[Update: I wrote this in October of 2014. It’s been 3 years, and I’m still doing great. Thanks to all of you who continue to check up on me and wish me well!]
It was February 5th, my mother’s birthday and a month before the 20th anniversary of my becoming vegan. I was sitting in a breast surgeon’s office in a paper gown, cradling my biopsied breast and waiting. After about an hour and a half, my surgeon finally appeared, apologizing for keeping me waiting because the results had only just come in. He took a deep breath and said, “You don’t have cancer.” I thought, “I didn’t think I did.” Unfortunately, as I would later find out, we both were wrong.
He went on to explain that the biopsy found abnormal cells, officially called ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), but often referred to as Stage 0 or pre-cancer. While I was still reeling from the word “carcinoma,” he explained that these cells might become cancer, so they had to be treated like cancer. My options were a lumpectomy with radiation or a mastectomy. I asked whether there was any chance that the pathology report could be wrong, and my doctor said no.
I was stunned. I left in a daze and went over to my husband’s office nearby to give him the news.
Three months before, a routine mammogram had spotted a place that looked different from my last mammogram. I was sent to the Breast Health Center for another mam and then an ultrasound to get a closer look. The spot was so small and deep inside the breast that the ultrasound technician couldn’t find it at all, so I was given an appointment to return in three months. At that three month mammogram, the “spot” was clearly visible even to me as a glowing white circle in a sea of black and gray. A ultrasound-guided biopsy was scheduled for early the next week.
I’d had one of these biopsies four years ago, and that spot had turned out to be nothing but a harmless cyst, so I had been expecting the same results this time. Like most women, I didn’t think “The Big C” could happen to me. But because I was a vegan, I think I was even more positive that I couldn’t have cancer. After all, wasn’t I doing everything the vegan doctors tell us to do to protect ourselves from heart disease and cancer? Low-fat, lots of green and cruciferous vegetables and brightly colored fruit? No animal products? Moreover, no one in my family had ever had cancer. I naively thought I was immune.
So I didn’t really believe the pathology report, and I became even more skeptical when I read an article that said that DCIS is sometimes misdiagnosed. I decided to get a second opinion from one of the doctors mentioned in that article, a pathologist specializing in breast cancer in San Francisco. I had the hospital send him my biopsy slides, and a week later, I had a consultation with him on the phone. He was unable to confirm DCIS or rule out actual cancer because the radiologist who had performed the biopsy had noted that he had actually missed the “mass.” The biopsy needle had gone in front of the suspected tumor and gathered cells from there, just a few that looked abnormal. But until the actual mass was tested, the pathology specialist couldn’t rule out either DCIS or invasive cancer. He suggested I get another, more accurate, biopsy called a stereotactic biopsy, and I asked my doctor to schedule it.
I had high hopes that this second biopsy would show no DCIS and no cancer. Those hopes were shot down when my new medical oncologist called to give me the results: I had a small invasive cancer, Stage 1, that showed signs of being aggressive. She recommended surgery within the next 3-4 weeks. Just to be sure, I had the slides sent to the pathologist in San Francisco, who agreed with her diagnosis.
Snowball Fight with Daughter E at Oberlin College
So I did what any logical person would do: I took a vacation. It was Spring Break, and my husband and I had planned a 5-day trip to take our high school junior (now senior) to visit 6 colleges in the Midwest. We wanted to do it while we could because we knew that after the surgery, I would need 6 ½ weeks of daily radiation treatments and might not be able to get away during the summer. The trip was a great distraction, but as soon as we got home, I made an appointment with the surgeon and scheduled my lumpectomy for the following week.
The surgery went perfectly. The surgeon removed the tumor and the area around it, as well as three lymph nodes which tested negative: the cancer had not spread to them. A week later, I returned to the surgeon’s office for more good news: The final pathology report showed that the “margins” or edges of the material he had removed were clean, meaning that all of the targeted cancer cells had probably been removed. The only worrisome thing to my husband and me were some figures in the report that seemed a little scary, particularly a “grade” of 3, meaning the cancer was aggressive. My surgeon was unconcerned, and my oncologist said that she would order a genetic test called Oncotype DX to more conclusively determine my chances of having the cancer recur.
A few weeks went by as I recovered from the surgery and waited for the results of the Oncotype test. I was expecting to start radiation soon when my medical oncologist called with the test results. They indicated that I was at a moderately high risk of recurrence. She was recommending that I have chemo.
