My friend, Ranger John, asked me during one of his Dark Forest podcasts in December to explain why I’m vegan. I promised to do that, unfortunately it wasn’t as prompt as I promised! But, being that I am approaching my one year anniversary of veganism, it seems appropriate to share my story. I am going to break this into several different postings because there is a lot of information to share.
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| Dad, Dick Thompson |
Last week Vegetarian Times magazine had a contest on Facebook to win a vegan cookbook by drawing five random answers to the question, “Tell us why you went vegan in 6 words or less.” My entry was this, “Dad, Grandmother blood cancer, ergo vegan.” I didn’t win a cookbook, but my answer sums the impetus of my change to vegan lifestyle. My Dad, Dick Thompson, died from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2008. He had been in remission for almost three years. His first bout with lymphoma were tumors in one of the sinuses behind his left eye and in the right atrium of his heart (extremely rare). Chemotherapy put him into remission, with the caveat from physicians that remission would only last three years. In just under three years, a different type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma appeared in his brain, also an extremely rare presentation, and proved fatal. My dad’s mother, Grace Arney Thompson, died from leukemia and multiple myeloma in 1987.
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| Paternal Grandmother, Grace Thompson |
Lymphoma, leukemia, and multiple myeloma are all blood cancers, originating in the bone marrow or lymphatic tissues and are considered to be related because they involve cells with similar functions and origins. Blood cancers are not generally considered hereditary cancers, however, as noted by Inherited Health.com, “Families are more likely to have a hereditary cancer syndrome if there are multiple generations of affected family members with the same cancer (or associated cancers).” I haven’t undergone testing for inherited gene mutation for blood cancer—but I found such a strong paternal family history of blood cancer to be alarming.
In 2009, Oregon governor Ted Kulongoski signed House Bill 2420, adding 12 types of cancer to occupational disease presumptions for Oregon career firefighters, including the blood cancers leukemia, multiple myeloma, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. This law went into effect January 1, 2010, adding Oregon to just over half of the states to adopt presumptive cancer bills. How compelling must the evidence be to lead lawmakers to adopt such legislation? This was in addition to the fact that year after year, the majority of firefighter Line of Duty deaths in the United States are due to heart attacks (see US Fire Administration).
I didn’t need any more of a wake up call—I can honestly say I was scared! I can’t change my genetics, and while I could change my job, I love being a firefighter and didn’t want to leave it. I started to research cancer risk reduction. February 2010, Mother Superior (my mom) and I took a mother-daughter trip to the Oregon Coast. During the trip, mom shared information she had just read in The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell, PhD and Thomas M. Campbell II, regarding the impact of the consumption of animal protein on cancer risk. I bought the book and read it in one day, couldn’t put it down. I embarked on a massive personal study of the link between food and cancer and found study after study that pointed toward decreased incidence of all types of cancer with significant reduction or elimination of animal protein consumption. In addition to cancer reduction, a whole foods, plant-based diet was also found to reduce, even reverse Type II (adult onset) diabetes, which my father, paternal grandfather, and paternal great-grandmother were diagnosed with. Other close paternal relatives have been diagnosed as well, including one with Type I (juvenile) diabetes. My father's diabetes was not due to obesity and required insulin injection. The cardiovascular benefits are extremely compelling too, risks of which I have from my maternal genetics (hypertension and hypercholesterolemia). This struck me. In thinking about it, I related it to a car, in that its performance changes based upon thefuel you put in it, in fact, you can kill a car with the wrong fuel (diesel vs. gasoline).
So Mother Superior and I decided to try it. At the same time, Gresham Fire promoted a voluntary program called PHLAME (Promoting Healthy Living: Assessing More Effects) that I and my station crew decided to participate in, which included dietary study and changes, as well as health screening and fitness assessment. It was a perfect storm, of sorts, for dietary and lifestyle changes for me.
The next blog will cover the Science Behind Vegan Diet
