Integrated health regimen evens odds
Cancer survivor, liver transplant patient finds help outside standard medical system
See her now and you’d never guess 56- year- old Kathy Mclaughlin ever struggled to be healthy. She eats well, hikes regularly and plays tennis two or three times a week.
And yet today Mclaughlin is thankful to be alive.
Just after her 40th birthday, Mclaughlin was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She began treatment that included chemotherapy. Over the next couple of months, she beat back the cancer.
Over the next few years, her career flourished and so, apparently, did her health. She was running from the North Shore to her office downtown.
There was just one lingering little thing that bothered her. During chemo, her toenails fell off and they never fully grew back.
“I figured it was some sort of fungus or something, so I went to the doctor to see if he could give me a treatment.” Her doctor said he couldn’t do it without a blood test. That blood test came back with disturbing news.
“[ The doctor] said, ‘ There’s something terribly wrong with you,’ ” Mclaughlin remembers. “He said, ‘ Your liver enzymes are way [ over] normal and if I didn’t see you here looking as healthy as you do, I would say these are the blood test results of a very, very sick woman.’ ”
Mclaughlin was diagnosed with end- stage liver cirrhosis, a chronic liver disease.
To make matters worse, Mclaughlin’s cancer returned, leaving her in a medical catch22: She desperately needed a liver transplant but wasn’t eligible because of her cancer.
Her liver was failing, her cancer had returned and a full course of chemo while fighting the cancer would destroy her liver. “I thought I was going to die,” Mclaughlin said. “I thought eventually one of these two diseases would kill me and the worst part was, they were accelerating each other so it was kind of a race to the finish.”
While continuing to work with her doctor, Mclaughlin started looking for help outside the standard medical system. She connected with Dr. Hal Gunn of Inspire Health at Canada’s first integrated cancer care centre.
Gunn helped Mclaughlin establish an integrated health care plan designed to minimize the strain on her liver. The plan combined a gentler form of chemotherapy, vitamin D supplements, meditation, yoga, and an overhaul of her already- healthy diet.
The multi- faceted medical plan worked: Mclaughlin beat the cancer for a second time without completely destroying what was left of her liver.
She had to remain cancer- free for another four years before she would be eligible for a liver transplant. Over that time she maintained the integrated approach that helped her beat the cancer, and it played a significant role in keeping her liver from collapsing.
Finally she was put on the waiting list for a liver and, thankfully, one became available.
“I went through 19 hours of surgery and spent the next week or so in recovery.”
But as she was dressing to go home from the hospital, Mclaughlin collapsed as her body began rejecting the transplanted organ. If she was going to live, she needed another liver — and right away.
“The universe didn’t owe me another liver; miraculously, one became available and I’ve had it ever since.”
After her second operation, Mclaughlin fully recovered. She’s been cancer- free for seven years, and continues to maintain her integrated health regimen.