When I was diagnosed with what turned out to be metastasised Cervical cancer which had spread to the ovaries and brain back in August 2007, I wanted to believe that it was possible to recover completely.
Although some part of me did believe it was possible, I really wanted and needed to receive reassurance from the outside that it was possible.
When I asked myself what would give me that reassurance, I understood that there were two things I needed.
Firstly I felt almost desperate to connect with others who had recovered completely - preferably from the same cancer as I had.
And secondly, I wanted to meet a guynacologist (i.e. someone as qualified as the 'expert' who had told me categorically that I could forget ideas of trying to heal myself because it simply was not possible!)
Having got clear about both of these requirements of mine, I put both out to the universe ........ both were answered and in a relatively short time frame too!
I asked friends to help and I kept asking everyone I met for a while ... did anyone know where I could find such people?
My prayer to meet someone who had recovered was answered when Gillian Gill, who recovered from Ovarian cancer without conventional medicine came in to my life. She supported me so much with her love, light and encouragement - I will be forever grateful to her.
Bless you beautiful Gillian!
The fact that she had defied all expectations of her doctors by recovering and even healing the mets in the liver was the best encouragement I could hope for.
My desire to meet a guynacologist who believed in my recovery was also answered - thanks to a lovely lady called Avril who I met at the Penny Brohn Centre back in 2007 - just days after my diagnosis. She looked me in the eye and said, in answer to my question of whether she thought I could heal myself "well normally I would say to people, it is a very difficult cancer to overcome, but for some reason, to you I am going to say I think you could do it".
She left the centre shortly after this to move back to Germany, where she was from. I always felt that she had played a very important part in my recovery.
It seems that human beings do need to be inspired by each other when it comes to achieving feats that general thinking deem as impossible.
Running a mile in less than 4 minutes is an example of this: Roger Bannister acheived this in 1954, then only 6 weeks later somebody else did the same thing. Thereafter, many people were able to run a mile in under 4 minutes.
It just seems that in order to achieve our dreams, we need to believe it is possible and what better way for us to know something is possible than meeting or knowing someone else who has done the same thing!
Ever since my recovery, I have dreamed of creating an event whereby people who have recovered from cancer can stand up and share their stories of how they recovered. I am really delighted to be able to tell you that it is happening in Bristol in April next year at the Back 2 Health Conference!
This is a three day Cancer Health-Care Conference at Hamilton House, Stokes Croft, Bristol from 12th to 14th April. You can book your tickets for the Back 2 Health Conference here
