A Greater Courage

A Greater Courage

Some of the most courageous people I have met have been clients with so-called “terminal illnesses” and yet shown amazing strength of character and determination to prove the medical profession wrong – and fully recovered to full health.

Can you imagine how devastating it must be to be told by a doctor that you only have a few weeks/months to live and that there is nothing else they can do to help you?

As healers will know, very often patients come to us “as a last resort” when they have tried everything else and feel that they have nothing to lose.  If only they had come to see us at the beginning of their journey!!

One of the first things I tell cancer patients who have been given a finite term of life expectancy is that of all the different types of cancer – of which there are hundreds – there is not one where someone hasn’t recovered.

These few words can have a powerful effect on patients as they join the dots and think if someone with the same type of cancer as myself can recover, then so can I.

For a while, many years ago, I worked as a volunteer at the Bristol Cancer Center in England – now called the Penny Brohn Cancer Center UK which was the first integrated health care center founded in 1980. A survey they carried out showed that the patient’s attitude and belief about their illness made a huge difference in the outcome.

Those who went into the “poor me” self-pity frame of mind had the lowest recovery rate.  Ironically the people who went into denial – they felt ok and did not accept they had cancer – had a 10% greater chance of recovery than the first group.  By far the ones with the highest recovery rate were those who accepted the challenge and accepted that they had lessons to learn around this particular health issue, made changes to their lifestyle, and really believed they would get better had a 50% better chance of recovery than the first group.

Huge!

What enormous courage it must take to be positive and “know” they were going to fully recover and are happy to make some drastic lifestyle changes to aid the process. 

Whilst we may not read or hear about their courage like someone involved in a drama which may only last minutes, to me theirs is in many ways requires a greater courage. They are reminded each day over a long period of time that they need to keep their resolve, no matter how they are feeling, going through a whole gamut of emotions.  

To me that takes “bottle.”

With  Love & Light
Roger