Tag Archives: sarcoma

“Be Your Authentic Self”

Hey everyone, I was interviewed on Deborrah Cooper’s Debruary 2022. My topic was
“Be Your Authentic Self.”
Deborrah writes, “Are you comfortable enough to show the world your real, your true, your authentic self, or do you hide and pretend to be what others want you to be? Heidi Bright is our Debruary 2020 guest tonight, and shares a wonderful story of perseverance, determination and survival.
“Heidi found her way to authenticity after successfully battling a terminal cancer diagnosis in 2009. She realized that being her authentic self was the greatest gift she could give both to herself and others. Learning to manage her emotions in healthy ways was, as Heidi says “a game changer.” Listen to this interview to learn strategies to get in touch with who you are, and how to honor and respect your true self.”One of the comments was “Absolutely INCREDIBLE! Outstanding interview!”

Watch it here:
tinyurl.com/4znsw5br

Love You

Are you alone this holiday season?

Maybe covid is keeping you isolated. Or the cancer tore your marriage apart. Or you have been ill for a while and your friends have moved on.

There seems to be a big hole in your life where love once seemed to live.

It can feel so terribly lonely.

Yet that love still lives, inside of you. You are that love. Please do not abandon yourself.

Just think. You are the magnificent result of two tiny cells you can’t even see. Those cells joined together in an incomprehensible union that multiplied and multiplied and multiplied. Imagine the tremendous amount of life-force energy expended to create … you.

Amazing you.

Incredible you.

A you who is utterly unique.

Look at your hands. What beautiful things they have done for you all your life. Think of a few of them. They serve you nearly every moment of the day, without question, without asking anything in return.

Look at your legs. They have carried you all through your life, without question, without asking anything in return.

And your heart. It pumps life-giving blood into every cell of your body, dozens of times every single minute. Without question. Without asking anything in return.

Look outside at the plants. They grow, they create leaves, they bless the world with blossoms. Without question. Without asking anything in return. They are worthy of appreciation just by being what they are.

How much more worthy of love, gratitude, and care are you? By yourself? Without anyone else in the picture?

If no one else is around to offer it to you, offer it to yourself.

Maybe spritz on a nice fragrance and focus on the aroma.

Maybe make yourself a special meal or order out your favorite foods.

Maybe take a warm, comforting bath and add fresh blossoms so they float around you.

You are the center of your universe. Love you. Appreciate you. Care for you. The universe is cheering you on, and so am I.

Perfect TEN!

Ten years ago, my CT scan showed a cancerous half-inch nodule squatting on the pulmonary vein next to my heart.

SHT.

After two years of sarcoma treatment, I had just used up my last chemotherapy option. Now what? I felt so screwed.

Five weeks later, when surgeon Patrick Ross operated, that bugger had swollen to 2.5 inches.

That’s aggressive growth.

I can’t tell from the surgical report if he even got clean margins. Who could, with such a dangerous location?

During my post-operation appointment, the nurse practitioner told me she’d seen situations like mine for thirty years. “You need to get back on chemotherapy or get ready for Hospice.”

My mouth went dry, my throat constricted, and my pulse raced. If the nurse was right, I would probably be dead within a few months.

OMG, NO… I had boys to raise and books to write and life to live.

I soon saw my psychotherapist, who witnessed and guided me as I allowed the terror to simply be in my body. Then it flipped into anger, and I stopped breathing, except for quick gasps. Finally, she returned my mind to the room. I shook and shuddered, then relaxed. My chest tingled and emotionally I felt nothing. Then I moved into peace.

Tai Chi Grandmaster Vince Lasorso later pointed out to me how easy it is to slip into feelings of hopelessness, powerlessness, emptiness, loneliness, and being forsaken. No one can face death with you—it’s a solitary assignment. A dark depression, induced by the chemicals of medicine and mind, can extinguish all faith.

“It’s during these times when one must look to the light,” he wrote. “Reliance on God can change your course at any second.”

He was right.

Despite the dire warning, I continued healing my life in every way I knew how, clearing out emotional garbage and removing what Vince called “bad thinks.” Generous and gentle people helped me every step of the way.

