By Pam McGaffin

Her first oncologist told Donna Peterson she had two to six months to live. End of discussion.
 
Shocked members of the Bellingham woman's family, who had come to the appointment with her, asked if there wasn't something, anything Donna could do to fight her lung cancer and prolong her life.
 
The doctor's answer came as an aftershock. Almost four years later, a still-alive Donna likes to quote it frequently: "She can take Flintstones vitamins if she thinks it will do any good," the doctor said.
 
Her husband, Darrell, sister, Verna, niece, Veronica, and granddaughters Jamie and Julie all left that appointment in tears. Donna was too numb to cry.
 
It wasn't until later, after talking to her grown children, that the 70-year-old great grandmother became convinced there had to be an option to giving up. Then she saw a television advertisement for a cancer center in Seattle, and decided to call.
 
At her first appointment at Seattle Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center, an oncologist and a naturopathic physician told her they couldn't cure her, but they could manage her cancer like a chronic disease.
 
Donna and her family could live with that. "I thought, there's hope," she says. "I'm not a goner."
 
This time she and her family left the doctor's office smiling and went out to dinner to celebrate.
 
Donna started weekly chemotherapy treatments at the Center in October 2004, and has since cut back to every other week. The smaller, more frequent doses help minimize side effects. Her oncologist, Dr. Nick Chen, also adjusts the mix of drugs every three months to maintain the therapy's effectiveness.
 
In addition to Chen, Donna also sees two complementary care providers at the Center: Chinese medicine practitioner Darin Bunch for acupuncture, and naturopathic physician Heidi Lucas for dietary supplements and nutritional guidance.
 
The complimentary therapies are designed to further minimize the side effects of the chemo, while boosting her body's strength and immune system. 
 
"I've learned to like kale," says Donna, who has changed her diet to include more dark green vegetables, fish and fish oil, and green tea, while eliminating refined sugar and red meat.
 
She didn't need a doctor to tell her to quit smoking. She was already down to one or two cigarettes a day before she was diagnosed, but she stopped completely after her first oncologist gave her that months-long death sentence.
 
Her pack-a-day habit started as "a social thing" in her early 20s. "Darrell was in the Air Force, and his friends would come over," she says. "Everybody smoked but me. I started with one after dinner and before long, I was hooked."
 
Both she and Darrell have been nicotine-free for almost four years now. Their healthy living, combined with Donna's multi-approach cancer care has her beating the odds.
 
"Donna is the type of patient who utilizes everything, particularly nutrition," says Lucas, her naturopathic physician. "She has wonderful family support and an amazing sense of humor. She's also very dedicated, and that's what can make the biggest difference."
 
Given her experience, Donna now urges everyone to get a second opinion. "Your doctor is not God," she says.
 
More than three years after her time was supposed to be up, Donna walks two or more miles every day, maintains a large garden, goes RVing with her husband, and babysits her young grandson every Friday. (When she dons a wig to go out on her walk, her grandson insists on wearing one, too.)
 
In the time she thought she wouldn't have, Donna and Darrell have laughed and cried and celebrated many a family milestone, including their own wedding anniversaries and birthdays.
 
When you've been married 51 years and have two children, three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, she says, every day matters.
 

Seattle Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center is an affiliate of Cancer Treatment Centers of America, a network of hospitals that integrate oncology with complementary and natural therapies. For more information and cancer-fighting tips, call (206) FOR HOPE (367-4673) or visit www.seattlecancerwellness.com.

Pam McGaffin of Moore Ink. PR, writes articles about important health, family and community issues for non-profit organizations.