Hello and Welcome to Savour Life

How it started…

I was diagnosed with kidney cancer in March 2013 after passing blood in my urine. I was a fit and healthy (or so I believed) 32 year old, married with a 4-month old daughter. I had surgery to remove my kidney and a 6.7cm diameter tumour growing from it. It was then found that the cancer had metastasised to my skin and I had more surgery and put on an oral chemotherapy type drug. I was told I would be on this indefinitely with the hope of extending my poor prognosis of 12 months by an additional few months. It was difficult for me to come to terms with this and so initially started planning my own funeral in my head. That was until I thought “No way am I going out without a fight as I have too much to live for.”

Although my cancer is terminal so technically can’t be cured as it has travelled in my blood to my skin then later to my brain (five times), my pancreas (6 times) and adrenal gland I am still trying to be the healthiest version of myself to give myself the best chance of managing this illness. Now over 10 years since my initial diagnosis I am currently undergoing a combination of chemo and immunotherapy as well as my natural health protocols to complement and better tolerate the effects of the treatment.

I now hope that I can achieve my health goals then pay it forward and help others do the same

My Lightbulb Moment

I started to research how to battle this illness and everything was leading me to a holistic and natural approach to assist in my recovery. The body is a natural self healer but you just have to give it the tools it needs. As the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, quotes “Let Food Be Thy Medicine and Medicine Be Thy Food”. For me to be ill I thought my body must be deficient in something or it is over toxic. I looked to address both of these issues.

My mission to take better care of myself

My first step was attending a raw food health retreat. This gave me the foundations I needed to try and follow a healthy diet consisting of organic whole foods, plant-based nutrition, and cutting back initially on meat, dairy, sugar and all processed foods before cutting them out completely. Being originally from Glasgow, home of the deep fried mars bar, this was extremely difficult for me at first but gradually became easier. We live in a world where everything is so fast paced and processed foods are too readily available for convenience. It can be said that what we eat can either fight disease of feed it. I wanted to make sure I was fighting it, so started to change my priorities and invest in my health. From then, all my free time was spent researching cancer and health.

I understand how daunting drastically changing diet can be and people many find this extreme, but it is the best thing I have ever done for my health. I may not be here otherwise. I love waking up in the morning and making my fresh organic vegetable juice and eating this way knowing that I am alkalising my body to give myself the best fighting chance. I like to use the analogy that I’m crowding out the bad stuff with the good and that my body is thankful for it.

Over the years I have followed many protocols on detoxing, rebuilding my body and mindfulness/meditation. I have learned how to use my own intuition to tune in to understand what my body may need.

It has certainly been quite a journey. With cancer, you never quite know what the future has in store, but as long as I am breathing I will continue to develop myself in order to live so not to have to put my family and friends having to say goodbye to me just yet.

Disclaimer: Please note the information on this website is personal to my cancer journey and should not be interpreted as advice or recommendation on the treatment of or cure for cancer.

Book

My book ‘Savour Life – The Will To Survive & Thrive’ is now available on Amazon as a downloadable eBook at link: