Lucy's story

_“My health journey began in 1993, after the birth of my daughter. I experienced weight loss, fatigue, cough, shortness of breath, wheezing, chest pain, and random numbness in different areas of my body. My doctor diagnosed all this as stress.

After about a year, I began coughing up blood. This time, I was told I had blood clots in my lungs. I spent two years undergoing treatment for blood clots as my health worsened. I was plagued by pain and confusion, developing into anxiety, panic attacks, and depression. I was physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausted.

"They told me I’d be lucky to live another five years…"

It wasn’t until a massive health crisis in 1996 that I was finally given an angiogram, which revealed a complete occlusion on my right carotid artery, narrowing of my subclavian arteries, and a dilation of my ascending aorta. I hadn’t been suffering from blood clots but from a rare disease called Takayasu’s arteritis (TAK). At first, I was filled with relief to finally know what was going on, but then they told me I’d be lucky to live another five years, given the advanced stage of the disease.

My daughter was just a toddler then, and I remember holding her so tight and thinking there was no way I could die. I wasn’t even worried about myself, I was just so scared of her growing up without a mom. This started a fire burning fiercely within me. I was going to fight and I was going to survive, no matter what.

When I learned of a woman managing her TAK through a macrobiotic diet, I contacted her immediately. She guided me in creating my own nutrition plan. It was so difficult for me to even just cut vegetables, to prepare and cook my own meals through extreme fatigue and weakness. I could barely stand up, but I persevered, knowing food was medicine. Every time I felt my strength faltering, I’d look at my daughter and find a new reserve of will.

I really believe that nutrition, combined with medication, saved my life. Today, my daughter is 32 and I’m a grandmother. I’m working with Vasculitis Foundation Canada to help advocate for change so that no one else has to go through what I did. My heart is full of gratitude for the abundance that surrounds me.”

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