Every now and then you meet someone who inspires you, just by being themselves. When I met my partner, Andy, he seemed older than his years. I guess when you've battled cancer more than once at such a young age, you gain a different perspective on life than the regular Gen Y male (or any Gen, for that matter).
Prior to meeting Andy, I'd not had first hand experience of anyone going through cancer treatment, so I had no idea what to expect. All I knew was I was going to stick around, no matter what happened. Any moments I felt the need to freak out, I did on my own, in private, or with close friends who were ok with me losing it entirely every now and then.
I was going to write an article on cancer and wellness, because I'm on a very restricted diet myself these days (for my own health reasons) and Andy and I are living as clean and organic as we can, when it comes to nutrition, because we're doing our best to ensure his cancer does not return for a third time. But I decided it was better to come from him. He's a personal trainer, with his own successful mobile personal training business, A2Z Personal Training and he's proof beating cancer is as much about attitude as it is about treatments and medications. He's also my best friend and my inspiration when a 'bad day' gets the better of me.
Growing up we all had ideas of what Cancer meant. To me, it was an old person’s disease, it was something the person had done to themselves and it was something most people didn’t survive. Fast forward to just after my 21st birthday and I was diagnosed with testicular cancer. There went my thinking on Cancer and how it affects people.
Before I was diagnosed with Cancer the first time around I was the fittest and healthiest I could be. I had been a gymnast my whole life and was training 25-30 hours per week, my eating habits were as clean as they could be with practically zero junk food and I was a happy young man, with a very bright future having just started my personal training business.
By the end of my three rounds of chemotherapy and two surgeries I was a very frail version of my former self. Going from all my training, practically feeling invincible, to then barely being able to stand for any decent amount of time was a tough adjustment and something that took a long time to get over.
Lesson number one for me: Anyone can get Cancer - age is no barrier. We are all smart enough these days to know you don't have to be in a certain age bracket for a particular disease. Thanks to modern technology, certain diseases are far too common in the younger generations now than they ever have been, so we all need to adjust our behaviour to help minimize any risk.
What I have implemented over the last few years:
- My pc used to be on almost 24/7 and thinking back it scares me how much radiation that was emitting in my bedroom! So now I use a laptop, which isn’t on as much, and I certainly don’t have it on in my bedroom.
- I very rarely use the microwave. They are ok to use, to an extent. But, as far as I’m concerned it’s the lazy way to heat up food anyway. We can live without microwaves; it may just take some organization. Leave your food out to defrost, reheat/cook on the stovetop or use the oven.
- I take a few minutes every day to just sit and think. I’m terrible at meditation as my mind is like a child and just runs away at any chance it gets. So instead, I just sit and concentrate on my breathing, whatever happens in my head I just let happen. Relax and take time for you, your body and mind will thank you for it.
- One of the biggest changes I’ve made is in what I eat. I’ve cut out all processed meat – packaged chicken/ham/bacon/turkey/prosciutto and tinned foods. I also only have red meat once, rarely twice a week as it has been linked to a cause of cancer.
- Just on ham, I, like most school kids, had a cheese and ham sandwich for lunch pretty much every day for my 13 years of school! While it may or may not have contributed to me getting cancer, I hate to think what eating that amount of processed meat does to our bodies!
- I also eat organic food when and where I can. Organic food tends to have a higher level of vitamins, minerals and nutrients while leaving out the herbicides, fungicides, pesticides and artificial fertilizer chemicals that are present in non-organic produce and can contain cancer causing ingredients.
- I drink alkalized water whenever possible as well. I had to buy a little canister which alkalizes the water for me and I carry it around with me, which is fine because I always have a water bottle wherever I go. Alkalized water helps with some of the following:
- Neutralizing your body’s acidity levels. Cancer feeds off acid so the less acidic your body, the less chance you have of getting cancer in the first place.
- Alkaline water is an antioxidant, which is what our bodies need to keep healthy – a variety of antioxidants in the right quantities!
- Improving the body’s absorption of essential nutrients allowing our body to digest our food better.
- Improved immune system function to fight disease.
- I’ve pretty much stopped drinking alcohol, not that I drank much to begin with anyway. This is a pretty obvious one, alcohol is filled with sugar! What feeds cancer? Sugar! I’ve limited my sugar intake as much as I can.
- I take a few vitamins each day, which have been shown to help reduce the risk of cancer. It’s easy to remember: Vitamin A,B,C,D,E and F for fish oils. I’ve been given specific amounts of each vitamin to take, but always remember to check with your own health care professional to see what would be right for you.
Another of my thinking patterns around cancer when I was young was that it was the person’s fault; this is certainly not the case at all. If you asked any of my friends to describe me before all this happened they would say, ‘health freak.’ I breathed this stuff everyday growing up.
I know people who have smoked their entire lives and are still healthy 20, 30 even 50 years later, then at the other end of the scale, I know a handful of people like myself who live a very fit and healthy lifestyle and are somehow the unlucky ones.
Almost to the day one year ago, I was in having surgery to remove part of my lung because tumours had grown back after I had been clear for three years; my journey was just beginning, again. This time I at least knew what to expect so I was very well prepared. Eve on the other hand, who I had just met, I’m sure didn’t know what she was getting herself in for. I am forever grateful she stuck around, without her by my side day in and day out I think I would have given up.
While I was in hospital I knew I had to get out and about so I wasn’t sitting still so much. I managed to get outside and walk around the park a few times, even just sitting on the park bench made me feel more relaxed.
One of my biggest realizations after all my surgeries and Chemotherapy this year was that I had to take more time for myself, no excuses. We are all so busy with working longer hours, spending time with family and friends that we forget to take time for ourselves. When’s the last time you spent even ten minutes by yourself just sitting?
Over the past four and a half years my life has completely changed, I have a whole new perspective on life and what it has to offer. I am lucky enough to have gone through Cancer twice and come out the other end a stronger man and every day now I see a bright future ahead.
I have come across so many opinions, theories, pills and concoctions on what can help cure and keep Cancer away which I’d love to share with you, but then I’d have to write a book! So instead, enjoy your life, implement some of my ideas and share them all with your family and friends so they too can be doing their part to stay Cancer free.
Andrew Zagami
