I was waiting in the office of my family doctor  Dr. Al, still convinced that this was all a mistake, that it could be anything they saw on the mammogram  I took 2 weeks earlier. Mammograms, little did I know at that point, can cause a potential tumour to grow even bigger and because they were sure “there is something” they took over 20 images squeezing my boobs  painfully between two metal plates. A few days later the Brandon hospital called and told me I need to come back for more mammograms and an ultra sound. I did as I was told and endured more of the torture and finally got the ultra sound done by a radiologist whose standard answers was “I don’t know”. They took a biopsy the same day and the only answer I received over and over was “I don’t know”.  I knew one thing: they are all wrong and I just went there to confirm this and proof them all wrong!

Dr. Al entered the room and we had the usual chat about how it is going at the ranch. Dr. Al is the most caring and considerate physician I have ever had as a family doctor. And he means it when he asks: 'how are you doing?' Then he started his consult with me looking at his computer and suddenly froze. His smile turned into a terrified gaze for 10 seconds, his eyes wide and his brows worried and he covered his open mouth with his right hand. I was still confident that the disease who nobody want to even say the word, did not hit me. He looked at me and said: “I am so sorry, you have breast cancer…”. That really didn’t fit in my plans to go to Texas for kiteboarding in April! Maybe they can fix me before I go … I will find a way as always!

Driving home from Russell in Manitoba Canada, I realized that this may not fit as easy in my motto “there is a solution for every problem, you just have to find it”.  The only thing I knew about cancer was that most people die and some survive. I would be one of the survivors! But what if not. What if I die? A sudden fear arose, my head got hot, the blood in my veins was raging through my body and I had tears in my eyes. This feeling of fear wasn’t something common in my life. As a professional skydiver and stuntwomen I was known as being fearless and as the  “she is afraid of nothing” kind of girl. It suddenly reminded me of a situation when I was 16, when my boyfriend cheated on me. Weird comparison, but the raging blood and hot head and tears were the same.
 

I wouldn’t tell anybody. I just didn’t want to talk about it. But of course my boyfriend asked me how the appointment went and I told him. He held me in his arms in a way he never did before and said: “I know that you can overcome this and no matter how you choose to do it, I will support you!” Wow, this felt really good! “I have to go to Winnipeg to see an oncologist at the Cancer Care Center. Not sure how this interferes with our plans to go you south Padre.” I replied with agony in my heart. I was so looking forward to go kiteboarding but I guess I first have to make sure I survive. Mmmmh, dying, how will this feel? Well, if the universe has this in mind for me I will die with my beloved dog Edward who was already 10 years. Edward is my soul dog and my most loyal companion. I found him on Provincial road 366 in 2012, starved  to the bones, wild and fighting for food. We bonded shortly after I picked him up and have been together since. I picked up a lot of dogs and other animals that people abandoned and gave them a home. Maybe I could do something really good before I go? Dying as a hero sounded great to me. The fear of dying suddenly wasn't as prominent anymore.
 

My first appointment with the oncologist was just a week later. Everybody seemed to rush and I went with the flow, not knowing anything about how fast that thing grows and whether there is a rush or not. The oncologist was nice and everyone at the Winnipeg Cancer Care treated me like I was dying tomorrow which was sweet but not very comforting. The doctor said she would like to do surgery as soon as possible and I needed some time after that to recover. Furthermore she wanted me to take Tamoxifen for a few years, Radiation for a few months and during surgery not only would they cut a piece of my left breast out but also remove lymph notes which is the reason I can’t do any sports or work after surgery. So it seemed I have to go through some horrible stuff but it sounded like I didn’t have a choice and I got an appointment for surgery 3 weeks later. Driving home I already doubted that this was the right route to go. There must be something else, an alternative. Is it really that bad? After all I am not in pain or feel any discomfort.

Back home I started researching and the first thing I found was a story of a women somewhere in Scandinavia who had breast cancer and healed it with only eating fruits and vegetables. She spent a few months on a island, just relaxing, swimming, eating and sleeping. When she came back the tumor was entirely gone and she went back to her stressful life. Not long and the cancer came back but bigger this time. She went on the island again, same thing and got rid of it. This time she was smarter. She quit her job and kept a lifestyle  with healthy food, meditation and sport. This story was already 50 years ago. Wow.

My very good friend Lisa sent me a lot of websites of other cancer survivor who healed their cancer naturally. It was out of these stories that I gained hope that I would be able to heal naturally as well. Lisa also connected me with a women who had breast cancer 20 years ago and I had the chance to talk to her. She had the traditional treatment but after 5 years the cancer came back and it wasn’t before she changed her lifestyle that she really healed and had no recurrence since.

