Your Health Your Way
James Ross M.D. shares insights on health, business, and life
Your Health Your Way
Humanity In Cancer Care: Treat The Person Before The Protocol
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Hey everyone, welcome back to Your Health Your Way. I'm Dr. James Ross, and today I want to talk to you about something that I care very deeply about, and that's cancer. Cancer is one of those diagnoses that can stop life in its tracks. Every family, in some way, has been touched by it. And over the years I've had the honor of walking alongside many patients through that journey, from diagnosis to treatment to those deeply human conversations about hope and healing and what comes next. But today I want to approach cancer from a different perspective, not from fear or finality, but from humanity. Because somewhere along the way, modern medicine started treating cancer as a checklist instead of a story. And I think that's where we've lost something sacred. So today I want to talk about how healthcare has unintentionally dehumanized the cancer experience. And I want to talk about what we can do about it. I'll also be sharing what we're doing differently at my private practice at Ross Medical Care to restore compassion, time, and true partnership in the process. We'll talk about tools that I like to use, such as the RGCC testing, gallery testing, and the importance of slowing down to ask, what does healing really mean for this person? Because that's what this comes down to, bringing humanity and faith back into how we care for people walking through cancer. So when someone hears the words, you have cancer, everything changes. The room gets quiet, the world narrows, and we in that moment sometimes people aren't thinking about protocols or survival rates. They're just trying to make sense of what just happened, what they've just heard. I've been in that room many times, and no matter how many years I've practiced medicine, that moment never becomes routine. Because you're not just delivering a diagnosis, you're entering a deeply personal and sacred space with somebody. What happens after that conversation often defines the entire experience. In most healthcare settings, the next steps come very fast: referrals, imaging, labs, consultations, treatment schedules. And in the rush to move forward, something gets lost in the process. Their name becomes a diagnosis. Their story becomes a treatment plan. Their humanity gets overshadowed by process. And that's one of the reasons why I started my private practice. I wanted to create a space where people could slow down, where they could ask questions, process emotions, and make decisions with clarity instead of panic. Because before anyone talks about treatment, they deserve to feel seen and understood. Over time, medicine has become incredibly advanced, but also incredibly impersonal. We've built a system that rewards speed, efficiency, and volume. And while that helps deliver care faster, it often leaves little room for empathy or reflection. We talk about staging and lab values and protocols and those things matter, don't get me wrong, but we don't always ask, how is this person coping? How is their family doing? What does quality of life mean to them? I've had patients move from one appointment to another, seeing multiple specialists, each brilliant in their field, but no one is looking at the whole picture. And that's where medicine loses its heart. Because at its core, healthcare is supposed to be about care, about presence, compassion, and walking people through uncertainty. And when we lose that, we don't just lose connection, we lose meaning. And healing without meaning is incomplete. At Ross Medical Care, we try to bring that back. Our philosophy is pretty simple. We look at the person before we look at the protocol. That means asking important questions like, please tell me your story. What matters most to you right now? What brings you peace? Those questions help us understand not just the disease, but the person living with it. Our approach blends conventional medicine with functional and integrative principles. We use data, technology, and testing, but never at the expense of humanity. Because when someone feels heard, supported, and seen, their entire experience changes. Let's talk about one of the most powerful tools reshaping how we view cancer, and that's RGCC testing. You might have heard of it called the Greek test, or a liquid biopsy in simple terms. But RGCC is a way of analyzing circulating tumor cells or CTCs in the bloodstream. These are cancer cells that have broken away from a tumor and have entered into the circulation. They tell us a story, how the cancer is behaving, how aggressive it is, and what treatments may or may not work as well for that particular individual. Traditional oncology relies very heavily on tissue biopsies, but tumors change over time. The biology of a tumor in one moment may not actually reflect what's happening in the body months later. And that's where RGCC gives us a current snapshot. It's like seeing the battle in real time. It tells us not just what the tumor was, but what it's doing now. And that's the beauty of