'I thought cancer counselling was self indulgent and wouldn't help'

Today's post is from Karin Sieger, a BACP registered and accredited psychotherapist based in Richmond who specialises in supporting people affected by cancer (including family and friends) as well as other life changing health conditions. Karin is one of Yes to Life's Practitioner Supporters and we are grateful to her for sharing her expertise on our blog.

I thought cancer counselling was self indulgent and wouldn't help.

This is a common view about counselling and therapy. People affected by cancer are no exception. What's the point in dwelling on it? It's too upsetting. Others are worse off. It won't cure me.

Cancer like any other life-changing or life-shortening illness impacts everything in our lives - not just our bodies, but also our mental and emotional well being, our relationships, our faith and values, our finances, our future, our trust in our bodies and our trust in the world. This does not stop when treatment ends. It is normal to feel like this and it makes sense.

A  cancer diagnosis throws our lives into one almighty crisis, which can cause a whole range of emotional responses, like fear, depression, anger, rage, loss and grief, irritability, self pity, loneliness, guilt, resentment and hopelessness to mention just some.

Cancer Drug Benefits Overhyped

Today's blog is from John Piears, who lost his wife to cancer last year and went on to set up the Dying for a Cure campaign, to push for much needed reforms of the R&D system for developing and funding new cancer treatments

Barely a month goes by without a newspaper headline claiming that "A cure for all cancers is on the way" or hailing the latest "Major cancer breakthrough", but dig beneath the media hype and you'll discover the shocking reality that new cancer drugs for most cancers are only expected to improve patient survival by just 2.7 months on average, despite costing an estimated £2bn each to develop.

The slow and often painful birth of a revolution

Today's blog is from Robin Daly, Chairman & Founder of Yes To Life, who shares the story behind the new book, The Cancer Revolution.

One thing that parents will tell you is that there’s pretty much no way to explain to someone who hasn’t ‘been there’ what all the fuss is about. It all seems straightforward enough, especially to would-be parents. I’ve come to realise that, in this at least, creating a complex book shares some common territory.

As long ago as 2010(!) we started hatching a plan for an incredible book about Integrative Medicine that was going to be the No 1 resource for people with cancer who want to look ‘outside the box’. I could already picture it in Waterstone’s shop window, with a beautiful Yes to Life logo proudly adorning the front cover. Slowly, slowly the pieces of the jigsaw fell into place: Patricia Peat was the obvious choice of author due to her unparalleled overview of the territory, and many other clear candidates for contributors were identified as Patricia and I honed the structure of the book. Then began the long task of asking for contributions and slowly piecing together the first rough draft.

Throughout this journey, we have been beyond fortunate in the generosity the project has attracted from writers, designer, proofreaders, editor, researchers and more. These beneficial relationships that have made the project a possibility, have also had an effect on the pace of the project, as you can’t afford to be too precious  or demanding about your deadlines when you’re dealing with busy professionals who are  going out of their way to help!

'Words, Words, Words' - A play exploring grief, by Lowri Amies

Today's blog is from Lowri Amies on bereavement, the theatre and her upcoming play "WORDS, WORDS, WORDS" which is on at London's King’s Head Theatre on the 17th & 18th April and Leicester Square Theatre from the 16th-21st May.

When my mum passed away, I was performing my first ever solo show, ‘Those who can’t…LEARN’ at the Miller Pub. It was the most bizarre experience to stand on the stage the day after and try to be funny. I had no idea how ill she was, which was stupid really because she had been diagnosed with terminal Cancer of Unknown Primary (CUP) four years previously and given only months to live. However, she had fought the disease with such strength and determination that I thought nothing could stop her. Until it did.

She had helped me work on the show while she sat in bed recovering from her latest bout of chemo, worked on draft after draft with me and supplied jokes. Although she never got to see the finished product, she was a huge part of it. She was also a huge part of me and, after she died, I had no idea who I was or how to exist in a world where she didn't. I partly believed so vehemently that she would eventually beat the cancer because I didn't know how I would survive if she left me.

The Reset Button

Today's blog is from cancer survivor John Hagger, who writes a very moving and inspirational account about his experience with terminal cancer and the Gerson Therapy.

Preface

This is a story of my experience with the disease, malignant melanoma, a particularly virulent and fast spreading form of cancer. To be truthful, this is more an interim account of my experience with the Gerson Therapy after 12 months of the 2 year regime and an expression of the fundamental movements that have occurred in the deepest part of my life since having the original cancer diagnosis 21 months ago.

Max Gerson

Initially, I was able to carry on my life as normal until 9 months later I was told that the cancer had spread to my lymphatic system and I was not expected to survive a year.  It would be far too presumptuous to celebrate a cure at this stage but instead of following the normal pattern of swift destruction I am still alive. After 4,745 freshly pressed juices and 1,288 coffee enemas I am in good health.  All visible cancer symptoms have disappeared and I am confident, most of the time, that I will survive another 12 months.

This work is dedicated to Lesley, my wife, to my dear family and friends who love me and have carried me through the darkest times, and supported me emotionally, physically and financially; to the compassionate and loving healers who continue to work with me and, of course, to the memory of Dr Max Gerson and his daughter Charlotte who continues his work uncompromisingly.

Anti-cancer diets & the benefits of wheatgrass

Today's post is from Dr Britt Cordi PhD from Live Wheatgrass, which supplies top quality, nutritionally valuable organic superfood juices throughout the UK, Europe and USA.

You might have seen the recent Daily Mail article about what to eat to beat Breast Cancer.

I have dug down into some published medical research articles that review the evidence for an Anti- Cancer Diet. It is totally exciting research and I hope the whole world will read this.

One article, written by research scientist Michael S. Donaldson, entitled "Nutrition and cancer: A review of the evidence for an anti-cancer diet", starts off by summarising the findings having reviewed an impressive 238 published articles on the topic.  It concludes from the review that between 30-40 percent of all cancers can be prevented by lifestyle and diet alone! 

Lively times for the pharmaceutical industry

Today's blog is from our chairman Robin Daly who is backing the Dying for a Cure campaign to urge the UK Government to implement measures to tackle the conflicts of interest between profits and public health in cancer care.

February was a ‘lively’ month in the pharmaceutical sector. GSK attracted yet another £37m fine for illegal practices on 12th February. Although a record-breaker in itself, as the largest fine ever to be handed to a drugs company by a UK competition regulator, for size, it pales into insignificance by their own standards, since they set the pharmaceuticals bar at the current record level of $3bn in 2012.¹ Fines of a few million like this can be seen as simply a reasonable marketing cost, merely serving to uphold the seemingly true adage, in this field at any rate, that ’crime pays’. This time they got caught out for buying the inactivity of smaller companies that would otherwise have weighed in with cheap generic alternatives to a GSK blockbuster, once their patent had expired. By paying out £50m, they managed to ‘suppress’ any competition and keep the gravy-train rolling a bit longer.² Seroxat sales in one year in the UK alone were £90m. How a fine of a mere £37m is proportionate for this, I fail to understand.