Jonathan, in July 2000 I was diagnosed with liver cancer with a tumour the size of a melon. When they operated they found two more; the smallest as large as a plum. My wife was told by the surgeon to go home and start making arrangements, I was told that I would not survive. I lasted another month, so they put me on intensely aggressive chemotherapy (notoriously ineffective against liver cancers), which was a living death. I survived 6 months of that, but was told that the chemo had been ineffective and I would not see my 3-year old daughter's next birthday. I refused to accept that I would not see my little girl grow up, and that she would not live with the trauma of losing her father so early in her life.
7 years later I'm still here, after two more 10+hr surgical procedures to remove new tumours, and three more procedures to deal with the hernias that have arisen as a result of the surgeries. I have another procedure scheduled to remove more tumours in a couple of weeks' time. Liver cancer should have killed me long before now, but it hasn't.
If I may presume to give advice, it's this - there is no greater mobilisation of your body's own natural defences and healing than a powerful and TRUE positive attitude. It helps if, like me, one has a natural tendency to be confident and perhaps bloody-minded, but use whatever fuels that belief. Whether you believe that you will be cured by a macro-biotic diet, by the deity of your choice, or by cutting the left leg out of all your pairs of trousers, if it works for you then it's right. Draw strength from your family and friends, count your blessings. Think of those that are dear to you and how lucky you are to have loved and been loved by them. Thoughts of 'Why me?' are destructive to the positive attitude you build: accept it, and set out to persevere.
Parents of a dear friend of mine, an elderly and infirm Polish couple who were prisoners in Auschwitz in the second world war, walked all the way to the top of Krakow cathedral so they may touch the Great Bell and say a prayer for me. That walk took all their strength and most of a day. How can such devotion not inspire one?
Since my diagnosis I have completed (for me) a record deep scuba dive, I have re-opened my love for photography, and I took a job that's far less stressful and permits me to spend more time with my wife and daughter.
I wish you well sir; believe in yourself and accept the support of your loved ones - you will prevail.
Peter
