A SURVIVOR'S STORY

Breast cancer at age 45 came as a shock. With no family history and a model of good health and habits I wondered how this could happen to me? Both physical and emotional healing have taken years and, still there is not a day goes by I don’t fear a future recurrence.

Ten years later I continue to take many paths toward healing. One of the many paths is wellness and another is breast cancer advocacy. The path toward personal wellness began during chemotherapy when I consulted with a dietitian to become an ova-lacto (eggs and dairy) vegetarian.

About a year later, after reading Michael Lerner’s book, Choices in Healing: Integrating the Best of Conventional and Complementary Approaches to Cancer, I decided to consult with Dr. Keith Block of Evanston, Illinois. Dr. Block specializes in a holistic health approach and prescribes a modified macrobiotic diet, meditation, exercise and dietary supplements. The modified macrobiotic diet prescribed for me consists of eating the following daily:

• 12 whole grain servings (i.e. brown rice, quinoa, whole oat groats, etc.) 
• 6 vegetable servings (2 below ground, 2 cruciferous and 2 leafy green)
• 2 fruits
• 2-3 protein servings (protein from ocean fish, legumes, and soy products)
• no dairy products
• no sugars

To sweeten foods, the diet allows maple syrup, brown rice syrup and malt barley. Upon returning to Iowa I followed the diet, learned to meditate and continued my daily two mile walks with an aerobic and strength training class two times per week. Keeping my oncologist and internist completely informed, I purchased and took the dietary supplements Dr. Block prescribed and sold. From the beginning I was skeptical about the supplements because I had to purchase them exclusively from Dr. Block.

After taking the supplements for about a year, I became uneasy about the amount I was taking and the huge expense. I quit taking the supplements but continued the diet, meditation, and exercise. After two years I stopped meditating because I disliked it and found a long walk, in the outdoors, made me happy and content and better served my personal style. Nine years later I continue my diet and exercise program.

Why do I continue the diet and exercise? It is not because I think it will prevent cancer or a recurrence. I continue both because:
1) I no longer have after lunch and after supper slumps where I feel tired and sleepy
2) I am able to eat enormous amounts of food and not gain weight
3) I seem to have more resistance to colds and flu.
So, I follow the diet and exercise to feel good and enjoy today.

Another path to healing is breast cancer advocacy. I joined the National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC) and within a year was NBCC’s lead Iowa field coordinator. I founded Iowa Breast Cancer Edu-action, the local advocacy organization which brings you the Iowa Breast Cancer Resource Guide-2004 and the Serbo-Croatian translation of the American Cancer Society booklet, For Women Facing Breast Cancer. Yearly I fly to Washington DC to lobby for NBCC’s priorities in hopes we figure out what in the environment - personal and social - is causing cancer and [then work toward] creating policy changes to eliminate those causes. 


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