317: Thriving After Breast Cancer: A Whole Food Vegan Journey | Kelly Nardoni

Maya Acosta 

So I have Kelly Nardoni here. And what brings you to the Vegan Women Summit?

Kelly Nardoni 

Oh, thank you for the opportunity. So I learned online about the Vegan Women's Summit and I became a whole food plant based vegan two years ago this June. I certainly love animals. And that's a big passion of mine. But I became a whole food vegan after a breast cancer diagnosis. And I was the patient among the panel of physicians the case study,

Maya Acosta 

tell us a little bit about that, that experience. And are you also interested in lifestyle medicine as well?

Kelly Nardoni 

Yes, thank you very much. So I'm actually a member of ACLM and associate member. And so I I'm learning from the doctors all the time, and but how it really came about and what I shared during today's panel discussion was, you know, I was diagnosed April 1 2021. And, you know, I completed surgery, and then also completed radiation. Now, in the middle there, as you know, they usually do chemotherapy for patients. But I did not rush into that. I really didn't want to make a fear based decision and I wanted to do my research. I'm very intellectually curious, like to read a lot and really understand the decisions I'm making. So I interviewed for oncologist before choosing Philomena McAndrew with cedars. And so in the middle there, with the second oncologist I interviewed, she recommended what the others had, which was and so did my current oncologist and fairness, standard of care, conventional treatment, but yeah, they wanted to give me the Red Devil doxorubicin, which, as you know, may know it's one of the most toxic chemotherapy agents. And so I had no lymph nodes involved. And so I thought, you know, this is prophylactic. And so I don't want to just survive, I want to thrive. And so we were looking at chemotherapy, forced menopause, I was 44 at the time, and 10 years of medication, with life changing and debilitating side effects, potentially, that would impact quality of life. And so when I asked the second oncologist I interviewed who was a guru at a world class Cancer Center, that I've waited a month to see. I said, What about the power of nutrition to heal my disease and perhaps natural therapies, if not in conjunction with traditional but in lieu of even? And she shook her head and said, Now you know how many blueberries she would have to eat to make a difference? It is, it's near impossible. They've done those studies now just come up, come on back for the chemo and, and something didn't sit well with me now. As I walked up to that appointment that day. I'm a woman of faith. And so I am big on signs. And I think it was a providential sign. I saw a little blue truck parked out in front of the cancer center with a skull and crossbones image and the word poison prominently emblazoned on the side. And I stopped and snapped a photo of it actually. And, you know, I left pretty defeated that day after that appointment with her and but then I wandered into my local bookstore and saw Chris Wark's book crispy cancer. I don't know if you're familiar with him. Okay. And so as you may know, his logo on his book is also a skull and crossbones, but it's a two carrot sticks at an apple. And so I thought, there's my sign. There's my providential sign. And so I delved into his work, which really deals with the evidence based nutrition, nutrition principles he used to combat and beat his stage three colon cancer 20 years prior was about my age, and also to remain cancer free to this day. And so I thought, You know what, I'm gonna roll the dice on this, and there's no guarantee anyway, which way I go, but I, I contributed through my lifestyle choices to my cancer, I had no genetic predisposition ate the standard American diet, not enough sleep, you know, 80 plus hour workweek, sometimes, and too much caffeine and sugar. So I really delved into all of those aspects. And I'm here two years later, all my cancer markers are Dr. McAndrew monitors them, all of them are normal. And my circulating tumor cell tests have come back with no residual disease or no evidence of cells that match my original tumor. So I'm very blessed. But I realized I can't really let my foot off the gas because as you know, there's a 20 to 30 year metastatic window where this you could have a recurrence and I do have a high chance of reoccurrence.

Maya Acosta 

Nancy, just to clarify, because I don't know if I caught it, did you or did you not have a procedure and you did not do chemotherapy

Kelly Nardoni 

you so I did do a lumpectomy surgery, and then I skipped chemotherapy skipped forced menopause either surgically or medically, medically induced or medication. And then I also declined 10 years of aromatase inhibitor therapy. But I did say yes to radiation which sometimes I have my doubts as to whether that was the right thing to do. But I did do that because it was I considered it not a systemic treatment but more localized. And so basically We replace the medication and the chemotherapy with lifestyle medicine principles and and therapies, interventions.

Maya Acosta 

Thank you for sharing your story. So on my podcast, we really touch on lifestyle medicine. But I love having the specialists come on to talk about the different things that we can do to prevent disease. But I really need to have more testimonials, I need to have more stories like yours on the podcast, really, in general, because we can talk and talk and talk about how we can prevent. But it's not until someone actually comes on and says, I lived this way I was diagnosed with this. And this is what I did to take control, which is a beautiful thing that you're an associate of the American College of lifestyle medicine. When did you become involved with the college I

Kelly Nardoni 

wanted to immerse myself in every bit of learning I could. So I joined ACLM, as an associate, I plan to attend the plant, trician conference, International Plant based conference, and really any kind of content, any kind of content, I can consume, essentially, you know, plant strong, I'm an avid listener of plant strong repair systems work. And so I just, I just digest all of that, to incorporate new learnings into my regimen. And movement is a big one. So I'm a big fan of Dr. Sunderman. We spoke together.

