description: Since 1995, Janet Laurel has undergone two mastectomies, 47 chemotherapy treatments, and 33 ½ radiation sessions. She’s lost her hair three times and been drenched fifty times a day from hot flashes. Her breast cancer metastasized, traveling to her peritoneal cavity, lungs, and bones. By conventional medical accounts, Janet should have been dead years ago. And yet she’s still here—working two jobs, savoring her home life, finding joy, and celebrating her journey. Despite having cancer, she thrives. How does she explain her miraculous survival? "I’m a one-woman example of what can happen when you use everything to promote health," she says. Janet relies on a comprehensive program of complementary and alternative care, spiritual medicine, and a "take-charge" attitude toward treatment. Using it, she has turned cancer from a life-threatening disease into a chronic illness. Seeing Janet Laurel now, zipping from one appointment to another, laughing raucously into her cell phone headgear as she walks, it’s hard to imagine how sick she has been. How could that tiny frame have withstood the horrific side effects her cancer treatment caused? How did her spirit rally so many times? And where did she get the strength to start a foundation to help other cancer patients? "At first I felt like I’d been run over by a truck," Janet says. "But I always asked, ‘What is the opportunity here? What am I do to with this mess?’ I knew something good had to come from my situation, and as I learned more about cancer and cancer treatment, I had an inkling that I could help other women, too." Janet first discovered an almond-like lump across from her left breast, below her armpit. Her gynecologist said, "You’ve had the flu, and sometimes lymph nodes get fluid in them during a flu. If the lump gets bigger, go see a surgeon." So went the misdiagnosis that sent Janet on the path to stage IV breast cancer and years of fighting for her life. "I don’t know what the doctor was thinking," Janet recounts. "That lymph node was already as big as it could get. She should have told me to get a biopsy. Then I might have been able to catch it early and go on with my life." Instead, it was nearly a year later when Janet, returned to the same gynecologist for an annual exam, only to be told there was "still nothing suspicious". Three months later, her breast now demonstrating changes, a lump was biopsied and found cancerous. Janet began conventional cancer a modified radical mastectomy, removal of 15 lymph nodes, chemotherapy, and radiation. The treatments shook her chemically-sensitive body to its core. Her oncologist recommended a bone marrow transplant, which Janet agonized over and ultimately refused. In between bouts of vomiting, terrified of a bone marrow transplant and furious at the cavalier attitude of her gynecologist, Janet resolved to sue. "I didn’t want to bring a lawsuit," she says. "It’s a myth that people sue doctors for money. I sued because I was outraged. I wanted to prevent the gynecologist from hurting someone else." She emerged from the lawsuit shaken but triumphant. Although the jury split liability between Janet and her doctor, it awarded the highest settlement allowed under state law. In the meantime, and perhaps due to the lawsuit, Janet’s health further deteriorated. The cancer metastasized. It’s not about how long I live, she told herself. It’s how well I live. From the beginning, she pulled together a team of caregivers to deal with the cancer and fortify her body. She saw an acupuncturist for pain relief, a functional medicine specialist for supplements, homeopathy and Chinese herbs to strengthen her immune system. A Quantum Energetics practitioner did treatments to re-channel the energy pathways in her body. She used homeopathy, massage, Reiki, psychic surgery, cognitive therapy, and a dozen other strategies to move toward health. "I let the conventional doctors fight the disease," Janet says. "And I looked for other practitioners to help me create health." Her commitment to listening inwardly gave her the courage to chart new territory. She blended conventional and complementary care, did research on whatever new drugs or treatments people recommended, and made her own choices about her treatment plan progressed. Prayer, a gratitude journal, and spiritual exercises sustained her. As she weathered each side effect, each new appearance of cancer in her body, she told herself, "This is not for nothing." Alongside the cancer grew a vision of helping other women. Convinced that her integrative medical program could work for other cancer patients, Janet created the Cherubim Foundation, a non-profit organization to educate and support women affected by breast, ovarian, or uterine cancer. "There is something between the doctor’s infusion room and hospice—it’s called life," Janet states. "All these years I’ve been waiting for a cure, and nothing has showed up. Now, until there’s a cure, there’s Cherubim, an organization that helps promote health despite the presence of disease." Since its inception in 1998, the Cherubim Foundation has served more than eighty women, spending almost $30,000 dollars to provide more than $60,000 worth of integrative medical care; acupuncture, nutritional counseling, energetic medicine, naturopathic and chiropractic medicine. Cherubim provides this care through their network of complementary and alternative practitioners who work closely with women undergoing chemotherapy and radiation. "We could say that I live a charmed life," Janet says, "albeit a life permeated with cancer and cancer treatment. However, I know from watching Cherubim’s courageous band of women that others can experience a longer and healthier life with cancer, just as I have, when they do what I have done. Living and thriving with stage IV breast cancer is possible."
language: English
title: Heart and Soul: What It Takes to Promote Health While Confronting Cancer
titlecomplete: Heart and Soul: What It Takes to Promote Health While Confronting Cancer
publisher: Fresh Squeezed Books, LLC