Biohacking Cancer: A Lawyer's Evidence-Based Battle Against Stage 4 Disease
When Eric Remensperger got the call from his urologist, the message was stark: stage 4 prostate cancer, Gleason score 9, metastasized to lymph nodes and bone. PSA levels at 21.1 (normal is 2-4). All 12 biopsy sites positive.
This would devastate most people. For Eric, a practicing attorney with 20 years of biohacking experience, it became the ultimate case study—with his own life as the subject.
The Unlikely Biohacker
Eric's journey to cancer warrior began in the most unlikely place: as a hard-living New York attorney in the 1980s and 90s. Heavy smoker, heavy drinker, workaholic—the complete opposite of health optimization.
The transformation started with a simple decision. After taking the California bar exam in 1995, instead of returning to his punishing work schedule, Eric claimed that daily hour and a half he'd spent studying and redirected it to the gym.
"I became a gym rat. Whether it was 2:00 in the morning, I was at 24-hour fitness," Eric explains. But physical fitness wasn't enough. Despite getting into excellent shape following the standard Men's Health protocol—lots of protein, whole grains, no fat—chronic health problems persisted.
The breakthrough came in 1997 through a doctor of Chinese medicine who introduced Eric to "energetic and emotional blockages" affecting health. This opened his mind beyond mainstream approaches and launched two decades of deep exploration into diet, movement, and wellness optimization.
Eric tried everything: vegan, raw food, even raw primal (yes, raw meat, dairy, and eggs), eventually settling into what would later be called paleo. He became passionate about yoga, attending conferences, reading voraciously. By 2016, he was attending major biohacking events like Paleo f(x).
Then came the diagnosis.
When Optimization Meets Crisis
"My initial reaction was complete shock," Eric admits. "Was all this stuff I'd been doing to be healthy a waste of time?"
That feeling lasted exactly two days.
"Then I decided this was probably the best thing that ever happened to me because this passion I had to be well didn't really have enough purpose." Now he had the ultimate test case for everything he'd learned.
Eric's response was characteristically methodical. He read 14 books in 21 days, approaching cancer research with the same analytical rigor he brought to legal cases. He looked at context, evaluated sources, analyzed perspectives.
The key insight: before choosing protocols, he needed his own theory about what causes cancer.
The Warburg Effect vs. Genetic Theory
Two major theories dominate cancer research: genetic mutation and metabolic dysfunction.
The genetic theory suggests cancer results from DNA damage causing uncontrolled cell division. The metabolic theory, based on Nobel Prize winner Otto Warburg's research, focuses on damaged cellular respiration.
"Normally, cells use oxygen to create ATP and burn glucose or ketones as part of that process," Eric explains. "But cancer cells can't use oxygen effectively—their mitochondria are damaged. So they switch to fermentation, using only glucose without oxygen."
This metabolic shift has profound implications. If cancer is primarily metabolic rather than genetic, different intervention strategies become relevant.
Eric's analysis of his own case pointed toward the metabolic model. Despite 20 years of clean living—grass-fed beef, organic everything, clean water, ocean air—he'd developed aggressive cancer. Something beyond genetics was at play.
The Energy Connection
Here's where Eric's approach becomes particularly interesting from a neuroscience perspective. He viewed cancer through an "energetic" lens—not mystical energy, but the fundamental energy production systems that power cellular function.
This connects to what we know about mitochondrial dysfunction in both cancer and neurodegeneration. Mitochondria are the powerhouses of cells, including neurons. When mitochondrial function declines, whether from oxidative stress, toxin exposure, or other factors, cellular energy production becomes inefficient.
In the brain, this manifests as cognitive decline, mood disorders, and neurodegeneration. In other tissues, it can manifest as cancer—cells reverting to primitive fermentation when normal respiration fails.
This metabolic perspective suggests that interventions supporting mitochondrial function—whether through diet, specific supplements, light therapy, or other approaches—could be relevant for both brain optimization and cancer prevention.