This was the first time the other Big C word had been mentioned, and for some reason, “chemotherapy” scared me more than “cancer.” The oncologist explained that the type of chemo she was recommending was “well-tolerated” and without all of the serious long-term consequences of other treatments. I wasn’t convinced, and I began frantically researching the chemo itself and alternatives to it.
Walking and thinking in a cypress swamp
I was in a panic. On the one hand, I’ve always believed in fighting disease with nutrition and had always been opposed to taking any medication if it could be avoided. On the other hand, hadn’t I been doing just that for the past 20 years? My oncologist was telling me that chemo could reduce my risk of having the cancer recur and spread, that preventing it now would be much easier than trying to stop if it spread to my other organs. I went back and forth, one day deciding that chemo was just too dangerous and the next deciding that I didn’t want to take the risk of the cancer coming back. I was, frankly, a mess. I couldn’t sleep or eat for worrying about the chemo. I finally decided to get a second opinion from a highly recommended breast cancer oncologist at the University Medical Center.
My second opinion doctor came back with the same recommendation as the first: Have the chemo. She assured me that I was young (me!) and healthy and I could handle it. And it would cut my chance of recurrence in half.
My husband was very careful to stand back and let me make the decision for myself, but I knew that he hoped that I would have the chemo. And I was afraid that if I didn’t have it, I would be anxious for the rest of my life, afraid that I hadn’t done everything I possibly could to prevent a recurrence. I’d read the stories of people who had fought their cancer with diet and lifestyle choices, but those people weren’t already eating a whole foods, plant-based diet like I was.
So I decided to do the chemo, four rounds, three weeks apart. I read everything I could find about the treatments and armed myself with supplements that could help prevent side effects. And I found out my oncologist was right: the treatments, though no fun, we’re not as bad as I’d feared. My side effects were minimal, the most annoying being a bad taste in my mouth that would come and go and made it difficult to create new recipes.
Just after my initial diagnosis, I’d begun getting up at 5:30 every morning and walking with my husband and our dog. During chemo, and later radiation, I considered it a point of honor that I never missed a walk. On the weekends, my family and I tried to get out of the house and do a little hiking or local sightseeing so that I wouldn’t feel like the treatment was making me isolated. I ate lots of fruits and vegetables to support my immune system and was careful to avoid coming into contact with people who were sick, and I sailed through my summer of chemo without so much as a sniffle.
A Visit to “My” Lake at Montreat, NC
When chemo ended, I was determined to take a family vacation before I had to start radiation therapy, so at the beginning of August, we spent a week in the mountains of North Carolina and a few days in Nashville, seeing my newest niece for the first time (and, of course, my brother and sister-in-law).
I got back home and jumped right into daily radiation treatments–33 of them. Again, the treatments weren’t nearly as bad as I expected, but I was thrilled when they ended last week. I couldn’t wait to put all of this cancer stuff behind me.
I didn’t write about this while it was going on mainly because I was afraid that people would offer suggestions and criticisms of my decision to go through with chemo and radiation, and I just couldn’t risk the additional stress that would have put on me. So why am I telling you now? Even though this blog is recipe-oriented and not usually very personal, I wasn’t sure if I could go on writing it if I had to pretend like something this big hadn’t happened to me, something that has consumed the last eight months of my life and has changed the way I see myself and the way I think about diet, veganism, and health.
My first month post-diagnosis, before I had the specter of chemo to worry me, all I could think about was “why” and “how”: Why did I, a vegan who tries to eat healthy, get cancer when no one else in my Standard American Diet-eating family has ever had cancer? What had I done wrong? Had I eaten too few nuts? Too little cilantro? Not enough flax seeds? BPA? Soy?! I worried that I had caused my cancer by never being able to get to my goal weight and stay there, that I didn’t exercise consistently, that I had had only one child late in life and that I hadn’t breastfed her long enough.
I was blaming myself, and I had a lot of help from the Internet. I couldn’t visit Facebook without seeing posts about how eating X (broccoli, nuts, soy, orange) would help prevent cancer. Or people posting about their frustration that a friend or family member had breast cancer and refused to treat it by adopting a plant-based diet. If I, someone who had been eating all the right things (and not eating all the wrong ones), got the message that I was to blame for my cancer, how must other cancer patients feel, the ones who hadn’t been stuffing themselves with kale and mushrooms? Is there a way to promote a plant-based diet that doesn’t point the finger of blame, that doesn’t make grand promises of health, and that doesn’t make people like me feel so confident in the invincibility of our diets that we put off mammograms or other screening tests?