Ever since that terrible day in 2011, my scans have been completely free of any evidence of cancer. And I have also been completely free of all cancer treatment.

This month it’s the Perfect Ten (years)!

I find this truly miraculous, not only because of the deadly and persistent diagnosis I had, but also because I have remained healthy despite going through a divorce and losing my 19-year-old son to a heroin overdose in 2015.

Medical treatment bought me time. All the inner healing work I did, and my deepening connection with the Divine, kept me sane and safe.

I now offer what I learned through Cancer Survival Coaching. If you or someone you know would like a free initial consultation, feel free to call me at 513 444 0190.

I also will be speaking on “A Conversation with Dis-ease” at noon on Sunday, November 21, 2021 at the Body Mind Spirit Expo, Sharonville Convention Center in Cincinnati.

I look forward to connecting!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cancer Survival Coaching

Are you looking for a little more guidance regarding cancer survival for yourself or a loved one?
Or maybe some suggestions for how to better manage a chronic illness?
I’ll offer short Cancer Survival Coaching sessions Sunday at the Universal Energy Expo, Northern Kentucky Convention Center in Covington.
For a 50-minute session, including a discount on a copy of Thriver Soup, please feel free to contact me
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9 Years Free!

This month I am celebrating nine years free of any evidence of cancer and free of any kind of cancer treatment! After being told to get my affairs in order.

So grateful for my life and to be alive and well!

Currently I am doing neurofeedback and BodyTalk, and advancing in tai chi, along with all my usual self-healing techniques. And drinking daily green sludges–er, smoothies. And as the nurse said yesterday, “still taking 150 supplements.”

Recently did a fun corn maze with my son near Dayton. They had a sunflower patch, symbol of sarcomas.

ABCs of Thriving in Life

Great news! My October annual X-ray shows I continue to be free of any evidence of disease. Eight years now, after being told to get my affairs in order!

To celebrate this year, I’ll be sharing healing options LIVE at 11 am this Saturday, Nov. 9, at the Valdez Main Library in Tucson, AZ. Come with your questions.

If you’ll be anywhere near Tucson on November 9, I’d love for you to join me for this conversation. Hope to see you there!

The ABC’s of Thriving in Life
Saturday, November 9, 11 AM – 12:30 PM
Joel D Valdez Main Library, 101 N. Stone Ave., Tucson AZ 85701

Discover 3 key ingredients you can apply immediately to thrive in every area of your life. Learn simple new ways to update your Attitudes, Behaviors, and major life Choices to assist with conquering dis-ease and feeling better—for anything from anxiety to cancer to what to do during retirement. This uplifting presentation includes a gentle guided visualization so you can discover your own clues for experiencing more vibrant health.
https://pima.bibliocommons.com/events/5db0a83d75016939005ef066

#cancertreatment #sarcoma #inspirationalspeakers #thriveon

NLMSF’s “Tackling Leiomyosarcoma” at The James in Sept.

The NLMSF.org symposium “Tackling Leiomyosarcoma: A Team Approach” was brief and to the point, held in Columbus, Ohio, during September. Here Floor Backes, MD, at The James, talks about ULMS.  Thank you, Annie Achee and Mitch Achee, and all who made this program possible!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joel Mayerson, MD, spoke about a surgical perspective on LMS of the limbs. Here he identifies the differences between benign and malignant tumors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here is another informative slide:

 

 

 

 

Rebuilding after the fire

sunflowers at Notre Dame web
Sunflowers (symbol of sarcoma cancer) at Notre Dame, many facing north toward the cathedral instead of south toward the sun.

Do you feel like Notre Dame Cathedral, gutted by the fires of cancer treatments? Do you feel like a husk now, burned, weakened, and emptied?

That’s how I felt after my debulking surgery that took nine hours, followed by two years of harsh chemotherapy infusions. Those drugs burned through me and left me devastated and vulnerable.

Yet all was not lost for me, and neither is it for the cathedral. Now when I see pictures of the church’s interior, the altar and cross are still standing as if nothing had happened. The heart of the church is still intact.

