She turns to herbs to help battle breast cancer

Lady Nina Decaster has a lot of faith in the herbs that she grows.

“That Christmas, when I began to do my hair, I felt something and couldn’t lift my arm. The doctor kept giving me pills, but they didn’t help. It turned out to be breast cancer.

“I began to pray and to use noni. It’s a fruit that grows on a tree, and you make juice from it. They say it helps with cancer. I also use moringa. It’s a plant, and you can make tea with it. I’m a big believer in herbs, just like my mother always was.

“The doctor thought the cancer would spread all around, and he said I could die. He wanted me to get the operation right away, but I didn’t want them to take the whole breast. I wanted to get a second opinion. So I decided to go back home to Curaçao for three months. After three other doctors told me to go back to America and have the surgery, that’s what I did.

“But the cancer hadn’t moved. It stayed right where it was. The doctor who thought it was spreading and I was going to die, he didn’t believe in what I believe. I believe in God and my herbs.”

— Lady Nina Decaster, 70