The Sam Buxton Sunflower Healing Trust - Providing Integrated Care for Cancer Patients in the U.K.

Project at Addenbrokes -Cambridge

Consultant comment from Addenbrooks

"One of my patients you gave Reiki to felt absolutely brilliant afterwards and said how calm she felt"

Patients comments from Addenbrokes

"I have to say I'm amazed. My wife has been on at me for ages to try Reiki and it hasn't interested me. Now, you're preaching to the converted. Can I book another"

A couple of hours after her first ever treatment, the patient, who had not managed to eat anything in 6 weeks, found her appetite and ate a full meal.

That was really lovely, really relaxing and it has helped with my breathing

Never had Reiki before - I was so relaxing, I felt my breathing, which was very rapid really slowing down, along with everything else!

That really helped with my pain...

Very odd - never had Reiki before. I was feeling nauseous beforehand and that has completely disappeared

Partners comment - "I would not have believed it had I not seen it with my own eyes. An immediate and deep state of calm and relaxation. Marvellous, marvellous!! I shall tell everyone"

My God, that was incredible. I was uncertain about having a treatment but that was so relaxing

It's a shame there is not enough of you to go around the whole hospital

I have been very stressed the last 2 days and now I feel completely relaxed

That was amazing. Totally lovely. I feel a lot better and my breathing has eased. You've got me hungry as well. I would like to learn this

This is the first time I've been free of stress and angst all week long. This is the most relaxed I have been all week long and I don't want you to go

I was sceptical beforehand - but your treatments have been such a help to me whilst I have been here and made such a difference

I was a sceptic before I had Reiki from you but now it is the best part of my Thursday's and gives me great peace.

I didn't understand it but if it works, it works - and it works !!

Quite incredible, I could feel waves of warmth and relaxation running through my body

This has literally been my lifesaver each week. It has been fantastic - it has allowed me to switch off and find peace and has truly helped. I will be learning it myself. Thank you

That was fantastic. I can't believe how relaxing it is. That's the first time in 7 weeks I've been able to lay on my side without pain - it took the pain away.

Dr Anil Wijetunge

When I was diagnosed with leukaemia (ALL) in May 2005 my world was turned upside down. I had worked as a hospital doctor for 17 years in most of the medical specialties including cancer. Having cared for those unfortunate haematology and cancer patients I had some idea of what I had to go through.

I knew that the early signs were that the disease was very advanced and I was in a poor risk group where the chances of survival were only about 35%. I had to face and come to terms with the possibility of death and accept whatever treatment and consequences arose.

I had been very fit up to this time; going to the gym and running. I had been drawing and painting and beginning to think of planning an exhibition.

Dawn and I had recently found a flat to rent and little Sara was just two months old and an absolute treasure. My parents were in their late seventies and my brothers and sister were not in the medical field and knew little about the illness.

They were all devastated as were colleagues at work who did know something about what I had to go through. They all had to find their own way of coping.

Of particular concern to me was not being able to see either Dawn or Sara for long periods as a young baby was considered an unacceptable infection risk with my weakened immune system.

The need to start intensive chemotherapy was urgent. When I was told the diagnosis after a blood test, thinking I had flu, I was told to get to the regional haematology unit within 2 hours to start treatment. In an instant my life was transformed to the chaos and uncertainty of a very sick cancer patient who was probably going to die. I had to believe that the treatment was going to work and do whatever I must to survive.

In the third week of chemotherapy, the fight to survive almost ended.

One night I went from having a raised temperature to severe septic shock and multi-organ failure in which my heart, lungs and kidney were failing and about to stop working. I came very close to death that night. In the morning, barely conscious, I was admitted to the intensive care unit; very sick and in severe pain. The doctors told Dawn and my family to prepare for the worst and that I was unlikely to be alive by the end of the week.

What are my recollections of that time? I remember the most appalling pain in my back and throughout my body, especially in the muscles. I was not put on a ventilator or sedated even though I was struggling to breathe as it was known with leukaemia the survival chances would be very low. There were infusions of very powerful drugs to keep my circulation and heart going. Drips and infusions ran into both arms and my neck. I do not remember anyone visiting me though Dawn, family and a few friends did when allowed and held conversations with me, often with me rambling on, but I cannot remember any of it. Somehow I survived till the end of the week and started to improve.

It was only the excellent care and judgement of the doctors and nurses of the intensive care unit that saved my life and I will never forget those wonderful and dedicated people.

I was then able to return to the haematology unit to complete the first cycle of chemotherapy. This included some very painful infections of one drug in particular every day for a week and also a series of injections in the spine.

I had survived the first cycle of chemotherapy and was in remission. As soon as my blood counts recovered I was to start the second cycle but I was now in a poor condition having lost a lot of weight and with some damage to my heart and kidneys.

