Today marks the one-week anniversary of my Granny's passing. I've had a lot of thoughts to process since she was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer a bit over a month ago, and I've decided today is a good day to share some of them. She was an amazing woman who had a lot of love to give. Sure, she had her flaws just like the rest of us, but overall the love she poured into her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren's lives was insurmountable. We all believe my grandpa's passing eight years ago left a huge hole in her heart, and that she was secretly hoping to join him soon rather than living on for eight more years without a companion by her side. Her family and friends filled her up, but couldn't quite compare to what my grandpa gave her while he was here with her. I couldn't hold that against her - I know I'd be left with a huge void if I ever lost Justin. When she was diagnosed with cancer, I think, after some time to process it, she realized she'd soon get to return to be with Grandpa again. I feel amazingly blessed to have been able to chat with her the week before she passed, both of us knowing the fate that awaited her and both of us embracing it. She expressed that it was what she wanted - she was looking forward to crossing over, to being with Grandpa again and watching us from above. And I felt certain she would be - she wouldn't miss any of the excitement that would happen in Harlee's life and she'd be there for all of our future endeavors and accomplishments. Only down-side was that I wouldn't get to see her face, hear her excitement, or feel her hugs. But I knew she'd be there. And I feel her with us now already. I can truly say I'm happy for her, thanks to the conversation we had before she passed, knowing how much she was looking forward to this next chapter in her soul's life, and knowing she'd still be with me, and with all of us, as we continue on living.
My Granny's passing really lit a fire in me, a fire to share these thoughts I have with the rest of the world, or at least my community. I feel that what I've learned about cancer in these past few weeks, and how I've come to feel and think about it, need to be shared, and so I'm sharing it as a tribute to her. Cancer. It's like a dirty word. People ask me what happened to Granny, I explain it was pancreatic cancer. Cancer. People snarl at it. Get angry at it. Say hateful things about it. Talk about how many people this dirty, awful thing has taken.
I have so many new feelings that have been stirred up about this topic since Granny came down with it and was shortly thereafter taken by it. I've never thought too much about cancer, it never really hit close to home until recently. Sure, I knew people dealing with it, battling it, who have died from it, sure I recognized the pain not only the cancer patient endured but the families and loved ones as well. And as you all know, I'm a bit of a conspiracy theorist. I never liked donating to cancer research fundraisers because, well, I just don't think that's where my money is going.
I have a friend that did volunteer massages at a cancer ward in a big hospital. She relieved the stress of not only the patients receiving chemo and radiation treatments but also their families. She spoke with a few doctors about chemo and radiation. "If your mom came down with cancer, would you recommend she do chemo and/or radiation?" she asked them. Their answer? Absolutely not.
So why are they administering it to others' moms?
My uncle in Arizona has been dealing with cancer, and fortunately, with the aid of a naturopathic doctor, has actually been fairing well through it. He receives chemo treatments, but supplements it with tons of herbal remedies, homeopathic remedies, and acupuncture, as well as a healthy diet. He got to know several of the nurses there as he continued to return for more and more treatments. Then one day he realized one of the regular nurses wasn't there, so he asked what happened to her. "She just found out she has pancreatic cancer," they replied. "Oh," he responded, sorry to hear that. "Will she be receiving treatments here too then?" "No," the other nurses told him, "she chose to leave and deal with it on her own." Does that not say something? This nurse has seen all these people come through, and not die of CANCER but instead die miserably of CHEMO. And now she has cancer and decided, chemo is not the way I want to die, thank you.
Chemo. That's a dirty word in my book. I've seen what chemo has done to people. Granny looked better dying of cancer than I've seen people look as they die from chemo. It's poison. It kills you slightly slower than the cancer does. It shreds you of ever bit of fighting power your immune system possibly has left in you. And it's your immune system that you need the most when it comes to battling something as "awful" as cancer. I'm so grateful Granny opted against chemo. I hate to lose her. I miss her so much already. But I'm glad the cancer took her in a much more graceful way than chemo would have. Who knows how long she would have been stuck her suffering, dying slowly of the poison chemo. I wouldn't want that for her, or anyone.
Some people wonder if I'm going to support cancer research. Hell no. I'm even angrier about this crap now. The stupid pink tshirts and jewelry and hats and MERCHANDISE surrounding breast cancer is ridiculous and sickening. MERCHANDISE should be sold to promote bands, performing artists, movies and tv shows, athletes and sports teams. But it's being sold for CANCER?? What the hell is a pink tshirt going to do for you to prevent breast cancer? Really?? Is that pink tshirt doing anything for your family member who has breast cancer?? "Oh, my aunt has breast cancer, I should buy a tshirt!" WHAT??
