Cancer Patient Moves from the US to Greece and Lives Another 45 Years (5 photos)

Stamatis Moraitis was born in the early 1900s and moved from his native Greece to the United States as a young man. In 1976, he learned that he had lung cancer and was given six to nine months to live. Resigned to his fate and unwilling to pay the astronomical funeral bill in the States, he returned to his homeland and settled on the island of Ikaria.





Nine months passed, and Stamatis was still living on the island and had not even undergone chemotherapy.

Spending his days at his elderly parents' home and tending to the family vineyards, Stamatis felt his health improve.



The man lived another 45 years before he died peacefully of old age in 2013, aged either 98 or 102.

When asked the secret to his longevity, he joked, "I'm not a doctor, but I think wine helped."





Ikaria is often called the island where people forget about death.

The island is considered one of the "blue zones" - areas with high life expectancy. As a rule, people here live on average ten years longer than in other parts of the world.



As for Stamatis, he ate locally grown food, drank wine without artificial additives and preservatives, and lived a stress-free life.

The so-called "Mediterranean diet" is balanced, contains the right proportion of vegetables, proteins, and healthy fats, and is low in sugar. All of this has a beneficial effect on health. And while genetics play a role, doctors say that lifestyle plays a key role.