Actively Seeking Wellness
Today I am alive and well because I took responsibility for my own health and changed many things in my life.
In 2008, a tumour the size of an orange was removed from my colon, blood vessels and lymph nodes. I chose the strongest chemo which had to be stopped halfway because it made me too sick. Later liver secondaries were removed and then my gall bladder.
By late 2009 I was 40+ kgs over weight, depressed, craving sweets and getting sicker and heavier every day.
30 years as a Registered Nurse, research to implement best clinical models for the State Health Department and following the conventional health guidelines did not prevent me getting Stage IV Colon Cancer. Surgery and chemotherapy made me very, very sick.
If I wanted to live, I had to find out why I got so sick and change quickly.
I searched the internet but my head was too fuzzy to properly evaluate the immense amount of conflicting data.
It became clear I had to remove the toxic load to help my liver and immune system.
Finding safe products was not easy. Many claimed to be organic or natural but further research proved they were not necessarily safe for human chemistry. Australian labeling laws are very inadequate. Very, very few of the 80,000 plus chemicals in use have actually been tested for safety for humans.
My quest for knowledge lead me to personally meet several internationally renowned experts who’d evaluated the data and collected their findings into well referenced books and resources. Most people do not require this level of proof, some of us do.
As I connected the dots, I realised that my story illustrates a long, gradual erosion of my health that might help others with many other chronic conditions. A huge body of research shows that all chronic conditons improve when you take responsibility for your own health and make some basic sustainable lifestyle changes.
I was a “healthy” 50-year-old woman with a family and rewarding career. Always energetic, I ate according to the accepted healthy eating guidelines, and was always well within the healthy weight range: until the weight started to pile on and I found regular exercise a challenge. No other warning signs of stage 4 colon cancer.
I grew up on an Australian farm in 1950s, eating good wholesome home cooked food from fresh organic mostly home grown fruit, vegetables and our own grass fed meat.
Chemically based household, personal care and beauty products were not really available until my teenage years. In the 1960s, pure soaps were quickly replaced with numerous modern effective products to cleanse the body, wash clothes and make specific household tasks easier. We all naively assumed these products had been tested to ensure our safety. We were very wrong.
Nursing and farming further increased my exposure to many harsh chemicals and toxins.
My tonsils, my first line of immune defense, were removed at age 6. Then 50 years of frequent antibiotics for tonsillitis and chronic chest infections, plus increased sugar and decreased nutrition through processed foods all challenged my gut, liver and immune system.
I developed allergies to perfumes, moisturisers and skin care products. From adolescence, I could not be in a lift or room with strong perfumes or after shaves. I was allergic to sunscreens.
I am a qualified mental health nurse. I swallowed antidepressants for over 20 years. Although trying numerous times under medical supervision to slowly reduce and then cease medications, each time I resumed treatment.
Until my early 50s, I had always been within the green Normal healthy weight range. I had put on some weight and found it hard to excerise before the cancer diagnosis. The chemo and other medications plus associated parasites and inability to exercise caused my weight to balloon. In denial, I refused to weigh myself after 107kgs. I was probably 120kgs or more.
Being severely obese or the above “Ms purple” was not a good look or feel for me.
Through an expanding network of like-minded people motivated to share emerging new science, I found reliable wellness information sources, plus safe and easy to obtain products for my body and home.
I changed my lifestyle and as a result lost well over 40kg. I remain healthy and active many years later.
Although I love the colour purple, the green healthy weight range feels much better.
In summary, there is an established and rapidly growing body of research that shows regaining or maintaining a healthy body is as simple as:
- Reduce toxins
- Increase nutrition
- Balance your energy.
These principles help any chronic disease: digestive problems, arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, allergies, mental health issues, skin problems and even cancer. The diagnosis is not that critical, once the causes are removed, nutrition improved and energy revitalised, a cascade of improvements follow.
I Mend Me is my way of giving back, to make it easier to find information and products to enable you to take control of your own future.