I don’t know. But for me, it’s been helpful to think of the vegan diet as promoting health, but not providing a “Get out of Disease Free” card. My friend Maria made me see that even if my diet didn’t prevent me from getting cancer, perhaps the cancer would have grown much more quickly if I hadn’t been vegan. Perhaps I wouldn’t have sailed through chemo without ever needing nausea meds if I hadn’t been nourishing my body with fruits and vegetables. Perhaps my immune system wouldn’t have stayed as strong as it did or my energy as high if I had been consuming animal products.
It’s also been helpful to me to remember my real reason for being vegan. Though I’ve followed a McDougall-type diet ever since I became vegan, my ultimate reason for becoming vegan was not to improve my own health but to decrease the suffering of animals. So if you’re reading this and worrying that I’m going to be another vegan blogger who goes back to eating animals for her own health, don’t. No diagnosis in the world could convince me to eat another animal or animal product.
As for my current health, I feel great, and I’m confident that I caught this cancer early and have done and am doing everything medically and nutritionally possible to make sure I never have to worry about it again. I’ve tweaked my diet to reduce or eliminate foods I don’t need (sugar, soy, wine, and coffee) and to increase those I wasn’t eating enough of before (broccoli sprouts, flax seeds, organics). I walk at least once and sometimes twice a day, and soon I’ll be starting a workout routine at the gym. I plan to lose the extra weight I’ve been carrying around, which is the biggest threat to my health.
I think the hardest struggle I’ve faced isn’t physical but emotional. My image of myself as a healthy person who never took pills and was confident her vegan diet would protect her from anything–that image took a pretty big hit. I’ve been worried about “coming out” as a vegan with cancer for fear that non-vegans would see it as proof that a vegan diet “doesn’t work” and that some vegans would skewer me for resorting to traditional medicine. In the end, I decided that I had to put my truth out there so that I can get past it and get back to blogging as usual. Next post, you can expect a recipe. Cancer isn’t on the menu.
Loki has become an excellent therapy cat–when he isn’t destroying the house.
Thank you to all my family, friends, and friends of friends who offered love and support. And to my church, the Unitarian-Universalist Church of Jackson, and my parents’ church, The First Presbyterian Church of Hammond, LA (love the shawl and cap, y’all!) And to Maria Maggi, Nava Atlas, Dreena Burton, and Stephanie Weaver–wise women all, whose words of advice and offers of support helped me more than they probably know.
Jana
Thanks for your story. Good luck with everything.
Cheryl
Thank you so much for sharing, Susan. I was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago. I have a fantastic healthcare team and am now cancer free. I became a vegetarian in my 20’s and am now in my 60’s. I was shocked, but I didn’t question my decision not to eat meat because, like you, it was made to reduce the suffering of animals whether it would benefit my health or not. I made the switch to all vegan (I had been pretty close, but not perfect) and I’ve never been happier. I was worried what my oncologist would say, but he even recommended Dr. Furhman’s book! I’ve discovered that a blend of Dr. F’s ideas with Dr. McDougall has been best for me. Others have commented about the criticisms of using conventional treatments, but for me, it’s about gathering all the information and using all the resources at my disposal! I was healthy going into my surgeries and treatments and have bounced back strong. My Dr’s are always saying how happy they are at my progress.
I didn’t want to be a “pink ribbon girl” at first, but I’ve found that because of my openness about my cancer, others have come to me for help and support. I’ve been very happy to help provide that and I know that they will help me if the cancer recurs. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring, so it’s important to live each day the best we can. Your blog helped me while I was fine tuning my diet and my partner is now a convert, too! Your wonderful recipes were key for that. Thanks again, and know that you’re making a difference!
Tam May
Lovely post, Susan. I am so sorry this happened to you. I totally support your decision to go through chemo and radiation – you do what you have to do. You’re very right that veganism promotes health but is not a “Get Out Of Disease Free” card. Ginny Messina (The Vegan RD) often makes the same point. It’s why vegan has to be so much more than just about health, but about animals and the environment as well.
Tam
Lindsey
Thank you for sharing! I agree with you 100%; a vegan diet is optimal, but it’s not a fail-safe, and it can be dangerous to promote it as such. I am so glad that you have had a successful recovery, and that you are staying strong in your convictions! The honesty helps the vegan cause! Best wishes for continued health!
