On this week’s Navigating the Cancer Maze on Voice America radio, I presented an encore broadcast of a special interview with my colleague GP Dr Bruce Whelan: “Spinning Gold from Straw: How trauma transformed a Doctor’s Life and Practice”. This year, Dr Whelan and I have forged a very special medical partnership to help patients Navigate the Cancer Maze – Health Intelligence Australia.
On this week’s Navigating the Cancer Maze on Voice America radio, I presented an encore broadcast of a special interview with my colleague GP Dr Bruce Whelan: “Spinning Gold from Straw: How trauma transformed a Doctor’s Life and Practice”. This year, Dr Whelan and I have forged a very special medical partnership to help patients Navigate the Cancer Maze – Health Intelligence Australia.
Last week a patient asked me what makes Dr. Bruce Whelan unique in terms of the type of medicine he practises? The answer came easily. In the past 10 years Bruce has become involved with and specialized in management of addictions, mental health and severe and chronic pain as well as general medicine. These are also all important aspects of cancer management. They are the areas of medicine that tend to be under-serviced by GPs due to time constraints or lack of training. But there is more that makes Dr Bruce Whelan uniquely suited to the new Health Intelligence Australiagroup.
Another area of Dr Bruce Whelan’s expertise is in the area of trauma. He knows a lot about trauma at a very personal level because in 2002 he was summoned to Bali from Sri Lanka, where he was working. He was given the unspeakably grim task of identifying bodies after the bombing at the Sari Club in Bali. His task was made even worse when he spent two days unsuccessfully trying to find and identify the body of his son-in-law Shane – killed in the bombing along with a partner of his daughter’s friend. As luck had it the girls were going to be late getting to the Sari Club that night. But lucky as they were to escape; the trauma of the incident lived on and shaped their future.
When Bruce graduated from the University of Queensland in 1967, like many of us, he had no idea what life had in store for him. As a doctor, Bruce Whelan had already seen lot of suffering, but the post-traumatic stress affect that the Bali incident produced, had long lasting effects. The product of uninvited change! Bruce fought a battle he could not win; to have bodies quickly identified, stored appropriately and repatriated to Australia.
Dr Bruce Whelan
This intensified the trauma, grief and loss experienced by many. However, being a resourceful doctor, eventually he was able to spin gold from straw as they say, and today, 14 years later; the experience brings with it a man who is the wounded healer who serves his patients with a rare quality of directness and authenticity. He is someone who deeply understands trauma and depression in another human being.
There is no substitute for this type of life experience. This type of experience can’t be learned in any university except in the university of life!
It is recognized by psycho-oncologists that a diagnosis of cancer is also a traumatic event and many patients experience PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) that often remains undiagnosed and untreated throughout the course of the illness. Some patients have experienced trauma before diagnosis and it may not have been dealt with. Unrecognized trauma can play a complicated role in the ongoing management of illness. Major life traumas can impact every treatment approach that a cancer patient will try during their recovery….. it can even affect patients who are survivors of the physical illness, but who did not have the opportunity to deal with the psychological impact of the illness at the time. This often plays out as depression, memory loss or dissociative disorders.
To make an appointment for a consultation to see either myself or Dr Whelan, or for a team consultation, please visit:
Navigating the Cancer Maze Celebrating Two years On Voice America | Grace Gawler Health Intelligence
PART ONE: Navigating the cancer Maze uniquely takes an all round eclectic and authentic look at Cancer. Each week, for the past two years we have discussed everything that is relevant to a person or family dealing with cancer. We don’t only discuss life saving treatments – but we also discuss end of life issues and care. CLICK HERE TO VISIT THIS WEEKS SHOWNavigating the Cancer Maze with Health Intelligence
First of all – some resources: Last week on Navigating the Cancer Maze, I interviewed David Pastalozzi Producer of Strath a Swiss formulation with Longevity that every cancer patient should know about! CLICK HERE for more about this wonderful product.
If you are new to the show or missed the previous shows – they are recorded at Voice America & located in the Archives on the top right of my webpage at VOICE AMERICA Health and Wellness channel. Please take a look at all our wonderful past guests on the show & their interviews. Free to listen and download anytime.……..Recently, I have been fortunate to interview people who work at the coal face with the dying and bereaved. Beth O’Brien is a trained bereavement & grief counselor, & funeral celebrant. In light of the suicide death of actor Robin Williams there was a global increase in services/inquiries for those who need help with depression or substance abuse. I asked Beth O’Brien if she could share some very useful resources that all of us may need at some stage in life, whether for us or for a friend! To Listen to my interview with Beth O’Brien:CLICK HERE
To resource more about this important subject you can also access the guest page where there are links; should you wish to contact any of the organizations mentioned or my guests. (select URL above to locate my Voice America page).
