Member-only story
I’m Alive Because I Listened To Myself
The doctors thought I would be dead long ago
I was originally diagnosed with cancer when I was in my 30s, back in 2004. The type of cancer was very aggressive — it was inflammatory breast disease.
My doctor wanted to immediately cut off both breasts and put me through chemotherapy and radiation. I didn’t want to do any of that.
Instead, I listened to my own instincts.
The doctors had given me 6 months to live. I did some research, and at that time, if you were diagnosed with inflammatory breast disease, you had only a 15% chance of surviving 18 months.
Instead of rushing to do treatments that had such low survival rates, I focused on changing my life to optimize my chances. I tested my markers each month. For a few months, my markers were stable. My lifestyle changes helped. Then the markers started to rise.
So I agreed to do chemo and radiation, but I discussed treatment options with my doctor. There was one type of chemo that was new and I told him I’d like to try it.
Chemo was hard on my body. I was bedridden for part of it, and became very dehydrated. I honestly think I would not have survived if I hadn’t taken the time to strengthen my body.
