I received an email yesterday that I decided to answer on the blog. Here it is: "My wife found your blog and I find it very inspirational and resourceful. I've been diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer just like yours, but unlike your tumor, mine is located in the lower part of the rectal area. I have visited the oncologists and surgeons, they said the best way is to go through Chemo and Radiation in order to shrink the tumor size small enough to remove it during surgery. I will begin my treatment next week, the Chemo I'll be taking is the pill that I'll have to consume twice a day for 6 weeks with radiation. The doctors said I will be required to go through another chemo therapy after surgery, which would be different chemo treatment (through IV). That's where my wife feel most uncomfortable and began researching different options such as alternative therapy. And she found your blog with some insightful information. I changed my diet to raw organic vegetables the day I was informed that I had cancer. It was a life changing moment and left me a little confused what's on the horizon for me. Instead I began to eat more raw organic food and exercise than I have done before (I have been eating organic food and exercising moderately for years). While I have read through some of your blogs and stories, I know you mentioned that you had surgery to remove part of the large intestine and forego chemo and radiation with alternative therapy. I am still confused about the part when you had surgery...Did you have any treatment before your surgery? I understand your blog and stories mostly mention after surgery treatment but maybe I overlooked somewhere that says anything about before surgery? I am curious to know because my age is slightly older than your age right now and I have two young daughters, too. I just do hope that everything posted on your website is true. I am not doubting anything but I do praise your recovery and living cancer free. That's my goal too." Regards, Tris Continue reading for my answer and a surprising study about the effectiveness of chemotherapy.

I am not a doctor or a scientist.  I am a self-educated chemo-free cancer survivor and I often have people contact me who want to know more. In this post I explain in the simplest terms what I have come to understand and believe to be true about chemotherapy and why I did not do it.