The Anthony J. Sattilaro Story (Life Lessons 6)

Alex Dionisio

Note: Dr. Sattilaro strayed from the diet in the late ’80s and back onto typical Western fare, his cancer returned, and he died soon thereafter.

hey so just wanna pop in really quick and talk about a book I just read
it’s by a doctor called Anthony J. Sattilaro, he’s from Philadelphia
the book was published in the early ‘80s
so anyway he was from Philadelphia, he was in his late forties, he was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer
they had biopsied his prostate, one of his testicles and part of his right rib—one of his right ribs
and they found it had metastasized; stage 4 prostate cancer
so they removed his testicles because the testosterone would aggravate the condition
he was put on estrogen therapy and pain meds, and he was given a very poor prognosis
so they said he would not last another five years and probably be dead sooner than that, in the next maybe three years
so at the same time that this was happening as if it wasn’t enough, his father was dying of cancer
and so very soon after Anthony was diagnosed, his father passed
and needless to say then, he was going through a lot of mental anguish, a lot of trauma in his life
he was falling apart, he thought he was a goner
and on the way back from his parents, on the way back from burying his father, he picked up two hitchhikers on his way back to his home in Philadelphia
these hitchhikers talked about how they just finished a class on the macrobiotic diet, which is a diet that consists of just brown rice, sea vegetables, other vegetables and possibly a little fruit and some rare fish
this is a largely plant-based diet, except for the fish, which is a rare inclusion, if that at all
and so they said that Tony could get rid of his cancer by following this way of life and this diet
and so after they parted, they sent him some literature and Tony checked it out and he decided to look into it
he attended cooking classes and instruction from the local macrobiotic community and decided to give it a try
he met up with some of the people, some of the followers of this way of life and diet
and they started to eat together, he didn’t like it at first but he persisted
he felt he didn’t have any other option because everything else was not working, he was experiencing a lot of pain still
so the more he ate the diet, he was getting a lot better, pain relief and he had a brighter outlook
he had doubts still because he came from a world that embraced of course the medical tradition and how it’s conventionally practiced
so this was a new way of life for him, but since he was feeling a lot better by eating this new way, he wanted to hold on to it, he thought there was something to it
he thought maybe if this worked and he could get better with this food that he could be an example for others
and soon after that he had some lab tests done, they were markedly improved from his last values, and a repeat bone scan showed that he was negative, he had cleared up the cancer
and so he was pretty elated, he started spreading the word, word got around, and he decided to go off his estrogen therapy
all was going well and then he got thyroiditis and so he was put on drugs for that, and this was apart—this was for some other reason besides the cancer but after all of that he did a repeat bone scan which showed some activity in his ribs
so he started to worry, ya know; is the cancer coming back?
But he remained strong, he stuck to his faith, his rekindled faith, and he stuck with the advice from the macro community, especially the leader of the movement whose name is Michio Kushi
and he remained resilient despite the uncertainty
and it turns out that what caused the flare up, or the positive results of the new bone scan, was actually his body getting rid of the drugs that he was taking, the thyroiditis
the thyroiditis and the treatment was exacerbating the cancer in him that was left even though it was small to show this positive bone scan
and so once he had whittled down and weaned off the drugs, of course staying with the diet still, another bone scan showed negative results, no sign of cancer
so that from just being strong, sticking with his conviction, following the diet, remaining on the diet still and keeping his faith, keeping his spirituality and his positive attitude, he was just fine
and all the worry was for naught, as long as he stuck to the good way of life and the good way of eating and the great thinking that he had, and the advice from his good friends
and so that’s pretty much how the book ends
he really stresses in the book how he rekindled his faith, he was a Christian and he had gave it up for some time but after starting the new diet, he went back to his faith and really became a stronger man from it
and that in combination with the new lifestyle and diet, how he was feeling better physically really changed him into a new man, to be less self-centered, have more humility, embrace life more and appreciate life more and realize that everyone is blessed all the time even though we sometimes seemingly don’t deserve it—are not worthy of it
that’s another thing that he stresses, that he felt he didn’t deserve a second chance but he got one, that’s the generosity of God: to bless us, even the unworthy, but bless us especially if we stay on a good path and/or get on a better path or get on the right path after being on the wrong one
so great book, again, it’s Recalled By Life by Dr. Anthony J. Sattilaro, MD, I recommend it to everyone