Hello and welcome to this blog which I am increasingly rubbish at appearing on. I’m still writing my story of surviving cancer and the aftermath that follows. My sit-down-at-the-desk time is a bit limited by a bad back and terrible distractability so I limit my blogging now to infrequent hellos.
You’ll occasionally find me wittering (and twittering @Lisa_Reiter ) about everything from writing to life in general, from cancer and memory to psychology – some with humour, some not. A little peak at my cats, other interests and probable weirdness can be found on Instagram. I’m a scatterbrain working hard with tags and categories to help both you and me make sense of it.
My Story
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 at the time, uncomfortable world of ‘alternative’ therapies.
I did just about everything. Something worked and I’m still here – 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 mind, body and diet to help my body to do its own healing. I’m not on here to preach about all that though. I think it’s important people find their own path and after 15+ years of surviving surviving, I have an evolving perspective on many things.
Thank you for stopping by and please feel free to share your thoughts below.
Lisa
Photo credits: I take many of my own photos. But the more professional looking ones might come from one of these sites. They provide free stock without the need for attribution but thank you anyway!
Lisa Reiter - Sharing the Story 
June 15, 2020 at 4:53 am
Hi Lisa, I found you on Charli’s Carrot Ranch. Your story is amazing and inspiring. I’m sure you’ve written more about it. I survived cancer this last year after two surgeries. I feel great, but Tamoxifen is trying to strip out all my hair. Like you, I’m not complaining, just blessed to be alive and well. Stay safe. 🙂 Marsha Ingrao
LikeLiked by 1 person
March 14, 2016 at 8:13 am
Hi Lisa! I came upon your blog by chance, but I love your spirit. Very impressed and pleased to meet you. Marina
LikeLike
November 24, 2014 at 10:42 am
Hi Lisa! Thanks for sharing your story – I’ll look forward to more posts in the future. I was diagnosed in August of 2013 with High Grade ESS at the age of 25 years and have been treating myself naturally for 14 months now. Kicking cancer’s butt!! Its so wonderful to find others who have healed naturally!! ❤
LikeLike
December 1, 2014 at 10:17 am
Hi Rachel – thank you for stopping by. I’m sorry to be slow replying – my back is giving me problems at the moment and sitting at my computer a bit of a challenge!
I am delighted to hear how well you are doing – and looking! Just popped by your Facebook page. You certainly are kicking cancer’s butt! Congratulations on sticking to the Gerson Therapy for a whole year now. Having done something similar I know what a commitment and constraint that is, however worth it: it can be very stressful. I hope you still have your amazing friends and family supporting you and helping keep that positive energy going. You are an inspiration and I am reminded to get my juicer out a bit more frequently. You look fantastic 😀
Much love and a great big anniversary hug, Lisa xx
LikeLike
September 27, 2014 at 8:52 pm
Your story is so inspiring! I am delighted to have found your blog (via Geoff at TanGental.) I also write about mindfulness and have been fascinated by the mind-body connection for several years now. I agree with you that the proof will come. I’ll also be checking out your recipes with interest.
LikeLike
September 28, 2014 at 11:45 am
Hi Yvonne. Thank you for such encouraging words – I do struggle to find time to write about all the things that interest me such as mindfulness and the mind-body connection. In particular the recipes are rather neglected! Lisa xx
LikeLike
August 4, 2014 at 10:46 pm
Lisa I was so inspired by your post on the butterfly award and now by this post I had to follow your blog. I was diagnosed with cancer in 2009 and found myself changed by the experience. You have achieved your goal of inspiring. You have a beautiful blog. 😀
LikeLike
August 5, 2014 at 1:22 pm
Thank you so much! That’s so lovely to hear. Following you right back (amidst some mad holiday packing) See you again when I return! Lxx
LikeLike
August 5, 2014 at 2:37 pm
Thank you for the return follow, I look forward to your visits. 😀
LikeLike
July 14, 2014 at 1:49 pm
Dear Lisa, I hadn’t read your ‘About’ page until now for some strange reason and I came over here to let you know that I’ve nominated you for a few awards by way of showing you my appreciation for your wonderful blog, excellent writing and also for your readership of my blog (not to mention as well, of course, your marvellous bites which I’m enjoying so much). Having now learnt more about your story, I can only say that you truly are an inspiration in so many ways and I’m so glad to have met you here in the blogsphere. What an incredible journey. You are one courageous, talented lady 🙂
As a memoir writer, I value all you share here, especially as I am writing about a particularly dark time…yet, as I write, I am amazed at the humour, hilarity and sheer head-shaking antics that reveal themselves throughout the process, until now I thought were long forgotten.
Here is the link with the information about the awards, and congratulations to you: http://sherrimatthewsblog.com/2014/07/14/writing-tennis-and-summertime-awards/
Big hugs… – Sherri 🙂 ❤ xx
LikeLike
July 15, 2014 at 2:41 pm
Dearest Sherri – thank you so very much and for being a lovely part of my own blogosphere. You’ve been through the mill yourself though haven’t you – perhaps that’s why we’re drawn together. I think there’s a certain authenticity comes from those writing difficult memoirs – the rest be damned! Whilst the nature of our darkest places may have been different, the attributes necessary to triumph over them are probably very similar.
Thank you for these awards. I look forward to the fun of passing them onto other bloggers, Lisa xx 💜 🙂
LikeLike
July 16, 2014 at 2:53 pm
Ahh…you are one heck of a woman Lisa, I have the utmost respect and admiration for you, I really do. I’m thrilled to be a part of your blogosphere, as you are of mine. You are so very welcome for the awards and I look forward to seeing who you nominate in return..the best bit I think, sharing the love 🙂
Much love and hugs to you from me… Sherri ❤ 🙂 xxx
LikeLike
June 6, 2014 at 6:27 pm
I think I found your blog through another by a comment. I’m enjoying the visit and plan to visit again. You write on several subjects I find interesting.
