More About Sarah
In 2001, at 32, I was a litigator at a top Boston firm leading the life of a successful urban professional. I was newly married, we’d just purchased a home in a lovely suburb, and I was trying to get pregnant. A week before our first wedding anniversary, we were awakened from our American dream when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. My diagnosis, treatment and recovery forced me to rethink almost every aspect of my life: what my career meant to me, the definition of a family, and how in the world I ended up getting cancer in the first place.
While bald and strung out on chemo, I had lots of time to ask “why me?” I was healthy, young, and had no family history of cancer. But I also learned that I wasn’t an anomaly – only 5-10% of breast cancers are inherited. I picked up Sandra Steingraber’s Living Downstream, about the growing body of evidence linking cancer to environmental contamination. It tripped my switch and I started reading everything I could get my hands on related to environmental links to cancer. I was horrified to learn about the “invisible hazards” that had seeped into every crevice of my life: parabens, hormone-mimics, pesticides and more in everything from food to cleaning products to cosmetics. It set me on a path to change. What I have learned has led me to drastically change the products we use and the food we eat.
After my first cancer diagnosis, I quit my job, founded a local chapter of a national breast cancer organization, and focused on advocacy. I joined the Board of the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition, and between the two, committed myself to focusing on young women and the prevention of breast cancer.
Meanwhile, my husband and I struggled with how to have the family we’d been planning when I was diagnosed. After deliberating every possible route to parenthood, we decided on adoption from China. In June of 2004, we met our daughter in a far-West province. Life has been even richer and more joyful since.
Things were going along swimmingly. I kept up with my regular oncology appointments and checkups, ate super-healthy, relaxed more often, and exercised regularly. As a stay-at-home mother, I got to indulge my love of cooking on a daily basis and reap the health benefits of a whole-foods diet. I was the picture of health, with no evidence of disease – I was cancer free. Friends and family regularly requested my recipes, and Semi-Sweet was born. Eventually, my audience widened, as more people caught on to the message that eating and living well don’t have to be a full-time job.
Just as I was dreaming up ideas for my ten-year cancerversary, the beast came knocking on my door again. A new primary cancer was detected in the opposite breast. It was small, but with my track record of two breast cancers in a decade, the writing was on the wall. I had a double mastectomy with immediate reconstruction in September of 2011. Thankfully, no further treatment was necessary. I blog about Cancer, Round II at Be The Weeble.
What’s next? Time will tell. For now, I’m relishing my second, second chance. After all, as Thich Nhat Hanh says, “ Breathing in, there is only the present moment. Breathing out, it is a wonderful moment.” I’m happy to be alive.
Check out my latest interview to hear me talk about fitness, food & motivation!
