Cancer can control you or set you free - by Pablo Kelly

This week’s blog has been written by Pablo Kelly, who was diagnosed with an inoperable terminal brain tumour in 2014. Opting for the ketogenic diet and supplementation instead of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, Pablo wanted to share his story to inspire others…

If you are given the cancer diagnosis. It shuts you down and makes you feel completely alone. They give you the cold hard facts and they are cold and hard! 

Yet you are just sat there thinking to yourself, "am I going to die?", "what can I do?", "will this change me forever?" and "how does this make my loved ones feel?"...That or you are just completely empty of thought and you feel cold and lifeless. Nothing matters anymore. This is your life and its being taken away from you. Everything's going to change and there seems to be nothing you can do to stop it from happening. The truth is, that is wrong. There is always a solution to a problem. You just have to look for it. Don't give in to your fear of death. Don't let the fight go out of you. Believe in your ability to heal. Cancer is like a wound. It will heal. Given the right environment and attention. 

I chose to research and research well into the night, into the wee hours of the morning. I researched ways of combating a terminal and inoperable high grade brain tumour and ways of dealing with it in a nutritional manner. I stumbled upon a diet aimed at children with epilepsy and it showed that it was also an anti-inflammatory diet. A brain tumour is a form of oedema (swelling). I thought to myself that this could help, this could be an answer to my problem! 

As advised by my oncologist, I was going to do chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Which are the two most prolific methods of dealing with cancer of any form. I had my radiotherapy mask molded to the shape of my face. I went into the room to have my practice run, but something deep in my gut told me to ask a question. I asked the nurse to let me call the oncologist to ask some questions. So I asked her, "is this going to cure me?", the answer was probably not. It would only give me 12-15 months at best, but would then most likely be ineffective. This was all I needed to make my penultimate decision. I was not going to go through with orthodox treatment. I was going to put every fibre of my being into the ketogenic diet and supplementation.

It was very effective and within months my MRI scan showed no progression in the growth of the tumour. I kept having stable scans for over 2 years when it started to show signs of growing, but may I add, quite slowly. Glioblastoma multiforme brain tumours are very fast growing tumours. Mine was not growing fast. Then in the winter of 2016 they told me my tumour had changed shape and that a surgeon believed they could perform an awake craniotomy to debulk the tumour. By March 2017 I had my operation and they removed 90% of the deadly tumour from my brain and by May there was no new growth. I kept having 3 monthly scans to check on my progress post op and my scans kept coming back stable until, in September I had an appointment to see the oncologist. I will cut to the chase. To put it simply, my tumour was no longer visible. Clear! 

Finally after 3 years of hard work and struggling with epilepsy and fatigue and emotions. I had successfully prolonged my life through diet and nutrition. 

I believe in my ability to heal and I just wanted to share my story to inspire you to look beyond your fear and live honestly and with love.

Pablo Isaiah Kelly.