HBlissA cancer diagnosis can be incredibly confronting, even in the very early stages. Imagine the shock of being told that you have stage four cancer with only six to 12 months to live.
This is what happened to Kristine Matheson, author of From Cancer to Wellness: the Forgotten Secrets. Her first response to the news she had stage four metastasized melanoma cancer – a huge tumour behind the aorta – and that nothing could be done, was denial.
“My attitude was, ‘I’m not meant to go yet. What’s going on?’ I kind of went into that immediate denial of anything being wrong, while my family were all falling apart. My husband had a major anxiety attack that night, and I had to comfort him and the family.”
It wasn’t until two weeks later during a dance competition (Kristine and her husband Wayne are competitive ballroom dancers), that she finally felt the full force of the news. “I actually got on the dance floor and I froze. I couldn’t cope with the noise around me, the dancing, and the people, just anything. All of sudden it hit me, and I went into this unbelievable anxiety. And it really dawned on me what really had happened and what I’d been told.”
From that point, Kristine decided she was going to overcome the subliminal message that she was going to die. “When somebody tells you, ‘You’re gonna die’, most people take that on. That’s what they do. And I felt that there was a bigger picture for me.” She had always been strongly intuitive and was not going to give up easily.
Kristine’s husband Wayne had conquered testicular cancer in 1980, several years before they met. Meditation and mindfulness had played a significant part in his healing journey, as well as diet and supplements. Kristine had been working with a holistic doctor for some time to manage the symptoms of chronic fatigue so she could continue to dance, so she was already familiar with supplements and good nutrition. Wayne, a keen health and fitness advocate, was also encouraging her to increase her intake of raw food. Kristine immersed herself for four days at Chenrizig Buddhist Institute on the Sunshine Coast, where she began to develop her own wellness program, drank juices, worked on her chakras, meditated and did affirmations to counteract the subliminal message she had been given.
Kristine recalls, “Whilst I was there, I actually formulated a program for myself. I was supposed to be there for a week, but I only stayed four days because that was enough for me to overcome the belief that I was going to die, and I left there feeling really positive.” She took a few more days out in Noosa, naked bathing and meditating before heading home to the Gold Coast. There was work to be done!
“I took myself home and really put my program together. I didn’t concentrate on having cancer. I just concentrated on how I should really eat. I knew that I had to look after my gut. I knew I had to detox things out of my body, so I just put a gut program together first, and then I did a juicing program, and then I did a lifestyle program. I stayed right away from people who were not supporting my plan, as I didn’t want to keep walking into my sickness, instead I walked in my wellness. And within five months, I was well.” Medical scans confirmed that the evidence of cancer was gone!
“And so that’s what led me to write my book because there was nothing out there. As far as I’m aware, there is still not a step-by-step handbook like the one I wrote to help people with cancer, if they want to do it naturally.”
Kristine believes there are three stages to getting well regardless of the disease, and to live a long and healthy life regardless of the type of illness that may present itself. “First you do your gut program. Then you do your juicing program, and in the middle of juicing, you actually eat as well (raw food). So, it helps you dump toxins. And then you put your lifestyle program together, and that’s how you should live the rest of your life. And so that’s what we do. We live that lifestyle. Yeah, sure, every now and then I fall off the wagon. Who doesn’t? There’s no way I’m perfect, that’s for sure. My husband’s stricter than I am. There’s no way he would, for instance, have a glass of organic wine, whereas I will occasionally. There’s no way he’ll do any of that to himself, but I will, but not very often, just on occasion.”
Kristine’s book, From Cancer to Wellness: the Forgotten Secrets was first published in 2009 and has now been revised for its second edition.
“This time I expanded on it, and I had a huge allowable food list, and a huge list of what to stay away from, and a little bit more explanation. What I was also finding with some people was they’d start the program and they’d skip over the gut program, and just start on the juicing program because they had heard the message, ‘You should juice’, and so they ignored the fact that the gut was important. Of course, people are starting to realise it now. So, when I did write the second book, I made sure that I said that they weren’t allowed to go past that until they do that (gut) part of the program. I also expanded information I’ve learned about different things and far more recipes. The book’s really quite thick now. It’s got a lot of recipes in it. It’s actually got a section on candida recipes as well.
“So, it’s been an interesting journey, and it’s been a hard journey. I can’t say it’s been easy because of trying to educate people who have been indoctrinated subconsciously with their health issues.
“Everybody’s in fear of this and in fear of that, and because they haven’t travelled the journey, they’re all in fear. One of the biggest things that I talk about when coaching and doing seminars is the fear and using the mind and knowing that the body is able to heal itself, and we don’t give ourselves enough credit. We’ve relied too much on all the pills, potions and miracle lotions to overcome our ills. People tell me, ‘But I can’t afford a health program’, yet you see them in supermarkets with their trolleys full of Coca-Cola, processed meats and cereals and then they line up for their cigarettes.”
Kristine has coached many people to wellness over the last few years and run raw food workshops, but this year she and Wayne have plans to take their message to the corporate and university sectors so their message can influence a much wider audience and make a bigger impact.
As I finished my interview, Wayne passed by on the way to his walk on the beach. I asked him what the one thing was he thought was needed. “One thing? Get the body right, physically, mentally and…”, then Kristine piped in. “Think well and be well. We both have this.” Having both conquered cancer, indeed their message is a powerful one.
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