Dad-of-three says cannabis helped him beat terminal cancer

After being diagnosed with terminal cancer, Scott Davis started taking cannabis oil. Despite being given 12 to 18 months to live, two-and-a-half years later the tumour has “disappeared”. 

In the summer of 2018 at the age of 38, Scott Davis started experiencing stomach cramps and loss of appetite. When he started losing weight without explanation, he decided to visit his doctor.

Over the following weeks, the father-of-three was in and out of hospital for a number of inconclusive tests and consultations until his doctor diagnosed him with inoperable colon cancer.

As a rare and aggressive form of cancer, his doctor informed him that he had between 12 and 18 months to live.

With his wife pregnant and due to give birth in three months, the news was a horrendous blow for Scott and his family.

“I was getting stomach cramps and things like that, but the last thing you think of is cancer,” Scott told Cannabis Health.

“They got me in the room that day and gave me the news. They said it was terminal and there was nothing they could do.”

Scott was in a state of shock. He couldn’t believe that he could go from being completely fit and healthy to being diagnosed with a terminal illness within a matter of months.

“You’re in a daze, it’s like a bomb has gone off and you can hear the ringing but everyone else around you are just getting on with their lives while you’re still sat there dealing with the aftermath,” he said.

“It takes a while for it to sink in.”

Despite not having any treatment options available to him, Scott didn’t lose hope and although he was told to prepare for what could be his final Christmas, he remained optimistic.

“I’ve never thought ‘oh God, this is it, I’m cooked’,” Scott said. “I always thought there must be something; there had to be something.

“‘Maybe I could be lucky’, I thought. Maybe I could be one of these people that uses these alternative methods and finds the key to recovery and goes into remission.”

His Dad was the first person to suggest cannabis.

Later, a nurse at the hospital handed him a piece of paper reading ‘Rick Simpson’, a prominent Canadian cannabis activist who reported that cannabis oil enabled him to recover from skin cancer.

Scott called his friends and a day later they were at his bedside with CBD and THC oil.

Before his course of palliative chemotherapy began, Scott started taking CBD and THC at high doses; he said he did not have time to build up his tolerance.

“The only reason why I went hell for leather is because I’ve got three children and a beautiful wife. I’ve got a lovely life and I wasn’t ready to leave it,” he said.

Scott was also put on a course of morphine and Tramadol to combat the pain. With the combination of powerful opioids and strong cannabis oils, Scott said he looked like a “zombie” to visitors, but within a matter of weeks he noticed that he was needing less and less pain medication.

Scott Davis during his treatment for inoperable colon cancer

As he gradually came off the morphine and Tramadol he found that the CBD and THC kept the pain at bay without the negative side effects of opioids.

“The more I started taking [cannabis oils], the fitter I started feeling,” Scott said.

“At one point I couldn’t even walk around my hospital bed without getting out of breath.

“My main goal in the hospital was to have a shower on my own and not use the disabled seat.”

After six sessions of palliative chemotherapy, Scott was allowed home to see his daughter being born and spend what he thought could be his last Christmas with his family.

The palliative chemo shrunk Scott’s tumour by 50 percent, offering a glimmer of hope for him and his loved ones.

Several months later, he received more good news, when doctors told him that the tumour was stable and contained, and they could keep it under control for up to ten years. But Scott was determined to be cancer-free.

“I couldn’t know that I had something there even if it was stable and contained,” he said.

“That wasn’t good enough. I was only 38, I didn’t want to think that I only had until 48 – that’s still young.”

Scott continued taking CBD and THC along with the other medications and supplements that were helping him beat his battle with cancer, including vitamin D, vitamin B17 (apricot seeds), immune-boosting mushrooms and fenbendazole, an anti-parasitic veterinary drug that has gained attention for its potential to inhibit tumour cell growth.

At the beginning of 2020, 16 months after his course of palliative chemo, Scott was given the remarkable news that the cancer was in remission.

“For them to say that the tumour was there but showing no [signs of] active cancer was an incredible moment,” he said.

“It was an incredible feeling to know that everything I’d read about the things that I’d been taking had actually started to work; it had actually benefited me.”

Since then, Scott says the tumour has completely “disappeared”, leaving nothing but scar tissue behind. As his test results have continued to show improvement, he says he is beginning to enjoy life again.

“With cancer, unfortunately, you’re always waiting for the next test or the next scan,” Scott continued.

“But as they go on and I get more positive results and my blood tests are all coming back better than average, it starts giving you the confidence to relax a little bit more and enjoy life again. You haven’t got that weight on your shoulders all the time.”

Scott Davis’ daily doses of CBD, THC and other supplements

Although he believes cannabis medication played a vital role in his recovery, it was the synergy between cannabis, chemotherapy, fenbendazole and the numerous other supplements he used that allowed him to beat the disease.

“I’ve never said like it’s this that cured me or that that cured me,” Scott said.

“I believe it’s been a combination of the palliative chemo, the cannabis, the diet change, and maybe even the fenbendazole towards the end to snuff it out.

“I honestly think the combination of the alternative and the conventional can work side by side.”

Scott is one of many who have claimed that cannabis has played an important role in their cancer recovery.

However, as an illegal and expensive substance, THC-containing cannabis products remain out of reach for many cancer patients. Meanwhile, due to a lack of regulation, some find it difficult to source high-quality CBD that offers the benefits that they have read about.

Scott says he was “lucky” to have taken out life insurance which gave him the freedom to look for alternatives.

“Due to the nature of the CBD, and it only just getting over to the UK it was really difficult to find a trusted brand,” he said.

“[Life insurance] allowed me to spend a lot of money buying CBD from the wrong places and going down the wrong routes, but I was fortunate enough that I had the finances to not worry about things like that.

“I would never have been able to afford the amount that I’ve [consumed] if it wasn’t for that insurance money.”

Scott has now retired from his career as a self-employed builder and is running his own CBD brand, Life Oils, which he launched in 2020 with friend and now business partner, Matt.

The duo say they aim to produce high-quality products that they themselves would use and help people navigate their way through the often complicated world of CBD.

“We’re at the point where we’ve got something that we know is good and we know can help people,” Scott said.

“Now, we’re just trying to get it out there in the right way.”