Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/tinybuddha/~3/SdUzFpQJTtM/
“When a person is born we rejoice, and when they’re married we jubilate, but when they die we try to pretend nothing has happened.” ~Margaret Mead
It was five years ago this month that my father passed away from cancer. About four months before his death, his oncologist gave him a bleak diagnosis, telling him to get his affairs in order because he could die at any time.
Our entire family was dumbstruck. Here was a man who appeared to be strong and generally healthy.
He was a youthful sixty-eight years old. Just months into his retirement after a long and impactful career in social work, this was my dad’s time to enjoy the pleasures of post-retirement life, not brace for a devastatingly premature death.
Summoning every bit of optimism resident in my being, I refused to accept he would fall to cancer.
I knew the power of a healthy diet, exercise, and other holistic modalities in extending the longevity of cancer patients. I would do whatever it took for my father to survive.
I spent hundreds at Whole Foods in a single visit, buying up the most potent anti-cancer foods and supplements.
I researched every type of cancer therapy under the sun.
I encouraged my father to modify his diet, follow a juicing regimen, and consul…