Now, did you know that someone who took chemo and radiation to kill the cancer counts as a survivor when she/he lived 5 years after the treatment? And did you know that more often than not, cancer survivors have a recurrence after 5 to 10 years and then need more aggressive treatments and the chance of healing is minimal? I was only 54, I wanted to live longer than that. This is not the way I want to go. I want more than that! My research continued and I found different programs for natural healing. Some programs still allow you to eat meat, which was very strange to me, knowing that meat was proven to cause cancer (Yes, I read the entire “China study” which is the most comprehensive study about meat and dairy ever conducted). The Gerson diet which was mainly developed to heal migraine headaches, turned out to be beneficial for cancer healing, was much more appealing to me. I prepared raw meals but this was so time intense that I had no time to do anything else. I found Chris Wark whose cancer regimen is very similar to the Gerson diet and he said: “ keep it simple” and this was my inspiration to create anti-cancer meals. To start, I just piled different veggies on my plate, created the most delicious dressings and topped the salad with cooked mushrooms and tofu or tempeh. I ate raw food for 3 months before I integrated warm healthy meals into my diet again and there I developed my passion for creating meals. As I always loved to eat and had a hard time staying on a “diet” I exchanged the ingredients of my favorite meals  to make them delicious while having the added benefits of being healthy and healing. I had the goal to survive which meant the change to my meals was easy and discovered I loved my new food more and more. Every food that feeds cancer I saw as a poison and it made it so easy to stay away from it.

As the Gerson Diet suggests I juiced veggies every day and drank a lot of it, so much that I turned orange from the carrots.

Additionally I found some natural treatments like High dose Vitamin C IV, Wormwood IV, Ozone treatment and many herbs and supplements. Coffee enema was one of my detox regimens even though I hated this part of my natural treatment. Better than taking chemo therapy I was telling myself.

One year later I went to the Cancer Care in Winnipeg again and surprised my oncologist with a smaller tumor. She said: “not sure how you did that, but keep doing what you do”. She wanted to know everything I was doing and wrote it down.

The radiologist wasn’t as friendly. He was very rude and ask me what I want from them in the first place, not taking their treatments. Maybe you rather ask me how I did this or congratulate me. I guess they don’t make money having patients heal cancer with food and natural treatments. And I wished so much that I had just a little financial support, but if you don’t take the expensive deadly treatment health insurance doesn’t give you a penny. But what is money compared to my life, so I ended up selling my place later to be able to survive.

When Covid started …. That basically killed the business at my guest ranch and additionally I had no staff as they usually were “Work and Travel” students from overseas. I took care of more than 60 animals all by myself which was a challenge already. Then something horrible happened and 2 of my dogs went for a walk to the neighbor and someone shot them. One survived and lost a leg and my favorite baby was gone. I grieved and hated life, my neighbor and covid. The pain didn’t want to stop, I was unhappy and had to force myself to stay with my healthy food. And my condition got worse when I realized my tumor came back.

Luck and some positive thoughts and meditation suddenly sent me 2 helpers for the ranch and I was able to spend 5 weeks in the south. Me and my dog Edward drove with the camper to North Carolina for some kiteboarding fun. I read the book The Magic by Rhonda Byrne which helped me get grounded, grateful and positive again. I even met someone I started to care about a lot. He was a sailor and owned a sailboat that he wanted to fix up to go to the Arctic. Back home I exercised even more than before and did more detox with a sauna blanket, enemas and healed again. The tumor was gone completely! I felt wonderful, my body was in perfect shape and my energy level was over the top.

My new love invited me to come to Newfoundland to see the boat. There was just one catch. I needed to be vaccinated for covid to fly there, at least one shot. I refused the vaccine so far because my naturopath told me that they have seen tumors growing after the covid vaccination. I decided to get one shot anyway because not going would give me frustration and sadness which is also not good for my health. 6 weeks later on the flight I caught covid. It wasn’t too bad, like a really tough cold. I regretted my decision to get the jab even more when I felt the tumor was growing again. I told myself, I did it before and I can do it again. And I did!

So the take away is that I can actually control the cancer with my lifestyle. Stress, toxins and bad food choices make me sick, but happiness, a stress free life and good food is making me healthy. I have control! WOW! I just have to take the wheel in my hands, be the captain of my boat.

Most of the work I had to do was to research and learn as much as possible. Knowledge is power! I wanted to share this with the world. So many people trust the doctors and don’t even know that is was possible.  And even if you choose conventional treatment, changing your lifestyle is vital to survive long-term and good food choices also reduce the effects of harmful chemo therapy and radiation. I finished my studies as a Holistic Nutrition and Health coach in 2023 to be able to help others with autoimmune diseases. I work mostly online but I am also traveling through my home country Canada to do in-home coaching and teach courses.

I also published a book "Healthy - Easy - Delicious" in 2022 to show how easy it is to make healthy meals even if you are a  “really bad cook”  ;)