Meet Kay #cancerboss – Healthy As a Horse!
September 2021, I had a breakthrough call with Kay. She was facing chemo treatments for Stage 4 Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. Immunotherapy had been tried and failed and she was incredibly distraught about having to face chemo infusions. She really didn’t have any other choices. She came to work with me in the #cancerboss healing program and this is her story!
Leslie (L): Hi, Kay thank you for taking the time to share your story with all of us. It has been an absolutely amazing honor to watch you find your paths to healing. I am so excited for our readers to learn more about you. I want to jump right in so can you explain what your original diagnosis was and when this was in your life.
Kay (K): I was diagnosed with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Stage 4 in the spring of 2019. While participating in an exercise class I pulled some ribs out of place. I went home and lived with the pain for a couple of months. I was determined that it would resolve on its own. Finally, my friend, a retired oncology nurse, insisted that I get a chest x-ray. When I looked at the results and read “suspicious nodule” I knew I was in trouble. I was caring for my husband at the time who was quite sick with his own cancer.
L: Thank goodness for those “pulled ribs” or it might have been discovered much later and been more dangerous.
What treatment plan were they proposing for you in 2019?
K: My oncologist suggested that I start my treatment with a targeted therapy. “It is the latest and greatest” he told me. He said that it would last 1-3 years at which point I would have to start chemotherapy. I was relieved to hear that my first line of defense would be relatively easy, with minimal side effects and that the pill could be dissolved in water. (I have a really hard time swallowing pills -which leads to a lot of fear for me). During the time I was on targeted therapy I had to have radiation treatment on several specific spots that would pop up in my bones. Eventually, the Tagrisso stopped working and I now was facing chemotherapy along with two other drugs. My doctor told me it was a heavy-duty treatment plan.
L: It is always so fearful to hear doctors’ words like “heavy-duty” or “aggressive”
You had some hesitation about starting that heavy-duty chemo. Can you share your history with cancer and why you felt scared and overwhelmed with these proposed treatments?
K: For many years I had been my husband’s primary caregiver. We had gone from a minor inconvenience to stem cell transplants, memory difficulties, and loss of quality of life for both of us. He received treatment after treatment until there was nothing left of him. I also worked during this time at a cancer clinic as a receptionist. I watched many patients, that I was close to, lose their battle with cancer. I saw a few where the chemotherapy led to their death. I was certain that the chemotherapy treatment was going to be the end of me and seriously questioned if it was the right choice. I called it “the beginning of the end”.
L: I remember the hopelessness that you expressed to me about getting these treatments and how it would affect your life and lifestyle. You were afraid that the chemo would kill you before the cancer did. You also feared the cancer. I could hear your defeat in that first conversation we had.
Thank goodness we crossed paths and had that conversation. Because what happens next was amazing!
K: YES! It was at this point that I happened on some information about the Any Stage Cancer program on Facebook. I listened to Leslie’s video and had an overwhelming drive to contact her!
During our breakthrough call, she asked a lot of questions and suggested that the chemotherapy could be an ally instead of a threat. She also suggested that my diet might be hurting me rather than helping. We were both excited to get started!
It was at this point that I decided to jump into the chemotherapy treatment and that I was going to not only tolerate it, but I was going to be good at it!
L: Wow, breakthrough call indeed! For those of you that are wondering, the Breakthrough call is the first call with me. Kay is right because I do ask a lot of questions to make sure that I can help you.
We talked about a lot in the first call, and I remember you were on a very strict diet, and you were losing weight and felt very tired. We will talk a bit more about that later. Chemo was scaring the pants off of you and it was still a hard switch towards healing, what started to change in your mindset at that point?
K: When I decided to start Leslie’s program, I decided that I was really going to open myself up to the possibilities for healing.
I had complete trust in Leslie. She has a lot of experience with a lot of women who have been in her program before me. Her mindset work and particularly the “Cancer Declaration” work helps you set in stone what you really want to achieve.
I had adopted a very radical diet that only made me feel worse and I was anxious to change that. I opened myself up to learning and improving. I have a lot to live for. Animals that need me. New hopes and dreams as I learn about life without my husband.
L: Wow, Kay! Honestly, I remember seeing the lightbulb click on during one session and I thought “there is no stopping Kay now that she is on her path to healing her life!” So powerful to watch you cast off old ways of thinking and really dive deep into the waters of change and becoming a #cancerboss! Gives me chill bumps!
Let’s talk about that diet mindset, you had really cherry-picked a lot of information that had left you a little vulnerable in your health and your life. Can you describe that fear of food and how it affected your daily life?
