Texas Tour, part 4: Video with Cancer Survivor Shelly in San Antonio

Kristin and I got up early and went for a long run on the River Walk. I said to her, “Why don’t we live here?” I always say that, when we discover stuff like how there are bike trails all around Denver, or it’s warm all winter in Mesa, or there’s a health-food store on every other corner in California.

Then when we were packing up after our class at a beautiful church out in the woods, we got in the car and it was full of…..mosquitoes! Ahhhh. THAT’S why we don’t live here. We slapped ourselves silly on the drive to Houston and escaped with, oh, only a dozen mosquito bites apiece or so?

My favorite thing about Southerners is their openness—not just to us, but to each other. I remarked to Kristin later that what struck me about all my Texas classes, but especially Houston, was that I’d be talking to someone about a problem she was having, and the person behind her in line would poke into the convo and say, “I can help you with that.”

For instance, a 26-y.o. woman who just completed treatment for ovarian cancer, bald and swollen from steroids, wants to eat whole, raw plant foods. But she’s on disability income. I talked to her about joining a co-op and the woman behind her in line said, “I’ll tell you exactly where the co-ops are–let’s talk.”

The community that builds around the movement we’re in warms my heart. I love seeing GSG readers form co-ops for the group buy. These things, as I write in the Intro to 12 Steps, are more valuable than just hooking up with resources. The women I met early in my search for answers were my teachers, my guiding stars. I learned so much from Charlene Stott, Brenda Corbridge, Gwen Lund. Now I stand on my own two feet, but I see them around town and I feel great affection for them.

Talking to Shelley really made my day. She’s not only recovering from breast cancer and chemotherapy by embracing antioxidant-rich foods, but she’s had some other exciting “side effects” of nutrition treatments, which has flowed to her young-adult son. Watch my very short video with her:

Posted in: 12 Steps To Whole Food, Health Concerns, Videos