One of my best friends in the world has a sister-in-law who is fighting a very aggressive form of breast cancer.
She is in her 30s and has three young kids and has chosen not to undergo traditional treatment. Instead she is delving deep into the world of nutrition, learning and researching all she can about how to heal her body with the food she eats. She is a gifted writer and has been chronicling her journey; I have been following her words closely.
The things she has been sharing have hit my heart hard and she has got me thinking about things I was rather ignorantly blissful about. We live in a carcinogenic world, with scary things lurking around every corner of our home, our grocery store aisles, our environment. As a result, I have been really thinking more about the food I eat. As someone who has struggled with her weight/body image for a good portion of her life, I tended to classify food as “good” if it was low-calorie, like diet soda and pre-packaged meals. Also, we have been leading busy lives and I have relied heavily on convenience foods like frozen pizzas and chicken fingers. All of the preservatives and junk in those things are not what I want to keep putting in my body and the bodies of my family.
It’s easy to start freaking out about everything that might increase your risk of getting cancer: anti-perspirant, microwaves, aspartame, cleaning products, gluten, sugar, meat, cell phones, etc. The only real way to avoid it all is to move to a hole in the woods away from civilization and eat moss. Not a real possibility for most. So we have to find a way to balance our awareness with our fear, making small changes that take us in the right direction. For now, I am rethinking what we’re eating, trying to focus solely on real, whole foods. (And I haven’t had a Diet Coke in three weeks. This is BIG, you guys.)
Do you think regularly about cancer? Do you know people in your circles who are fighting it? How have their journeys changed your own?
My best friend was taken away from us on July 5th 2009 after a 7 month battle with leukemia. She left behind an amazing husband and 3 little ones.
I think about her every day. It is still surreal to me.
My mother had thyroid cancer several years ago. They removed the thyroid and all of the cancer with it. I am grateful.
As far as lifestyle – I suppose that’s one good thing to come from our diet woes. We really lean toward good foods. I don’t buy the convenience foods because Cuyler can’t eat them. But boy do I really love my chocolate and coffee…
I haven’t worm antiperspirant in years – I only wear deodorant.
I try. I do…but like you said – a hole in the woods just isn’t possible…
Did our parents have these worries when we were growing up? I’ll have to ask my mum.
I think about it alot. My mom died at 59 of cancer (my granny was 103 and her mom was 102), and while I do try to be mindful of our environment, food etc that I’m surrounding my son and I with…I also just live. My mom was only here for 30 of my years and that sucks…but they were 30 incredible amazing years and I want Will to enjoy all the things that I did, and not grow up paranoid all the time. Writing this sounds super irresponsible so maybe I need to rethink it…but that’s how I’ve been to now.
I’m SO sorry for your friend;s sister in law – far too many amazing people are taken too young.
So so so so sad. I’m unsure what I would do in a similar situation, maybe opt treatment with nutrition, but I don’t know.
My family has a close friend who has cancer in his liver and a few other organs. He went on an insane macrobiotic diet and it help it off progressing any further. After harvesting his sperm so that he could have children with his 2nd wife, he he did opt for treatment, but a slightly alternative one. Rather than continual doses of Chemo over prolonged periods of time, he flies to another state (where this trial is being done) and has the chemo directly injected into the organs that are affected.
He looks a million times better than he did 6 or so years ago, when his life was really hanging in the balance. He doesn’t talk about the cancer, but I’m sure it is still there in some form. He has however maintained his powerful mind over matter attitude and continues to look after his well being. He also now has 2 children from his second marriage and is able to be an amazingly physically able father to them. I’m sure things would be different if he took the mainstream route of treatment, and his research into what he could do has prolonged his life and quality of life.
Cancer sucks, I think I might give diet coke up today.
It feels so pervasive, I know! My mother-in-law is currently fighting it, as did my father-in-law (though surgery eradicated his) and a female cousin of mine has a double-mastectomy a few years ago… I think about it often. I stopped smoking almost two years ago now.
I’m so sorry to hear about your friend’s sister-in-law… and good for you for giving up the diet cola – that IS big!! Eating real foods can’t hurt the fight, I’m guessing. And fingers crossed for us all.
Ugh. I go through cycles of this where I go mildly insane trying to avoid so many things, then at some point decide that it’s better for my health to not be so STRESSED about it. Baby steps. We are mostly off of preserved, packaged food, but I’m not religious about it, there are often exceptions. This seems to go in cycles for me, where suddenly I hear about/know a number of people dealing with it at once and it’s overwhelming.
For years I’ve been concerned about healthy housing too, it’s horrifying what we build with and drag into our homes (to breathe in, night and day). I feel a bit paralyzed financially with that one though. Again, baby steps. Paying attention to cleaners, soaps, “new” furniture – there are lots of things I can do for little or no money.
My friend’s mom has gone very alternative routes for breast cancer treatment as well but is now doing an unconventional form of chemo as a last resort. It’s in Arizona I think and the theory is that she starves the cancer cells for a few days by not ingesting any sugar, then she’s given a very small dose of chemo drugs mixed with sugar that go straight to the starved cells. At least that’s the way I understood it…I haven’t had an update in a while though about how that’s working.
Cancer haunts me , dad died on jan 14th from mesothelioma . I worry about scented candles , exhaust fumes , cigarettes,breast lumps , bowels etc etc . FRankly I am terrified cos my father died from asbestos exposure 40 yrs after the exposure happened. Cancer sucks.