Nina's Story

In November 2005, at age 83, I was diagnosed with a 25 mm Carcinoma malignant tumor on my right breast two weeks before I was scheduled to fly to Tucson to visit my daughter and her family. My children call me "the flying grandma" with a son, a daughter, and five grandchildren in Israel and a daughter and three grandchildren in the United States, I spend six months in the U.S. and six months in Israel.

Doctors in Israel wanted me to undergo surgery to remove the cancer, then chemo treatments, and then take Tamoxifen medication. After refusing surgery and chemo, I told the doctors and my son and daughter in Israel that I will take the Tamoxifen and will fly to Tucson for a short visit with my daughter Nadia and her family - probably for the last time - and when I will come back I might consider surgery.

Upon my arrival in Tucson and after reading the long list of side effects, I decided to take nutritional/dietary supplements to support my immune system so my body could heal itself instead of taking Tamoxifen. However, my daughter Nadia, her family and I had to lie to my children in Israel so as not to worry them.

My short stay was extended to four months as I was getting better and stronger by the day (did not need 3-4 naps a day, only one) and I was full of energy. As soon as I arrived back in Israel, my daughter Mary took me for a mammogram and doctors were amazed to see that my cancer shrunk from 25 mm to 15 mm. They said, "Wow, the Tamoxifen is really working, but we still recommend surgery and chemo." Because of this, I made the decision to keep my mouth shut about never taking the Tamoxifen and told them that I did not want surgery.

Six months later I flew again for a visit to Tucson and spent a few months here with my daughter Nadia her husband and my grandchildren For a year and a half I lied to the doctors and the family in Israel and six months ago I decided to tell the doctors that I have never taken the Tamoxifen. The doctors and the family were very upset that I lied and deceived them and pressured me to start taking the Tamoxifen if I did not want the surgery.

October 1, 2007 - at age 85 and almost two years since being diagnosed - I flew again to Tucson to visit .I have been taking Tamoxifen for four months with side effects such as constipation, dizziness, loss of hair, itchiness on the skin and brittle nails. One week after I arrived I decided that there were no benefits to taking Tamoxifen and stopped taking it which meant lying to the family in Israel again. One week after stopping, my hair loss stopped and the itchiness on my skin stopped as well! My fingernails grew back! They are as strong as I used to have them before starting on Tamoxifen. I am a firm believer that if you feed your immune system with the right nutrients, your body is able to heal itself. It takes time and I want to share my story and give hope to all the women out there, especially the younger ones, and tell them that if at my old age of 85 I feel so great, full of energy and active, they can do it too.