Christine

Six months into our marriage, things finally started to settle down and I had some free time. I figured it was time to go for a physical and get the routine blood work done, since the last checkup I had was about two years prior. I thought I was relatively healthy and didn’t have any need to be overly concerned, but the blood work came back a little off, which meant a series of tests. The result that ultimately came back? Cancer. And not just any cancer, but Multiple Myeloma. The doctor told me I had seven months to live.

We all know as humans we’re going to die, but when somebody tells you your time, that’s hard to hear. And of course you believe them.

But I started thinking, “You know, these doctors can’t be the ones to tell me when I’m going to die.”

I had never heard of alternative treatments for cancer before. I knew there were holistic options for colds and fevers and upset stomachs, but I never would have thought cancer could be changed with alternative medicine.

All I knew was chemo; I never questioned it.

The doctors were trying to start me immediately with a stem cell transplant, and I was so terrified – the fear was unbearable at times. So my husband and I started researching online, and stumbled into this alternative world. It was all very unknown territory for us, and seemed like unknown territory to the medical community.

No conventional doctor wanted to talk to me about it, but in the end it just made sense: if you build your immune system to be strong, you can fight the cancer.

About three months into doing natural treatments, I was feeling a little bit better, but my blood work still showed that we were not making a lot of progress. I had found myself a naturopath oncologist, who was a great doctor but did not have much experience with Multiple Myeloma. Since we hadn’t seen any major improvements, he suggested that pursuing chemo might not be the worst idea. I was a little disappointed, and I guess impatient. In my mind, I thought alternative was the answer to all my problems. But, he was a professional, so I listened to him and signed up for chemotherapy.

A couple weeks went by, and after a day spent in the hospital getting more tests and blood work done, I still had some heavy doubts that this was not the route I wanted to go. The day before my first round of chemotherapy started, I called and cancelled what I refer to as “my subscription to chemo” for good. It was one of the best days of my life – I was still scared, but knowing I had finally made the decision that was right for me gave my heart a great sense of peace.

I knew I had to do something, though, and my naturopath was not sure what the answer was for me anymore, so my husband and I started looking into more alternative options online. We found some clinics in Mexico, and as we learned more about their therapies, it started to seem promising that this could be my choice.

In October 2016, I visited the Hope4Cancer Treatment Centers for three weeks, and did an array of alternative treatments. I felt totally rejuvenated, and by the time my three-month checkup came around in January, all of my blood numbers had greatly improved.

I had been so worried about what my blood numbers were, the doctor actually held my hand and said, “Christine, we don’t treat numbers here. We treat people.”

In that moment, I realized that I had been waiting a long time to hear that from a doctor, and it was never going to happen in the conventional field. It was such a wonderful feeling to know that I wasn’t just a body receiving chemicals. The whole process felt so positive in contrast to the hospitals and the conventional community. It’s a complete lifestyle change, a different way of looking at life.

I have a wonderful life. I live in sunny Arizona with my amazing husband. I’m always out there, hiking, gardening, doing yoga. I wake up every day praising the Lord, and knowing I’ve made a commitment to myself, for my health. I don’t think my life would have been this good if I had never been diagnosed with cancer.