How a Brain Tumor Influenced My Life’s Purpose
My passion for the role of nutrition in healthcare began with a family health crisis. This might have been true for you too. And by now you may be familiar with my origin story, but if not, it all began when my husband, Isamu, was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor. It was April 2000 and the tumor was called a glioblastoma multiforme, GBM for short.
At the time of Isamu’s diagnosis I was seven weeks pregnant with our first and only child. The prognosis was grave. Isamu was given about six months to live, obviously not long enough to even meet our baby, let alone parent him.
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Our “Yes, And” approach to supporting a cancer diagnosis.
As you can imagine, we kicked into high gear when we learned of the diagnosis, looking for everything and anything we could do to support Isamu’s health and survival. While he sat in the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) library, researching the latest medical trials for GBMs and their uninspiring outcomes, I explored the supportive aspects of integrative treatments like acupuncture, massage and, of course, food and nutrition. As a foodie living in the Bay Area’s abundant culinary culture, already buying local and organic produce and meats, dietary changes were a no-brainer.
In the face of such a threatening diagnosis the question was not why?, but why not?
And for us it was always the “yes, and.” Yes, we were going to pursue all the conventional treatments offered -- two craniotomies, weeks of radiation therapy, plus more than one of those chemotherapeutic medical trials. And we embraced those other therapies, including dietary change, as well. The latter were intended to help his body heal, recover, and tolerate, while also creating an environment less hospitable to cancer.
Of course I also needed my own form of food as medicine during that time. I needed it to support my body as well as that of my growing baby. To me, nutrition was the answer. It gave me something I could do every day, several times a day to nurture all three of us and foster our health.
The #1 priority that helped give his body a fighting chance
One of the very first dietary changes Isamu and I made was to take refined sugar off the menu. Why? Refined sugar, as emerging research was suggesting, can negatively influence certain gene expression; meaning, it turns on the hazardous genes that we want to keep switched off. In particular, this can include genes related to metabolism, inflammation, oxidative stress, and other processes associated with disease.
In addition to its ability to promote inflammation, refined sugar can have other impacts on the immune system when in some biological environments and when eaten in excess (an amount that will differ based on the body). One particular group of immune cells that can be influenced by the consumption of refined sugar are white blood cells known as neutrophils. Neutrophils are important components of the innate immune system and play a crucial role in defending the body against microbial infections.
Exceeding expectations and extending our time together
But I’m getting ahead of myself…
Isamu outlived that six month prognosis. He died almost two and a half years after his initial diagnosis, in July of 2002 when our son, Gilbert, was nineteen months old. (Gilbert is now 22 and graduated college last month!)
Throughout the trials with Isamu’s brain tumor, food became my greatest ally. Dietary change was far from restrictive. It was an opportunity. It was ripe with possibility as I learned of new ingredients and even discovered how to feed Isamu’s sweet tooth without that refined sugar. Food empowered me. It allowed me to make a significant difference in a situation that otherwise felt out of and far beyond my control.
Rebuilding a life with a new passion and purpose
It was a couple years after Isamu’s death that I remade my life putting myself back through school to pursue a career as a nutritionist with the desire to help others find their path to also using food as medicine, particularly when facing dire situations of their own.
Now, as a Functional Medicine Nutritionist, I help aspiring Functional Nutrition Counselors work from the core to support their clients and patients to engage the natural resources of the digestive system to help heal all body systems, eradicate deficiencies, and open the channels to invite nourishment and healing. The results are amazing. And that passion has become my life’s purpose. I’m eager to pull back the curtain and make sure you have access to those tools too.
