Shauna with husband Kirk and son Cooper.
I vividly recall sitting on the floor of my shower with water and tears streaming down my face trying to figure it all out. I could not stop thinking … why? Why me? What did I do wrong? On July 28, 2004, my son’s first birthday, I had been diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of thirty-three. And then, just a few weeks later, my younger sister was also diagnosed with breast cancer at thirty-one years old.
Happier periods of my life started flashing through my mind as I sat in that shower. I remembered racing with my younger sister through banana plantations by a house we lived in during a four-year stint in Puerto Rico. We were probably eight and ten years old at the time, and I recall running barefoot through the trees, stopping to pick a banana or an orange here and there. Sometimes we would gather mangoes and avocados to take back to our mother to serve with dinner. As I sat on my shower floor mourning the loss of my breasts, I tried hard to remember. Didn’t I also recall plantation workers spraying down those banana trees with pesticides? Were those pesticides the reason why my sister and I came to have aggressive breast cancer, mine having grown unchecked into stage II breast cancer while I breastfed my son for nine months?
I flashed-forward a number of years to my grandmother’s garden in Arkansas. My sister and I spent many happy hours helping her plant and pick tomatoes, okra, cucumbers, and all kinds of other wonderful vegetables. Again, I strained to remember that pesticide she used to put on the vegetables to keep the bugs away. What was it called? Sevin dust? Weren’t we told that we had to keep the cats away from it for fear of their ingesting it and dying from it? I remember Grandma hollering at us not to eat the vegetables until she had a chance to wash off the “poison,” and even the Centers for Disease Control reported in a study that a single dose of 250mg consumed by an adult male resulted in “moderate poisoning.” Was this why we had breast cancer? Had we eaten fruits and vegetables covered in poisonous pesticides that later settled in our breast tissue to form cancer cells? Was that possible?
I started thinking about our college days and the TV dinners heated with plastic wrap and consumed quickly while in the midst of cramming for exams. Was it all the chemicals in the processed food that we ate?
We had no family history of breast cancer until we were both simultaneously diagnosed with the disease—years before our doctors would normally start screening us for breast cancer. In fact, no one in our immediate family had ever had any type of cancer. I had been to at least a half-dozen doctors who really had no answer for the “why.” Most agreed that it was probably somehow genetic, although they admitted they were stumped by the fact that both my sister and I had tested negative for the known genetic mutations for breast cancer. Most of the physicians that I saw just threw up their hands and said we would probably never know the cause. They confirmed that not enough information is known about the genetic predisposition to breast cancer and certainly not enough information is known about the environmental and food-supply factors that could potentially cause breast cancer.
“We had no family history of breast cancer until we were both simultaneously diagnosed.…”
One thing the doctors did all seem to agree upon was that our treatment plans should be the most aggressive available. Before all was said and done, we each underwent a year of mind-numbing chemotherapy, double mastectomies, and multiple surgeries to reconstruct our breasts. Due to my advanced breast cancer, all of my lymph nodes had to be removed from under one of my arms, leaving me with lymphedema (swelling caused by poor drainage of lymph fluid) in my left arm, hand, and torso, which I will have for the rest of my life. Then, after six years of hormone therapy, my team of doctors advised me that I should also remove my ovaries to eliminate the risk of more breast cancer or, even worse, ovarian cancer. So at the age of thirty-nine, I had both ovaries removed, putting my body into premature and permanent menopause.
Prior to our breast cancer diagnosis, my sister and I were the pictures of health. We were raised as vegetarians by our military doctor father and our registered nurse mother, who are both very health conscious and taught us to eat right, exercise daily, and watch our weight. We have never been even remotely obese, smoked a cigarette, or touched a piece of red meat (all the supposed top risk factors for breast cancer). So again, I had to ask, why?
It has now been over nine years since that fateful day when my doctor told me I had breast cancer, and I finally know the answer to the “why?” I was meant to have breast cancer so that I would go on a journey in search of answers. That journey would not only change my life, but also allow me to educate others, to assist in the growing movement to change the way America thinks about food and diet.