LikeLike
June 7, 2014 at 10:22 am
Hello Marlene – Thank you for popping by and having a look around! My next few weeks should be heavily writing focused but it seems we both enjoy taking a look at the variety of life! Great blog! Lisa x
LikeLike
May 21, 2014 at 7:27 am
Delighted that our paths have crossed Lisa via Twitter and Memoir Writers Society. Just read your introduction here. Very impressed with your courage and honesty. I think most of us have been touched by cancer, if not directly, as you have been, and it is a joy to read your frank and even (a little bit) humorous account of part of that experience. Looking forward to reading your posts and taking part in your challenges.
LikeLike
May 18, 2014 at 12:03 pm
Hi Lisa,
Just a quick note to let you know I have nominated you for the butterfly light award. You can find out more at http://irenewaters19.com/2014/05/18/the-butterfly-light-award-disco-flutterby-award/
Cheers Irene
LikeLike
May 18, 2014 at 9:10 pm
Dear Irene, I am really touched. This is a lovely award to be nominated for. As you know, I’m already behind with the writing process blog hop you passed me the baton for! Catching up soon, but thank you, Lisa xx
LikeLike
May 14, 2014 at 11:41 am
This is a lovely “about” page and fascinating story, Lisa. I am intrigued by your reason for attending graduate school. I too got my master’s degree in counseling psychology not only to help others, but also to learn how to grow. There is so much wisdom available about the mind and the developing self. Now that we’ve learned it, it’s our job to pass it along.
Best wishes,
Jerry Waxler
Author of Memoir Revolution
LikeLike
May 14, 2014 at 12:14 pm
Hi Jerry, thanks popping by! That’s a good question, and I don’t think all my reasons were at the conscious level at the time, but a cascade of things.. A clinical psychologist suggested I’d make a great clinical psychologist and I was flattered into giving it some serious thought, though I’m not the type really and after ‘everything’ would rather focus on the positive. Nevertheless, I’d already started looking at MSc options as I hadn’t done any work for my degree back in the 80’s and no-one was going to be tempted to look at me on paper! The Memory one stuck out as it covered a number of things that had affected those close by with Alzheimers, dyslexia, working memory etc and I was fascinated by cognitive neuropsychology – still am. And underneath it all I just wanted to see whether I still ‘had it’ to test my brain after chemo and years of stress – Thankfully most of it still works !
Great to find you via Sherrey Meyer!
Lisa 😊
LikeLike
May 12, 2014 at 8:25 pm
Wow! Your true life story is incredible. Congratulations on all that you have accomplished so far. I am sure your book will be a huge success. I believe in the power of the mind too, and alternative remedies and therapies. I have Fibromyalgia, work a day full-time job, teach Blogging as an aid to recovery for the Recovery Learning Community, part time, in small bursts throughout the year and I write and run my businesses. I don’t sleep much, but I have a ton of fun and live life to the max. I even go clubbing now and again. I am currently taking a herbal tincture for a digestive problem, that originated from a virus and resulted in me going to hospital . In March, my doctor said there was nothing more he could do for me. This may be as good as it gets – I don’t think so!
LikeLike
May 13, 2014 at 8:58 am
Thanks for popping in to see my blog. I had to read Wikipedia to find out about fibromyalgia – sounds awful, Sandra and another one of those complicated conditions, no one thing will resolve. I bet you have already but just in case.. Have you tried high doses Vit D3 and omega 3s (I take a tablespoon a day) – just in case there’s an inflammatory factor? Seems a common theme in recent medical discoveries. Looking forward to following your fantastic posts! Lisa
LikeLike
May 13, 2014 at 11:10 pm
I drink chamomile tea three times a day after meals and that is a great anti-inflammatory and anti-spasmodic treatment. I am now eating oily fish each week to get my omega 3s. The herbalist said it is better to eat it than take supplements if possible. Thanks for your help.
LikeLike
May 11, 2014 at 6:59 pm
Dear Lisa, you certainly have beaten enormous odds and your contributions should be significant. I, for one, am looking at your recipes for now, but look forward to reading your book and supporting you in getting the word about it out! You are a remarkable woman, bless you!
LikeLike
May 11, 2014 at 7:07 pm
Thank you Catana – perseverance is my lesson in life! Thank you for adding a little more inspiration and good luck with your published achievement!
LikeLike
March 13, 2014 at 5:32 pm
Hello, I would really like to talk to you about your treatment, any chance you could contact me please.
LikeLike
March 13, 2014 at 5:40 pm
Emailing you xx
LikeLike
January 9, 2014 at 7:52 pm
Thank you Sherrey – I’m delighted to meet you. I love the way social media creates communities around the world. I am an infant writer by comparison and will learn a lot following your blog. (And there’s so much to learn!) I’m exploring memory already as a theme in my book and including snippets of the research I’m familiar with. As for learning from the writing process itself – that’s another journal on the go! Everyone should write! I look forward to sharing more with you.
LikeLike
January 9, 2014 at 6:09 pm
Lisa, thanks for visiting my blog and following me on Twitter. I have returned the favor and am following you there as well. I’ve read this page with great interest as you have beaten some odds only to encounter others, such as PTSD and personal loss. It will be interesting to see how your memories play out in your writing and what healing writing may bring to you. Look forward to getting to know you.
LikeLike