Episode 415: Her 22-year-old Son is Now Cancer Free After Neuroblastoma Battle

Episode 415 Transcript: Welcome  to  Cannabis  Health  Radio,  a  podcast  where  we  share  stories  from  people  around  the  world  who  are  using  cannabis  as  medicine.  The  information  is  meant  to  raise  awareness  about  the  health  benefits  of  cannabis,which  should  not  be  taken  as  medical  advice.  Now,  here  are  your  hosts,  Ian  Jessop,  and Corrie Yelland  Welcome  to  the  cannabis  health  radio  podcast.I'm  Ian  Jessop.  And  I'm  Corrie  Yelland.  In  the  years  we've  been  doing  this  program,  we've  only  had  one  interview  related  to  neuroblastoma, which  is  a  cancer  that  develops  from  immature  nerve  cells  found  in  several  areas  of  the  body.  It  most  commonly  affects  children  aged  five  or  younger.  Our  guest  today  is  going  to  tell  us  the  story  of  her  son  diagnosed  with  neuroblastoma  as  an  adult.And  joining  us  from  London  in  the  UK  is  Catherine  who  doesn't  want  us  to  use  her  last  name  so  we  won't.  Catherine  thanks  for  doing  this  and  you  know  in  reading  the  write -up  you  sent  us  I  can't  imagine  what  your  son  has  gone  through  and  you  along  with  him.Now  it's  been  nearly  five  years  since  the  original  diagnosis.  What  is  the  journey  being  like  for  him  and  and  yourself?  Wow,that's  a  big  question.  Well,  when  he  was  first  diagnosed,  it  was  such  a  shock  because  the  tumor  started  in  his  smell  nerve  and  it  had  eaten  away  at  the  sinus  bones  behind  his  eyes, wrapped  around  his  eyes  and  it  was  as  big  as  a  small  orange.  It  was  enormous  and  we  just  couldn't  believe  it.  He  went  into  hospital  and  was  kept  in  because  of  his  saline  levels  and  a  nose  bleed  and  we  were  so  blessed  because  an  amazing  ENT  surgeon  was  doing  rounds  the  next  day  after  his  admittance  and  she  simply  said  to  us  is  the  nose  nosebleed  always  on  one  side  and  she  sent  him  straight  for  a  scan  and  she brought  us  into  a  side  room  and  showed  us  the  images  and  and  it  was  really  she  said  she  you  know  like  looking  at  the  literature  they  tried  to  find  people  with  this  situation  and  it  was  as  you  say  it's  normally  in  children  it  had  also  eaten  away  through  the  base  of  the  skull  and  the  tumor  had  pushed  up  into  the  brain.So  from  the  imaging  they  didn't  know  if  it  was  entangled  with  the  brain,  they  didn't  know  if  it  was  entangled  with  the  eyes.  So  we  had, she  had  a  month  to  stabilize  his  condition  and  he  spent  quite  a  while  in  intensive  care  because  of  the  salt  levels  in  his  body  and  then  was  was  prepared  for  surgery.Now  I  work  with  Reiki  and  I  have  a  lot  of  friends  who  are  complementary  health  practitioners  and  we  kind  of  got  on  the  case  so  everybody  started  sending  Reiki,  he  went  immediately  on  homeopathy, we  tried  to  get  cannabis  at  that  point  but  in  England  we  didn't  have  the  capacity  to  get  it  at  that  point  and  then  he  had  a  very  like  the  operation  line.About  seven  hours  and  they  went  in  through  his  nose,  cut  out  the  tumour  through  his  nose,  another  surgeon  they  cut  out  a  diamond  shaped  out  of  his  forehead, went  in  through  his  brain  so  he  had  an  ENT  surgeon  and  a  neurosurgeon  and  they  basically  spent  eight  hours  cutting  out  that  tumour.  