The first part of my journey for answers entailed reading everything I could get my hands on about the connection between food and disease, and in particular the connection between food and cancer. On my required reading list were The China Study, by Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell II, and Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food. I learned from Dr. Campbell that there was likely a connection between the foods I had consumed and my untimely breast cancer. Dr. Campbell’s fifty-year study of rural populations in China provides evidence of a direct connection between not only the consumption of animal products and cancer, but also between the overconsumption of animal products and a host of modern diseases currently plaguing the Western world, including heart disease, obesity, and autoimmune diseases.
From Michael Pollan, I learned the history of how we have applied the principles of Ford’s mass production of cars to the mass production of food, which led to McDonald’s and the proliferation of fast food in the US. Mr. Pollan educated me on the compromises made in the growing of food and the raising of animals in order to satiate the world’s ever-growing demand for fast and processed foods—these compromises include the proliferation of genetically altered versions of our most consumed crops and animals, along with the introduction of pesticides and antibiotics to our food sources and onto our dinner plates. I realized that much of what I had been putting into my body for the first thirty-three years of my life was likely laden with pesticides or packaged with numerous chemical preservatives to create years of shelf life. I had been eating a diet that, while healthy by the measuring stick of the Food and Drug Administration and other government standards, was possibly a contributing factor to my breast cancer.
I gained further inspiration from Kris Carr and her Crazy Sexy Cancer movie and books, which chronicle her journey from an incurable cancer into remission through her consumption of a raw, plant-based diet. I realized, with hope, that there might be some explanations as to why cancer had started to grow in my young body. While I was vegetarian for the most part, I overconsumed dairy products and processed foods. We are the only mammal that consumes the milk of another mammal, and as it turns out, our bodies do not process it very well. Dr. Campbell’s studies showed a link between overconsumption of cow’s milk products and cancer.
I will never forget the first time I got my hands on Kris Carr’s first book, Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips, which included a short but powerful chapter on food. It contained an overview of her diet recommendations, and there was a picture that jumped out at me from the page: It showed the first and, at the time, only juice bar in Austin, and the establishment’s sign read simply: “Disease Can’t Fight Oxygen and Light.” Tears streamed down my face as I realized that I may have finally found something in my own crazy breast cancer journey that was under my control. I did not choose breast cancer, nor would I have chosen to remove my breasts and ultimately my ovaries in my thirties. But when you have a small child and a loving husband, you do whatever it takes to stay alive for them. You do what your doctors tell you to do, even if that means poisoning your body with toxic chemotherapy and removing all the offending body parts that harbor cancer. Finally, I had found something that was completely under my control and within my power. From my research, I believed that I could not only heal my body from breast cancer treatment, but I could also help prevent a recurrence of my breast cancer. I was sold. I was willing to try anything that could increase the chances that I would be around to see my beautiful son, Cooper, grow up. I would become vegan, and even consume a diet of only raw vegan foods, if that was what it would take to get me healthy. I would start drinking a green juice every morning. I would eliminate all animal products from my diet, including my beloved cheese.
“When you have a small child and a loving husband, you do whatever it takes to stay alive.…”
I dove into the deep end, immediately ordering a simple two-speed Breville juice fountain. I will never forget making my first green juice in my kitchen. My husband, Kirk, thought I was crazy. It was so green, but the smell of the “real” fruits and vegetables coming from my juicer was intoxicating. At first, I put an entire apple in my green juice each morning, but as time went by, I noticed that I was losing the sweet tooth that I had been known for my entire life (I never skipped dessert). The apple started tasting too sweet, so I gradually used less and less until I left it out altogether, drinking a simple combination of kale, cucumber, and celery. I would juice 32 ounces of these ingredients and head out the door each morning with what my friends came to call my “pond water.”
Sisters Tamara and Shauna.
The results of drinking a simple green juice every day were amazing. I had an incredible amount of energy all the time. My immune system—which had been completely wiped out by the chemotherapy—rebounded. My skin glowed, and my hair (which was finally growing back) was black and shiny once again. Mentally, I was sharp and clear. And I was happy. For me, the daily flush of nutrients from my green juice was like the fountain of youth.
