On National Cancer Survivors Day today, June 4, two exapt women in the UAE have revealed the pain of battling the disease and shared their inspirational journey to recovery.
Read the full story: https://gulfnews.com/uae/health/watch-cancer-survivors-in-uae-reveal-journey-of-ordeal-and-hope-1.96158805
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#UAEnews #cancersurvivor #cancer
Read the full story: https://gulfnews.com/uae/health/watch-cancer-survivors-in-uae-reveal-journey-of-ordeal-and-hope-1.96158805
Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV
See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km
#UAEnews #cancersurvivor #cancer
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NewsTranscript
00:00Cancer for me has given me the opportunity to reflect on my life, my journey, and make a lot of changes.
00:09Cancer is not the end of the world.
00:12I had made up my mind that I will not die, I will live for my children,
00:17and that is the one focus thing that you can remember.
00:23It was 13 years ago, I was diagnosed when I was 50,
00:28half century already gone, and with a lot of emotional baggage behind me,
00:36I thought life was just going to be easy ahead,
00:42but sometimes, you know, man proposes and God disposes,
00:49and cancer came to me not as a complete shock, but as an eye-opener.
00:56Personally, for me, it was an eye-opener because of all the stuff that I had gone through in my previous 30 years,
01:04starting from the age of 15, I guess,
01:07and that is the reason I knew that something was because of my own emotions,
01:14this was because of my own life history and neglect of my physicality.
01:20I was diagnosed with cancer in 2014, which is 9 years ago,
01:26so I'm 69 now, and I'm free of cancer.
01:31It's been a very long and tough journey.
01:35Initially, I was diagnosed with cancer in the right breast,
01:39and I had a mastectomy and lymph node removed,
01:45and then 18 months later, they had to operate on the left breast as well.
01:50It taught me a lot of self-care, self-love, and it was a blessing in disguise, sort of.
01:57It wasn't easy when the diagnosis happened, of course,
02:04because it was a long struggle against the fraternity of medicinal doctors
02:12and my own personal family members,
02:16just because I was against going through the whole conventional cancer treatment
02:22of having the chemotherapy and radiation done.
02:26I had already discussed with my cancer surgeon that I will not go through that,
02:33I will only go through the lumpectomy.
02:35But when some of the lymph nodes were positive,
02:38she had to convince me to go through the whole process,
02:43but I had put my foot down.
02:45So the oncologist was very upset, and I had said completely no.
02:50I had done a lot of research, thanks to the Internet and through other naturopathy doctors and all,
02:55that there is an alternative way of healing yourself.
02:59So I didn't mind removing the lump,
03:03because it was an invasive ductal carcinoma cancer, stage 2b.
03:08But I wanted to go the natural way for the simple reason
03:11that I thought that the universe was already preparing me for what was to come,
03:15and I had studied a lot of healing modalities by then.
03:20Cancer, for me, has given me the opportunity to reflect on my life, my journey,
03:27and make a lot of changes.
03:30And what I would like to say to people who are going through this journey now
03:34is to find your inner strength, get support from family, friends,
03:41or mostly anywhere, really, where you can get friends.
03:45Don't be ashamed of asking for help.
03:47It's perfectly normal, it's perfectly okay.
03:50And stay positive in all situations, I believe, in life.
03:56That there is always something positive coming out of it.
04:00They talk about the phoenix coming out of the ashes, don't they?
04:03And I'm a great believer in that motto.
04:05Cancer word itself is just instilling fear in people.
04:10Do not be overtaken by your emotions, you know.
04:14Try to calm your mind and try to realize why it has happened.
04:19What was lacking in your life, or what have you done to your body,
04:24through your mind, through your thoughts.
04:26So by simple, holistic, alternative methods of meditation or yoga
04:34or enjoying what you feel, what is your innate passion,
04:38just try to divert your mind in those things
04:41so that you are more relaxed while your treatment is going on.
04:44Side by side, you can have your complementary treatments,
04:47whatever resonates with you.
04:50Either it is dancing, it is painting, it is yoga, it is meditation
04:56or any holistic retreat where you can detox yourself completely
05:01through the toxins that are already developed in your body.
05:05Cancer is not the end of the world.
05:07I had made up my mind that I will not die, I will live for my children.
05:13And that is the one focus thing that you can remember.