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Instead of focusing on fear, I fostered an attitude of gratitude. Your beliefs and perspective are so important that if you think you’re going to die from this disease, you probably will. I had no idea how important hope was until my oncologist stole mine when she spewed her version of my prognosis on us on January 5, 2023. That day will forever live in infamy in our home because that was the day that time stopped. Not the day of my diagnosis, but the day of my prognosis. I went home and wallowed for a few days. The, God sent us an incredible documentary about food entitled Eating You Alive. We immediately changed to a plant-based diet after watching that movie. But diet was just the first chink in my armor of health.

I took a deep look at my beliefs, realizing that I had been placing my hope in my oncologist rather than my God, who I believe created both me and the Universe. I reviewed past emotional wounds and began to forgive and take steps to heal and release these areas of pain. I tried to foster social relationships. My stress level was also under scrutiny, as well as what I deemed to be important in my life.

But one of my most exciting discoveries was the field of epigenetics. That is the science that studies the behavior of a cell. While oncologists are busy blaming faulty genes for cancer, what epigenetics found was that a cell’s environment is more important than its DNA. And what determines a cell’s environment? Your lifestyle choices. Your beliefs. Your attitude. Your thoughts. Your diet. Your exercise. Your sleep. Your alcohol consumption. Your relationships. All the factors of your life, both good and bad. I don’t know about you, but that gives me hope that my positive lifestyle changes make for a happy cell environment that turns off any flawed genes. And that makes all my efforts worthwhile. Does epigenetics motivate you to make lifestyle changes? Why or why not?

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