My clothes hung loosely on me and like an old man, I struggled to walk and climb steps. I had a few weeks at home with my parents who did their best to make me eat and get stronger.

The next cycle of chemotherapy was to last five weeks with a completely different set of drugs, but the complications that occurred meant that I ended up spending nearly five months in hospital; most of it in isolation rooms. This was a time of intense pain and suffering as I experienced one complication after another. There were severe infections that left painful blisters the size of golf balls all over my body, then the bone of my right kneecap died causing terrible pain that left me in agony for several hours each night in spite of a morphine infusion. . I had several operations to remove dead and infected parts of my skin and body. When specialists said they did not know the cause of this pain in my knee, in spite of several scans, I became convinced they were going to amputate my leg. I knew that sometimes as a last resort for untreatable pain, a limb can be amputated. On my own at night, in pain clutching my leg I was convinced I had to decide whether to live with the pain as long as I survived or have my leg amputated, I would cry and beg not to have my leg cut off as although it was so painful it was still a part of me and I could not bear to part with it.

It was a very difficult time, in an isolation room month after month. Dawn visited me almost every day and on a few occasions when I was well enough, she stayed the night sleeping with Sara on a mattress next to my bed. These visits were my only experience of normality and made me very happy. The nurses were so busy with the many tasks and technical work of drug administration that I was on my own a lot of the rest of the time. They were too busy to sit and talk to me or hold my hand when I was in pain. All of this time I watched my body deteriorating as infections and unusual, frightening complications occurred causing great pain. Someone sent a message to try and cheer me up telling me to imagine I was in a 5 star hotel with my TV and room service and to enjoy the time off work.

The reality for me was that I was on death row, in solitary confinement and being tortured in many different ways before an inevitable death sentence that could be carried out at any time. That is how I can best describe it.

It was a very dark place and time indeed.

It was during this time that I had visits from the complementary therapy team. The team was made up of a counsellor, two reflexologists and two Reiki healers. They all proved to be valuable resources. I started my first healing sessions having known absolutely nothing about it before; even when I had worked with cancer patients myself. The healer wasted little time, adjusting the bed so I lay flat at a convenient height and playing a cd of relaxing music. I closed my eyes as the healer placed his hands over specific areas of the body, starting at the head and making gentle contact. I was immediately struck by how hot his hands were. They radiated heat. After a minute or so the position of the hands was changed to cover different parts of the head and face then the trunk, arms and legs down to the soles of the feet, pausing in each new position. Gradually my mind calmed and I became less tense. For the first time I felt someone was helping to fill the massive gap in modern medical care where holistic care should be.

The healing sessions I experienced allowed me to fully relax, close my eyes and let my mind drift, out of the isolation room to a calm, quiet place that made me feel as if I was walking through a beautiful, sunny garden where I was reassured and spiritually nourished.

By the end of each session I was physically more comfortable and emotionally relaxed and stronger.

As a hospital doctor I would never have realised how healing could benefit a patient. As healing defies detailed analysis of its mechanism of action in conventional medical and scientific terms, it is too easily dismissed by most physicians.

Fortunately, at University College Hospital, the consultants were more open minded and paid real attention to what benefited their patients.

My experiences as a leukaemia patient have shown me how important it is to provide holistic care that supports a person emotionally, mentally or spiritually. This is virtually absent in medical care today and I believe all sick people are suffering to some extent because of its absence.

I found that healing provided an important part of that missing element of care. It helped me face up to and survive the physical and mental challenges.

In 2006 I had a stem cell transplant and the healing sessions were very helpful at this time during the transplant and in the long recovery period following it. As my health improved, a year later I was able to resume painting and it was a great honour and pleasure to donate one of my first completed paintings at this time, a still life with geraniums, as a raffle prize at the annual Sunflower Jam to help raise money for healing.

I was staggered by the generosity of so many people at these events to enable healing to be provided for cancer patients; for both sick adults and children. I have felt very moved by the tremendous generosity and donations I have seen and heard of from these people. It is only through their kindness that I, and many others in a similar position have been given the opportunity to experience healing when in hospital. I can never fully express the gratitude I have to the donors and healers who provided me with such an important part of care during a terrible ordeal. Thank you.

Janice Cartwright- Australia

Last year I was diagnosed with breast cancer .I have been attuned to Reiki Level 1 and so I was able to use this during my treatment and perform self healing. I would never have gotten through the treatment without Reiki ,it helped me stay focused and positive, people were amazed at me as they thought I would fall down in a heap. I worked full time and only had to take time off for treatment. Now I feel that I have been given a second chance at life. I feel that my path in life now is to complete Levels 2 & 3 so I to can help people. Thank you so much for allowing me to share my experiences with you.

Regards, Janice Cartwright