A Memoir by Wayne Schlicht
When Cancer Comes Back Harder
In May 2024, Wayne Schlicht lies on an ultrasound table watching a radiologist guide a needle into his neck, already knowing what the biopsy will confirm. The exhaustion, the swelling, the fear that had settled into his chest weeks earlier were no coincidence. The cancer had returned.
Wayne had already survived throat cancer once. In 2021, he endured radiation and chemotherapy, reached remission, and believed the fight was over. It wasn’t. Pathology confirmed recurrent squamous cell carcinoma in the same lymph nodes. A five hour radical neck dissection followed, performed millimeters from the carotid artery. Despite surgery, margins were positive. The cancer had adapted.
Wayne endured more radiation and more chemotherapy, seventy radiation treatments and over twenty infusions across two battles. By December 2024, scans finally showed no active disease, and his family allowed themselves to hope again.
Fifty four days later, new lung nodules appeared. By May 2025, they had doubled. The report no longer said suspicious. It said progressive metastatic disease. On Wayne and Sarah’s twenty fifth wedding anniversary, a lung biopsy confirmed stage four metastatic cancer.
The Life Span Choice No One Prepares You For
Wayne’s oncologist recommended immunotherapy plus chemotherapy. But his PD L1 score was only 20 percent, meaning the odds of responding to immunotherapy alone were low. Chemotherapy could increase those odds, but after two prior rounds, it would likely cost him his hands and feet.
Sarah, Wayne’s wife and a former Air Force medic, had spent years watching cancer patients suffer more from treatment than disease. Long before the diagnosis returned, she had been researching integrative approaches. When stage four became reality, she acted immediately, arranging a consultation in Tennessee that would change everything.
Their son Gregory drove them through the night. A lifelong caregiver to his younger brother, Gregory understood responsibility and resilience. Now he was guiding his parents through the storm.
Fighting With Data, Discipline, and Hope
In Tennessee, Wayne learned about cancer’s metabolic vulnerabilities and left with a plan. He would pursue immunotherapy without chemotherapy, adopt a strict carnivore diet, undergo high dose IV vitamin C, use repurposed medications, and optimize his vitamin and mineral levels.
Wayne documented everything, treating his body like a clinical trial. Blood glucose normalized. One hundred pounds were lost without muscle loss. Inflammation dropped. Kidney and liver function remained strong.
Three months later, scans showed lung nodules shrinking. Six months in, two tumors were undetectable and the others dramatically reduced, with no new disease anywhere.
Still Here is not about choosing between conventional medicine and alternative treatments. It is about using both. It is a memoir, a documented case study, and a roadmap for patients who refuse to be defined by statistics.
Wayne is not cured. He still receives immunotherapy and regular scans. But he is watching tumors disappear despite the odds, proving that faith, food, and family can still matter when medicine offers only numbers.