BOOKS: Dying to be Free: A healing guide for families after a suicide (Beverly Cobain, Jean Larch) CLICK HERE
The Grief Recovery Handbook:The action program for moving beyond Death, Divorce and other losses by John W James and Russell Friedman CLICK HERE
Changing the topic to ‘living well’…….Lifestyle and Health Promotion – also mentioned on this week’s show…….
Two wonderful Programs featured on ABC TV: Catalyst over the passed 2 weeks. If you want to explore the links between diet and lifestyle – then this program is not to be missed! Science is catching up with some of the sound ‘old school Naturopathy’ that I was taught by my mentor & friend the late Dorothy Hall. I still use these old school principles in my Practice – but now have the science to back up my approach. In 40 years having worked with 16,000 cancer patients – one gets more than just an insight into the efficacy of cancer treatments and prevention programs. If you missed Catalyst, you can click through to find the videos:
Go to http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/vodcast/ You can download Episode 5: 14/08/2014Episode 6: 21/08/2014 as MP4 files
Finally today – Please visit my new website for Consultations-Medicine with Heart, Skill and Compassion
A new model for best of both worlds medicine – Team consults available with GP- Southport Gold Coast
There’s an elephant in the living room & no one mentions it; it is called death, the subject for today’s show. I work in a pro-life vocation with people with life challenging illness, but what happens when life is not prolonged & death is inevitable? How & where do you find the tools to help you navigate your way through the process? Learn more with Beth O’Brien on Voice America Navigating the Cancer Maze with Grace Gawler.
There’s an elephant in the living room & no one mentions it; it is called death, the subject for today’s show. I work in a pro-life vocation with people with life challenging illness, but what happens when life is not prolonged & death is inevitable? How & where do you find the tools to help you navigate your way through the process?
There are not only physical deaths that are relevant to today’s topic. There many “deaths” throughout life – the losses that occur as a a part of being human; loss of youth, loss of job, loss of identity, to name a few. But there are also overwhelming “deaths” throughout life – life’s big uninvited events that are felt so deeply that the grief seems endless and indeed may endure for life. These events are a apart of being human and shape the way we be on this planet. The person grieving a physical death will often get more support than the person grieving a divorce experiencing hidden pain or loss of a body part hidden from view by clothing. But grief, loss bereavement exists and it exists in many forms. Many patients have said to me that when their partner left them it felt worse than a death – that death was final – but it was challenging to accept the finality of an event when there was no physical death and the knowledge that every family event in future will have a “emotional stamp” on it!
So – the subject is huge and relevant! Following on from last week’s show, today I interview a lady who works with death every day; funeral celebrant, Beth O’Brien. Beth is a Certified Thanatologist; Certified in Thanatology: Death, Dying and Bereavement”, an international accreditation with the Association for Death Education and Counseling. She is also a qualified Facilitator of Death Café, an international movement designed to increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives. Today’s discussion will be a valuable resource, bringing death to the discussion table.
After 20 years studying, researching and working with people who were experiencing loss and grief, Beth O’Brien discovered a strong connection to work with people who were experiencing grief and loss.
Recently she became a Certified Thanatologist, Certified in Thanatology: Death, Dying and Bereavement”; an international accreditation with The Association for Death Education and Counseling. In her work as a marriage and funeral celebrant she feels privileged to work with people on the most important and memorable days of their lives. Beth became so enthralled by the stories and eulogies she heard, she decided to become a personal historian and is a member of The Association of Personal Historians. Beth is a Death Café Facilitator, a Certified Grief Recovery Specialist®, Grief Educator & an Internationally Certified Funeral Celebrant/Trainer.
Resources to deepen your understanding of this important subject:
Recommended by Beth O’Brien: Doug Manning has been one of the most prominent speakers and authors in the grief counseling field since he started work in this area in 1982.
On Navigating the Cancer Maze – today – a discussion about death with Rev Dr. Ian Mavor and Dee Hanna from Hopewell hospice and Paradise Kids located on Queensland’s Gold Coast. Listen to or download interview at Voice America Navigating the Cancer Maze.
