Hi Everyone!
On August 1st this year will be the ten year anniversary of my stage four cancer diagnosis!
I thought its time for me to write a blog post!
I've learned so much since my diagnosis in 2007 and despite being cancer free for over 9 years, I still find myself very much in the world of cancer, as I do my best to support other people who are dealing with cancer.
My Facebook group 'Cancerucan' has getting on for 3,000 members in it now and i'm so pleased that people have somewhere to turn where they can find community and friendship at a time which can otherwise be very isolating.
Nicola Corcoron and Annee Bury help me to run the group as it is a lot for just one person. Im so grateful to both of them as we all get on so well and they are both totally on the same wave-length as me.
Thankfully there is an awful lot more awareness now about cancer than there was in 2007 when there was no social media and much less information was available on how to heal the disease.
it was hard for people to come by inspiring and useful information to help themselves and I remember searching high and low to try and find somebody who had healed ovarian cancer (as was my original diagnosis).
I was lucky to come across a lovely lady called Gillian Gill who has now written her book 'Take control and Live' I really recommend this book as it shows you the importance of healing not only the physical body, but also the psyche.
Gillian had a massive impact on me as she actually healed all of her tumours without any conventional treatment and i'll always be grateful that she supported me at a time when I felt very scared and lonely. I used to phone her up just to hear her lovely supportive voice and words of encouragement.
My oncologist in Bristol took a dim view of my desire to heal naturally and had a pretty patronising attitude towards me. Indeed he even refused to scan me properly as I refused his treatment!
What I found extraordinary when I was diagnosed, was that my doctors had no answers for why I became ill - there was no one looking to see what health imbalances underlay my disease - they just said I was unlucky!
My intention once I was diagnosed was to become the healthiest I had ever been - I knew that to aim for being cancer-free was not enough to drive my recovery.
I spent a lot of time day dreaming about being healthy - I used to fantasise about how wonderful it would feel to be well again. I also used to imagine a feeling of health in my body - imagining that all my cells were literally tingling with health!
I discovered that imagination was my biggest healing tool that I had available to me.
To be honest, I believed that it was possible to heal, but I had no way of knowing if I would succeed - it felt like one big experiment!
It felt exciting to contemplate the possibility that my ovaries that were full of cancer may be able to return to being healthy ovaries. To visualise them healthy and send them love whilst accepting them the way they were - rather than telling them they were wrong felt important.
I discovered that everything that I really needed to know, I already knew intuitively - my body did know how to heal itself and my job really was to get out of the way.
I embarked on Gerson - as much as I could (its very hard to do it perfectly, but I settled for doing it the best I could).
Part of my healing journey was spending time at the Clinic St George in Germany where I received two treatments of hyperthermia and IPT (insulin potentiated chemotherapy).
It was after that that doctors told me at the Royal Marsden that I was on the way out! That was in January 2007 and yet by June 2007 I was cancer-free!
However, my health has been something that I have continued to build since then as I have looked at why the cancer came and worked to correct my thyroid, adrenals, eliminate parasites and heavy metals as well as learn how treat myself with great care.
As I reflect upon the ten years that have passed, I see that Cancer caused me to re-prioritise everything - I have become much more sensitive to my own needs and learned to place value on my happiness and wellbeing.
I love to feed myself yummy healthy food and I take a nap most days. I also have a pint of freshly-pressed vegetable juice each morning.
I still sometimes find myself in a pattern of putting others needs before my own - which is a classic cancer pattern, but the good thing is that I tend to recognise it now fairly early on and alarm bells ring causing me to stop and remind myself to take care of myself.
The old adage of putting one's own oxygen mask on before helping others remains a useful reference for me - after all, what good am I to others if i'm not taking care of myself?
Joy needs to be a priority in my life for me to thrive and I therefore make sure that I have the right people around me and that Im getting enough fun so that I stay healthy.
I have decided that this blog needs to be used again - the blog needs updating with more resources adding to it.
