Life in balance
Cancer patients gain positive benefits from tai chi
Donna LeGros loves to shower standing up.
Or maybe, after suffering severe numbness in her extremities following chemotherapy, the 65-year-old New Waterford resident simply appreciates something that most people take for granted.
And, she places much of the credit for getting back on her feet to the tai chi she’s been practising over the past two years.
“Because of this I was able to improve and regain my balance and I was able to shower by myself — I didn’t have to sit on the chair anymore, I could stand and it was wonderful,” said the effervescent cancer survivor, who underwent multiple surgeries during her fight with bowel cancer.
“I also don’t have homemakers coming in any more, I’ve advanced that far and I do my own wash and I look after my own house — tai chi is magnificent, it’s just so calming and relaxing, it helps with balance and breathing, it’s wonderful.”
LeGros was one of about two-dozen people who took part in the Cape Breton Cancer Centre’s weekly tai chi class on Thursday afternoon at the Whitney Pier Legion. She spent the session performing the slow and gentle moves while sitting in a chair, but that was because she was having an especially bad day with the numbness she sometimes feels in her extremities as a result of recent chemotherapy.
“I’m very lucky, it could be worse — I’ll be back up on my feet next time,” she said, adding that the tai chi is as mentally beneficial as it is physically.
“Everybody here, we’ve all gone through the cancer stuff and we’re sort of like a family — he (the instructor) teaches us how to relax more and breathe, it’s a wonderful program, I do it at home and meditate while I do it there.”
The program instructor is Dr. Michael Milburn, a Sydney resident who has been practising the traditional Chinese healing exercises for more than 30 years.
Milburn said that even after three decades, he is still surprised by the countless benefits that tai chi gives to its practitioners.
“It helps with so much, both mentally and physically — it helps with anxiety and depression, it improves strength, mobility and balance, it helps with pain issues and improves memory,” he said, adding that tai chi also helps people suffering from arthritis and Parkinson’s.
“If tai chi was a pill, then everybody would be taking it — it has no side-effects and its benefits are great, but the hard part is to get people to do it.”
But, according to Milburn, more and more Cape Bretoners are doing tai chi. He said groups have formed across the island, including one in Maina-Dieu, where he began a class a few years ago.
Anyone interested in participating in the cancer centre’s tai chi program, held Thursdays from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the upstairs room of the Whitney Pier Legion, is asked to register free of charge by calling 902-567-8074.