Lisa Reiter
My name is Lisa and in 2000, aged 34, I was diagnosed with terminal cancer (Endometrial Stromal Sarcoma) and given less than 6 months to live. After floundering around getting my head around cancer not being as curable as the adverts of the time were suggesting, I delved into an unknown and for me, a then uncomfortable world of 'alternative' therapies.
Fifteen years on, I'm still here. As my oncologist said at one point, I'm an 'experiment of one' which means no scientist would like to draw conclusions! However, I am far from alone in getting success from looking to diet and mind-body techniques to help my body to do its own healing.
It was several years before I was out of the woods and in 2008, I went 'down' with post traumatic stress disorder related to the trauma of facing death and leaving my young son, motherless. Having been through successful treatment for that, my interest in psychology was rekindled and I went on to do an MSc in Memory and Its Disorders.
I was just getting going pursuing coaching psychology when the loss of three friends to cancer way, way before their time, shook me to the core once again. It reminded me that every second needs to count. After many requests and much support from friends, family, my ever tolerant husband and now, a publisher, I am finally getting my story down on paper.
I aim to tell it honestly but to focus on the positive and what I have learned along the way. I'm using this blog to keep me company as well as discuss the challenges of writing about it all. I also hope to check my understanding of what others might want to hear about.
If I manage to inspire just one person to feel a bit more in control of their own battle, the writing will all have been worth while.
January 20, 2016 at 11:11 am
Fabulous, Lisa, in both senses of the word.
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January 20, 2016 at 12:33 pm
Thanks Anne. It’s really multilayered this week! Wish I’d had time to explain 🙂
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January 20, 2016 at 4:17 am
LOL Too funny! I’m running because the pub is closing and everyone wants to know why I’m laughing!!!
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January 20, 2016 at 5:32 pm
I bet! It’s no laughing matter that the pub is closing!! (Thanks 😀 )
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January 19, 2016 at 5:11 pm
Too cute!
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January 19, 2016 at 4:38 pm
Love this Lisa. So clever! I am having a hard time with “magic” myself. Maybe today is the day my morning coffee will help…
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January 20, 2016 at 5:34 pm
Well.. I’m having one of those days where it’s now getting dark and I’ve only just braved opening up Scrivener! Magic wand where are you..?
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January 19, 2016 at 4:13 pm
I think we could all cope with the stresses of the occassionally once upon a times if we knew chocolate and coffee was at hand.
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January 20, 2016 at 5:33 pm
It’s how you get fat writing memoir!
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January 20, 2016 at 9:19 pm
I think I can get fat without writing any excuse! !
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January 19, 2016 at 3:41 pm
We did it again! Was just this morning thinking of a life-story “fiction” piece about a writer in a fairy tale. 😀 Mine didn’t have coffee or chocolate, though. 💖 This is brilliant!
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January 19, 2016 at 3:46 pm
I so wanted to write about whether this was fiction or metaphor for my life! Lol X
But have to get a grip with my priorities and keep Blogging Lite 😀
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