The upside to cancer is belonging to a community of patients who, like me, are handling their cancer integratively, avoiding invasive treatments, changing their diets, and exercising. This is not only an upbeat, pro-active bunch of people but they're also international. I had been trying to figure out the best way to tell my story when David Luxembourg, a professor of design and a creative director at Elementum, living in Portugal and Netherlands, suggested I create a PechaKucha. By the way, I have never met David (also known as Yoda) in person; he attends the Zoom meeting for the same reason I do: to learn how to treat cancer.
"A pecha what?" I asked.
A PechaKucha (ぺちゃくちゃ) or Japanese for chitchat is a presentation style where the presenter shows 20 slides for about 20 seconds each. Created by KleinDytham Architecture in Tokyo, a PechaKucha helps the audience avoid the "death by Powerpoint" feeling after passively watching slide after slide of text.
After I made a few drafts and went through a few critiques by my writer’s group, I modified the format slightly so there are actually more than 20 images and it’s slightly faster than 20 seconds an image.
For people who like to read (rather than watch videos), here are the highlights.
I reversed cancer without surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy. In less than a year. And I’m going to tell you how I did it. But first, know that everyone's body is different and everyone’s journey with cancer is unique. My name is Cynthia Chin-Lee. I live on the beautiful California coast, ate what I thought was mostly healthy, exercised 4 times a week, and had a busy life with family, friends and volunteering. A month after retiring from a 40-year career, I had my annual mammogram, expecting everything to be normal.
The radiologist found something on the mammogram and I got a biopsy (they took a tissue sample from my breast). It was invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC), estrogen-positive. I was told to undergo surgery right away and get radiation treatments after the surgery. But I said no.
Instead I researched non-invasive ways to treat cancer, immediately converted to a whole-foods plant-based (and later low-methionine) diet and started the protocol at nutritionaloncology.net. I also asked for the estrogen blocker, Letrozole, a conventional drug usually given after surgery.
My doctors said I could eat as before. But later I found that scientific studies showed that the plant-based diets lead to longer lives and could reverse not only cancer, but the top causes of death in developed countries, including heart heart disease, diabetes, and stroke. Did doctors not read the studies that were widely available?
Was diet the elephant in the room? (that is, the obvious answer that people know about but avoid for political or financial reasons.) I dropped meat, seafood and dairy immediately and began eating fresh fruit and vegetables, whole grains, potatoes and sweet potatoes with a small amount of beans, nuts, and fats like avocado.
Fortunately I have a strong support network from my church (fprespa.org), my family, my women's organization (aauw.org), and my newly found Zoom community of integrative cancer patients. I increased my exercise, learned all about the history of methionine restriction, and embraced this way of living. Eight months after my initial diagnosis, a PET scan showed "no evidence of disease" (NED).
Hallelujah!
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