By Ilana Stromberg
Co-Founder of The Happy Lungs Project
Words so shocking that thoughts and feelings are immediately extinguished like the flame of a candle. Numbness sets in as the terms are slowly defined, the treatment (if you’re lucky) is determined, and the practical realities and questions arise. How do I explain this to my kids? How do I help my body be “healthy” so I can fight the cancer and support the treatments? I undergo a successful surgery, followed by more hard news…we didn’t expect it, but it’s spread to two lymph nodes…four months of chemo. More questions. Where do I get a wig that makes my young children feel comfortable seeing me on the playground? Is there a best way to eat before, during and after chemo? Research says I need to work out, but I just don’t know how to do that with nausea and low energy. I need direction. A new normal slowly sets in but the questions continue. What could have contributed to this horrific diagnosis? I’m grateful and happy, never smoked, always worked out, and spent the extra money on organic produce and grass-fed protein. How do I have lung cancer – the deadliest of all cancers? I want to be at graduations and weddings, hold my grandchildren and grow old with my husband. So the big question becomes, how do I facilitate, or at least contribute to the healing of my own body? There was no one place or person to guide me. I watched documentaries, read books and found friends of friends who were surviving cancer, against the odds. I moved on from unhelpful advice and ultimately found a fabulous wig maker who was kind and talented, an acupuncturist who helped my body feel an inner sense of calm, a therapist who uncorked long trapped emotions, and a kind integrative doctor who gently explained how to use food as medicine for my body. Following a bit of anger upon learning how my high-priced, well marketed beauty and cleaning products contained toxins, I found beautiful, clean products that feed my body and soul. The journey is different for everyone. Cancer is different for everyone. But in the midst of coming to terms with a frightening diagnosis, I would have loved a place to find inspiration in people who are doing well, insight from their discoveries, and help in finding products, healers, and practitioners who could guide me, and sometimes carry me down this road. It’s been almost two years since the diagnosis. I’ve met lots of good people, and found priceless resources and wonderful products. I still have a long way to go, but in the weeks and months ahead, I will share what I know in hopes of making this journey a little easier for the next “happy, healthy” person who hears ““The biopsy is positive.”
