Dr. William D. Kelly

Kelley's most highly publicized encounter with the medical establishment began in 1980, when he agreed to treat actor Steve McQueen, suffering from advanced mesothelioma, a rare, nearly always fatal form of lung cancer. McQueen's malignancy was too extensive for surgery, and his terminal condition was completely hopeless. Nevertheless, on Kelley's advice, McQueen entered a small Mexican hospital where doctors claimed to use the Kelley program. McQueen never followed the full Kelley protocol; he smoked and smuggled junk food into his room. Even so, after eight weeks on a partial Kelley regimen, his tumor had stopped growing, he no longer felt a need for painkillers, and he had put on weight. His doctors expressed some cause for optimism. However, McQueen eventually discontinued the program. He died in November 1980, just hours after undergoing surgery to remove an apparently dead tumor mass in his abdomen.

The ensuing publicity triggered a media assault on Kelley organized by the American medical community. Spokesmen for the ACS, NCI, and leading medical schools condemned Kelley and his methods vociferously, without ever bothering to examine the details of McQueen's treatment.