Gena Hamshaw
There’s not much to say here that didn’t go into my email, but — all the love and respect, Susan. <3
Gary Loewenthal
Many hugs and good wishes to you. You’ve always been a class act. I’ll repeat what others have said, in so many words… We do our best, and it does make a difference, but we – our bodies, our selves – are not infallible. I wish you the very best and you have my full support.
Naomi
Thank you so much for sharing about your journey these past months. Your transparency about your sickness and thoughts about health and being vegan really spoke to me, as my husband and I are just being our plant based diet. You show a lot wisdom in your decisions and views. Thank you for all you do!!
Sharon
So glad to hear you are doing well. Perhaps if you hadn’t had a vegan lifestyle this would have happened sooner or been worse. Environmental factors have a lot to do with disease too so don’t blame yourself. Thank you for your brave story.
Bea Elliott
“my ultimate reason for becoming vegan was not to improve my own health but to decrease the suffering of animals. So if you’re reading this and worrying that I’m going to be another vegan blogger who goes back to eating animals for her own health, don’t. No diagnosis in the world could convince me to eat another animal or animal product.” Thank you. Thank you on behalf of every animal who does not suffer because of your convictions. Thanks from all of them and me.
Julie
Dear Susan – You are a brave lady, thank you for sharing. I can relate to your feelings of self blame and disbelief at having (pre)cancer. We just can’t control everything, darn it anyway! You are going to be fine, soon this will all be a distant memory. Be gentle with yourself during this period of healing. Happy to hear that Loki is doing his level best to comfort and entertain you. Sending love and support.
Alexa
Thank you so much for sharing Susan! I am so sorry you have had to struggle through this already difficult situation with the extra burden of so many concerns about the projections others will put on you. I have always loved the way you balance your passion for the vegan lifestyle and the self determination of others. Your kindness exudes through the sometimes sterile and harsh typeface of the internet. While I do not have cancer, I do have a chronic medical condition that regularly lands me in the hospital. I too, regularly read people proclaiming that a vegan/plant based diet will cure all ills. I wish it were true for everyone, however, I still live with a chronic illness despite my whole food plant based lifestyle. I often feel the pressure of people’s ideas of a vegan lifestyle and how my medical condition makes me, on the outside, a poor spokesperson for being plant based. But then I tell myself I am more than one aspect of my life and I can feel the difference the way I eat makes me feel. How I feel is all that matters.
Becoming a spokesperson is large yolk to carry and ultimately and unrealistic burden. No one person can, or should, speak for an entire segment of the population. You are perfect the way you are, even with cancer. Cancer is, at it’s essence, just cells that forgot who they are and then multiply and harm their environment (the body) in their ignorance. We each, as spiritual beings living a human existence, forget our own divinity and wreak havoc in our own lives and that of our environment. That transient amnesia doesn’t mean that we have failed, it just means that we are humans forgetting our spiritual divinity. There is always a way to find our way back to our spiritual essence and remember how to be the inherently blessed beings we are meant to be. Big hugs to you!
Ana
Susan, thank you for this post! You are a strong and powerful woman and it took special strength and resilience to get through this being a health-oriented person. The “why” and “how” must have been 2 questions that weighed heavily on your soul…
Again, thank you for inspiring people and for being honest and open about your experience. Thank you again for opening up to us.
Dianne
Hi Susan. Thank you for sharing your story. I know it’s not easy to get so personal online. I had a very bad health scare earlier this year too. While my diagnosis wasn’t as severe as breast cancer, it was pretty terrifying. I did write a couple of blog posts about what was going on, but I didn’t get into the severity of the situation. I didn’t share as much as I wanted to for fear of judgement and having to deal with unsolicited heath advice, which would have just made things worse.
I’m glad to hear that you’re feeling better! I wish you continued health!
Em
Yes- exactly no “Get out of disease free” card. I am very happy to hear the treatments worked with little side effects too! Much love to you and your family.
We did the college touring last summer. Time flies! <3
Michele Truty
So good to hear you’re feeling better, Susan!
Our human bodies are such imperfect machines, and they’re breaking down from Day One. We do what we can with coding and upgrades, but sometimes we just have bum parts. Veganism and mindful living can only do so much for this (in Yoda’s words) crude matter.
You know, if nothing else, you’re preventing the suffering of SO MANY sentient beings.
Thank you for sharing your story!
