Hopelight Spotlight: Sherry

You do have to make changes.

Cancer Hope Network is proud to partner with St. Charles Health System in Bend, Oregon, providing volunteer training and patient support for the St. Charles Cancer Center community. Today, we catch up with longtime Support Volunteer Sherry H., pancreatic cancer survivor and certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner.

Diagnosed in 2007, Sherry has been conquering pancreatic cancer for more than eight years. Following treatment with traditional protocols that included chemo, Whipple surgery and radiation, Sherry and her husband discovered the work of Dr. Johanna Budwig. Dr. Budwig pioneered an anti-cancer nutrition regimen that includes daily consumption of cottage cheese and flaxseed oil.

“Implementing Dr. Budwig’s plan helped me rebuild my immune system and inspired me to go to school to get my nutrition certificate,” Sherry says. “I want to help people give their bodies the ability to fight the impact of their cancer and cancer treatments. I became a volunteer for Cancer Hope Network because when I was diagnosed with one of the deadliest cancers I did not have someone to tell me what might happen or what to expect with the normal protocol of surgery, chemo, and radiation. I think it is important to know all the options to make sound decisions.”

“You have to change the environment that your body is living in to survive. You don’t have to quit everything you’re doing, but you do have to make changes.” For Sherry, that’s meant a focus on eating more fruits and vegetables while avoiding sugar as much as possible.

“People diagnosed with pancreatic cancer often tell me ‘pancreatic cancer patients don’t live long.’ But I’m proof that they’re not always right. When talking to my matches, I try to encourage them that there are people surviving out here. We can do it. We have to make changes (dietary and health), but we can do it.”

For more information about Sherry’s story, or to try one of her nutritional shake recipes, visit http://www.nutritionalcancercoach.com/.To speak to Sherry or another Support Volunteer about your cancer fight, please call 877-HOPENET.