Now  it  turned  out  it  hadn't  gone  into  the  brain  and  it  hadn't  hadn't  he  didn't  lose  his  eyes  and  it  didn't  damage  his  brain  so  that  was  the  prognosis  that  that  they  could  both  happen  and  I  really  think  that  was  a  miracle  at  that  stage  that  and  neither  of  those  things  happened  and  when he  went  just  for  listeners  how  old  was  your  son  at  that  stage  20  22,22.  Thank  you.  Yeah,  so  they  didn't  know  how  long  it  had  been  growing  for  because  normally  it's  quite  a  slow -growing  tumor  and  they  reckoned  it  could  have  been  you  know  since  probably  the  age  of  16  or  17.Now  I  do  remember  when  he  was  16  he  fell  down  a  stairs  head  first,  face  first  and  smashed  up  his  nose  and  and  all  of  that  kind,  like, you  know,  ended  up  quite  battered.  And,  you  know,  that  could  have  been  a  shock  that  started  it  at  that  stage.  That  was  the,  you  know,  who  knows,  it  could  have  been  latent  there  from  when  he  was  a  child.I  don't,  you  know,  nobody  knows  that  kind  of  thing.  But  yes,  it's  very  rare  and  very  rare  in  adults.  So  for  him,it  was  like  they  felt  they  had  got  all  the  tumor  out  but  they  wanted  him  to  do  what's  that  word  like  radiotherapy  just  in  case  you  know  even  though  there  was  no  visible  sign  of  any  cancer  left  and  that  in  itself  was  a  miracle  that  they'd  managed  to  remove  so  much  tumor  from  such  a  tricky  area.So  now  he  has  no  smell  nerve,  they  managed  to  make  a  seal  between  the  brain  and  the  sinuses.  He  did  suffer  a  period  of  brain  inflammation.  And  you  know, we  had  a  few  tricky  days,  very  tricky  days  in  intensive  care  where  he  was,  you  know,  hallucinating  and  brain  fever  and  all  of  that  kind  of  stuff.  And  funny, when  he  went  for  the  radiotherapy  a  few  months  later.  later  the  oncologist  said  oh  right  hello  so  I  didn't  I  wasn't  expecting  such  a  cosmetically  pleasing  result  when  he  read  Sean's  case  and  I  thought  it  was  amazing  that  I  mean  it  really  felt  like  he  was  blessed  and  that  he  was  blessed  that  he  didn't  lose  his  eye  I  mean  losing  your  smell  is  one  thing  you  know  he'll  never  get  that  back  and  But  losing  your  eye  isyou  know  quite  a  different  scenario.  So,  yeah  Catherine  what  was  his  response  to  getting  this  diagnosis  because  he's  a  young  man  when  he  gets  this  diagnosis  and  Last  thing  you're  thinking  about  in  your  early  20s  is  getting  sick.It's  about  you  want  to  get  out  there  and  have  some  fun  Yeah,  I  mean  he's  quite  incredible  Corey  He  he  was  he  really  is  he's  kind  of  very  inquisitive  by  nature, so  he  was  really  into  the  whole  process  of  what  the  surgery  was.  He  got  the  surgeon  to  take  photos  of  the  operation  and  then  they  were,  because  she  was  doing  it  as  a  lecture  operation  and  there  was  lots  of  people  watching  because  it  was  quite  a  complex  operation.So  I  remember  she  and  he  going  through  all  the  photos  of  the  operation  afterwards.  Now  I  couldn't  look  at  them.  I  mean,  I  just,  it  was  just  ghastly.  But  he  kind  of  approached  it, well,  this  is  just  something  I've  got  to  get  through  and  I've  got  to  get  on  with  it.  And,  you  know,  he  was  so  grateful  to  all  the  staff  at  the  hospital.  And,  you  know,we  met  some  amazing  people  and  we  met  some  incredibly  kind  people.  And  he  had  this  experience.  experience  that  he  never  imagined  he'd  have  and  it  was  just  well,I'm  just  going  to  get  on  with  it.  