The advantage of being an anthropomorphic guinea pig is the ability to sometimes leave the familiar sawdustic smell  of domesticity  and venture out to new pastures green, or revisit old pastures greening with the April gift of Rain

So I find myself on Sunday at Waterloo station at midday about to board a train to Southampton in an act of familial duty. Waterloo is Waterloo – scaffolding, renovations, delice de france , many alert high stepping dogs on leads etc. etc., families in weary crocodile queues and purposeful geese formations, and service disruptions due to the interminable Sunday engineering works. Standing out are little gaggles of middle aged women dressed in white tee-shirts with pink glittery things, wings and big helium filled silver and pink balloons and a tired exhilaration vibe. I immediately think they are coming home from a giant hen party, but then my eyes are drawn to a bright pink butterfly/ bra printed on a white tee-shirt, pink fringes covering the breasts of another, like a Barbie moustache and the slogans fighting breast cancer/ raising money for breast cancer, and moon walk, and I realise these good natured souls are doing their bit to fight cancer/support cancer sufferers.

It makes me muse on how cancer seems to bring out the best in people, how much people with cancer get though the savage treatments with the amazing support that friends can give. How a friend with a diagnosis can make us run that extra mile to help them in their hour of need. And also how brilliant and earnest and well-meaning most of the medical staff are and how incredible is the support of organisations like the Macmillan trust for people with cancer.

It made me ponder on how a cancer diagnosis is now so synonymous with the treatment, where an integral part of a diagnosis is having to engage with this publicly acknowledged set of hard-core and savage treatments.  It’s like a cancer “club” you join with rules and regulations, where people know there is a kind of protocol with set procedures, a beginning and an end to surgery, certain inevitabilities about chemo and radiotherapy, and practical guidelines for friends and family to follow in a strange kind of comforting way.

when I started writing/formulating my own cancer treatments, protocols and strategies in April 2004 – and believe me, I devoted and dedicated much time and research for this – being of nature an autodidactic and well experienced guineapig in alternative healing modalities– The Bristol clinic wouldn’t touch me, as I would jeopardise their funding (they could legally only offer advice and help people who were already taking or who had had conventional treatment). Luckily for me, Dr Rosy Daniels – formerly of the Bristol had set up her own clinic In Bath, and gave me much validation and support in the one appointment with her I could afford. And it is worth noting that the charity yes to life set up after my time with Dr Daniels now tries to give financial support for people who need these kinds of appointments

Most people I know share the attitude: ‘if I got cancer I would do whatever was necessary to get it out of my body as quickly as possible. Like I would want to fuck the cancer off and blitz it with whatever heavy duty stuff allopathic medicine could hit it with (Regardless of what that does to the rest of the body. Or the greater implications further down the line). Because we are all going to die at sometime. Because the only way to deal with cancer properly, the only way to give the body a fighting chance is to engage with what is on offer by those that know –  the Medical establishment’.

The tragedy is that most people do not realise they have a choice, and the well-meaning steamroller of allopathic medicine and the cultural support available is simply too strong and embedded for most people to consider other options.

I need to state that this is not to say I dismiss or stand in judgement of anyone who has used allopathic treatments for cancer, and I honour the paths that others have trod in this regard and salute the bravery of people embarking on this course. And I also need to say that I have also had incredible support in various ways from friends and family and professionals and Macmillan despite my choices.

I would just like to flag up that there are always other options, other ways of doing things, as my blog and site will pay testimony too. More Compassion, more Love. Together we can not only get through savage and invasive treatments successfully, but maybe we can we can also start a much needed sea change for integrated and holistic healthcare