Having people tell me that my work helped them face - and sometimes heal - their cancer is a truly wonderful feeling. The success stories my clients share with me are so amazing and inspiring, I want to share a couple of them with you. Success takes many shapes and forms. Ultimately I believe success in life is about becoming empowered, defining your dreams and goals, and moving towards them. Some people with cancer will find their success in a total remission. For others, success will mean reinventing their lives and relationships in the face of their disease. For some, it will mean gaining valuable time and a sense of well being through alternative treatments. Whatever your situation, may you be inspired to reach for healing in your life.

"The Mysterious Mind/Body Connection"

Susan was an attractive woman in her mid '40s who apprsached me in the 1990s at a convention in Toronto, Canada where I was the keynote speaker. I will simply never forget her story. She excitedly told me that she had driven over 150 miles to attend the convention in order to shake my hand. Three years earlier, Susan had been stricken with soft tissue sarcoma, originating in her leg. She very candidly told me that she looked and felt near death after her chemotherapy treatments. Her doctors said there was nothing else they could do for her and basically told her to put her affairs in order. Her marriage had been shaky in recent years, she said, but as she became sicker, her husband had become withdrawn and unsupportive. They argued constantly.

One day, as he was assisting her to the car (Susan was walking unsteadily with a cane by this point) her husband suddenly began yelling at her "I'm sick of this! You're so needy and you look disgusting. I wish you would just hurry up and die already!" Susan told me that at that moment she had a flash of insight that was like a bolt from the blue - She HAD to live long enough to divorce that creep. She told me that she was DETERMINED not to die while still bearing his name.

When she told her friends and family that she was seeking a divorce, they all thought she had lost her mind. One lawyer even told her not to bother with a divorce she probably wouldn't live long enough to see. She changed lawyers and forged ahead. She also sought out information on alternative treatments and became a client of mine. The day the divorce came through was triumphant for her. Susan told me that ever since her decision to get a divorce, she had started to improve, amazing everyone who knew her case. One year after her divorce, she was officially in remission. When I met her, she had been cancer-free for almost two years.

I asked Susan what she thought explained her astounding recovery. She said that the oncologists think it was the chemotherapy that cured her (even after they told her that she had "failed" treatment) and the alternative physicians want to claim credit too. Susan told me that she is certain that, for her, the cancer had developed because of her painful marriage. She had felt trapped and now feels that developing a critical illness was her body's way of looking for an "out." Divorcing her husband was the turning point for healing from a cancer that Susan feels had deep emotional origins.

Susan agreed to let me tell her wonderful success story at conferences all over the world and I never fail to have people approach me afterwards with "emotional healing" cancer stories of their own. If there are painful emotions or experiences you have pushed aside in your life, perhaps it is time to seek professional support to help resolve them. We know far too little about the mind/body connection and its relationship to cancer, but stories like Susan's remind us that for some people there does seem to be a powerful connection between emotional and physical healing.

"The Best of Both Worlds"

On the morning of October 9th, 1997, a 48 year-old former athlete named Cheryl Clark was horseback riding when she suddenly lost consciousness and fell hard. A CT scan of Cheryl's brain revealed a hemorrhaging, lemon-sized brain tumor which, after surgical removal, was confirmed to be glioblastoma multiforme. This is one of the most aggressive brain tumors. Surgery, radiation and chemotherapy are only given to palliate and the five-year survival rate is less than one percent.

Cheryl's best friend, Jeanne Wallace, immediately rushed to her side. Jeanne is a clinical nutrition consultant who educates her clients about supplements, herbs, and nutrition. Knowing about The Moss Reports service, she ordered my report on glioblastoma. Using the information in The Moss Reports and her own professional expertise, Jeanne put Cheryl on a well-rounded treatment plan that incorporated the best of alternative and conventional treatments.

Jeanne and Cheryl both knew that success depended on healing the whole person -- body, mind, and spirit. They assembled a team of alternative practitioners to give Cheryl weekly sessions of acupuncture and massage, including techniques such as zero balancing, polarity and Shiatsu. Cheryl cultivated a positive attitude and found ways to dispel fear. She joined a cancer support group, and even helped to create one for people facing brain tumors. She used a visualization audiotape at bedtime and repeated positive affirmations to herself throughout the day. She collected cancer survivor stories and read them over and over. Cheryl asked friends and family members to pray for her.

At the same time, Cheryl began a protocol of diet, nutritional, and herbal supplements. She greatly reduced her intake of sugar because it can suppress the immune system and feed cancer cells. She added healthy omega-3 fats to her diet, as well as herbs to boost the immune system, such as astragalus and Siberian ginseng.

Cheryl wanted to work in partnership with her oncologist rather than blindly accept any conventional treatment doled out to her. She decided to reject chemotherapy but to proceed with radiation therapy. Cheryl took a variety of supplements including antioxidants such as vitamin C and E, one hour before undergoing radiation treatment. Her tumor responded well to radiation therapy and she did not suffer from any side effects. Because of this, Cheryl decided to try an experimental radiation therapy called gamma knife radiosurgery. Cheryl had her last conventional treatment in June of 1998. She has continued with her holistic program of supplements, nutrition, massage, acupuncture, support groups, mind/body healing, and spiritual support.

I am delighted to tell you that Cheryl is doing fabulously well to this day. Her MRIs show that no signs of tumor remain! There is a small area of dead tumor tissue that is shrinking. Cheryl has been taken off all conventional medication, has no symptoms, and is enjoying a healthy, active lifestyle. Success is possible, no matter what statistical odds you are given!

I think of Cheryl and Jeanne quite often, finding joy and inspiration in their remarkable success story, as I hope you do too. No matter what your diagnosis, combining the best conventional and alternative treatments can be a powerful combination. I created The Moss Reports service to help patients and their families come up with the most successful programs available. No matter what path you take, remember that you'll make any treatment program stronger by adding large doses of friendship, faith, and supportive holistic therapies.