A few weeks after my 43rd birthday in April 2025, I received the surprising news that no, celiac disease wasn’t causing my GI problems and pain, but colon cancer. Shocked, but reassured we caught it early, I celebrated not having celiac by buying a package of Oreos and calling my husband. He promptly ordered me the Tocotrienols, Vitamin E and insisted that it would help.

A CT scan looked clean and after consulting with two surgeons, I settled on a major sigmoid colon resection surgery. Gold standard for curing colon cancer when found early enough. At this point, we were hopeful that the colon cancer was stage one or two and would only require surgery and monitoring. I consulted my surgeon about Tocotrienols and she said the extra vitamin E could help with recovery. What I started to notice after taking the Vitamin E was that the GI issues that had plagued me for a year, were starting to ease. On June 19, I underwent surgery with the Da Vinci robot and a great surgical team, and in my typical Enneagram three style, was an overachiever and out of the hospital after only three nights! I walked in fact, politely declining their wheelchair.

We left the hospital with some uncertainty, however. My surgeon was sadly confident that the cancer had made it to my surrounding lymph nodes. This would push the cancer staging to three and would require chemotherapy. My days following the surgery were remarkably smooth. I had family and friends taking care of me at home while my boys were off having summer fun with family. By this time I was taking the Tocotrienols morning and evening. The pain that I was feeling prior to my surgery was already gone and I was having to live with a new GI track.

Pathology and PET scans confirmed the cancer was stage four colon cancer, with a unique mutation: BRAF v600e. The average lifespan was 13-15 months. I was 43 with two young boys. I began the most rigorous, aggressive treatment plan available. Daily pills and IV chemotherapy and targeted immunotherapy every other week. Chemo side effects are no joke. The Tocotrienols became a crucial part of my treatment as it seemed to give relief to the constipation and nausea. But I also started to notice I felt a difference when I did not take any. More uncomfortable, lethargic.

After only two months of treatment I shocked my doctors with a clear PET scan – no evidence of disease! Unfortunately, the mutation is incurable, meaning I have to continue to treat! Now, I’m twelve rounds and six months in. I continue to have clear CT scans. But in a recent visit, my oncologist said it would be a risk to extend treatments to monthly. This will continue until it stops working, I cannot tolerate it, or they find a cure. So, whatever I can do to help the process, I’m willing. We had already cut out processed foods, household chemicals, and other toxins. What I loved about AC Grace is its supplements are non-GMO and free from the junk that messes with my delicate system, like synthetic additives and gross fillers. Bonus, I have the whole family using Vitamin C during cold and flu season and Vitamin D because the sun doesn’t shine much in the winter.

My biggest fear of chemo was being stuck in bed and not able to show up as a parent. That is certainly true with each round, but it’s gone from twelve days of nausea and fatigue to three. Vitamin E has been essential as it seems to support my overall body health and stamina. Mindset is everything. I’m not dealing with cancer. I’m forcing cancer to deal with MY life. I make it get up at 5 am to hit the weight room or yoga with friends. Cancer is dragged along when I walk the boys to school in single-digit temps. It is completely ignored when I’m at work. It has to step aside when I travel with my husband and laugh with my family. Cancer has to tolerate my prayer journaling, my jumping into a frozen lake after taking a sauna, my volunteering to save my neighbors, my late nights rereading the Hunger Games. Cancer gets pushed into small spaces in my mind and doesn’t come up in conversations. My life is full and we have a lot to live for, and cancer just has to deal with it or get out.