"This is just not my time to go."

There's not much I can add to this story about a very brave young woman, Anne Dinnell, fighting to beat stage four melanoma by foregoing traditional treatment in favor of an organic diet of fruits and vegetables. I would like to note however, that the cancer started as a dark spot under one of her finger nails and that at least one doctor had apparently dismissed it. I encourage you to read the article by Nancy Pasternack for yourself.

Below are excerpts from the Santa Cruz Sentinel:

By consuming 50 pounds of carrots, 20 bunches of romaine lettuce, 25 pounds of potatoes, and loads of other vegetables and fruits each week — including chard — Dinnell is trying to beat the odds and get beyond the five years doctors estimated she’ll live.

The food therapy, which Dinnell discovered through research and a PBS documentary she happened on about physician Max Gerson’s experiments in the 1950s and ’60s, has become the nexus of her life.

The number of new skin-cancer cases is increasing at a faster rate than any other cancer, according to the American Cancer Society,

This year, more than 1 million new melanoma cases are expected to be diagnosed.

"We’re seeing it in younger and younger people," says Beckett. "That’s the frightening part."(dermatologist Jim Beckett)

In late January, Dinnell was encouraged by her most recent PET scan, which showed her body to be cancer-free.

Her scan in June will be crucial.