It was December 22, 2000, only three days before Christmas, the day that I heard the words, “You have breast cancer”. It was a breast sonogram that revealed a tumor on the right breast, which was hidden in dense breast tissue. At 47 years old, I was completely stunned, deeply shaken, scared and in disbelief. I had my first lumpectomy on Jan 8, 2001. The pathology revealed that the cancer was slow growing. A few months later during a check up in March, 2001, a second tumor, unrelated to the first, was found on the other left breast. Again, a lumpectomy was performed. I went through six weeks of radiation to both breasts, five years on tamoxiphen, and 2 years of monthly Lupron injections. I was fortunate in the sense that I handled the treatment without suffering side effects. I rode my bicycle to radiation every morning, and hoped back on it afterward and rode to work. During this time, I had completely changed my diet from basic carnivore, to raw vegan, no animal products whatsoever, lots of fresh vegetable juices, no sugar and no flour products. I sought and included a variety of alternative healing modalities from acupuncture to herbal tinctures, ozone therapy to oxygenate my blood, colonics to ferry out waste and everything in between. I had all the amalgam fillings in my mouth removed to eliminate mercury, replaced with selected resins, approved based on Kinesiology testing. I did all of this in an effort to clean up my internal milieu, and raise my body’s alkalinity and oxygen levels. The whole process turned out to be very empowering. The cancer diagnosis altered my view of what’s important in life. I got in touch with wanting to have fun and embrace the playful side of life. I joined a bicycle club and started riding distances, 40+ miles, something I had not done before. I took up African drumming, and Middle Eastern drumming. I joined an outdoors adventure group and started hiking and kayaking. By seeking out new, fun ways to express myself and develop new communities of friends, I wound up being in better physical shape than I had been before the diagnosis. In odd, unforeseen ways, cancer changed my life for the better, though I could never have recognized that potential on that fateful day of December 22, 2000 when my doctor spoke the dreaded words no one ever wants to hear.