A 30-year-old special education job coach from Orland Park, Illinois, has a bottle of hot sauce to thank for saving him from cancer. It all started when Randy Schmitz and his sister, while on vacation, went to Pepper Palace’s branch in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, for a meal.

It was Randy who first tried its Flashbang extra hot sauce, which caused him to suddenly felt sick just when his sister was about to try Flashbang. The Flashbang is made of habanero, Carolina reaper and scorpion peppers. Tasters of Flashbang are required to sign a waiver, reports Tech Times.

He sat outside the shop to get some air but suffered a seizure which sent him to the emergency room where doctors ordered him to have an MRI scan. According to the emergency doctors, the hot sauce, which has four fiery types of pepper, triggered the seizure by causing dehydration.

The doctors did not know how long the cancerous tumor had been in his body but was not activated until he had a taste of Flashbang, although it kept growing and expanding.

When he returned to Illinois, he had an MRI at Northwestern Memorial Hospital which found a tumour that was more than two inches long and over an inch wide in his brain.

Grateful for the early detection caused by the hot sauce, Schmitz wrote Pepper Palace, “I had surgery, got the tumor removed, went on radiation and chemotherapy, and I am now cancer free! Your Flashbang Pepper Sauce SAVED MY LIFE!!!!”

His confinement in the emergency room led to early detection, which a newly released year-long study by federal health researchers, credits for extending the life of two out of three invasive cancer patients by a minimum of five years. The research added that improvement in early detection and treatment after the doctor identifies fatal diseases are life extenders.

“These data are an important reminder that a key to surviving with cancer is making sure everyone has access to care from early diagnosis to treatment,” Dr Lisa Richardson, director of the Centers for Disease Control’s Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, said in a statement.

Pepper Palace, in response, sent Schmitz T-shirts, golf balls and bottles of hot sauces – including Flashbang, although the job coach admits he is hesitant to try it again for fear of discovering another cancer in his body.

To contact the writer, email: v.hernandez@ibtimes.com.au

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