But what about future generations? Here's the problem I'm seeing: too many people are worked up about the people currently battling cancer or who have died from cancer. Nobody is focusing on PREVENTING cancer so themselves or their children or grandchildren don't have to die of such an awful fate. Why search for a cure? It's like we're anticipating it coming, and then when it does we can cure it. Ta-da! No. It shouldn't work like that. What CAUSES cancer? Why is nobody researching that? If we know the CAUSE, we can then know how to PREVENT, and then we won't get it in the FIRST PLACE, and therefore not need a CURE, and then we don't have to go waste our money on pink merchandise!!
I'll tell you how to cure cancer. It's quite simple, really. Prevent it. And how do you prevent it? Build up your immune system. We all have cancer cells. That's right, all of us. It's not just the luck of the draw or bad genetics whether you come down with cancer or not; EVERYONE faces the possibility of getting cancer, because we all have the cells that can start it growing. They're defective cells that our body created more or less by accident. Only our bodies also have defense mechanisms to detect and prevent these cells from turning into something dangerous, like metastasized tumors. The power of these defense mechanisms relies on the strength of our immune system, and what we put in our body to either feed and fuel our good cells, or further damage and defect them.
Processed foods (even your 100% whole grain bread), chemical-laden foods with artificial ingredients and preservatives, dangerous pharmaceutical chemical drugs (even the common ones like Tylenol and ibuprofen that's in everyone's medicine cabinets), even things like sugar or alcohol - they all damage our cells and suppress our immune systems. And what happens to damaged cells in an environment with a weak immune system? Hmmmmm...
This is partly why I've suddenly gotten so gung-ho about healthy eating. Healthy eating doesn't just make you lose weight to achieve a nice-looking body. Healthy eating determines how that body functions for the rest of its time here on earth. This is why I'm trying to stress to everyone that it's SO IMPORTANT to eat a healthy diet. Food is what fuels us. What we consume and put in our bodies is what's dispersing into our cells to feed them and keep us moving and functioning. If we put crap in our bodies, we'll eventually feel and function like crap. Pretty simple, right?
Genetics plays a role, yes. Like Type 2 diabetes seems to run in my family - Granny's dad had it, I think his dad before him had it, other relatives of hers had it, and next thing we know it turns out she was at risk for it as she found out her blood sugar started hovering in the danger zone several years ago, and eventually she was officially diagnosed with it. What's the main organ involved with diabetes? The pancreas. It's what's controlling blood sugar levels. So it's not surprising that Granny had damaged cells in her pancreas. But how did they turn into cancer? Suppressed immune system. How did it become suppressed? Maybe it could have been the medication. But one thing I feel pretty certain about is her diet. For years, so far back that I can't even remember, Granny has always drank diet soda and sweetened her tea with Sweet & Lo. Don't even get me started on that crap, but let me just say aspartame, the "sweetener" in those as well as thousands of other products on the market, is a horribly dangerous chemical that has been linked MULTIPLE times to causing cancer. It damages cells BIG time. Here's a good article explaining just how dangerous it is and why. And if you clicked that link and read it or even skimmed it then you should have a pretty good idea of how horrible and dangerous it is. So not only was she consuming such a dangerous chemical (and don't worry, I tried my hardest to convince her to stop, but she was pretty set in her ways, unfortunately) but her diet wasn't very healthy either. I think since my grandpa passed in 2005 she's kind of fallen into a slump. She didn't want to bother with cooking anymore since it was just her by herself, and instead turned to the convenience of processed, packaged foods. Suppressed immune system. Diabetes started kicking in, and actually the only thing that helped her control it was when she turned to the Atkins diet a couple years ago (which is what inspired me to look into it and begin converting my own diet and lifestyle), which is essentially a low-carb diet. And I already talked about the science of carbs and how they affect blood sugar, so it makes sense that her diabetes would be better under control on that diet. But she fell off the wagon, and went back to the convenience of processed foods. Added to the evil chemical aspartame in her diet soda and sweetener, and I honestly think her pancreas was doomed all along. And that really breaks my heart.
Now that I have an emotional connection to the devastating affects of cancer, and I personally know the feeling of loss from someone who's been taken by it, I feel even more strongly about this. I think of all the others out there who know this feeling of loss. And sadly there are a LOT of us. And I know for a solid fact each of you reading this post right now knows someone or several people personally who've either battled or died from cancer. Stop buying your pink merchandise. If you want to buy merchandise, go to a concert. If you want to fight cancer, save the money you would have spent on pink junk and go buy whole foods to stock in your home instead, so that you and your family are at a lesser risk to face this illness in the future.
http://cancersolutioncenter.com/articles
http://www.healthline.com/health/type-2-diabetes/genetics
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/11/07/aspartame-causes-blood-cancer.aspx
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/11/11/aspartame-dangers.aspx
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