Holistically healing from breast cancer

Today’s post is from one of our beneficiaries who has kindly agreed to share her story. Maria, 44, from Canterbury talks about treating breast cancer and her own journey of physical and emotional healing.

I was diagnosed with stage 1 grade 1 breast cancer in September 2010. Overwhelmed at times, and in deep shock, an instinct for self-preservation kicked in as I sought to make sense of the experience. This manifested as an urgent and fervent effort to find out as much as possible about the particularities of my disease, and how I can make positive lifestyle changes.

Becoming a Cancer Widower

Today is our second post from John, who recently lost his wife to ovarian cancer. Last week John spoke about the politics surrounding cancer research in the UK, this week he shares a more personal take on his experience of becoming a cancer widower and offers some advice on coming to terms with loss.

Cancer Widower – I never thought I’d be describing myself as that.  But at 4:50pm on 8th October 2015 my status as Husband slipped away from me, along with the woman I loved, and I joined the wretched ranks of millions who live in the shadow of cancer and its unstoppable trail of misery and fatality.  On the front of the leaflet handed to me by a very caring hospice nurse was the quote “Grief is the price we pay for love, it is the cost of commitment”.  A price worth paying in my book - I would just have to find the strength to deal with it.

Palliative care at home

My wife’s name was Beata.  She was just 37 years old when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, shattering our happiness in a heartbeat.  Sadly, as is usually the case with ovarian cancer, it had already spread when it was detected, so Beata’s prognosis was poor from the outset.  Despite this, she did everything she could to try to fight her illness, showing the most amazing strength and determination during her three year battle, but in the end she eventually ran out of options and was referred for palliative care.

Cancer: Dying for a Cure

Today's post is from John, who shares his personal experience of supporting a loved one through cancer and discusses how the way we approach cancer desperately needs to change.

Three months ago my wife died of ovarian cancer, after a three year battle to try to overcome her illness.  Her name was Beata and she was just 41 years old - a beautiful young woman with a beautiful spirit, full of love, kindness and excitement about the wonders of life.  We had been married for just six months when she died and were deeply in love - soul mates, best friends and a great team.

Like millions of others before her, her life and mine had been taken over by her cancer from the moment she was diagnosed.  Our lives revolved completely around doctor and hospital appointments, research into treatments and diets, and putting into practice healthy lifestyle changes that we hoped would make a difference.   She was forced to accept a punishing treatment schedule with systemically damaging side-effects and virtually no prospect of a cure, just to be able secure what little extra time she could.

She twice had major surgery, underwent twelve gruelling chemotherapy sessions that caused her a great deal of physical and mental suffering, participated in demanding clinical trials of experimental drugs, had ports and tubes implanted in her to make it easier to administer drugs and blood tests, and had numerous emergency visits to A&E to deal with life-threatening symptoms from her treatments.

A few words of gratitude

Today’s post is a short thank you from one of our beneficiaries, Keith, who has been following the Gerson Therapy protocol with support from Yes to Life.

May I offer a few words of gratitude to Yes To Life and of course it’s fundraisers for the incredible self-less consideration being paid to others like myself. I was diagnosed over two years ago with an advanced stage blood cancer, which can only be treated conventionally but not cured.

             

My body was literally riddled with disease both visibly on the surface and within. Immediately after my diagnosis I embarked on the Gerson Therapy in order to rebuild my immune system. Gerson is well established as an answer to cancer but of course the costs are not borne by drug companies or governments. Thanks in no small part to the kindness of Yes to Life and others I have been able to maintain the rather demanding cost of the full Gerson protocol alongside other adjunct therapies which combined have put me into an advanced state of recovery.

My change in direction after a cancer recurrance

Today’s post is from one of our beneficiaries who has kindly agreed to share her story. Claire, 47, from Devon took an integrative approach after suffering a recurrence of cancer. 

I was diagnosed with stage 3b inflammatory breast cancer in October 2012. This is a rare form of breast cancer where there is not a lump, but a swelling and redness. I was completely in shock after my diagnosis, as it was also found that the cancer had spread to lymph nodes under my arm. My children were five and seven at the time, and I was so worried and scared that I would not be around to see them grow up.

I had seven rounds of chemotherapy soon after diagnosis, followed by a mastectomy and three weeks of radiotherapy. I then had herceptin every three weeks for two years.

Unfortunately this was not the end of the story. I had a recurrence in my neck two years later in October 2014, which was treated with six months of Kadcyla chemotherapy.

An introduction to Bach Flower Remedies

Today our post comes from Sara, a Bach Flower Remedies Practitioner, who talks about the impact of stress on the body and the benefits of using these remedies are for those diagnosed with cancer. 

Hello everybody, my name is Sara and I am a Bach Flower Remedies Practitioner. I am writing this post because I believe the Bach Flower Remedies (BFR) can be a big help for people with cancer. When your Doctor diagnoses you with cancer, a wave of emotion will hit you. These emotions have a deep effect that cannot be underestimated or ignored.

A diagnosis of cancer is undoubtedly a trigger for a lot of emotions and a very stressful situation to deal with. Everybody reacts in their own way. Shock, fear of death, worry about the outcome, concern for our beloved, panic, despair, anger towards this invader, self-pity… there isn’t a right or wrong way to feel about having cancer.

Seeking alternatives in Mexico

Today’s post is from one of our beneficiaries who has kindly agreed to share his story. Kent, 56, from Devon has travelled annually to Mexico for the past seven years to seek alternative approaches.

After about six months of investigative tests and treatment for a non-existent ulcer, I was diagnosed in September 2007 with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. My first response was to either go for a trial drug or chemotherapy and radiation. But after a little research I realized how naïve I was and choose to discount previous orthodox options that had not yet been offered to me. I was told that when I got worse those options would become available to me but for the time being my treatment would be 'watchful waiting'.

The only orthodox treatment I had was diagnostic, some surgery to biopsy two lymph nodes and determine if I indeed had cancer. The biopsies confirmed that I did.