Eric Lechasseur (husband and best friend)
I met Eric in 1991 while traveling in Mexico on a Sober Club Med vacation tour. I was going through a divorce from my first husband. Eric was already the Executive French Chef at the resort hotel. Since he’d worked with some Japanese chefs in Bali and Tahiti, he knew how to speak simple Japanese and cook Japanese home food, so we got along easily.
After Mexico, I went to visit him in Montreal and continued our long-distance friendship till he moved to Los Angeles a year later.
Eric struggled to find a job as a chef in Los Angeles in the first year, so he cooked for me. After I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, he learned vegan macrobiotic cooking and helped me recover from 1993–95; he also used it to heal his own eczema and sinus issues.
Eric went on to become a well-known vegan macrobiotic celebrity chef when he started cooking for Madonna in 2001.
He also helped me after I had a near-fatal car crash in 2001. This time, he did more than cook; he supported me financially and took care of me during the year that I was bedridden, as well as the three years I was in a wheelchair.
We married in 2004. At our wedding, our dogs—Kin, Kula, and Dore—were our flower girls, with our cat Mai present as a special guest.
After not walking for three years, I showed my determination by walking down the aisle with a cane (I wrapped it with white satin fabric so it looked like a part of my wedding dress). Everyone was crying with joy—especially Eric.
The following year, I helped Eric publish a vegan macrobiotic dessert cookbook—Love, Eric—which was named the Best Cookbook of 2005 by Variety.
In 2008, Eric and I opened our restaurant “Seed Kitchen” in Venice, California, with the mission of bringing delicious, healthy food to the public. We have continued teaching and sharing our experiences with people who seek to live healthy, happy lifestyles through events such as Kushi Summer Conference, Health Classics, A Taste of Health, and Healthy Taste of LA.
Eric opened another restaurant, “Seed Bistro”, in West Los Angeles, with an investor. It was upscale, fine dining vegan and macrobiotic cuisine. Seed Bistro was the sister restaurant to Seed Kitchen in Venice. It was chosen as the best vegan restaurant in 2012.
We had a great experience operating two restaurants, but we closed in 2016 to regain our lives.
Eric went back to his private chef work for a celebrity client.
Eric enjoys SUP and Foil surfing on the weekend!
Because of ovarian cancer, I never had a chance to birth a baby; but the following are all my wonderful, our animal children for this lifetime.
Dog Family
MAKANI : 2024 – Makani means “wind” in Hawaiian
Makani is the rebirth of Happy.
She is a tiny and might girl who weighs less than 4 lbs.
She loves Lumi so much and spends time with her. She gave so much love and hope for Lumi!
LANI: 2020- Lani means “sky” in Hawaiian
Lani is the rebirth of Leo. He is the son of Nalu and Kai.
He is so funny and goofy, making us laugh just as much as Leo.
KAI: 2018- Kai means “ocean” in Hawaiian and Japanese
Kai is the rebirth of Oro. He is also a golden retriever mix like Nalu, but he is much smaller than Nalu. He loves to take a shower and even a bath. He loves to swim just like Oro. He is going to school to be a service dog just like Oro.
NALU: 2017- Nalu means “surf/wave” in Hawaiian
Nalu was adopted to rescue us when I was diagnosed with cancer of Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) Primary non-Hodgkin of Liver, stage IV because of Hepatitis C that I got from the blood transfusion result of the car accident in 2001 and receiving EPOCH + Rituximab chemotherapy which is five days chemotherapy for 24 hours a day every three weeks since May 2017). She is a golden retriever mix. She was so friendly and had no problem being our family member right away when she came because she is the rebirth of Kula. She loves to dive into Manzanita Lake in North Fork, California, just like Kula. She plays with everyone and makes us happy. Here is my blog about her: Adopting a Puppy Brought Cheerfulness to Cancer Household
HAPPY: 2011–2024 Rebirth of Kin
Happy, a golden retriever, is the third generation of our golden retriever family. She is Lumi’s daughter, Oro’s granddaughter, and Kin’s great-granddaughter. She is very shy, loves to play with toys, and makes funny noises when she is happy. Due to nearsightedness, she has a difficult time going for walks, but taking Bach Flower Remedy has helped her walk without fear.
LUMI: 2010– Lumi means short of Luminaire “golden light” in French.