So  he  was  in  the  middle  of  his  second  year  of  his  degree  and  they  said  to  him  to  stop  studying  and  he  said  I  can't  if  I  haven't  got  something  to  hang  on  to  I  won't  get  through  this.So  he  carried  on  doing  his  studies.  I  remember  when  he  was  having  his  radio  therapy  he  was  getting  the  having  a  treatment  then  getting  the  train  down  to  sit  an  exam,then  coming  back  to  have  his  treatment  the  next  day,  and  that  he  was  having  them  timetable  his  treatments  around  his  exams.  And  now  we're  talking  at  two  opposite  ends  of  the  country,  you  know.So  it  was  really  extraordinary.  He  was  just  so  determined  that  this  wasn't  going  to  stop  him  and  impact  on  his  life.  you  know,  so  yeah.And  they  really  felt  that  the  chances  of  a  recurrence  of  a  neuroblastoma  are  apparently  quite  low  as  well,  so  and  fortunately  for  him,the  neuroblastoma  doesn't  react  with  chemo,  so  they  didn't  suggest  doing  chemo  with  him  at  that  stage  either,  so  come  kind  of...January,  so  he  was  diagnosed  in  August  2019,  come  January  2020.  He  was  ready  for  his  term  abroad,  he  went  off  to  Italy,and  he  wanted  to  work  at  the  Ferrari  faculty  in  Modena  University.  That  has  been  a  dream  of  his,  because  they  have  this  amazing  wind  tunnel,and  he  came  back  two  weeks  later.  later  for  a  medical  appointment  on  the  Friday  And  on  the  Sunday,  Italy  went  into  lockdown  with  coronavirus  So,  I  mean,I  felt  he  was  very  blessed  that  he  wasn't  locked  down  in  a  city  where  he  didn't  know  anyone  and  uni  was  Stranded  and  everything  and  I  felt  really  blessed.  He  was  here  The  fact  that  he  didn't  have  any  of  his  possessions  was  tricky.Um,  but  yeah,  so  he  he  kind  of  got  off  with  it,  to  be  honest.  And  he  hoped  it  was  done,  but  they  had  told  him  that  if  he  doesn't  have  a  recurrence  for  two  years,he's  got  a  much  stronger  chance  of  staying  free  of  cancer.  So  his  second  diagnosis  was  a  month  before  that  two  years  was  up.  So  that  was  really  good.So  he  got  his  results  of  a  biopsy.  on  his  left  lymph  node  the  day  that  he  got  his  results  of  a  first  in  his  masters  and  his  degree.So  it  was  a  really  bittersweet  day,  but  that  was  a  tumor  in  his  left  lymph  node,much  less  scary  surgery,  much  more  straightforward  operation.  and  again  the  medical  model  was  go  in,we'll  take  out  all  your  left  lymph  nodes,  fortunately  they  decided  not  to  do  the  right  ones  as  well,  at  the  same  time  I  was  really  saying  like  God  you  need  those  lymph  nodes,you  know  they're  just  so  important  for  keeping  your  body  clean  and  everything,  but  yeah  so  he  went  in  for  surgery  in  so  that  was  I  think  21,and  radiotherapy  again  to  the  whole  neck  area.  And  I  think  at  that  stage,that  was  much  more  difficult  for  him  because  it  was  like,  well  here  I  am,  I  want  to  get  started  with  my  life.  And  actually  he  couldn't  face.  he  went  to  Whistler  in  Canada,he  went  skiing  and  he  just  didn't  feel  confident  enough  to  go  out  into  the  employment  market,  he  was  just  like  I  just  want  to  have  some  adventures,I  just  want  to  kick  back,  it's  been  really  grim,  so  he  did  ski  season  in  Whistler  that  winter.  winter  and  then  stayed  on  that  summer  and  then  again  The  next  year  again,just  couldn't  think  about  the  future  and  he  said  I  don't  I  just  can't  think  about  a  future  So  I  don't  know  if  I  have  a  future,  you  know,  I  think  when  you  face  death  like  that  So,um,  yeah,  so  he  did  two  years  in  Whistler  and  he  was  just  coming  to  the  end  of  his  time  in  Whistler  This  was  2023  and  we  went  out  to  see  him  just  shortly  before  he  came  back  and  he  was  starting  to  look  for  jobs  and  starting  to  feel  that  maybe  he  could  do  that  and  he  started  to  lose  the  capacity  to  speak  and  his  words  were  slurring  and  he  couldn't  get  his  mouth  to  form  around  a  word  and  I  remember  we  weresitting,  we  were  on  Sunday  Sunshine  Coast  staying  with  some  friends  and  he  was  like,  "Well,  I've  looked  up  and  it's  either  like  some  form  of  neurological  disease  or  it's  a  brain  tumor."  And  we  were  like,"Okay,  Mr.  Google,  you  know,  his  first  person  used  to  say  to  him,  "Get  off  Google,"  you  know.  So,  yeah,  so  the  next  couple  of  days  later,he  was  really  bad  at  work  and  he  went  to  the  doctor  in  Whistler  and  because  of  ski  accidents  and  everything,  they  had  a  CT  scanner  there,  so  they  put  him  in  the  CT  scanner.  Massive,massive  brain  tumour.  A  large  plumber,  a  small  satsuma  was  the  definition  of  it  and  I've  seen  images  of  it  and  it  was  huge.So  that  was  in  the  end.  and  I'm  talking  about  a  guy  who's  still  cycling,  still  skiing,  still  hiking,  you  know,  doing  all  of  that  kind  of  stuff.  He'd  had  a  checkup  in  January,full  scans  in  January.  He's  on  annual  checkups  at  this  stage  and  there  was  nothing.  So  it  had  grown  from  nothing  to  that  size  in,well,  less  than  nine  months.  - Mm -hmm.  - And,  yeah.  So  it  was...  really  massive.  So  he  was  rushed  straight  to  hospital  in  Vancouver  and  surgeon,amazing  surgeon.  Like  really,  I  have  to  say,  I  thought  that  the  whole  team  there  were  incredible.  And  there  was  a  lot  of  risk  to  his  speech,his  movement,  the  whole  movement  of  his  upper  body,  his  cognitive  skills.  It  was  in  the,  the  left  sylvian  fissure  between  the  two  lobes,  between  the  frontal  lobe  and  the  side  lobe.Fortunately  it  was  growing  out  of  one  point  and  because  it  was  in  the  fissure  it  hadn't  actually  connected  to  either  side  of  those  two  lobes.  So  again,  you  know,as  soon  as  I  found  out  about  it,  I  got  an  email  sent.  sent  friends,  so  many  people  sending  him  Reiki.  He  was  in  Buddhist  prayer,  you  know,  temples.  He  was,you  know,  just  had  like  all  the  Irish  were,  you  know,  had  him  on  the  altar  and,  you  know,  it  just  so  many  blessings  coming  towards  him.  He  had  the  surgery.They  couldn't  take  out  all  of  the  tumor  because  part  of  it  was  under  a  major  blood  vessel  and  the  surgeon  judged  it  too  risky.  to  his  brain  health,  you  know,  to  dig  any  further.And  I  think  that  was  a  really  good  call.  I  remember  when  he  came  up  to  intensive  care  after  surgery,  he  just  put  Sean  through  this  kind  of  really  quick  fire, a  series  of  tests  of  reflexes  and  words  and  everything,  and  just  his  face,  the  relief  that  there  was  no...  brain  damage  from  the  operation.  So  there  was  a  one  centimeter  piece  of  tumor  left.And  because  we're  in  Vancouver,  I  had  a  friend  of  mine  rang  me  and  said  she  knew  someone  on  the  East  Coast  to  clear  themselves  of  cancer  with  cannabis.So  I  said,  "Can  you  tell  me?"  who  it  is?"  So  they  said,  "Well,  the  best  person  to  speak  to  is  Corrie,  but  I  don't  know  if  you'll  be  able  to  get  hold  of  her."  So  I  was  Googling  Corrie.I  tried  to  get  it  in  2019,  hadn't  been  able  to  get  it.  