Megan
What a beautiful and brave post! So glad to hear you’re doing well now, Susan. Your words are an inspiration.
D Barry BoydMD
I am a medical oncologist and director of Cancer Nutrition at Yale and I hear your story daily. My focus has been on educating the public on exactly these issues you raise. Cancer is far more complex and the origins are indeed in part nutritional but global changes in lifestyle are central. Remember, Inuits and Eskimos, until they westernized their diet (poor but had veggies) ate No plants (<1%) and had minimal breast colon or prostate cancer until they altered their diet and lifestyle. I would be glad to expand on this to help explain the paradox. I am lecturing in Phoenix at "Healthy Academy".Many don't want to hear this as it is against their dearly held beliefs but it leads to guilt and frustration when "it doesn't work" and desperate searches for understanding. Their is an explanation but it threatens long held beliefs. I admire your willingness to write this. Do not feel guilty!
My best DBBoyd MD
mshanker
What a courageous post, and a presence of mind. Thank you for sharing an invaluable recipe for the mind and heart.
Murali
Pam Taylor
Susan, my hubby and I became vegan less than a year ago when my husband faced severe health issues. I was born and raised in Mississippi and now live in Oklahoma but was a butter and oil cooking gal from way back. (I’m 63). Your web site quickly became a lifeline to help me relearn ‘how to’ cook. I just read your latest post and wanted to say thank you for sharing your life experiences with all of us. Praying for you in Oklahoma and by the way, I think you are amazing.
Naomi
Wow, what a journey. I am so happy you got through the chemo and radiation and are feeling strong and happy. I hope no one criticizes you for any of your decisions as they are each yours and yours only and no one has the right to bring any negativity into what Im sure was already a very trying situation. I hope you are forever cancer free and thank you for sharing your inspiring story.
Agata
I’m praying for your health Susan. Hope every day brings you more health and more confidence that you are on the right track. And you got to the real point – we all do it for the sake of animals. And we will continue as this is the only right way. God bless you!
Bill Kranker
Susan,
I think a great many people make a similar mistake in thinking that the “vegan” diet = the natural human diet. There are a great many elements found in the mainstream vegan diet which are still toxic and harmful to the body. Plant foods like garlic and onion while promoted as healthy are really irritants and place additional load on the body to filter out. Even to a great degree cooking of foods can make them tougher to digest and thus add to our internal systems burden. I experiment with foods often and in my own semi-scientific tests I find that I have the greatest level of energy when I go totally raw (mostly fruits and tender vegetables) Even foods like potatoes and rice bring down my energy levels significantly. So on one hand I agree with what Dr. McDougall and the other cooked vegan team are doing as it is helping a lot of people transition off of the really bad animal foods. on the other hand this is still another level of un-healthy which will not get you all the way to 99% disease free. I leave the 1% in there because you will still run into toxic things like car exhaust and other industrial fall out that cannot be avoided short of moving to a dessert island.
Also, I am still very skeptical with the medical system. I idea that they would remove your lymph nodes is somewhat barbaric. The lymph nodes are there to help protect you from toxins and cancer. They are the lymph systems storage locations when bad things are found in the body. If your lymph nodes are swollen this is a sign that you are taking in too much toxic material. If they contain cancer it is because it was removed from the body and is being stored until your body has enough vital energy to remove it later. A cancerous lymph node is a sign of a cancerous body which needs to be detoxed. Removing the lymph nodes are like firing your garbage man. The bodies garbage will just pill up in other places such as a tumor (Also an impromptu toxic storage location)
I am certainly not blaming you for what you did, the doctors are very convincing and they are catching you are your weakest moment. But in the end cancer is a huge money maker for hospitals and the pharmaceutical companies. Thus they are going to upsell the daylights out of these options. They will guilt you into them by saying things like “If we do not do this procedure now, it may be too late” Read “Cancer-step outside the box” by Ty Bollinger.
The body is always trying to heal itself and we just need to get out of its way by not overloading the lymph system with bad foods (Even bad vegan foods)
My philosophy is do as much raw as possible, eliminate all processed foods, eat a good variety of fresh vegetable uncooked. Also healthy fats like avocado and fresh nuts (Not salted or roasted)
Also, exercise is extremely important as well. Unlike the circulatory system which has the heart to keep it flowing, the lymph system is only pumped by the movement of our body. So you need to get sweaty at least once per day to clean out all of your toxic stuff. This is why you often feel better after exercising.
