that matters: I respect doctors. I owe part of my life to the oncologists, surgeons, nurses, and radiologists who helped carry me through some of the darkest valleys I have ever walked. They are good people doing hard work inside a broken system. And that system has a giant blind spot. That blind spot is nutrition. …
CT Scan Miracle Nobody Expected. Still Here — Available Now on Amazon For more than four years, I have been fighting for my life. Today, I am sharing that fight in a different way. My memoir, Still Here, is now published and available on Amazon. This book was written during some of the hardest stretches I have ever faced. Many of you were part of that journey, whether through support, prayers, messages, or simply …
In the early morning hours of April 7, around 2 AM, I sat in a dark, quiet house and wrote to you. My wife and our oldest son were away in Tennessee helping her mom recover from hip replacement surgery, so it was just me, drenched in sweat, unable to sleep, six hours away from scan results that would tell me a great deal about my future. I told you I was scared. I told …
If you’ve ever waited for cancer scan results, you know the feeling. The anxiety, the silence, the mental replay of every decision. This is what scanxiety feels like at 2 AM, when sleep won’t come and your mind won’t stop. The Night Before the Scan It’s 2 AM. I can’t sleep. I’m sitting in the dark writing this to you. The house is too quiet. My wife and our oldest son are in Tennessee right …
Friends and family, I want to start this update the way I should start every day. By saying thank you. Thank you to God. Thank you to every single one of you. And thank you for the milestones your support and prayers have allowed me to experience since my stage four diagnosis. With Easter right around the corner, my heart is full. Easter reminds me that through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, suffering and death …
The most important question in cancer care is also the most frustrating: how do you find it before symptoms appear? For most people, the answer has been to wait. Wait for a lump. Wait for pain. Wait for a doctor to notice something on a scan ordered for something else entirely. By then, many cancers have already progressed to a point where treatment options narrow quickly. The Cancerguard blood test is designed to change that. …
More Time, One Infusion at a Time Four years. That is how long I have been fighting cancer. In June 2025, on my 25th wedding anniversary, no less, I got the confirmation that it was stage 4. Today, I am still here. That is not luck. That is God, good medicine, and every single one of you. Your Dollars at Work Your donations have gone directly toward the life saving infusions that are part of …
One thing every cancer patient knows is the chemo chair. That infusion chair becomes a second home, whether you want it to be or not. You walk in the first time, terrified. By the tenth time, you know exactly which chair you like, which nurse has the gentlest hands, and how to settle in for the long haul. If I added it all up, I have probably spent over 50 sessions sitting in that chair. …
I am a husband, a dad from the Upper Midwest, and a cancer warrior who has now walked through more than most bodies are ever meant to endure. Seventy radiation treatments. Twenty chemotherapy infusions. A five hour radical neck dissection. I followed the maximum treatment path recommended in the United States, not once, but twice. On June 3, 2025, our twenty fifth wedding anniversary, my wife and I received the words no family wants to …
In my New Year’s post, I described how 2025 was a brutal year. I started the year believing I had finally won. Two rounds of treatment behind me. The nightmare was over. Then came June 3rd, 2025. Our 25th wedding anniversary. A day that should have been about celebrating a quarter century of love with my wife, Sarah. Instead, we sat together reading a pathology report that shattered everything. My cancer was back. It had …
I love joking around. I love talking to people. Making a real connection with a person or a group has always been rewarding for me. Conversation was how I showed up in the world. It was how I connected, how I built trust, how I made people feel at ease. That is why losing my voice has been one of the hardest parts of this cancer journey. There are times when I feel silenced. I …
Last night I told you I was nervous. Today I can finally exhale. My January 13, 2026 CT scan shows stable metastatic disease. If you've been following my story, you know what those words mean. You know I've been fighting this battle for four years now. You know about the 70 radiation treatments, the 20 chemotherapy infusions, the five hour surgery where three surgeons cut into my neck. You know that despite all of it, …
Stage 4 to Undetectable: Will the Miracle Continue? Tuesday, January 13th, is a big day. A terrifying day. A hopeful day. It's the day I walk into that CT scan imaging center and find out if I'm still winning this fight, or if everything changes again. My last three CT scans have been a roller coaster that would break most people. Last summer June 3rd my 25th wedding anniversary, I read the words on a pathology report …
Celebrating Small Victories
Every milestone matters—whether it’s finishing a round of treatment, enjoying a walk outside, or simply waking up with a smile. I remember the joy of hearing good news from my doctor and the relief it brought to my family. These small victories gave me courage and hope to keep moving forward. I encourage you to celebrate your progress, no matter how minor it may seem. Each step forward is a triumph worth honoring on your own healing journey.
Finding Strength on Difficult Days
There were days during my treatment when hope felt far away. I want to share one of those moments, not to focus on the pain, but to show that even in our darkest hours, there is a spark of resilience inside us.
On June 3, the day of my 25th wedding anniversary, I received devastating news. The cancer had gone septic and spread to my lungs. My world shifted once again.
But instead of breaking down, my wife Sarah sprang into action. While I was still processing the diagnosis, she was online, diving into research on emerging treatments. She found promising studies on High Dose IV Vitamin C and the Carnivore diet. She scheduled consultations with specialists and brought a sense of hope into an otherwise hopeless situation.
Through all this, I have learned to let myself feel everything, to lean on those I love, and to believe that even the hardest days will pass. If you are facing a similar battle, know this: it is okay to ask for help. It is okay to take things one day at a time. Your strength is real, even when you cannot see it.