And  then  the  next  morning,  I  sent  Corrie  a  message,  and  the  next  morning  Corrie  had  an  appointment  to  do  an  interview,and  they  had  technical  difficulties.  difficulties  so  she  sent  me  a  message  and  said  if  you  can  jump  on  the  phone  now  I  can  talk  to  you  so  I  just  felt  it  was  all  again  more  blessings  you  know  more  miracles  coming  so  yeah  so  I  think  we  you  know  this  was  all  really  difficult  for  him  this  third  tumor  and  and  this  is  the  first  time  he  was  told  that  he  could  die.He'd  never  been  told  he  could  die  before  you  know  so  this  one  was  quite  major.  It's  funny  because  the  other  one  was  in  the  brain  as  you  know  pushed  up  into  the  brain  as  well  but  somehow  I  mean  he  felt  this  surgery  was  much  easier  but  then  I  think  he  wasn't  aware  of  all  the  times  he  he  was  in  delirium  and  in  and  out  and  stuff,you  know.  But  I  think  it  was  difficult  because  he  didn't  know  if  he  could  keep  going  on  with  just  being  ill,  just  being  ill,  feeling  like  I'm  talking  a  sportsman,you  know,  who  he  doesn't  drink,  he  doesn't  smoke,  he  eats  well,  you  know,  he's  a  really  sweet  guy.  Yeah,so  it  was  just  like,  "How  can  I  stop  this  happening?"  So  he  wanted  to  come  home  and  he  needed  to  wait  until  he  had  permission  to  fly  because  they  needed  to  make  sure  his  wound  site  had  healed  up  enough  and  stuff  like  that.So  we  got  him  on  some  oils  in  Canada.  thanks  just,  yeah  that  was  really  good  and  that  was  helping  him,but  then  he  had  to  come  back  here  and  by  the  time  he  came  back  in  November  and  they  scanned  him,the  tumour  had  massively  grown  again.  It  was,  I  mean  it  was  really...  very  aggressive,  growing  really,really  aggressively.  It  was  not  quite  half  the  size  it  had  been  when  it  was  first  operated  on.  It  was  filling  the  cavity,  the  brain  cavity  was  still  there.And  they  referred  them  back  for  further  surgery,  which  was  ruled  out  as  being  too  dangerous.  And  And  they  put  him,started  him  ready  for  radiotherapy.  So  at  this  stage,  we'd  been  in  touch  with  somebody  here.  We'd  got  cannabis  oil  and  a  load  of  detoxing  stuff.So  he  was  taking  that  three  times  a  day.  He  was  going  seeing  a  counselor,  which  was  the  first  time  he'd  seen  a  counselor.  So  here  and  I  just  it  and  it  was  like  you  have  to  deal  with  physical,mental,  emotional  and  spiritual.  You  have  to  go  at  this  with  all  levels  because  otherwise,  you  know,  if  you  really  want  to  know  whether  you  can  be  in  control  of  the  cancer  or  not,you  know,  you  need  to  do  this.  So  he's  been  amazing,  you  know,  he's  done  the  oil.  diligently,  he's  done  his  detoxing,he's  been  on  turkey  tail  mushrooms,  he's  been  having  reiki  every  day,  he's  been  on  homeopathy,  he's  been  having  acupuncture  three  times  a  week,he's  been  on  a  totally  vegan  alkaline  diet  since,  like  he  was  vegetarian  before  but  he  was  eating  a  lot  of  dairy  produce  and  you  know  he  was  eating  occasional  eggs  and  stuff  so  it's  just  everything  got  cut  out  you  know  every  scrap  of  sugar  got  cut  out  every  everything  and  the  oncologist  said  to  him  in  November  that  it  was  asking  a  lot  of  radiotherapy  to  clear  the  tumor  that  he  felt  that  a  good  result  would  be  ifit  stopped  growing  basically.  basically.  And  he  was  wonderful.  We've  lost  Milla  Karyankar.Yeah,  he  was  wonderful.  