On August 17, 1993 at 5:20am in the stillness of my parents dimly lit bedroom, my heart raced out of control while I stood at their bedside confused, shocked and numb as I looked down at my father’s lifeless body. I hadn’t seen any signs or symptoms. He had been there one minute and was gone the next.

Skip to April 17, 2005 at 9:04am when I answered my cell phone, being told that my mother had died. My knees literally buckled, and I crumbled to the ground as if I had been sucker punched by Mike Tyson. My mother lasted only a short 5 months after being diagnosed with stage 4 bladder cancer. Even though she had one round of chemotherapy and her bladder removed, her cancer was too far advanced.

I spent countless hours questioning “WHY?” How could two people pass away like that? The more I questioned it the more apparent it became. Their early deaths were due to their poor lifestyle choices.

My father had lived on meat, milk, cheese and bread. I honestly can’t remember my father ever eating vegetables or fruits and I never saw him drink a single glass of water. He drank alcohol daily, smoked cigarettes for at least 45 years and didn’t exercise. My mother also smoked, every single day for 55 years.

Mark Martell

When I was 12 years old, I watched my grandfather (on my father’s side) be wheeled away in a hospital bed to have surgery. This was no ordinary surgery; it was a first ever of its kind. My grandfather had over half of his lungs removed. Why? It was due to the fact that he had been a smoker for most of his life.

Around the same time that my grandfather had to start using a wheelchair and became attached to an oxygen tank (after his surgery) I also watched my grandmother’s (on my mother’s side) health deteriorate as she was diagnosed with Alzheimer disease. Within a short amount of time she had become bedridden and had no recollection of who anyone was, where she was or even how to do simple tasks.

Jumping to when I was an adult, the summer of 2015, my life turned completely upside down. I can clearly remember the phone call I had made to my father to excitedly share the good news of completing my graduate degree when he told me the devastating news that he had cancer. I had never been more upset or scared in all my life. Thankfully he switched his unhealthier eating habits to more plant-based and after having surgery he was cancer free.

Jennifer Martell