To Chemo or to not Chemo.

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Chemotherapy or alternative treatments. A subject I knew very little about. I honestly can’t call myself an expert now but at least now I have read some of the pamphlets. Even before I knew anything about chemo I knew that it comes with a whole lot of side effects that I did not agree with. Not to mention the fact that over the past few years I have been trying to focus on being more healthy.

I ate more healthy food, cut out real bad stuff like coffee and sugar. Not all sugar I must admit, Tim Tams still got the best of me. I cut out most dairy, also not all, had to have my Monday night Pizza. But in general my diet was quite healthy. I also managed to run two half marathons over the last few years. So the thought of flooding my body with chemicals that had a whole lot of nasty side effects really did not sit well with me.

When being diagnosed with stage 2 Hodgkin Lymphoma the first thing I did was say NO WAY to chemo. I had been learning over the last couple of years that there are treatments for cancer that are all natural, and didn’t come with any of the side effects.

What are some of these alternative treatments then? The one I was most interested in was Diet. Seen as I was already eating healthy. Don’t get me wrong there was plenty of room for improvement in my diet. But this option sat well with me as that is what I like doing anyway. Another option was Vitamin C injections, this is not covered by the hospitals so I would have to come up with money, as this is very expensive. Money wouldn’t stop me though, if it was going to save my life I’d find the money.

After doing some research from people and sources that I trust, it turned out that for the particular cancer that I have, neither Vitamin C nor Diet would be sufficient. Chemotherapy would be the most effective and reliable option, even with all the side effects.

I’ll still be eating healthy and improving my diet, bring on the chemo and the cancer. I’ll beat you both and then world, watch out, I’m coming for you! And you will be better for it.

Don’t impose limits on yourself, be Awesome.

T Neil van Rooyen

4 thoughts on “To Chemo or to not Chemo.

  1. Oh how proud of you I am when I read this post! I so admire your positive attitude and outlook! There are going to be challenging days, but by the end of the treatment, as you said, world look out!

    1. Thank you, one of my favorite sayings is: Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.

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