00:00Cancer for me has given me the opportunity to reflect on my life, my journey, and make a lot of changes.
00:09Cancer is not the end of the world.
00:12I had made up my mind that I will not die, I will live for my children,
00:17and that is the one focus thing that you can remember.
00:23It was 13 years ago, I was diagnosed when I was 50,
00:28half century already gone, and with a lot of emotional baggage behind me,
00:36I thought life was just going to be easy ahead,
00:42but sometimes, you know, man proposes and God disposes,
00:49and cancer came to me not as a complete shock, but as an eye-opener.
00:56Personally, for me, it was an eye-opener because of all the stuff that I had gone through in my previous 30 years,
01:04starting from the age of 15, I guess,
01:07and that is the reason I knew that something was because of my own emotions,
01:14this was because of my own life history and neglect of my physicality.
01:20I was diagnosed with cancer in 2014, which is 9 years ago,
01:26so I'm 69 now, and I'm free of cancer.
01:31It's been a very long and tough journey.
01:35Initially, I was diagnosed with cancer in the right breast,
01:39and I had a mastectomy and lymph node removed,
01:45and then 18 months later, they had to operate on the left breast as well.
01:50It taught me a lot of self-care, self-love, and it was a blessing in disguise, sort of.
01:57It wasn't easy when the diagnosis happened, of course,
02:04because it was a long struggle against the fraternity of medicinal doctors
02:12and my own personal family members,
02:16just because I was against going through the whole conventional cancer treatment
02:22of having the chemotherapy and radiation done.
02:26I had already discussed with my cancer surgeon that I will not go through that,
02:33I will only go through the lumpectomy.
02:35But when some of the lymph nodes were positive,
02:38she had to convince me to go through the whole process,
02:43but I had put my foot down.
02:45So the oncologist was very upset, and I had said completely no.
02:50I had done a lot of research, thanks to the Internet and through other naturopathy doctors and all,
02:55that there is an alternative way of healing yourself.
02:59So I didn't mind removing the lump,
03:03because it was an invasive ductal carcinoma cancer, stage 2b.
03:08But I wanted to go the natural way for the simple reason
03:11that I thought that the universe was already preparing me for what was to come,
03:15and I had studied a lot of healing modalities by then.
03:20Cancer, for me, has given me the opportunity to reflect on my life, my journey,
03:27and make a lot of changes.
03:30And what I would like to say to people who are going through this journey now
03:34is to find your inner strength, get support from family, friends,
03:41or mostly anywhere, really, where you can get friends.
03:45Don't be ashamed of asking for help.
03:47It's perfectly normal, it's perfectly okay.
03:50And stay positive in all situations, I believe, in life.
03:56That there is always something positive coming out of it.
04:00They talk about the phoenix coming out of the ashes, don't they?
04:03And I'm a great believer in that motto.
04:05Cancer word itself is just instilling fear in people.
04:10Do not be overtaken by your emotions, you know.
04:14Try to calm your mind and try to realize why it has happened.
04:19What was lacking in your life, or what have you done to your body,
04:24through your mind, through your thoughts.
04:26So by simple, holistic, alternative methods of meditation or yoga
04:34or enjoying what you feel, what is your innate passion,
04:38just try to divert your mind in those things
04:41so that you are more relaxed while your treatment is going on.
04:44Side by side, you can have your complementary treatments,
04:47whatever resonates with you.
04:50Either it is dancing, it is painting, it is yoga, it is meditation
04:56or any holistic retreat where you can detox yourself completely
05:01through the toxins that are already developed in your body.
05:05Cancer is not the end of the world.
05:07I had made up my mind that I will not die, I will live for my children.
05:13And that is the one focus thing that you can remember.
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