I am a cancer thriver. I have what they call a history of metastatic breast cancer, which is often seen as a life sentence in the allopathic world of western medicine. I have had many surgeries, lots of chemotherapy, and a ton of radiation therapy, all in the efforts of kicking cancer to the curb permanently, but over the years, with all the heartbreaking recurrences and compounded treatment, cancer has left me weak and on disability.

So when I met Ann Fonfa, founder of Annie Appleseed Project, a powerfully healthy and energetic woman, via local activism that we are both passionate about, and found out she had been in remission from stage 4 breast cancer for 25 years, I needed to learn all about what I could do to follow in her footsteps. Ann generously gave me a scholarship for her 12th annual CAM Conference, and what follows is a mind-blowing in progress.

CAM 2018 was a three-day intensive examination of evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine in the oncology world, March1-3 in West Palm Beach, FL. There were speakers and presentations, vendors and samples, and healthy vegan meals, plus films and social networking. In fact, I may have just joined a patient panel for a healthcare goods manufacturer by virtue of a series of two-way conversations, where the provider embraced my feedback as much as I was embracing their product.

The well-organized event began on Thursday afternoon. I checked in and received a bag with a program that contained the agenda, speaker bios, articles, and ads. The program itself was an asset to get, chock full of cutting edge knowledge base and tech in the industry in one place. As I flipped through it and headed for the main hall to hear the speakers, I passed by friendly vendors with some products I was familiar with, but surprisingly, some products I had never heard of.

Luckily there were scheduled breaks which gave us ample time to investigate and experience! Even products I had seen on the web but never up close, were sitting on tables waiting to be played with, tasted, and purchased at generous event-only discounts. I sampled apricot seed capsules for B-17 vitamins, tonics and extracts, oxygenated alkaline water, natural make up, infrared saunas, Reiki treatments, pain and inflammation gizmos, and even got a great deal on a battery of blood tests to teach me which particular foods to avoid that don’t resonate well with my personal gut activity. I perused books on cancer diets & healing modalities, a few of which I purchased and had signed by the authors who were there. I saw beautiful healing arts and jewelry, and I loaded my bag with sample after sample of supplements, foods and natural aluminum-free crystal deodorant.

I soaked up healing experience after healing experience (I hit the infrared sauna each day!). Other vendors presented information on services or products not available to sample, such as a local Florida cannabis dispensary which has a proprietary technique of organic extraction (using coconut oil, not butane or alcohol).

But the meat and potatoes of the whole extravaganza was the series of speakers and presentations for the conference, from the amazing Keynote Speaker to a variety of doctors, researchers, authors, and practitioners/teachers of holistic practices such as yoga, Qi Gong, Reiki, and mind/body stress management. I brought a notebook with me and by the end of the conference, I had taken over 40 pages in notes, more than 60 screenshots of presentations, and issued six requests for entire copies of slide presentations. It felt like I was back in grad school. I was loving it and the infrared saunas kept me energized for the day.

The experience was made complete by three days of tasty meals that were beautifully presented and crafted from raw and vegan whole foods. Canapés, dips, hot and cold salads, stir frys, desserts, and plenty of fresh fruit and oxygenated alkaline water. I tried some foods for the first time and I consider myself a cosmopolitan foodie. I even found a chickpea protein mix I loved and wanted to get from one of the vendors, but that battery of tests I took revealed to me something I had not known before: chickpeas may be healthy, but not for me personally.

Another thing that I absolutely LOVED, was that Ann is a big believer in making information and products accessible to people, so throughout the three days, she continually raffled off prizes (which ranged from single books to entire recording sets of previous events to DVD sets on a variety of oncology topics). In addition, many of the vendors had their own raffles. I ended up winning a book and a free acupuncture session with a local Chinese Medicine Doctor, who gave me a diagnosis about a spleen issue I didn’t know at all that I had (makes sense in hindsight), a bottle of Chinese herbs, a lovely acupuncture session that released a lot of toxins, and a useful personalized printout to take home with me.

