{"id":2073,"date":"2022-06-30T15:31:31","date_gmt":"2022-06-30T15:31:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifestylemedicine.flywheelsites.com\/?p=2073"},"modified":"2025-07-10T22:11:48","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T22:11:48","slug":"lifestyle-changes-help-woman-face-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifestylemedicine.org\/lifestyle-changes-help-woman-face-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"How a commitment to lifestyle changes helped one woman face cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How a commitment to lifestyle changes helped one woman face cancer<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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Terri Schon felt like the only one without a role in her breast cancer treatments. Until she discovered lifestyle medicine and shared medical appointments.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

June 30, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Terri Schon\u2019s cancer diagnosis in 2019 left her with a nagging question she will never answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cancer didn\u2019t run in her family. She had no reason to believe it was genetic. She couldn\u2019t stop wondering if there was something wrong in her lifestyle that caused the disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She met with a surgeon who would cut the tumor out. She met an oncologist who would make chemotherapy recommendations. The only person who didn\u2019t seem to have much of a role in the treatment was her, and she didn\u2019t like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But her radiation oncologist, Amber Orman, MD, DipABLM, at\u00a0Advent Health<\/a>\u00a0was different. When Schon asked Dr. Orman\u2019s opinion on lifestyle behavior\u2019s impact on health, Dr. Orman\u2019s face lit up. A\u00a0board-certified lifestyle medicine physician<\/a>, she immediately shared resources, like videos, books, even a smoothie recipe. She also introduced Schon to a lifestyle modification program Dr. Orman created called \u201cHEAL (Healthy Eating and Active Lifestyle): Breast Cancer<\/a>\u201d in which patients participate in shared medical appointments to develop healthy eating and physical activity behaviors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI tell my patients that the goal of the HEAL: Breast program is to turn your body into a cancer fighting machine,\u201d Dr. Orman. \u201cWhile we can\u2019t do much about the cancer that\u2019s already being treated, we can prevent a future cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Orman\u2019s interest in helping Schon take control of her lifestyle and make sustainable changes that would not only improve her overall health but keep future cancers away was a game-changer for Schon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe was really able to give me that other piece \u2014 after your treatment is over, this is how your life is going to go on,\u201d Schon said. \u201cThe fact that I had that specific piece from her was priceless. It was life changing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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