The Practical Protocol
While Eric didn't detail his complete protocol in this conversation, his approach clearly integrated multiple interventions targeting cellular metabolism:
Dietary Changes: Moving beyond his already clean paleo diet to specifically support mitochondrial function and limit glucose availability to cancer cells.
Targeted Supplementation: Supporting cellular respiration and mitochondrial health through specific compounds.
Lifestyle Optimization: Continuing and intensifying practices like yoga, breathing techniques, and movement that support overall metabolic health.
Stress Management: Recognizing that chronic stress impairs immune function and cellular repair mechanisms.
The key insight: rather than viewing these as separate interventions, Eric approached them as an integrated system targeting the fundamental energetic dysfunction he believed underlied his cancer.
The Mindset Shift
Perhaps most importantly, Eric reframed his cancer diagnosis from catastrophe to opportunity. This isn't positive thinking—it's strategic thinking.
"I really wanted to figure out how I could have a story that was compelling, that would give something of value to people," he explains. The cancer diagnosis provided the missing piece: a compelling test case for optimization under extreme pressure.
This reframe mirrors what we see in neurofeedback training. The brain patterns that create problems also contain the information needed to solve them. Similarly, Eric's cancer became both the challenge and the opportunity to demonstrate the power of integrated biohacking approaches.
Implications for Brain Health
Eric's story offers insights beyond cancer treatment. The same mitochondrial dysfunction that can lead to cancer also underlies many neurological and psychiatric conditions.
Brain cells are particularly vulnerable to energy deficits because they have high metabolic demands and limited glucose storage. When mitochondrial function declines, cognitive performance suffers first—brain fog, memory problems, mood instability.
The interventions Eric explored for cancer—supporting cellular respiration, reducing inflammation, optimizing nutrient status—are directly relevant for brain health optimization. This isn't coincidence; it's the same underlying biology.
The Lawyer's Approach to Health
What makes Eric's story particularly compelling is his legal background. Lawyers are trained to evaluate evidence, assess credibility, and build cases based on available information.
Eric applied this analytical framework to health optimization, reading primary research, evaluating sources, and constructing his own evidence-based theory. He didn't just follow protocols—he understood the reasoning behind them.
This approach offers a model for anyone facing health challenges: become your own advocate, understand the underlying mechanisms, and make informed decisions based on the best available evidence.
Beyond Conventional Boundaries
Eric's journey illustrates the limitations of staying within conventional boundaries—whether legal or medical. His most significant insights came from integrating perspectives across disciplines.
The Chinese medicine doctor who first opened his mind to energetic approaches. The raw food advocates who demonstrated alternative dietary strategies. The biohacking community exploring cutting-edge interventions.
None of these alone provided the complete answer, but together they created a more comprehensive framework for understanding and addressing health challenges.
This interdisciplinary approach is essential for complex conditions like cancer, where single interventions rarely prove sufficient. The same principle applies to brain optimization—the most effective approaches typically integrate multiple modalities targeting different aspects of neurological function.
The Ongoing Experiment
Eric's story represents biohacking at its most fundamental level: using personal experimentation to optimize biological function under challenging conditions. His cancer diagnosis became the ultimate n=1 experiment, testing whether decades of health optimization knowledge could be successfully applied to a life-threatening condition.
While we didn't get the complete outcome in this conversation, Eric's methodical approach offers valuable lessons for anyone interested in evidence-based health optimization. Start with understanding mechanisms, evaluate interventions critically, and be willing to integrate insights from multiple disciplines.
Most importantly, view health challenges not as failures of previous efforts, but as opportunities to refine and intensify optimization strategies. Sometimes the greatest test cases come from the most unexpected circumstances.
For those interested in the specific mechanisms Eric references, the Warburg effect and mitochondrial dysfunction in cancer represent active areas of research with implications extending far beyond oncology into aging, neurodegeneration, and metabolic health.