I ended up purchasing a personal infrared sauna unit for my home at a significant discount, which was practically a steal for me, and it’s been doing miracles for my stamina and a heart condition I developed from all the chemotherapy I went through. I’ve been continuing the Chinese herbs, the cannabis oil, the new vitamins, and I’ve been revamping my diet to be more personal to my gut activity. I purchased gizmos to protect my home environment from the toxic effects of wi-fi soup from all our electronics.

I feel like I took a shortcut to health. I’m feeling better, sleeping better, and definitely doing more! This past weekend, I hosted my son’s birthday party with no cane, for the first time in years! People usually always see me with a cane except for my really good days, and I was out on the grass and by the pool for ten hours on Sunday, filling water balloons, passing out water pistols, serving ice cream cake, and horse-playing with a dozen middle schoolers, something that is usually impossible for this single mom who was used to spending half the day in bed. I can feel (almost like the joyous sensation of warm sand beneath my feet and between my toes coupled with the sound of waves and taste of salty ocean air), that I am on a path to wellness and complete/sustained remission.

As I have been writing down my experience at CAM 2018 to share with other survivors who might be curious about some of the new and exciting developments in the dynamic and evolving world of holistic oncology, several opportunities have been presenting themselves and as I now see the more lasting benefits of networking (something I hadn’t given mind to, having been a virtual invalid for years from allopathic cancer treatments) I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how many doors are opening themselves to me daily via the amazing people I met at CAM 2018.

I have been so impressed with my newfound stamina and pain control, that it has reinforced my determination to follow the wellness path that I have been personalizing for myself.

As a result of the blood work I had done at CAM 2018, I was given a list of exactly 30 foods which cause inflammation within my gut. I have a long lasting love/hate relationship with food and have created a spa-like woman cave in my bathroom due to the sheer number of hours I spend in there on a daily basis. Doctors always gave me cookie cutter diets that were templates for everyone: eat all carbs; eat no carbs; eat low fat; eat low calorie; eat whole foods; eat high protein. What this newfangled blood work did was tell me within whatever dietetic framework I wanted to follow: which foods to avoid that were personally causing me distress. Out of those 30 foods, many are healthy foods, many are staples, many are universal offenders. I had never realized this! As I started to remove those foods from my diet, running on the momentum I built up from the results I got from the infrared sauna and supplements and herbs, I started to feel better and better.

I then contacted the company to see if I could obtain the same deal for my child, as I would like to find out what he might be eating that he could eliminate now before he has a lifetime of distress (especially because he has autism: a gut/brain disorder). In sharing my story with them, we began to further discussions about how to make this biotechnology service more accessible to people like me. This is currently an ongoing discussion.

I also connected with someone who invited me to taste test her products, which means I get access to them for free in exchange for honest feedback. My days are filling up with purpose and activity, all reinforcing this new path I’m charting. I was given an opportunity to visit New York and do some one-on-one work with one of the speakers at the conference. I’ve begun researching airline deals already, as she has the capacity to give me health information on the cellular level.

I’m using all this new energy to move forward on my path and I’ve also begun volunteering lately, to test the waters and see what I can handle. It’s been years since I worked, and it feels nice to even be exploring the option of some part time volunteering, now that I’m not exhausted all the time.

Additionally, earlier I mentioned a patient panel that I joined by virtue of a Q&A during the conference that continued offline after in a series of two-way communications. Earlier this evening I was just informed by the CEO of the product manufacturer that they are putting into production a compassion program to bring accessibility to my demographic (patients who are on disability and fixed incomes, who seek the opportunity to use the multifocal benefits of their product to eliminate the need for myriad overpriced side effect-laden pharmaceuticals). The CEO personally thanked me for the insight into the challenges a young disabled person faces.

CAM 2018 turned me from patient into advocate, AND in less than three weeks I personally made a difference in the lives of others, in the world around me.

I’m definitely making sure I put CAM 2019 on my calendar and I’ve got a new long-term goal: I’m going to be a CAM Presenter myself, within five years (cuz I’ll still be here).