In her best selling book, Mind over Medicine, Lissa Rankin, M.D. uses research from the most prestigious cancer centers in the world to show that much of what you feel is related to much of what you think. Many of the studies she references deal with the placebo effect. It is astounding how many patients who get a placebo fair as well as the patients who get the experimental treatment. These studies cover many different diseases and many different parts of the body.
My father is a brilliant doctor with an encyclopedic memory of thousands of illnesses and syndromes. Despite this, he would never in a million years consider alternative treatments or the affects of the mind-body connection for healing. I forgive him this because he is eighty-nine years old. I’m not sure whether or not he will admit it, but I think that even he believes we are starting a 5,000 year old “new” medical revolution.
A diagnosis of breast cancer is life changing. At thirty two or eighty two. Forever. Everything you once believed to be true shifts. Mortality smacks you in the face leaving you dizzy with thoughts you can’t begin to process. Along with your diagnosis, you are faced with big questions that need big answers. At the top of the list is, “Why me?”
When my dear friend, Evelyn Pearl Meyerson, was diagnosed with breast cancer, the first thing she said to me was simple, and yet, incredibly profound. She said, “I guess it’s my turn.” Evelyn approached dying in much the same way as she approached living. She was the epitome of grace and dignity. It was no surprise to anyone who knew her that she would spend her last weeks in the company of her friends and family because she loved them and they loved her in a remarkable way that was uniquely her own.
At forty-three I was told my life expectancy was about seven years. That was almost twenty years ago.
When I had exhausted everything western medicine had to offer, I decided to look toward a mind – body – spirit approach. I did an online search and I was amazed at how much new research existed that scientifically proved that yoga and meditation make a measurable difference in the quality of life and survival rate for anyone with a chronic, potentially life threatening illness.
Beginning in January, 2018, the mission of The Evelyn Pearl Breast Cancer Awareness Jewelry Collection will take a new direction. It has been just over two years since my dear friend, Evelyn Pearl Meyerson, died from metastatic breast cancer. From her initial diagnosis until she passed away, she lived only six short weeks. I promised her before she died that I would make a difference for other breast cancer patients. I know she is watching over me. I can feel her knowing, loving smile as the funds we raise is spent in a way almost as special as was Evelyn herself.
If breast cancer is making you feel like you’re going crazy, you are not alone. Actually, if you are a breast cancer patient and you aren’t feeling stress, anxiety or depression, you are more likely to be the one who is losing your mind!
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