William Donald Kelley, DDS, MS (November 1, 1925 – January 30, 2005), was an orthodontist who developed the Kelley cancer therapy, an alternative cancer treatment based on the concepts that "wrong foods (cause a) malignancy to grow, while proper foods (allow) ... body defenses to work" defeating the cancer.[1]
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In 1962, Kelley, then a practicing dentist in Texas, developed a disease involving body pains, weight loss, and depression. His doctor diagnosed pancreatic cancer, gave him only months to live, and told him that no treatment was available. Kelley then used diet and alternative medical methods as proposed by Max Gerson to cure his cancer. He then went on to formulate his own cancer cure, adapted from Gerson's method, that included pancreatic enzymes, an individualized diet of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients, and detoxification, including coffee enemas. In 1971, the American Cancer Society added his regimen to a list of "unproven methods".[1]
In 1980, his most famous patient, Steve McQueen, came to him in Winthrop, and after medical experts had given up on McQueen, Kelley's regimen was applied to McQueen in Mexico. Kelley became known as "McQueen's Holistic Medicine Man" (People Magazine)[1] Although McQueen died only 3 months later, Kelley's regimen was sought out by many patients with terminal cancer.
In the 1970s, Kelley looked forward to a fair and proper evaluation of his controversial metabolic diet methods, but he eventually became despondent and paranoid due to fierce opposition from the medical orthodoxy regarding his treatment plan. He wrote a book entitled "One Answer to Cancer," detailing his experiences as well as his methods. By the 1980s, his marriage had broken up, he had lost control of his once-thriving organization, his dental license had been revoked, and his mental and physical health had deteriorated.[2] Kelley died of a heart attack on January 30, 2005 in Arkansas City.
In the 1980s, New York physician Nicholas Gonzalez started to develop and investigate Kelley's methods further. A randomized phase III clinical trial for the possible treatment of pancreatic cancer with the Gonzalez Regimen was funded by a $1.4 million grant from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, and co-sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, awarded in 1999 to Columbia University's Rosenthal Center for Alternative Medicine.[3] The results of a clinical trial of the Gonzalez regimen on patients with pancreatic cancer were reported in 2009; compared to patients receiving conventional care, those taking part in the Gonzalez regimen died faster and experienced worse quality of life.[4]