In November 1985, at thirty-two years old, James Templeton's life came to a sudden halt. He was diagnosed with Stage IV melanoma. Doctors removed the tumor, and for a while, he was told not to worry.
But six months later, his doctor found lumps in his groin. Surgery revealed the cancer had spread into his lymph system. His doctors recommended eighty rounds of chemotherapy and gave him only a 20% chance of survival with treatment — and no hope without it.
"I began to think that I was surely a goner. I knew inside myself that there had to be a better way."
Two days after that surgery, an old college friend visited James in the hospital and brought him a magazine article about actor Dirk Benedict, who had recovered from cancer using macrobiotics. Something shifted. James had never heard of macrobiotics — growing up in small-town Texas, you went to the doctor, and you did what the doctor said. But for the first time, he saw another path.
A member of his own medical staff quietly confirmed that macrobiotics could work, cautioning James not to mention their conversation. That conversation, and two books — Recalled by Life by Anthony Sattilaro, M.D., and Confessions of a Kamikaze Cowboy by Dirk Benedict — became the foundation of James's recovery.
He committed himself completely: rising at 4:30 a.m. to prepare meals and stretch, working ten-hour days, walking at least two miles after work, chewing every bite of food 100 times, and spending four additional hours a day on healing treatments. Within weeks, his energy began to return. Within months, he was running ten miles at a time.
James eventually moved to Becket, Massachusetts to immerse himself in the Kushi Institute's macrobiotic community — a turning point he calls one of the greatest weeks of his life. A year later, there were no signs of cancer. Four years after his terminal diagnosis, he felt stronger than he ever had.
Today, more than 40 years later, James is thriving and still going strong. He believes that the journey to lasting health never ends. He has spent the decades since his diagnosis dedicated to helping others find their own path back to health, through UNI KEY Health, his foundation, and his own story.
James's story is adapted from the book Cancer-Free: 30 Who Triumphed over Cancer Naturally (Japan Pubns, 1992).
