People change lifestyles by conscious choice or when pushed against the wall when illness hits. When people hear they have a life-threatening illness, they sit up to take stock of their lives and begin a 180-degree turn in lifestyle.
Change-of-lifestyle talks always abound when we sit around at ECHOstore, especially when we meet friends and customers who are consciously trying to change eating habits and live less stressful lives. So it was no surprise that when we flew to Davao to give support to Sarah Claudio, her sister-in-law Elle Claudio and their whole family who opened ECHOstore Davao. The discussion during opening day centered around the same subject, too…and on cancer specifically. A number of people kept coming forward to share their stories around the table!
Nelia Claudio, mother of Sarah, is a lawyer and CPA who resigned from her job when breast cancer hit her in 2006. Turning her back against chemotherapy, she chose the natural healing journey. This included everything from cryoablation and immunotherapy, and traveling to a Chinese hospital in Guangzhou known for cancer as the first Filipina to even get there. She changed her diet to a no-meat (protein feeds cancer cells) diet and took on naturopath Dr. Dana Calimbas’ protocols that included capsule of malunggay, turmeric and many others.
Nelia has also incorporated beam ray light and sound therapy into her life. Such alternative therapies have been experimented on in Europe for more than two decades and have reportedly shown results that support the viability of energy healing to be incorporated into any treatment of illnesses. Light therapy consists of exposure to daylight or to specific wavelengths of light using ultra-violet lights lasers, light-emitting diodes, fluorescent lamps or full-spectrum light, usually controlled with various devices. The light is administered for a prescribed amount in controlled settings and is being used to treat a variety of illnesses such as depression, psoriasis and neuron diseases. Sound therapy meanwhile is something we all know a little about as music and higher frequency sound brings deep healing not only to the physical body but to the subconscious as well. Nelia told me she will be opening a treatment room above ECHOstore Davao in their Lenel Building so she can also share the therapy for free to people who would need it.
Miggy Miguel is my high school batchmate. She was a globe-trotting flight stewardess for Cathay Pacific for 17 years when stage 3 breast cancer grounded her. Miggy is our great example as she beat cancer for the past 11 years with no chemo but drastically changed lifestyles, going natural and organic. We have her today as a happy organic farmer tilling land and selling her organic vegetable produce to various restaurants around Davao, and now to ECHOstore Davao. She swears by Dr. Dana Calimbas, (our naturopath friend whose tawa-tawa drops we have at the store has reportedly cured dengue fever, Dr. Dana we wish you could frequent Manila!) whose naturopathic treatments she strictly followed.
Princess Lala Sug Elardo, our dynamic Sulu coffee grower and supplier, had a fall in the bathroom in 2000 to find out unexpectedly she had stage 2 breast cancer. She didn’t want to use her money for any chemo treatment but chose to give it for her daughter’s education. Her cousin, a cancer specialist, told her to boil the stalk and leaves of the neem tree. She drank this dark green-orange bitter brew daily for a whole year before breakfast. A week into drinking, she could feel her body reacting to it and slowly through time, her hard breasts softened and healed. Her treatment: neem tree and intense prayer to Allah. One day the cancer was gone. She has been cancer-free. She spends her life now empowering community women to plant coffee and sell them. She also represents them and speak on their behalf. We, in turn, love and support her for all her work.
Corky Garrido is my grade school classmate battling breast cancer. One of the main things she does is “go to jail†helping the women in jail create livelihood out of recycled products that help them send kids to school. Despite the struggle of chemo treatments, Corky is now trying very hard to eat healthy, has started juicing and giving time to nurture herself and her passions. Elaine Lim who supplies our Cacao de Davao products battled early stages of bone cancer at 19 years old, including the danger of amputating her leg. During those five years of trying to recuperate, she said, “I felt left behind by life.†After several surgeries on her knee, she now walks slowly even if she cannot bend her knee due to an implant. Her shift was to start eating vegetables and start juicing, which she formerly never did, and paid things forward by being an active support to other cancer patients in their healing. Despite the limp, Elaine is now cancer-free. She is producing tasty native cocoa and chocolate products, helping our local farmers.
There are miracle stories fueled from health struggles that make people turn their lives around. It is possible to be healed, be happy, healthy and to matter to others even with cancer, or surviving after it. And it begins by choosing healthy unprocessed food, living and celebrating a more balanced and joyful life and becoming aware of the sacredness of it. How these people inspire me! Everyone around that table in Davao agreed that it’s all about the quality of life. Miggy said, “What’s the point of being alive if you are not happy and healthy?â€
My friend since grade school and now business partner in ECHOstore Reena Francisco herself had a kidney transplant, now with 23-year-old kidneys. Her own journey and life experience of trying to eat healthier, live more conscious has been a major drive that keeps her going in the social enterprise-life mission we work on together. To advocate for healthy clean, hopefully organic food, a balanced positive outlook in life and the desire to share our talents in service to uplift other lives…this is what quality of life is about and makes every second worth living!
(For best results, consult with your primary doctor. ECHOstore Davao is located at Lenel Building, Diversion Road Robinsons Highlands. Tel. No. (082)-302-1656.)