Over time, I realized that I no longer needed coffee and dropped it in favor of green tea. I also realized that I did not need anything else to eat until lunch. This created a mini juice fast each day, from dinner the night before until I ate solid food at lunch the next day. I found that this daily mini-fast helped my body to cleanse itself of toxins from bad eating. Nine years later, I still drink a green juice every day. I am convinced that it has changed the outcome of my life. I am not just surviving my breast cancer, but thriving in every way. I have more energy and drive than many of my friends and counterparts my age. I also require far less exercise to maintain my weight than my friends of a similar age. While I absolutely love and enjoy exercise, I work out regularly to feel good mentally and physically, not to maintain my weight. My weight is maintained by the smart food choices I am making. Since my body fully absorbs the nutrients consumed, I do not constantly feel hungry, and as a result, I naturally only consume the calories needed to maintain a normal weight. My eyesight is also still remarkable. Despite the fact that I am at the age when most start using readers, I can still see perfectly without glasses.
Perhaps the most important thing I know with every fiber in my body is that I will not only be around to see my son Cooper grow up, but also to grow old with my husband. Unfortunately, breast cancer is one of those dreaded diseases from which you are never considered cured. It can rear its ugly head at any time, and often does for those of us diagnosed at such young ages. For that reason, I always stay the course. Each day when I drink my daily green juice, I reaffirm my dedication to my diet, to my healthy way of life, and to staying alive for Cooper and Kirk. They need me. Plain and simple. I am so blessed to be able to share my story and the healing power of green juice with the world. I am confident that this is the answer to the “why.”
After years of spreading the gospel about drinking a daily green juice to my friends and family, in 2012, I decided that it was time to get serious about “paying it forward.” Many of my friends and family members had already purchased juicers and started making a green juice every morning. While they all agreed that the health benefits they experienced were undeniable, after a few months they would ultimately put the juicer away, declaring that it was “too hard,” “too messy,” and “took too much time.” I soon realized that if I was going to keep my friends and family drinking a daily green juice, I was going to have to make it for them. So on December 1, 2012, I made sixty bottles of cold-pressed green juice and took it to the local farmers market in Austin, Texas. It sold out in less than two hours. So the next weekend, I made sixty more bottles and did it again. At the time, I was still working my day job as a corporate attorney, so I had to rope in my then-eight-year-old son and husband to help hand-label the bottles and support me at the farmers market. After selling out at two consecutive farmers markets, I realized that there was a serious need for ready-to-drink green juice made the way I make it (with mostly greens, low in fruit, and with no water added). In 2012, fresh green juice was only available in cities that were lucky enough to have a juice bar—or in New York and along the West Coast, where a small number of cold-pressed juice companies had launched locally. I made it my mission to get a green juice into the hands of every American every day. And so it was that my company, Daily Greens, was born. After four short months, I left my corporate attorney job behind and dove headfirst into the business of making green juice available to anyone and everyone who would listen to me. Only five months after taking that very first batch to the farmers market, Daily Greens launched at Whole Foods Markets—and the rest is history. Today, Daily Greens juices are available coast to coast in thousands of retail outlets. See the website to find the location closest to you: www.drinkdailygreens.com/location.
During my own battle with breast cancer, I cofounded an organization in Texas known as the Pink Ribbon Cowgirls. It is a program that provides a social network and support services to young women battling breast cancer. The concept grew out of the support and companionship my sister and I were able to provide to each other during our two years of treatment together. Over the years, the Pink Ribbon Cowgirls have provided support and sisterhood to hundreds of young women battling breast cancer. Resources for such women are still scarce in this country—despite the increase of breast cancer in young women. For this reason, we set aside a portion of the revenues at Daily Greens to help fund organizations that provide services to young women fighting breast cancer. In order to further this vision and mission, we will also be donating 1 percent of the royalties from this book to those organizations. If you have been touched by someone courageously battling breast cancer, I encourage you to visit our website and see how you can make a difference too: www.drinkdailygreens.com/we-give-back/.
I no longer ask myself, “Why me?” I know now that it was my destiny to battle breast cancer at thirty-three. It made me who I am today. It created in me a burning desire not only to help other young women facing this disease, but to help you, the reader of my book, to get healthy and stay healthy so you can thrive for the important people in your life.