She is Oro’s daughter and Kin’s granddaughter. She is the smallest golden retriever I have ever seen (she is only 32lbs); most people think she is a puppy. The sunshine of our home, she loves to be active and enjoys doing stand-up paddleboarding with Eric. She is the rebirth of Dore, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver in 2008. She had a trauma in a previous life, so she needs so much love and attention from everyone. As she got older, she mellowed out and gave us so much love.
After her daughter “Happy” passed, she was very sad, but when Happy came back as Makani, she started enjoying her slow life again.
She lived 15.5 years.
BUBU: 2010–2022 Rebirth of Sakura
A golden retriever, Bubu, is Oro’s son and Kin’s grandson. He was timid when he was a puppy, but after Eric took him to agility class, he gained confidence. He loves being in the bathroom while Eric is taking a shower. He also loves to dive and swim at Manzanita Lake in North Fork, California. He enjoys singing along with the sirens, both when greeting people and in other situations. As he gets older, he loves Animal Reiki.
LEO: 2005–2020
This handsome golden retriever is Oro’s boyfriend. He was adopted into our house after Dore died in 2005. He was initially afraid of fire, but using Bach Flower Remedy has helped him enjoy being around the fireplace during winter at our mountain cabin in North Fork. He has a big smile. He was goofy and funny and loved to follow us around. He is the rebirth of my dog, Julie, whom I lived with when I was in high school. After Oro passed, he was lonely for a while, and his life slowed down. However, he regained his peace and still enjoys taking short walks and sleeping a lot.
ORO: 2006– 2018 Oro means “gold” in Italian and Spanish.
She was part of Kin’s third litter when Kin was 10 years old. Oro was the flower of our lives; her personality was like Dore’s, but she looked like Kula when she was young. Everybody loved her. She was a therapy dog who was crazy about playing ball and also swimming when she was not working. She also enjoyed practicing K9 nose work. She also went to the Santa Monica Farmers’ market just like Kula. Oro was the rebirth of Kuro.
KULA: 2003– 2016 Kula means “gold” in Hawaiian.
She was a golden retriever and service/therapy dog. Part of Kin’s second litter, Kula was the rebirth of Gumu, who died in 2001 when I had a fatal car crash. She was a beautiful dog, even though she is the oldest, and loved to dive into Manzanita Lake in North Fork, California, swim, and run in the mountains and at the beach. She enjoyed going to the senior home and the Santa Monica Farmers Market as a service dog. She was diagnosed with spleen cancer in May 2016, which has spread to her lungs, but she felt her time did not yet come; she was eating dog macrobiotic healing food and taking herbal medicine with acupuncture, animal reiki, shiatsu, and Do-in exercise so she enjoyed her life until the last day of her life, one day at a time.
DORE: 2003–2008 Dore means “gold” in French.
A golden retriever therapy dog, she was part of Kin’s second litter. She was the rebirth of LoLo, who died in 2001 when I had a fatal car crash in Arizona. She was bright, cheerful, and cute, and she made us laugh. In 2007, she had her first nine puppies, all of which found new homes; one of them, Kona, was adopted by the service dog organization Paws’itive Teams. When Dore was 5 years old, she was killed by a hit-and-run driver near our house; she came back as Lumi.
LOLO: 2000-2001 Lolo means “gold” in Italian.
A golden retriever puppy, she was part of Kin’s first litter, which died in a fatal car crash in Arizona.
GUMU: 2000-2001 Gumu means “gold” in Korean.
A golden retriever puppy that I adopted and was raising with Lolo. Unfortunately, she was never found when I had a fatal car crash in Arizona,
KIN: 1997–2008 Kin means “gold” in Japanese.
She was a brave, smart golden retriever, and my first therapy dog. I took her across the US and Canada, and she was a survivor of my near-fatal car crash in the Arizona desert. She birthed a total of 20 puppies in her life, including ones for autistic children. She was a good mother and trained her puppies well—my first therapy/service dog who went to LA Children’s Hospital.
KUMA: 1997~1997 Kuma means “bear” in Japanese.
She came from a shelter, but after I adopted three days, she died with Parvo. I found out she was sick after she came to my house. It was a shocking and unfortunate experience.
KURO: 1985~1988 Kuro means “black” in Japanese.
I found her on the street when I was coming back from work in December. She was very old, disabled, blind, deaf, and had almost no hair. She had so many fleas and was also so skinny, so the veterinarian doctor said she wouldn’t make it that winter. But she lived with me for three years. She could hear only my voice and followed me everywhere I went.