I am glad you are doing well and starting to get more exercise but you may have to make a few more changes to remain truly healthy.
Have a great day!!
Bill
vale b.
Susan,
I am so glad that you have a clean bill of health now! And I think you are so brave to share all of your experience with us here. I stumbled across your website/blog last year when my husband and I were making an effort to eat more healthy by reducing the amount of meat in our diets and increase vegetables and other protein sources. I have many favorites that I cook regularly now and frequent your site for any new recipes 🙂 I think your post is very insightful for all of us, especially women who think we may or may not be immune and about the difficult decisions we are faced with in the world of healthcare when we encounter a diagnosis. Again, I am so thrilled for you and your family that you are well. Looking forward to seeing some new recipes. Blessings!
Meg
Dear Susan — Thank you so much for this post and its raw honesty of the struggle in which you engaged. Part of my email address — 9241 — is the date I finished radiation, chemotherapy, and three surgeries (9/24/91) for Hodgkins Lymphoma wrapped around my heart. Since then, I have run 4 (ugly) marathons and aged 23 years in the blink of an eye.
I agree with you wholeheartedly that the most difficult aspect of handling a cancer diagnosis and treatment is emotional. I had relatively little problems with chemo, besides the projectile vomiting for 5-6 hours — but this was not accompanied by headache or flu-like symptoms, and so was tolerable (when not in public).
With your knowledge of McDougall and The China Study, you know your diet has been the best for your continued good health. The cancer you experienced, the cancer I experienced, had NOTHING to do with our lifestyles. I will not blame the victim even if she is I or you!
Since life began, cancer has been a part of it. I remember shucking corn at the beach and finding a grotesque naked ear of corn with large, black growths on it — I showed my father who remarked, “Those are tumors.” Noticing my surprise, he continued, “All living things are composed of cells; and all cells have the potential for malignancy.”
You are no more responsible than that ear of corn for a cancer diagnosis. However, after reading your blog for some time, you are obviously far more sentient, and must know — in the depths of your soul — that you have tended to your body properly. You will reap the rewards.
It is not that we fall of the horse, it is how we get back up. Just ask Richard III.
Good luck and long life,
Meg
Sarah Smith
Long time reader, first time commenter. You address so many issues above that I also hold dear to myself about being a low-fat, healthy vegan, too. You explain them beautifully, about images being shattered, and concern about perception inside & outside the vegan community, about wanting to shield yourself from additional stress from blog readers, etc. I haven’t read any of the other comments. I just wanted to tell you that your story has given me pause to consider lots of things. As well as the important internal questions you raisse, I also appreciate the questions you raise about how we can address those in the vegan/cancer community with love and without judgement or finger pointing. This is such a thought-provoking post. I appreciate you sharing your story. It is uncomfortable & challenging in ways I haven’t explored and should give careful consideration to. Again, many thanks. So many important thoughts & questions raised.
Joanne Steele
Thanks so much for this story. I’m in the midst of exactly the same situation – mine is a little less aggressive so no chemo needed. Radiation starts next week. I’ve had to deal with the same emotional issues. I have come to realize that you and I and all the other vegan women are doing what we can for ourselves and our families. We can’t control everything, but have set ourselves up to better benefit from those medical options when we need them.
Michelle
How heart felt and genuine. Thank you for your courage and your awesome recipes!
AJ
Your post has inspired me to get back on track with a healthy diet – I just ate 2/3 of a bag of white cheddar popcorn (going through a separation/divorce, raising a child working, trying to maintain emotional stability)… my brother died of cancer, so I should know better. I wish you nothing but health, love and peace.
Herbwormwood
Hi Susan,
Sending you very best wishes for strength during this difficult time. Keep on doing the things which you know help you. Love from your fellow blogger.
Jennifer Parsley
Thank you for sharing your story Susan. I am glad to hear that you are doing well after everything you have gone through.
Your story highlights to me how I need to be very careful about what I say about diet and it’s impact on health. I do believe we can do a lot with diet, but I love your statement that ‘it isn’t a get out of disease free card’. I have come a long way over the years with my fervor for a low fat whole foods plant based diet. I no longer push it on anyone. I try to come from a place of being a healthy example, sharing information, and letting people make their own decisions.
I respect your choices and your story helps me to continue to share dietary information in a non-preachy and non-judgemental way. Namaste to you my friend. Thank you for all you do, your recipes are wonderful.