Maya Acosta 

I'm a big fan, too. And I'm the lay person that's just tagging along, you know, with the American College of lifestyle medicine, just loving it so much because, yeah, I actually, you know, I was speaking earlier with the other physician with a physician telling her that it was listening to talk radio back in the day before podcasting, and I heard an individual talk about the epidemic of hypothyroidism. At the time I was dealing with my own health issues, didn't know what was going on. But once I heard that, I said, Oh, yes, I'm experiencing hair loss. I'm gay, I'm gaining weight, I'm feeling cold. I think I might have thyroid issues, and that I took control of my own health. You know, I went to an endocrinologist. And anyway, that got me started on this path, because that worked for me. That's sort of why I use this platform the way that I do because I think that in many of my listeners are women, I am gearing more towards supporting women and health. So yes, these stories are really fascinating. So I've had Dr. Amy Commander on the show in the past, to talk about her work, really in supporting with patients can breast cancer patients. So I really appreciate that, that you're talking about this today. And it sounds like you're really diving in and really just wanting to get as involved in the community. And it sounds like you know what you need to do to take care of your health. Tell us more about what what it's like for you being here at the Women's vegan Summit, because I can tell you, it's amazing for on my end, I'm loving it.

Kelly Nardoni 

Yes, it's been a real honor and privilege to meet like minded individuals who not only share my passion for animals, I mean, that's certainly a part of veganism for me. And Animal Rescue. I'm a big proponent of that I just my little one year old poodles waiting at home for me. Her grandparents are taking care of her right now. Grace Kelly, shout out to her. But, but also, it's been wonderful to meet like minded folks who both have come up to me and share their story, whether it's they've lost a family member to breast cancer, or they themselves are a survivor. I met a survivor that's 13 years out. And that brings me a lot of that gives me a lot of hope and inspiration as well. And so, you know, a big part of, I think what prompted me to come here today, Gloria Steinem has a quote, she's she said, you know, the final stage of healing is sharing your experience. And so this is healing for me. But I really hope to show others that whether they I I'm not denigrating traditional treatment, I partook in traditional treatment. But I also want to give people hope that there there is another way to whether it's even to supplement or prevent reoccurrence. And so it's been phenomenal meeting, just all of these inspirational people who are doing beautiful work to save the animals, save our planet, and to save our health. And so I just, there's so much positive energy in this conference, and I will definitely be back.

Maya Acosta 

It's my first time attending, because, you know, I have this habit of overdoing it. And when I was 2019, when the pandemic happened, I was like, yeah, it needed to happen for me to take a break. 2019 kept me really busy, a lot going on this year, but I decided to come because I felt like it was an investment on myself. So I'm here to support women. I'm here to learn about brands. I'm here to learn about products that have been developed. Also, I love that investors can kind of taste test and sample and get to know the phase behind the product. So there, there's a lot of components to all that we're doing here at the summit. I love that the doctors are also being featured because that's important. We have to remember the health aspect of it. So yeah, what else would you like to share with my listeners and I have heard you on another podcast talk about your love for animals rescuing animals. So tell us more about that if

Kelly Nardoni 

you'd like. Actually, my first foray into rescue was in 2014, I rescued a senior poodle from the Pasadena Humane Society and actually wrote a book about her and our three and a half year journey, the sun will come out tomorrow, love and hope from a senior rescue dog were kindred spirits. And so I wrote this book, it was a bit of a passion project really, to encourage senior pet adoption. And also have a resource list in the back where if you're interested in learning more about rescues in your state that specifically deal with seniors, because they're the Forgotten pets really, that, you know, you can learn more about that. So that was a real passion project for me. And so that was a delight. And we have a pet bed company too, as well. And so I just I love animals. And probably if I had another life, I would have been like the next Jane Goodall or something. But at any rate, you know, we're so I dabble in a bit of this, you know, the whole food, plant based food, I think is really a passion of mine going forward not only for my own survival, but also to share that message and that you really someone else here said today, you're not giving anything up, look at all that you're getting, by giving up the standard American diet and whatever our favorite foods were. But look at all you're getting the energy, the vibrancy, the health, all of it. So. So that's really, you know, I would and I would also echo what my physician teammate on our panel said Dr. Robin Tiger, which is just make a 1% change each day, it doesn't have to be going all vegan, maybe it's one meal a week, one meal a day, you know, that consists of primarily plants. And so I think that's the way to look at it, because otherwise it can be overwhelming. But it was easy for me in many ways, because I had leverage on myself for my survival. But I know not everybody has that opportunity. So thankfully, but But there's other ways to approach it. So it's really

Maya Acosta 

about improving your quality of life and extending your longevity. Dr. Michael Greger will be touring in 2024. I want to say and you're familiar with all his books, this one is, but it's on longevity. I don't know if you've heard of that one.

Kelly Nardoni

Not only your lifespan, but your health span. The health span

Maya Acosta  

Exactly. Just improving your quality of life. So Kelly, I want to thank you so much for stopping by and would you like to share any links, websites, social media, anything like that,

Kelly Nardoni  

thank you so much for the opportunity, Maya to be a part of your podcast and it's just wonderful to get to know you and your work. You know, I'm not big on social media yet. Big and that I don't post that's what I mean by that. But certainly you can connect with me at Kelly nardone.com. I'm on LinkedIn and Instagram. More so for my dog rescue endeavors, but, but please connect with me. I'd love to meet other like minded folks. So thank you