‘I’ve Been Living With Terminal Cancer For 25 Years’

In 1992, aged 39, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and aggressive lymphatic cancer and given nine months to live. I had surgery, then chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but having a free massage at the Royal Marsden Hospital, however, was a turning point.

I needed to regain control, so following that massage, I began to research alternative therapies.

After reading about a woman who claimed she cured her breast cancer by drinking Essiac tea, I found the recipe and started drinking it every day. I had my mercury dental fillings replaced with composite ones after I read that they were a possible factor in cancer growth. I studied Neuro Linguistic Programming and, in particular, an intervention called the ‘Museum Of Old Beliefs’. Using this technique, I imagined locking my cancer away in a large trunk and walking away.

I used mind games to ‘attack’ the cancer cells and whenever I went for a walk I had a mantra in time to my footfalls: ‘I am happy, healthy, healed and whole.’ It was all wonderfully liberating.

As the months rolled on, my cancer shrank and at my five-year check, I was given the ‘all clear’. People assume that the doctors were gobsmacked at my ‘miraculous’ recovery but, the reality is far more pedestrian. They were happy to discharge me… but it’s nothing like the movies.

I’ve now been cancer-free for 20 years and I complete my ‘Daily Dozen’ – 12 things

I do to stay fit and healthy. I self-massage my right arm in the shower to encourage drainage (the lymph nodes were removed during treatment). My other daily rituals include walking, taking vitamins and minerals. The final thing is setting daily goals that will increase my sense of wellbeing and control.

Last year, I wrote a book about my experience; I didn’t count my chickens at five years clear, but thought 20 years was a significant milestone!