Having a child present with chronic illness at birth is a real game-changer. It allowed me to genuinely refocus what “healthy” meant as recovery was the only option.

You can hear our encouraging message on Fearless Parent Radio, Episode #69 — “Fostering Nutrition.”

It took us a few years to begin sharing our discoveries. We’ve been in the trenches, with our own child and the children we’ve fostered. Now it seems important to share our discoveries.

As we succeed in helping children have better, healthier lives, we seek to fulfill our passion to help many other orphans. I can’t take in every child, but I can encourage and educate others on how to foster, adopt, or volunteer successfully.

Something is wrong

When we entered the hospital and saw a whole floor dedicated to just cancer kids, we immediately went from a myopic focus on all our children to a broader perspective on all children.

A two year old should not have cancer. An 18 month old should not need peridontal surgery. A three year-old should not change and become mute in a week. A child should not have Type II Diabetes nor should a one year-old vehemently react to a watermelon.

Maybe it was a coincidence, but every single child we took in had real issues. This allowed us to realize that our first born child was not so unique. Many children are sick today — not just ours!

Sickness is not myopic

We isolated ourselves in order to protect and recover our son because we didn’t want to accept the negative prognosis. But as we begin to foster, we were struck by a shocking reality. Our first foster child had taken more antibiotics than I had been given my whole life. When he came to us, he had a horrible bronchial infection, a long list of antibiotic prescriptions, and a history of having lived in more than four different homes over the last year. Did I mention that he was just two years old?

What is simply amazing is that after two weeks of real love, real food, and real remedies, we were able to see such an improvement in his behavior that the Case Managers and Guardian Ad Litem were interested in what we were doing.

But the real learning comes next. This is the genesis of Fostering Nutrition. It allowed us to transcend our myopic focus on our own family and expand our vision to all children. It’s my passion to help change a system.

Our first foster child wasn’t well

When our very first foster son went three days without a bowel movement, we gave him a gentle garlic enema. As this relieved his two-year-old body, he rested deeply. Gazing upon his sweet face, I noticed a lump in his left abdomen and called over our neighbor who is an Endocrinologist. I thought this looked bad and worth a scan — he wholeheartedly agreed.

We discovered cancer. It was Neuroblastoma – stage 4. The doctors told us that he had maybe 18 months to live and a less than 2% chance of survival with chemotherapy treatment. Bam!

The Guardian Ad Litem had just gone through losing her husband to cancer (during chemotherapy) and suggested that we consider another approach. I agreed. We were willing to pay for some natural options that offer a greater percentage of hope and cost around $15,000 per week. This would have been no easy feat for us, but we wanted to save our “shared” son.

We were not given that option.

We were approved to raise, feed, manage, and love our son but technically, he belonged to the State. This meant that our options were limited. We had to live with the consequences of a treatment plan with which we passionately disagreed. We also learned that the “2% survival and less than 2 years to live” prognosis came with a huge price tag: over $500,000 over 18 months.

“Difficult” doesn’t begin to cover the emotions we experienced. But his doctors were amazed. They couldn’t believe the extent and rapidity of his recovery between the rounds of toxic chemotherapy injections.

By the third round, the oncologist asked me to take him home and do our “magic”. They had tried for a day to stop the vomiting by alternating Ativan and Benadryl. We took him home and with the doctor’s approval we had our two-year-old sip alkaline water and elderberry syrup. We also provided a loving, peaceful home, which I contend has significant value. Within 30 minutes, he stopped vomiting.

Every child fostered was immune-compromised

Every child we fostered was immune-compromised. We dealt with; autism, ADD, eczema, and incredible behavioral issues. As we worked to heal their gastrointestinal tracts, we requested a delay in the vaccination schedule. In fact, we had a note from the Stem Cell Harvesting Medical Doctor that we should not give any live vaccines to my other children while we were fighting cancer.

Instead, we pulled titers to check each child’s immunity to the previous vaccines taken. Unfortunately, most of the children were not immune to the very disease the vaccine allegedly prevented.

I delayed vaccinating each of our foster children and when that wasn’t possible, I asked for vaccines that contained fewer additives. Our amazing pediatrician obliged me. They asked me to sign a waiver that I understand the risks of delaying or refusing vaccines. I’m not a doctor. I’m a fierce mom and a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner. I love all children. I love choice. I love peace. And I respect all opinions even if they differ from mine.

Since I didn’t have a choice on many things, I managed delay and immune-strengthening techniques through real food nutrition, herbs, homeopathic remedies, and more.

My point in discussing chemotherapy and vaccination is to explain that choice is what is paramount. A parent must make many decisions throughout life and then suffer or be blessed by the consequences.

There are 400,000 to 500,000 orphans in the US and they do not have a choice. They are subjected to the standard medical practice. Some trends are great and some are not so great. But the parents who love and care for these children should have both the ability to make the decision and to live with the consequences.

Imagine what could happen in everyone’s homes if we respected people’s choices and allowed for true freedom. Imagine if we cleaned up our diets. There is hope. We have lived it. We do not sit as spectators speaking about an issue we want to interrupt. We live and encourage this joy and thought in our lives.

Fostering Nutrition hopes to change a system in so many positive ways for these important wonderful children. For more encouragement in overcoming cancer, health, and naysayers, I wrote a short book called “How Our Family Survived” to inspire through the heart.

We thank you because Fearless Parents are genuinely needed to accomplish this! I know we all share the hope for many more happy and healthy children.

Mandy Lee is a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner who hopes to inspire better health for you and your family. After obtaining a Bachelor of Science, and advanced studies from California Polytechnic State University, Mandy began to see a decline in children’s health and dedicated her life to helping raise a healthier generation. As a mom, foster parent, author, educator, and health practitioner, she has enabled many children to recover their health. She has fought many chronic illnesses and wants to empower you! Join Fostering Nutrition and learn more about raising a healthier generation.