So watch this space!
On August 1st this year will be the ten year anniversary of my stage four cancer diagnosis!
I thought its time for me to write a blog post!
I've learned so much since my diagnosis in 2007 and despite being cancer free for over 9 years, I still find myself very much in the world of cancer, as I do my best to support other people who are dealing with cancer.
My Facebook group 'Cancerucan' has getting on for 3,000 members in it now and i'm so pleased that people have somewhere to turn where they can find community and friendship at a time which can otherwise be very isolating.
Nicola Corcoron and Annee Bury help me to run the group as it is a lot for just one person. Im so grateful to both of them as we all get on so well and they are both totally on the same wave-length as me.
Thankfully there is an awful lot more awareness now about cancer than there was in 2007 when there was no social media and much less information was available on how to heal the disease.
it was hard for people to come by inspiring and useful information to help themselves and I remember searching high and low to try and find somebody who had healed ovarian cancer (as was my original diagnosis).
I was lucky to come across a lovely lady called Gillian Gill who has now written her book 'Take control and Live' I really recommend this book as it shows you the importance of healing not only the physical body, but also the psyche.
Gillian had a massive impact on me as she actually healed all of her tumours without any conventional treatment and i'll always be grateful that she supported me at a time when I felt very scared and lonely. I used to phone her up just to hear her lovely supportive voice and words of encouragement.
My oncologist in Bristol took a dim view of my desire to heal naturally and had a pretty patronising attitude towards me. Indeed he even refused to scan me properly as I refused his treatment!
What I found extraordinary when I was diagnosed, was that my doctors had no answers for why I became ill - there was no one looking to see what health imbalances underlay my disease - they just said I was unlucky!
My intention once I was diagnosed was to become the healthiest I had ever been - I knew that to aim for being cancer-free was not enough to drive my recovery.
I spent a lot of time day dreaming about being healthy - I used to fantasise about how wonderful it would feel to be well again. I also used to imagine a feeling of health in my body - imagining that all my cells were literally tingling with health!
I discovered that imagination was my biggest healing tool that I had available to me.
To be honest, I believed that it was possible to heal, but I had no way of knowing if I would succeed - it felt like one big experiment!
It felt exciting to contemplate the possibility that my ovaries that were full of cancer may be able to return to being healthy ovaries. To visualise them healthy and send them love whilst accepting them the way they were - rather than telling them they were wrong felt important.
I discovered that everything that I really needed to know, I already knew intuitively - my body did know how to heal itself and my job really was to get out of the way.
I embarked on Gerson - as much as I could (its very hard to do it perfectly, but I settled for doing it the best I could).
Part of my healing journey was spending time at the Clinic St George in Germany where I received two treatments of hyperthermia and IPT (insulin potentiated chemotherapy).
It was after that that doctors told me at the Royal Marsden that I was on the way out! That was in January 2007 and yet by June 2007 I was cancer-free!
However, my health has been something that I have continued to build since then as I have looked at why the cancer came and worked to correct my thyroid, adrenals, eliminate parasites and heavy metals as well as learn how treat myself with great care.
As I reflect upon the ten years that have passed, I see that Cancer caused me to re-prioritise everything - I have become much more sensitive to my own needs and learned to place value on my happiness and wellbeing.
I love to feed myself yummy healthy food and I take a nap most days. I also have a pint of freshly-pressed vegetable juice each morning.
I still sometimes find myself in a pattern of putting others needs before my own - which is a classic cancer pattern, but the good thing is that I tend to recognise it now fairly early on and alarm bells ring causing me to stop and remind myself to take care of myself.
The old adage of putting one's own oxygen mask on before helping others remains a useful reference for me - after all, what good am I to others if i'm not taking care of myself?
Joy needs to be a priority in my life for me to thrive and I therefore make sure that I have the right people around me and that Im getting enough fun so that I stay healthy.
I have decided that this blog needs to be used again - the blog needs updating with more resources adding to it.
So watch this space!