SAKURA: 1981–1998 Sakura means “cherry blossom” in Japanese.
She was my first dog in the US. She’d been found in a park with her sisters and brothers, and I adopted her at 7 weeks old. A mix of sheltie and German shepherd, she loved to run and catch Frisbees. When she got arthritis at 12 years old, I applied my macrobiotics practice and gave her natural, healing, homemade food. That’s how I started to write HealthyHappy Pooch book.
CAT Family
MAI MAI LANI LOVE: 2020
Rebirth of Mai Mai Lani
One of the cat rescues I spoke with shared a story about this cat who had PTSD. She was a pretty girl, but she was scared of everything and everybody. When I saw the photo of her, she looked like Mai Mai Lani so I wanted to help her with Bach Flower Remedies, Animal Communication, and Animal Reiki. It took a while, but she’s now really fond of Tin Tinand the whole dog family. She is still a little shy, but she comes to my lap and purrs.
MAI MAI LANI: 2017~ 2020 Mai Mai Lani means “Mai from Heaven” in Hawaiian
She is Mai Mai’s rebirth. When Mai Mai left, she said she would come back when I start feeling well. After I completed my six cycles of chemotherapy, I found her at a rescue place. She came back with a little health issue, but it did not stop me. I know there’s a lot of work to help her, but she is very happy to be back. She came back even smaller than Mai Mai, even though she is a Maine Coons cat. She looks like a kitty forever.
MAI MAI : 2013–2017
I had a dream one night that Key-Chain and Mai were talking about Tin Tin. “Mommy thinks Tin Tin is my rebirth, but she does not notice that he has your tail and not my tail.” Key-Chain: “I think she was so happy to find Tin Tin, and she did not see whose rebirth. I hope she realizes soon.” I woke up feeling like it was so real, I could not go back to sleep. I searched the internet for a Maine Coon kitty who loves dogs. I could not believe it: I found one kitten with the title “Loves dogs.” She looked just like Mai, so I had to go meet her. And just like Mai, she was smaller than most Maine Coons. Rescued at a young age by a woman named Wendy, Mai Mai had to be fed by a dropper. She is scared of humans, but she was not very afraid of me, so I decided to adopt her. It took her about a year to get used to Eric and enjoy her life with us.
She sacrificed her life for me in 2017 when I got sick from cancer of Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) Primary non-Hodgkin of Liver, stage IV, because of Hepatitis C that I got from the blood transfusion resulting from the car accident in 2001 – you can read this story here. She told me she is coming back after I get well. I look forward to seeing her again.
TIN TIN: 2011–
After Mai passed, I had a dream that she came back in orange; so I started searching for orange kitties. I had six dogs, and Eric thought there would be no cat that could be around six dogs. But after I checked many cat adoption centers, I found Tin Tin. He was not afraid of dogs, but rather enjoyed being with them. He talks a lot, and he loves to eat. His favorites include shiitake mushrooms, kale, Brussels sprouts, and Chinese cabbage. He is the rebirth of Key-chain.
MAI: 1993–2013
I found Mai in an alley just before I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She loved to ride in cars and traveled all over, including Japan, Canada, and more than 10 different US states. She was the first cat to participate in the LA marathon, in the bicycle portion in 1997. She loved to be with people and used to go to AA meetings and house parties with me. She truly helped me heal, both physically and mentally, and kept me feeling safe. She survived my near-fatal car crash and lived till almost 20 years old.
KEY-CHAIN: 1988–2008
Just before my father passed away, I lost an 18k gold keychain he’d given me. So, when I found a new cat shortly thereafter, I named her Key-Chain. She was cute but shy and so scared of everything and everyone other than family that she stayed in our bedroom by the window most of the time. She had an eating disorder, so she ate too much and gained weight. At one point, she had the nickname “Butterball” (sorry, Key-Chain!), but we soon discovered that her weight gain was caused by the stress of being bullied by another cat in our home. When that cat passed away, Key-Chain’s weight melted off like… butter! She was healthy and lived up to 20 years old, still meowing like a kitten!
TORA: 1983–1998
Tora was my first cat in America. A friend found her on the street, but since she wasn’t allowed to have pets in her apartment, I adopted her. Tora was brilliant and enjoyed going outside. She became best friends with Sakura, my first dog in America, and they spent a lot of time together. When Sakura passed in 1998, Tora was grieving so much that she left home 10 days after Sakura passed and never came back.