Hello Lovelies 💗
Welcome to my new website!
On a beautiful sunny morning back in early June 2016, I began my first steps to create this website. I fondly remember that morning because I was going on my first ever photo shoot 🙂.
I was accompanied by two amazing friends, Carli and Jessica, who respectively took the fab photos and helped me to 'strike a pose' - something which didn't come very naturally to me! It was tons of fun and I cannot deny that I very much enjoyed feeling like a model for a day. I also felt so grateful to have such wonderful, talented friends in my life and very excited about going live with my new website.
Little did I know then that I was about to receive news that was going to turn my whole world upside down. Within a week of taking those photos, and after a routine breast examination, I was referred to a breast cancer clinic to investigate what looked like a tumour in my left breast. What followed was a torturous week of being mammogramed, scanned, prodded, poked, biopsied and injected with all kinds of toxic substances by doctors and specialists who barely introduced themselves to me and who showed little or no acknowledgement that I was anything more than a faceless number on their ever ending appointment list. "Next!"
A week later and the results were in. Nothing could have prepared me for the shock and nightmare of being told that I had breast cancer. I had been so optimistic up to that point and so convinced that I simply was not a good candidate for cancer! I was, after all, a very positive, healthy person who loved life and who nourished myself on a physical, mental and spiritual level. Not only that, I was living the happiest days of my life having 4 years previously met and married my soul mate. How on earth could this be happening to me??
Needless to say, all the excitement of finalising and publishing my website went out the window. I had more urgent issues to address! I was also initially gripped with such intense fear that I temporarily fell into the dreaded, disempowering state of victimhood and voluntarily handed over all my power to the doctors and specialists under whose care I fell. They immediately started to make decisions, on my behalf, about how to treat the cancer according to their 'one size fits all' protocol and I offered no resistance whatsoever.
Thankfully, following a chance encounter with a neighbour and a meeting with my oncologist which went horribly wrong ... let's just say she had a very strong character and become easily angry ... led me to make a decision to get a second opinion. It was the best thing that ever happened! My new oncologist presented me with options and optimism which I was not even aware existed! I suddenly woke up from my fear induced coma and felt empowered again. I decided to take back control and to take responsibility for what ultimately I had created in my body. For the second time in my life, I again realised that if I had the power to manifest this dis-ease, I also had the power within me to overcome it. And that was exactly what I planned to do!
So, I have spent the last year researching and empowering myself with as much information as I could about cancer causes, remedies and treatments. I sought out and found a marvellous doctor who shared my philosophy about healing from the inside and the power of having a positive mindset. I incorporated several natural healing treatments and remedies into my healing process, alongside conventional treatment. I stated to juice, I cut out sugar almost entirely from my diet, I went on a solitary retreat for a month by the sea where I adopted a vegan diet, meditated and started a daily practice of yoga. Following my surgery, I checked myself into a cancer clinic in Germany focussed on detoxing and building up and strengthening the immune system.
What I have learnt is that cancer is a symptom. It is our body's way of telling us that we are out of balance. To address only the cancer and not the root cause is to ignore the message our body is trying to give us as well as leaving ourselves open to another future attack. Having a positive attitude, addressing deep rooted emotional scars and adopting a healthy diet and lifestyle are essential to healing from the inside out. There are natural remedies available which can successfully help treat cancer and there are people all over the world who have cured themselves of even so called 'incurable cancer'. There is, however, no silver bullet, my friends. What works for one, doesn't necessarily work for another. There are also many fake cancer 'miracle cure' claims out there. This is why it was so important for me to empower myself with as much knowledge and data as possible, to trust my intuition, to maintain a strong positive approach towards my healing process and to look within to figure out what message my body was trying to give me.
Thankfully, I am doing great now. This past year, however, has been by far the worst year of my life. Anyone who has chosen to take this holistic path less traveled will know that, as empowering and rewarding as it is, it is also by far the most difficult, stressful, lonely, challenging, time-consuming, draining route to take. Yes. Even for someone as positive as I am! It was a massive undertaking and responsibility to make life impacting decisions about my health and I came up against a lot of opposition and scepticism, even from well meaning family and friends. It also takes a huge amount of courage and willpower to say no to the status quo and to people in white coats! Thankfully, though, I have been able to use all the tools and techniques which I have learnt over the past 10 years to remain strong and to also pick myself back up when I was feeling at an all time low. As one friend pointed out to me, everything I learnt up to the point of my diagnosis, prepared me to confront this dis-ease and all it's inherent challenges head on.
On June 16th of this year (2017), exactly one year after my diagnosis, I decided to draw a line under the year that went ahead. I realised that it was time to start living life again to the fullest, free of fears about my health and of what I could or couldn't do or consume. Free of the daily obsession of researching everything I could about cancer. And so I embarked on a fabulous, fun, carefree summer filled with magical moments including reconnecting with old friends, seeing U2 play in Dublin and going on wonderful trips with Yves to marvellous Crete, Barcelona, London and my gorgeous home-country Ireland.
At the end of the summer, I realised that it was time to get back to doing the work that fills me with so much joy and happiness; being an awesome Life Coach and helping people to positively transform their life. This was my cue to finally complete my website. I was amazed at how quickly and how easy this was to do! In less than two weeks, I was ready to rock and roll and go live with my website. It has been quite a journey. I've grown and learnt so much and I'm so grateful to have come through it all feeling stronger, happier and more in love with life than ever before 💗.
