Siesta Key Resident, Three-time Cancer Survivor Offers Inspiration

Having cancer once and battling to be a survivor is hard enough, but surviving it three times, each a different type, is something that one Siesta Key resident is happy she can live to tell the tale.

Linda McDonald, 70, of Siesta Key, first had cancer when she was 3 years old, and at that time chemotherapy wasn't actively used in treatments, plus to even be treated meant quite the haul.

"I lived in New Jersey and gas was rationed, it was during the war," she told Patch. "There weren't a lot of radiation machines, and I lived between Philadelphia and New York. So, my mother would have to walk to the train station through the fields, through the woods, get on the train, off the train onto the trolley and to the doctor's office and get radiation."

Thirty years later, cancer struck again prompting a hysterectomy, then in 2005, McDonald battled breast cancer and she managed to beat all three.

McDonald can also call herself an author and motivational speaker, too. She wrote a children's book published in 2010 called Dancing Cancer.

"It really is a children's book, but when I tried to write it, i really wanted to offer hope and support to others,"  McDonald said because many of the children books don't explain what kids should do or think if a loved one or a friend has cancer or what happens if a kid has cancer.

"I took it from my grandchildren's point of view when they found out that their 'Nana' had cancer," she said about the book that follows a 3-year-old girl much like McDonald, who survives thanks to good medical care, diet, fitness, faith and having a good attitude.

The book encourages kids to "turn scars into stars" by following your dreams, McDonald added. The book is available on Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble and Buy.com.

How was McDonald able to do survive three cancers? Fresh food, fitness and faith.

"When I had this last cancer, I really went into juicing and all sorts of things," McDonald tells Patch. "I'm still around here now, and I really did try to limit my sugars and fats and things like that as much as possible."

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Eating healthful meals came easy to McDonald, who grew up in the Garden State, visiting local markets to pick up her veggies.

"Much of our food is altered or it's 'dead food.' It's not alive food—fruits adn vegetables," McDonald said. "If we can teach people walk the perimeter of the grocery store, it's better for you."

McDonald was and still is an avid dancer, teaching dance and being one of the charter members of the American Dance Therapy Association, and she urges folks battling cancer to get up and move no matter how tired the radiation treatment makes you.

"For the average person, whatever they enjoy doing—tennis or if they like to swim," she said, "You're tired anyway, but if you can just get up and move a little bit, you really can help yourself."

With her latest cancer, she decided to seek out a special program that puts it all together, and it led her to Cancer Treatment Centers of America. While she didn't have to walk through the forest like her mother did with her during that first battle, McDonald decided to make the trip to Tulsa, Okla., where she liked their program of treatment that involved faith, traditional treatment, natural food components and fitness.

"I went to several doctors, and a lot of people are on the straight and narrow. I did my research and came up with Cancer Treatment Centers of America," McDonald said. "I end up going from Sarasota and then go out every three weeks and get my chemo in Tulsa. I was willing to travel. They not only gave me the support, but I had more surgery, more radiation. We did all the traditional things, but was able to bring in other things that meant so much to me." 

Doctors would often tell her and other cancer patients that vitamins and herbs may not be good for interacting with the prescription drugs, McDonald said, but the Cancer Treatment Centers has staff trained in those areas to provide guidance to say that some of these alternatives are good for cancer patients.

Ginger for instance, has been studied to help reduce nausea from chemotherapy, according to a study from the University of Rochester Medical Center.

While living in Atlanta, she helped lobbied Georgia government to get the center to open a location in Newnan, Ga.,, which recently opened at the Southeastern Regional Medical Center to serve Floridians in addition to Georgia residents. The only other locations in the country besides Georgia and Oklahoma are in Goodyear, Ariz., Zion, Ill., and Philadelphia.

"It's so important if people are going through this to get second, third opinions," McDonald said. 

The Cancer Centers even came down to Siesta Key Chapel recently with a natural path expert, a minister and provided a seminar about integrating health tips and faith into battling cancer.

You can also hear McDonald and her story on WSLR radio's Holistic Health show with Nisey Carbone at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 21.

With everything she's endured, she credits her Christian faith and positive attitude getting her this far. 

"Now I try to spend my life with whatever I do to offer support and help to others," McDonald said.

For more information on Linda McDonald, visit http://www.dancingcancer.com.