Lily
I feel for you. I’ve flip flopped with my diet for as long as I can remember, but especially in the past 7 years since I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. It’s so hard to know when to listen to doctors (who often know little about diet and how it can affect major health concerns like these) and when to stick to your guns and just keep hoping something changes. Especially when the drugs are so severe. It is so frustrating when you try so hard for so long to maintain a healthy lifestyle and avoid the foods we’re constantly bombarded with (especially when raising a family, as you have) only to be met with more pain. It’s heartening though to hear that you are sticking with your diet through all this. I find it very hard sometimes, and wonder, what’s the point? But the fact is, if it makes you feel good in the long term, it’s worth doing now. Best wishes for you and your family.
Holly
This was an absolutely beautiful post. Thank you for sharing it.
Danna-Leigh
Thank you for sharing your journey! Sending you love and good energy from NB, Canada
Dr Bill Hopkins
I love your site with all its great recipes, which have helped turn my life around. And now I love you even more for your sharing your battle with us. I am a family doctor who had diabetes, hypertension, etc, etc. Most all of it gone now by good food choices, helped by Dr Fuhrman, you, and your cohort of linked cooks. Thamk you so much for all you do.
Camille Kustin
Hi Susan,
I have rapidly started using your site as my go-to site. I too, am a loyal McDougall diet follower, so I love how your website is vegan, added oil-free. I too believe that diet is the cure-all, especially with cancer…and especially breast cancer. From my perspective, you did everything I would have done; been skeptical of the diagnosis (bc we all know how docs want to push treatments and drugs), and you got 2nd and 3rd opinions; researched all the alternatives, upped your greens intake, etc. It really resonated with me when you said how your emotions took the bigger hit. I too believe that nutrition can protect me from everything. How humbling to read your story. The one thing I thought though, is what your friend told you: if you HADN’T been vegan, think of how bad it could have been. Plus, ALL of us have cancer cells in our body. We are exposed to carcinogens every day, through what we breathe, the water, cell phones, paint fumes, you name it. Cancer really only grows if 1) we create a toxic environment for it (i.e. Western diet) or by 2) fluke chance, that our healthy, fighter cells just weren’t able to catch it before the DNA got mutated and started to multiply. You’d fall in the #2 category! 🙂 So, I’d say your vegan diet for sure saved your life. Your vegan diet 1) kept the cancer small; 2) delayed the cancer showing up until now and not earlier in your life, 3)made you survive, relatively unaffected by chemo; and 4) sometimes chemo is unaffective, but diet + chemo, you did it!! So, I am so happy to hear about your success story, and a humbling, and learning and growing experience for all of us.
Evan P Silberstein
Thank you for your honesty. I am a vegan for health reasons. I know it is right for me. One of my close friends believes strongly that it is right for everyone and it IS a “get out of illness free” card. I don’t think one size fits all. Your honesty strengthens my resolve rather than weakens it. Unrealistic expectations don’t help commitment to a healthy lifestyle. One counterexample, and the bubble bursts. Doing the best we can for ourselves is all we can expect. Good luck in your battle.
P.S.: I love your recipes.
Penny
Thank you for that honest and thoughtful post – sharing what must have been a difficult time. I’m glad you are well again. Much love to you. xxx
Martha
Susan, thank you for writing this post. I am so glad you managed as well as you did and sincerely hope you remain cancer free.
Do we tell you often enough how valued you are? Thank you so very much!
Ruth Burke
I will always remember Steve Jobs and his fight with cancer. Remember that cancer can start many years before it becomes “noticeable” as a diagnosis. It may very well have been that he lived so many years in a state of health BECAUSE OF his plant based diet. When he was diagnosed his doctors convinced him, sadly, to forgo his life long vegetarian diet – and his disease quickly “progressed”. The fact that you have held to such a healthy life style likely kept an aggressive cancer from grabbing hold earlier, and more fiercely. I can only agree with the friend who reminded you that all that plant food in your diet likely helped you soar through your treatments. Take a look at a website called Chrisbeatcancer.com for more inspiration and hope. Your blog has inspired me for several years now. You have been a light in the darkness and the fact that today my two young adult daughters (24 and 26 years old) are firmly vegan is in no small way because you showed me how to make McDougall recipes, and others, palatable for a family. My thoughts and prayers are with you. Thank you for sharing this troubled part of your journey.
MizzB
Thank you so much for sharing your journey with us, Susan! Most inspirational. Prayers, healing thoughts for you and your family. {{hugs}}