With Life in Mind

By Dr André Young-Snell

I’m often asked by patients with cancer, “What is the best thing I can do to beat this, to get rid of it, or at least keep it quiet and at bay?“ Obviously I tell them to talk to their oncologists with regard to specific therapies, but in my belief – and I see this all the time – THE most important thing is the patient’s mental state.

You can take the best therapies under the sun, but if your mental state is wrong or negative it can really reduce the chances that they will work. I have seen patients – and even in my own family – people who have had very poor prognoses, literally defy the odds and come out the other side, either cancer free or greatly slowing things down. This is not by any specific treatment I’m giving them – I have to make this clear that I am not claiming to cure or treat cancer by the complementary supplements and treatments I give alongside standard of care therapies – but by the patient’s change of mind to a much more positive, goal-orientated state, in which they are focused on positive outcomes.

To clarify what I mean, let me give you an anecdotal example of a patient of mine.

There was a 75 year old lady about whom I was contacted by her husband. He said his wife had been diagnosed with lung cancer and was very weak, tired, had no energy, and could hardly walk. She was told she was too ill for any ‘standard of care’ treatment, as it would make her even more frail. She had been given three months. He asked if I did home visits as they were in Berkshire and she was so frail. I don’t do home visits, so I said “No, bring her to the clinic.”

He brought her in, and my nutritionist at that time saw her first. After the consultation, the nutritionist told me she felt guilty taking money from the lady for it, as she was so ill.

I then saw her, and she was indeed very weak, hanging onto her husband’s arm as she came in. We spoke, and she confirmed she knew she had been given just a few months to live, and had that she’d been told by the hospital team that she didn’t have enough strength for standard of care treatments.

After a while I asked her what her goals were. She without any hesitation told me that every year she went  with her husband to Jerusalem to preach the word, but she realised from her poor prognosis that that was out of the question now. I asked her “What if it wasn’t, would you enjoy going?” She replied “Of course, but I can’t see it happening ever again.” The conversation went back and forth for a while, but eventually I got her to see the tremendous fun and joy of being able to do this, and to consider the possibility of going and not letting down the people she would be preaching to in Jerusalem.

Over time this lady improved to the extent that after three months, scans showed a 55% reduction in the growth in her lung, and she had regained her strength and vitality. She was a different person, and did in fact go to Jerusalem, I think on more than one occasion. She lived another five years.

Now, very importantly, I’m not making any claims about the treatments and supplements that the lady took treating her cancer, I’m just pointing out that her new mindset was the core essential ingredient in her miraculous change. Had she stayed in the same original mindset, I doubt very much that she would have had any real chance, and would have lived only a few more months, at best.

I can give you numerous examples like this – from patients having standard of care treatments with very low chances of a good outcome, to anecdotal accounts of patients of mine and of other integrative clinicians, or even patients who have continued to do everything ‘wrong’, such as continuing to be heavy smokers, drinking alcohol and have had no conventional treatment or integrative therapies of ANY kind – who have had dramatic results by changing their mindset.

To underline this even further, I strongly urge you to  read the book ‘Radical Remission’ by Dr Kelly A Turner. You can find it easily as it was a New York Times Best Seller. The premise of the book is that she interviewed a thousand patients with a Stage IV cancer diagnosis who were given poor prognoses. All of the patients defied the odds and survived! So the natural first question anyone would ask on hearing this is “What did they do that led to their odds-defying outcomes?” They didn’t all identify the same strategies, BUT there were nine that came up again and again in all of their responses.

My favourite – and I think the cornerstone of their amazing results – is number nine, the last one: ‘Having Strong Reasons for Living’. In other words, “I have to stay alive, because I have an absolute fire in my belly and passion to do these (fill in the blank) things!”

And by this they didn’t mean things that they wouldn’t mind doing, or that they could do if they were bored to pass the time. They meant things that when they did them, or even thought about doing them, they would become emotional or even tearful. Visualising themselves doing these things would generate tremendous emotion and passion.

I find in my experience there are seven core factors that all patients with cancer must  embrace to improve their mental outlook:

1 Be stubborn: Call it bloody-mindedness or determination if you will – not giving up, or not letting someone tell you you can’t do something, not believing them. Douglas Bader – though not  being an example of someone with cancer per se – lost both his legs during the war, but afterwards continued to fly a fighter plane, He clearly didn’t get the memo about doing as he was told!

2 Act as if you don’t have cancer: In other words, try as far as possible to not let cancer stop you doing what you would normally do, or would like to do. This sends out an essential vital message to your subconscious .

3 Set strong, exciting , powerful goals: As I described previously.

4 Avoid negative people: Surround yourself only with positive people who are giving you encouragement and energy.

5 Start being assertive: If you are an unassertive person start being assertive, learn to say “No”. You need to stop internalising negative energy.

6 Lots of laughter, fun: Watching comedy films and TV shows, going to see live comedians, things that make you laugh – the more out-loud, uncontrollable. holding-your gut-at-the-same-time, the better!

7 Do not – NOT – have a bucket list: A bucket list implies that the end is coming.

Dr André Young-Snell