In August 2011, Lisa Clinton was on vacation when she felt a lump in her breast. Upon returning home, tests confirmed her fears – cancer. The 53-year-old former competitive figure skater was shocked. She’d always taken care of her health. “The body changes after you hit age 50,” Clinton says. “I’d never had a mammogram done until last year, when the lump was found. But once it was discovered, I decided to fight it head-on, and make some wholesale changes in my life.”
With the same spirit and determination found during her days of competing, Clinton changed her diet, exercised more, and harnessed the power of positive thinking. Additionally, she visited the Bastyr Integrative Oncology Research Center (BIORC) and its medical director, Leanna Standish, PhD, ND, LAc, FABNO, and participated in the turkey tail mushroom clinical trial, in which she was prescribed a mushroom extract from Japan. The decisions have had a profound effect on her health.
Next month, Clinton will have a follow-up mammogram to see if the changes she’s made in her life, including visits to BIORC, have helped eliminate the cancer from her body. In the meantime, she has been so inspired by the natural steps she’s taking that the former skater is starting the Ice Angels Foundation to help pay for naturopathic doctor visits for cancer patients.
“I feel confident that I am taking the proper steps to fight breast cancer naturally, feel very healthy and want to help others who are fighting the same battle and are looking toward natural medicine,” says Clinton.
To learn more about the integrative cancer research being done at BIORC, and for women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer (or men who have prostate cancer) or to participate in ground-breaking, innovative clinical trials done jointly between Bastyr and the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA), please call (425) 602-3311.