Two Years On

Two years ago I was diagnosed with colon cancer. It was a very difficult time for us. It was a ride from the peak of fun to the depth of sadness and dispair.  From a high of doing a five day traverse in Garibaldi park with Naomi, announcing the plans to climb the seven summits with her, through the death of Dave Treadway in a crevasse, to having the bomb dropped that I did indeed have cancer. The tumour was almost completely blocking my colon, I needed surgery quickly. The cancer had spread to my liver in three locations, many lymph nodes involved and two tumours in my messentry. The Dr said I had weeks or months to live. Yeah that was har to hear. For sure.

After crying on the floor with Heather for some time we called my friend Andy to drive us home from Lions Gate Hospital as we were too unstable to drive ourselves we prayed and told the kids the news. The saddest day of my life.

I had hope and did not a small amount of reading. One of the first things I was encouraged by was the cause of cancer. On the one hand was that cancer is a genetic disease. https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/genetics On the other hand was that it was lifestyle disease. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2515569/

I’d encourage you to look up the report, if you’re short on time you are probably not reading this far. But to save a bit of time here is a snippet from the study.

Cancer is a Preventable Disease that Requires Major Lifestyle Changes

This year, more than 1 million Americans and more than 10 million people worldwide are expected to be diagnosed with cancer, a disease commonly believed to be preventable. Only 5–10% of all cancer cases can be attributed to genetic defects, whereas the remaining 90–95% have their roots in the environment and lifestyle. The lifestyle factors include cigarette smoking, diet (fried foods, red meat), alcohol, sun exposure, environmental pollutants, infections, stress, obesity, and physical inactivity. The evidence indicates that of all cancer-related deaths, almost 25–30% are due to tobacco, as many as 30–35% are linked to diet, about 15–20% are due to infections, and the remaining percentage are due to other factors like radiation, stress, physical activity, environmental pollutants etc. Therefore, cancer prevention requires smoking cessation, increased ingestion of fruits and vegetables, moderate use of alcohol, caloric restriction, exercise, avoidance of direct exposure to sunlight, minimal meat consumption, use of whole grains, use of vaccinations, and regular check-ups. In this review, we present evidence that inflammation is the link between the agents/factors that cause cancer and the agents that prevent it. In addition, we provide evidence that cancer is a preventable disease that requires major lifestyle changes.

As confusing as this seems it gave me the courage to keep looking for a solution to my problem.

To see what I decided to do go here.

https://richprohaska.com/?cat=74

In a nutshell I felt empowered to make healing my goal and not to give over my treatment to the doctor. We are not a victim or spectator. Life is an action. Do it well!

God only knows why I am doing so well, it may be by his healing hand alone or any or all the things I’ve done, but this I do not know, I will cherish each and every day I have.