K: When I was first diagnosed with cancer my friend gave me several books about a cancer diet. Since I didn’t know what else to do, I adopted something from each book. I ended up with a very strict diet that caused me to lose a lot of weight and really isolated me from the joys of eating. I couldn’t eat out or enjoy meals with my family. I chose this diet because I was convinced by these authors that it was what I really needed to get rid of the cancer in my body. Stay away from sugar, eggs, meat, dairy, and on and on. I was convinced that if I ate any of these things that my cancer would grow.
L: So really it was almost a sickness within a sickness. Being that afraid of food is paralyzing and blocks so many healing pathways. So, you learned with me how to eat, enjoy food and still keep the body inhospitable to cancer and disease?
K: Absolutely!
L: Can you describe the most valuable information that you got from Any Stage #cancerboss program that really showed you the way and while we are at it what started to change?
K: The first thing I learned was that the radical change in my diet was a normal response.
I felt I had a radical disease, and it needed a radical diet. Leslie taught me that I was hurting myself with this approach. Her diet plan is very well-rounded, and I could eat a huge variety of things. In fact, variety is very important. The source of your food is very important. Organic when possible and as clean a source as you can get. The right kind of dairy, meat and eggs were good for you in moderation.
I also learned that if I ate a bit of the right kind of sugar I wasn’t going to die! Instead of eating to cure cancer, I am eating to support my body as my treatments cure my cancer. I have gained a lot of my weight back, I feel better, and I can participate in family and friend gatherings.
L: Bravo Kay, that was a textbook #cancerboss answer! Those are the takeaways and lifestyles that I teach as a Holistic Nutritionist! I feel like such a proud teacher right now! LOL!
Kay, you love your animals, caring for them was a big part of your WHY you wanted to heal. I know your horse is very special to you. You even described yourself to me as “Healthy As A Horse”. Like most of us, you were never sick a day in your life before the diagnosis!
K: HAHA, yes, I described myself as healthy as a horse when I first spoke to Leslie.
I’ve never really been sick much in my life. I felt I was strong in body and mind and could tackle just about anything that came my way.
L: Cancer has a way of exposing every vulnerable side of us. I feel it is important to know that and realize that when we are at our lowest the only way is up!
You never lost your passion for riding or animals during chemo treatments, did you? I know that was a huge fear for you that you would be so sick you couldn’t care for them or that you would lose interest in them.
K: No, I have never lost interest in my horses or other passions. In fact, they have kept me going. They became a barometer in how I was feeling. They became a strong goal to achieve each day. It would have been easy to give into being tired if I didn’t have my passions.
L: It’s important to connect to our WHY every single day. I love your WHY and all their sweet faces! The photo we shared here of you on your horse is wonderful!
So, Kay, you finished chemo treatments earlier this year and managed to stay healthy and thrive …NOT be sick and near death. You said earlier that chemo felt like the “beginning of the end” to you.
I would dare say you were right…but not how you meant it originally!
You just had scans post-chemo and post holistic #cancerboss treatments what was the result?
K: After 6 treatments of chemotherapy, I am now in remission!!!
I feel a big weight has come off my shoulders. If my body can tolerate the treatment and gently escort the cancer out of my body, then I can do anything!!!
L: WOW! The things you were so afraid of, chemo, food, and mindset all coming right to the center of your healing path and showing up in a BIG BIG WAY!
I loved your doctors’ words “Miraculous Full Response to Treatments!” YESSSSSS!
You were right Kay…it was the beginning of the end…the beginning of the end of cancer in your life!
Congratulations BOSS BABE! The day you shared that in group sessions I about jumped through my screen to hug you, and jump up and down. I didn’t know to cry or shout or dance! I am so happy for you!
I want you to own your part in this journey…do you believe it was just treatments or do you know you had a role to play in this result of no evidence of disease?
K: I feel that I had a definite role in healing my cancer. I could have given up and just let nature take its course. I choose to change my mindset to one of healing. I chose to do the work and change my diet.
L: Be the BOSS of cancer! You are amazing and I know this was not an easy share for you today in our interview. So, thank you for stepping up and helping another woman create evidence that #cancerisnotyourdestiny!
One last questions Kay, what would you tell another woman who was considering joining the Any Stage #cancerboss program?
K: Leslie and her program are the “real deal”. Not only does she have personal experience with cancer, but she researches everything that she offers as tools for healing. Her nutritional program is based on facts. The emotional and mindset support that you get from her and the other women in the program is incredible. Each week there is a lesson that she gives on a variety of subjects. Then there is a day where you can ask any questions that you might have. We are always celebrating the group’s successes in our lives. Leslie genuinely cares about the people she supports.
L: 100% the truth Kay! I do love and care for each of you so deeply and I am so honored to have you and all the women in my life!
Thank you again for sharing your amazing healing journey with us today. You have inspired us all to walk towards healing and away from sickness!
If you are ready to have that first Breakthrough call that Kay had with me and become the boss of your cancer, watch my free webinar. Near the end will be an invite to book a call with me.