Balancing body in fight against cancer
By Ross Taylor
JAKARTA (JP): As my wife, Katherine Taylor, waited in the parking lot of Singapore's Mt. Elizabeth Hospital, she feared the worst. I was undergoing minor surgery for an unusual lump that had been discovered under my left arm.
With a nursing background Katherine knew that a large lump in the lymph glands could be potentially dangerous. She was right!
Two hours later we, two expatriates from Perth in Western Australia, faced the terrifying truth. I had been diagnosed with cancer. Secondary tumors were also already appearing in other locations around my body.
With our world turned upside down, along with our two young children, we returned to Perth where I would face four months of intense radio and chemotherapy. The news was not good as the malignant melanoma type of cancer, once developed, is one of the most aggressive and fatal known to the medical world.
My specialist told me that, despite the cancer treatment, I would only have a 10 percent chance of surviving the next three years. That was December 1993. Yet today, almost eight years later, I am still an energetic, fit and compassionate 50 year old who, along with Katherine, advocate cancer self-help and volunteer as a charity worker. I have also just recently taken up a new role as the Western Australian Government's trade director, based in Indonesia.
Plenty of things have happened that have enabled me to achieve such an amazing recovery.
Like most people, I was completely devastated by my cancer diagnosis and to be honest I was preparing to die. It was my wife and a friend who enlightened me that in fact "cancer is just a word - not a sentence" and that I could empower myself to actually assist in my own recovery.
My life in Singapore, before the diagnosis, had consisted of pressured meetings, air travel and no time for my family.
I told people I had suffered with a "wait" problem, meaning I would constantly say to Katherine that I could not wait to get just one more contract completed or get one more problem solved so real life could begin for us.
Of course what I discovered through cancer was that I really needed to live for the moment rather than wait for tomorrow - as life is very precious.
I also learned how to bring my body back into balanced harmony and this created an environment whereby my body could do what it was designed to do naturally - to heal itself.
To achieve this, it was necessary for me to look at balancing all aspects of my life; nutritionally, emotionally, spiritually and physically - and that was a big challenge for me.
With help from volunteers at the Cancer Support Association in Perth (an organization in which I would later becoming the honorary president) and a leading health guru, Dr. Lai Chi-Nan, I set about rebalancing my life.
I first made choices about the sort of food I would eat and that meant increasing my intake of fresh natural foods including raw vegetables and fruit juices. I started using high quality vitamin supplements including vitamin C, grape-seed extract, minerals including selenium and CQ10 - all designed to feed my 75 trillion cells with good nutrition.
I also started to reduce stress naturally through meditation, something I and Katherine now practice every day. But my biggest challenge was to face my own spirituality.
When I talk about spiritually, I really mean coming to terms with "me" as a spiritual being. To accept myself as I am rather than constantly seeking acceptance and approval from others. Today, I still have my work and personal goals, but I am much more at peace with myself and don't make these goals unrealistic. I laugh a lot and do not take this business game too seriously any more.
In 1996, I also received support from song and film star Olivia Newton-John, who once suffered cancer herself, and produced my first book called Living Simply with Cancer which has since raised over US$75,000 for cancer charities in Asia, Australia, Africa and America. I continue to present talks to patients, carers and the general community about Creating Health - Yourself, my third and most recent book.
Katherine, with her experience as a carer, counselor and nurse also gives her time to the community as a facilitator for The Journey process as created by Brandon Bays.
"The Journey process does not pretend to show how to heal people," says Katherine, "but it does show people how to get in contact with the part of themselves that does know."
Now I see cancer as a wake-up call. Through our experience both Katherine and I hope we can show people the doorway to a greater appreciation of the unique and beautiful world in which we live and the understanding that we can and have the ability to contribute significantly to our own well-being.
Ross Taylor is Western Australia's regional director of trade in Indonesia. His story is featured at www.lifeforce.com.au and he can be contacted at ross@lifeforce.com.au