On Navigating the Cancer Maze– today – a discussion about death with Rev Dr. Ian Mavor and Dee Hanna from Hopewell hospice and Paradise Kids located on Queensland’s Gold Coast. Listen to or download interviewat Voice America Navigating the Cancer Maze
DEATH ADVENTURES: It would to nice to think that all cancer patients could find healing and recovery. I would like to share a recent experience that was a case of breathing life into death! Prior to my recent visit to Germany, I had the pleasure of being invited one Saturday afternoon to a Death Cafe! I invited a guest and her family to attend with me. They were about to embark upon her journey into death. I will call this patient Lois. Lois had a highly aggressive brain tumor stage 4 glioblastoma multiforme – she was also a survivor of breast cancer 10 years prior. Following surgery and a recurrence soon after; Lois had successful treatment in Germany. However – she was not the same person that she and others knew, and this was tremendous source of distress to her. Like many patients with a brain tumor, Lois suffered from depersonalization (a state in which one’s thoughts and feelings seem unreal or not to belong to oneself). Medications and therapy did not assist. An intense episode of Shingles that lasted for 6 months followed by seizures and blindness in one eye and then a recurrence of the tumor, finally ‘tipped the scales’……Lois decided enough was enough! She decided that she wanted to end the suffering and refused further treatment. Lois and her family gained a tremendous amount of information by attending a Death Cafe. Soon she was a patient at Hopewell Hospice and a few weeks later – she died peacefully at the Hospice surrounded by love with friends and family in a conducive atmosphere of candlelight and peace – one of the most well prepared death experiences that I have been privy to. There was openness and disclosure. Nothing was left unsaid nor undone as Lois took her final breath.
The mere mention of a Death Cafe is a definite conversation stopper! This is especially so when friends ask “What are you doing this weekend” and you reply you attending a Death Cafe function! Immediately people imagine a group of people resembling Abby from NCIS! However – everyone who attended the Death Cafe dressed quite normally and there was not a ‘Goth fashion’ in sight! The format was a discussion by grief counselor Beth O’Brien and funeral director Neil Davis. They spoke openly about all the things you likely thought that you would never want to know about death and yet; these are things that one should know. And – with the room to capacity – it was amazing how the conversation became lively, questioning and engaging. People really wanted to ask more and more questions ….questions that are indeed relevant to us all.
Death is often ‘the elephant in the room that no one wants to discuss’. However it was good to see the topic on the table for discussion on ABC TV ( Australia) last night – so perhaps the Death Cafe is in deed making an impact in bringing death out of the closet.
What is The Death Cafe? Itis a global movement where people come together in a relaxed and safe setting to discuss death. It’s not all doom and gloom. The organizers say that sometimes people need to understand death so they can live life to the full.
Interview on Voice America’s Navigating the Cancer Maze:
Who is Rev. Dr Ian Mavor, OAM, FACE – Ian is a former Uniting Church Minister. Much of Ian’s professional life has been in specialist roles. Co-Founder and Executive Director Ian serves as Executive Director of Hopewell Hospice Services Inc which includes Hopewell Hospice, Paradise Kids, the Living Well Center and the Hopewell College of Transformative Education. He is a member of the Health Community Council-Gold Coast Health District and a member of the State Council of Palliative Care Queensland. In 2002, Ian was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) “For service to the community through a range of church, social welfare, education and health groups”.
Who is Deirdre Hanna
Dee is the Founder of Hopewell Hospice Services Inc. in 1993, which includes Hopewell Hospice, Paradise Kids Children’s Services, Hopewell Education Services and The Living Well Center.
http://hopewell.org.au/other-services
Recommended viewing: Last night’s segment on ABC TV 7.30 report: Charter for people who are nearing end of life. View the video at the link below:
We hope you have found this blog helpful to your life and purpose. Navigating the Cancer Maze is sponsored by the Grace Gawler Institute- a not for profit registered health promotion charity located in Queensland Australia with a Global outreach focusing on cancer and life education. www.gracegawlerinstitute.com
easily. In the past 10 years Bruce has become involved with and specialized in management of addictions, mental health and severe and chronic pain as well as general medicine. These are also all important aspects of cancer management. They are the areas of medicine that tend to be under-serviced by GPs due to time constraints or lack of training. But there is more that makes Dr Bruce Whelan uniquely suited to the new Health Intelligence Australia group.
easily. In the past 10 years Bruce has become involved with and specialized in management of addictions, mental health and severe and chronic pain as well as general medicine. These are also all important aspects of cancer management. They are the areas of medicine that tend to be under-serviced by GPs due to time constraints or lack of training. But there is more that makes Dr Bruce Whelan uniquely suited to the new Health Intelligence Australia group.
