By Beverly Vote
Lori Lober has been involved with the More for Stage IV special section of the magazine since its inception. Lori has a phenomenal story to tell, but she will tell you she’s an ordinary person who has educated herself about the importance of nutrition, stays proactive in her health – including researching current day facts — staying focused on her health as her number one priority.
Lori was diagnosed with stage IV metastatic breast cancer 19 years ago, in April 2000 at the age of 36. Her prognosis was terminal. Her life was already in a state of trauma; she had to face the untimely death of her brother Lance. Shortly after her breast cancer diagnosis and while in treatment, misfortune struck again. Colby, Lori’s only child, died in a tragic automobile accident.
Despite the unthinkable, Lori and John choose to make every day beautiful. Her quest to heal herself from a terminal diagnosis turned into her full time job. She was committed to learn more what she could do for herself. Not only did she seek the most renown cancer centers in the country, she saw a holistic nutritionist, a Tibetan monk, and a chiropractor. For seven years, she was taking 120 pills of vitamins and supplements a day that her holistic nutritionist had prescribed.
Lori believes it was more than luck that a friend reached out to her to help her simplify educating herself about her nutritional needs. From there, the Lobers became staunch advocates for optimal health and wellness through nutrition and have been using a line of products for over a decade. In addition, she continues to receive Herceptin, which is an IV drug that blocks the Her-2 oncogene that fed her particular type of pre-menopausal breast cancer.
Anyone who meets John and Lori Lober immediately sense the deep connection, respect and chemistry between husband and wife. But the Lober love story is more. Beyond their love for one another, John and Lori “LOVE TO LIVE” and inspire others to do the same.
Perhaps it was their love, or even their shared pledge to live life to the fullest, that carried them through adversity, disease and tragedy.
Lori continues to counsel breast cancer survivors to persevere and together, the Lobers help change people’s lives in amazing ways. They fell in love with personal development and now their story of perseverance and success inspires others to dream bigger for themselves.
What began as Lori’s fight for her life has transformed into a life of helping others, traveling and learning to love life, not as a cliche to live life to the fullest, but to actually live a meaningful life. When Lori was diagnosed with terminal cancer, she found there were few resources for anyone facing a stage IV diagnosis. Her quest to save her life and to share what she learned with others led Lori to write her first book “Bigger Than Pink: The book I could not find when I was diagnosed with stage four cancer. Her second book “”Still Bigger than Pink, Alive and Thriving” shares her journey to no evidence of disease. Lori’s third book “Love to Live, Alive and Thriving” is a living testimonial that sometimes it truly is possible to bring our dreams to life after disease, trauma and tragedy.
They invite others to partner with them, transforming lives through nutritional education in ways that support medical treatments, busy lifestyles and personal choices.
Lori’s oncologist for the past several years, Dr Tim Pluard from St Luke’s Koontz Center for Advanced Breast Cancer in Kansas City, Missouri says “Not only is Lori an inspiration for all breast cancer survivors, but she is an inspiration to me too. I admire her attitude as a patient and how she diligently works to minimize her side effects with healthy choices, and keeps living her life in positive, pro-active ways, in spite of a stage IV diagnosis.”
To this day Lori feels very blessed to have been been part of two clinical trials since the time of her diagnosis and that her tests continue to show “no evidence of disease.” She doesn’t fully understa
nd all the scientific reasons how her diagnosis changed from terminal to NED, but she will tell you she is very grateful and feels compelled to help others to persevere in their journeys too.
Lori and I have been friends over a decade. Her joy for life is contagious and her commitment to help others is rare. Reach out to Lori, get to know her, because she wants to know you too!
lorilober@aol.com
Lori’s website is www.welovetolive.com