personalized oncology. When we send an RGCC sample, it's processed through advanced cell sorting. This is a type of technology in which the circulating tumor cells are isolated and analyzed at a molecular level. And the lab tests how those cells respond to dozens, sometimes hundreds of different agents, from chemotherapy drugs to natural compounds, plant extracts, and immune-supporting substances. The goal is to identify what's effective, what's neutral, and what's harmful for that specific person. So two people could have the same cancer but completely different biological responses. And that's where RGC gives us the data to treat people based on individualized results, not just a diagnosis. It moves us away from one size fits all medicine toward targeted, more evidence-informed care. That's what functional oncology looks like. Science that respects individuality. It's important to note that RGC doesn't replace oncology, it complements it. It gives patients and physicians a clearer picture of what's happening inside the body. It helps guide decisions, reduce unnecessary toxicity, and strengthen collaboration between care teams. And perhaps most importantly, it gives patients back a sense of agency. When people understand their data, they move from fear to participation. It's no longer the doctor's plan, it's our plan. Shared, informed, empowered. I've seen RGCC testing transform how people approach care. For some, it confirmed that their treatment was working. For others, it uncovered new options they hadn't even known existed. But across the board, it provides something medicine rarely gives. Hope that's grounded in information, not assumption. Not false hope, but informed hope. The kind that comes from understanding what's happening in your body and what to do next. That is powerful. At our clinic, we take the GCC, I'm sorry, the RGCC results and build a comprehensive, individualized plan. And that might include integrative therapies like IV nutrient support, detoxification, inflammation control, or even immune balancing. Not to replace standard care, hear me very clearly, but to support the body through it. Because cancer doesn't exist in isolation. It's connected to the immune system, inflammation, the gut, even stress. When we support those systems, we create an environment where healing is possible. Now let's shift briefly to early detection. Another incredible tool that we have in this space is the gallery test. It's a blood test that screens for over 50 cancers, often before symptoms even appear. We use it not from fear, but from stewardship. It's about being proactive. It's about understanding what's going in our body before we even see symptoms or disease manifest. Early detection can give us time, and time is one of the greatest gifts in medicine. We also make space for what we call goals of care conversations. These are simple but deeply meaningful discussions where we ask what matters most to you right now? What are you hoping for? What gives your life meaning in this season? Because sometimes the goal isn't just to live longer, but it's to live better. To spend more time with family, to have peace, to finish well. When care aligns with values, medicine becomes human again. Faith and medicine were never meant to be in conflict. Science gives us understanding, but faith gives us hope. And together they remind us that healing is more than what happens in the body. It's what happens in the heart. I've seen both extremes. Patients who rely only on medicine and lose peace, and others who rely on faith and avoid science. But when both are honored, something powerful happens. The body heals better when the heart has hope. The body heals better when the heart has hope. If I could sum up everything I've learned walking with patients through cancer, it would be this. Healing begins when people feel seen. When compassion is restored in medicine, outcomes improve, stress decreases, and people feel safe again. That's not just philosophy, that's physiology. Compassion literally changes brain chemistry and immune function. When people are cared for as whole beings, mind, body, and spirit, healing happens on every level. So if you or someone you love is walking through cancer, hear this. You are not your diagnosis. You are not your test results. You are a whole person created with purpose and worth that no disease can erase. I have walked with patients. I want to walk with you, if that's you, to bring clarity, compassion, and faith into your care, because true medicine sees the person before the protocol. Thank you all for joining me today on your healthier way. If this conversation resonated with you, please share it with someone who might need this. And if you'd like to learn more about what we're doing at my functional medicine clinic, about RGCC testing, gallery testing, or how we're supporting cancer care through a holistic faith-based approach, you can visit us online or schedule a consultation. I'll leave you with this. Healing isn't just what happens in the body, it's what happens when you realize you're not just walking alone. Until next time, I'm Dr. James Ross, and remember, your health, your way, starts with compassion.