The Wrecking Ball

Dear Friends and Family,

Many of you will be reading this for the first time and wondering how you didn't know about my new lifestyle. It isn't that I was trying to keep it secret as much as it was to spare you from thinking that "this is Karen's latest diet scheme." On the sidebar you will see my successes with eating a raw, vegan diet. Despite struggling from time to time to maintain this new way of eating and healing my body, what hasn't wavered is how my health has continued to improve. My husband has seen this progress and has tried to go raw himself, with mixed results.

But, if you didn't know before, you are hearing it now because three weeks ago a wrecking ball hit our lives and changed it forever. We have discovered that my Beloved's life is in jeopardy. We have learned that he not only has cancer, but that his is an extremely rare kind and difficult to treat. Right now we are in New York City with appointments at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center littering our calendars. Our local doctors have referred us here because so little is known about this particular type of cancer. In fact, there are less than 500 known cases! There are very few doctors who have even seen this type of cancer before, and even fewer who have successfully treated it. One who has, is here in New York City...the closest to our home.

I now realize that everything I have done to improve my own health has only been a practice run for the real race. It is no longer about me...it is about saving my husband's life. The volume has been turned up on the loud speaker, I have now become savvy in medical terminology, and the reading list has grown to include medical publications. There is a stack of information that now consumes my every waking moment. What I once considered to be an "extreme" raw diet is being reviewed for anything that can help my husband fight this battle. The swords are drawn, the shields are ready and the juicer is being put to the test! You can be sure that my husband's nutritional intake during this ordeal will be organic, vegan, and raw as much as possible.

I don't expect the medical community to approve of our approach to his condition, but I don't approve of theirs either! Somehow we are going to have to blaze some new trails if he is to survive. We don't know exactly how we are going to manage his treatment yet, but suggestions and advice are pouring into my inbox at an alarming rate. We clearly have a lot of support from our community!

So, for those of you who have been following this blog, I will say to you that things are going to take a sharp left turn here. I am no longer going to be so casual about how I talk about being raw. This is going to be hard-core from now on. For the rest of you, I am asking for your support...Joseph's life is on the line.