When I first heard those chilling words from my doctor, "You've got breast cancer," my body went into shock. Could this really be happening to me?

When I awoke in the mornings, I would feel a stabbing pain in my stomach from thinking about not being able to see my grandchildren grow up and travel the world and experience for myself all those wonderful places I had read about.

Because I eventually chose not to follow the traditional treatment of surgery, chemotherapy or radiation, I began to seriously study my alternatives. I had read Prevention magazine from cover to cover while I was growing up, as my mom and dad had it in the house all the time. Reading it had given me a deep interest in natural remedies. But all of this knowledge by itself would not help alone - I realized I really needed to do it too!

When I was first diagnosed, I discovered that I could take cancer marker tests to determine how much cancer was in my body. The first test revealed it was off the charts. The range for the cancer markers was 0 to 38 and mine was way over 38. I also had my immune system checked. The normal range for the test was between 3500 and 5000, and mine was 29. I feel the only thing that saved me during this time was the Colloidal silver I was taking to destroy bacteria and virus. If I had not been taking that, I feel I probably would have been just another statistic.

For three years I spent approximately ten thousand dollars on a variety of supplements, pills, teas and salves designed to (1) kill the cancer, (2) build up my immune system, (3) repair and build up my body, or (4) increase my body’s alkaline levels.

Because I could not find a diet including the correct balance of supplements and additives to keep my body alkaline all the time, I went to see a local naturopath. We did a metabolic test and the findings revealed that I needed a diet of 70% meat and 30% carbohydrates (which included bread, grains and dairy, fruits and veggies). I followed this program for 18 months and found that I was alkaline during the day but not at night. This was disturbing to me. I should be alkaline all the time, if my body was alkaline.

Then I found a program of eating whole foods (from the garden). I was told that the meat causes ammonia in the blood and would eventually cause heart disease. As I saw it, it was either die of the number one killer, heart disease, or of the number two killer, cancer – take your pick, Sharon.

I started eating whole foods for one meal a day and in six weeks my markers dropped from 25 to 17. I did not eat all whole foods because the change was difficult for me at first, so I continued the supplements also. That drop was very significant; however, usually the markers would go down slowly or maybe back up under high stress. When I started eating the whole foods, nuts, seeds and grains totally with the supplements, my markers went from 17 to 3 in just 10 days. Wow, I had finally found something very helpful to my body. Now I was giving it what it needed to heal itself.

I continue to eat this way and am no longer taking any of those $10,000.00 a year capsules, pills, teas or salves. I feel I will continue with this program for the rest of my life. Each of my mammograms shows that my cancer tumors are significantly smaller every time. Still, the doctor calls to see when I'm going to do the surgery. "Not today - life is too good."