Global Healing
Survivor winner Ethan Zohn weighs in on the debate between
Eastern and Western medicine, and what he believes
helped him into remission.
By Lauren Kent
E
than Zohn is training for the New York City
Marathon when his skin begins to itch. Annoying
as it is, Zohn is feeling on top of the world and
refuses to think much of the symptom—until it gets
progressively worse. After a string of visits to allergists,
dermatologists and a slew of medication, Zohn gets the
news he couldn’t have anticipated: a swollen lymph node,
12 by 6 centimeters in diameter, a mass that means he has
Hodgkins Lymphoma.
This puts Ethan Zohn out of the race and into the hospital,
where he begins chemotherapy treatment in May, 2009. A
grueling summer awaits him, weakening his body but not
his resolve. Zohn was thrown into the public eye after his
million dollar win on Survivor: Africa in 2002, a lucky
break he used to co-found Grassroots Soccer, a non-profit
increasing HIV/AIDS awareness in Africa. His philan-
thropic efforts only increased after that, so when he is
diagnosed with cancer and decides to make his battle
public by gracing the cover of People, Zohn is asked to
serve as National Ambassador for “Stand Up 2 Cancer”
and Lance Armstrong’s LIVESTRONG Foundation.
“The choice to make my battle public was a bit cathartic,
therapeutic, to have the focus somewhere else,” says Zohn.
According to his calculations, because of the media
attention via blogs and interviews, he has had 12 people
contact him to tell him they went to the doctor with similar
symptoms and got diagnosed with the rare form of
lymphoma early.
Zohn’s father passed away from cancer when he was 14
years old, so he was no stranger to the heartbreak and
uphill journey he was facing. Zohn begins
chemotherapy, and goes through the motions,
gradually using more and more potent methods
with little results. Eight months in, he begins to
get scared.
“When the doctors can’t help you, you pretty much
panic,” Zohn explains. “I wanted to have control of
what was happening to me.” He goes to an
acupuncturist during his chemo, who prescribes
him reishi mushroom extract and vitamins. He