My heart, my will to live, was still intact after two years of treatment. I did everything I could to survive, just as the firefighters did everything they could to salvage what they could of Our Lady of Paris.

Now this massive monument is at its most vulnerable and most in need. And so are we while dealing with cancer. Yet people are coming forward to rebuild her, as people came forward to help me rebuild my life, giving generously from their hearts and their time. I hope you are blessed with the same support. To turn down assistance is a disservice to ourselves and others, just as it would be a disservice to Notre Dame to not rebuild her.

Let her stand as a symbol of hope for you—that after the phoenix fire has burned its destructive path, we can rebuild and restore, perhaps winding up even healthier and better. This is my wish for you.

The Secrets of Meditation

“Meditation isn’t what you think. It has nothing to do with the contents of your thoughts. Meditation is where your brain waves are when you are having those thoughts. A person doesn’t need to have a calm, quiet mind to achieve the healing, regenerative, and perception-expanding benefits of meditation.”
– Tai Chi Grandmaster Vincent J. Lasorso Jr.

Purposeful meditation has killed cancer, healed tumors, cut holes in the clouds, and transmuted the toxic chemicals in water and air, according to Tai Chi Grandmaster Vincent Lasorso of Cincinnati. “It has lowered the crime in Cincinnati and cities around the world. It has prevented wars.”

Meditation Heals

According to the medical staff of the Mayo Clinic, medical research has demonstrated that regular meditation has improved the following conditions:

  • Allergies
  • Anxiety
  • Arthritis
  • Asthma
  • Cancer
  • Chronic pain
  • Depression
  • High blood pressure
  • Heart disease

“Above it all, meditation provides inner peace while you practice, which continues long after the practice is over,” Lasorso said. A combined study of Yale, Harvard and MIT universities demonstrated that regular meditation actually develops new brain neurons and functioning. This new generation may occur in as little as twelve weeks.

Meditation is a skill anyone can learn

Our common conception of meditation is monks sitting quietly contemplating a calm, still mind. These monks are to meditation as Beckham is to soccer: gifted professionals, Lasorso said. The rest of us just have fun knocking the ball of consciousness around, getting some great exercise.

“You don’t have to become a monk to get fantastic benefits from meditation. But you do have to be better than just randomly knocking the ball around hoping you’ll get good at it. Meditation, like any exercise, takes practice and coaching to know what to do.”

Meditation is a naturally occurring state of mind

Every day you move in and out of the brain-wave states called meditation. In fact, your sleep technically is meditation. What makes meditation different from sleep is lucidity, clearness of mind, and the ever-presence of self, he said.

“Let’s say you’re sitting in a classroom and you begin to daydream about walking in a park. As long as you are aware that you are sitting in the classroom and not in the park, and you are observing the park and your actions, you are meditating. Your body is relaxing, regenerating, and healing. The second you forget where you are, who you are, stop observing, and begin to participate, then you are asleep.”

The secrets of meditation are to relax and pay attention

Your brain is moving you into meditative states several times each day, he said. But while that’s happening, you are usually lost in a daydream or some other distracting stimulation, not paying attention to your body or the world around you. You’re poised for relaxation but forget to do it.

“The difference between being lucid and asleep, in both life and meditation, is not getting absorbed by the distractions. You have to pay attention to yourself and your body or you will lose them both. You have to learn to stay awake, and that is what meditation training is about.”

Meditation is easier than you think

Although the concept of daily meditation may seem daunting and unobtainable to you, the immediate reduction in stress, pain, and improved peace of mind are reason enough to try. And you might even kill off some cancer with some practice.

Thriver Soup Ingredient:

Seek out a meditation class or practice in your area. Try a mind/body integration meditation (Mindfulness), Qigong meditation (using breath, sound, and movement), progressive relaxation and visualization practice, or moving meditation through Tai Chi. For more information, contact the White Willow School of Tai Chi, 7433 Montgomery Road, Cincinnati, OH 45236, 513-791-9428, http://www.whitewillowtaichi.com