Like  the  consultant  was  really  treated  Sean  like  a  human  being,  you  know,  just  really  fantastic.  And  we  just  thought,well,  no,  we're,  you  know,  we're  going  to  do  everything  and  see,  see  what  happens.  And  so  the  whole  way  through  radiotherapy,  they  wouldn't  do  a  scan  until,like  they  weren't  going  to  do  another  scan  until  I  think  three  weeks  after  the  radiotherapy  finished.  So  it  started,  so  the  diagnosis  where  it  was  growing  and  growing  and  growing  was  November,2023,  last  November.  And  then  radiotherapy  started  at  the  beginning  of  December,  radiotherapy  all  through  December.  December  into  January,  and  then  they  scanned  him  the  middle  of  February.And  when  they  did  the  scan,  there  was  like  the  brain  had  all  closed  up  and  the  tumor,  it  looked  like  there  might  be  a  tiny  element  of  the  tumor  left,but  it  was  completely  like  you  know  from  where  it  was  before  it  was  like  just  all  gone.  And  he  didn't  know.  whether  it  was  tumour  still,  but  I've  seen  so  many  scans  of  cancer  at  this  stage.It  didn't  have  the  bright  white  look  that  cancer  has  on  a  scan.  It  was  kind  of  blurry  around  the  edges,  you  know,  didn't  have  defined  digest.So  they  spoke  with  us  about  chemo  at  that  stage  because  they  said  this  is  chemo  is  the  only  thing  else  that  we  have,  but  we  wanted  to  adopt  a  wait -and -see  policy,so  they  said  they'd  scan  again  in  another  month,  so  they  scanned  them  in  the  middle  of  March  and  there'd  been  no  change  in  that  little  blob  that  was  left,  so  they  think  it's  just  scar  tissue  from  the  original  wound  site,from  surgery  and  everything.  So,  it's  been  a  miracle.  It's  been  an  absolute  miracle.  And  I  have  to  say,  you  know,  the  oncologist  was  stunned,stunned.  And  the  biggest  impact,  Corey,  is  that  Sean  knows  now  how  to  stay  cancer -free  because  he  knows  it  wasn't  just  the  medics.He  knows  it  was  everything  else  that  he  did.  You  know?  know.  Right,  right.  When  he,  when  he  was  just  talking  a  little  about  the  dosing  of  his  oil.  So  how  much  was  he  doing  and  what  method?I  mean,  I  know  he  was  on  a  multi -stream  four  to  one  ratio  that  much.  I  know.  But  was  he  doing  it  all  rectally?  Yes,  absolutely,  all  rectally.And  one  of  the  things,  one  of  the  reasons  he  didn't,  this  is  really  important.  One  of  the  reasons  he  didn't  want  to  do.  do  the  oils  before  is  he  wasn't  prepared  to  take  anything  orally  because  he  can't  bear  that  feeling  of  loss  of  control  or  high  or  anything.So  when  you  advise  that  he  could  take  it  rectally,  that  was  such  a  game  changer  for  him.  You  know,  it  was  just  like,  yes,  I  can  do  this.  So  he  was  having  one  meal  three  times  a  day  rectally.(mumbles)  November.  So  that's  every  day  and  now  he's  gone  on  to  a  maintenance  dose  of  eight  drops  a  day  and  he's  going  to  experiment  between,he's  still  taking  rectally  rather  than  taking  orally  and  what  he  did  is  he  got  a  narrower  syringe  like  a  very  narrow  syringe.because  he  ended  up  at  one  stage.  The  biggest  impact,  and  we  think  it  was  the  steroids,  not  the  cannabis,  was  he  had  to  do  a  poo  frequently.So  he  would  do  his  treatment,  then  he  wanted  to  go  for  a  run  and  then  he  was  needing  to  go  for  a  poo.  and  this  was  really  impacting  on  him.But  it  turned  out  was  the  steroids  that  he  was  on  to  stop  the  swelling  in  the  brain  while  he  was  having  radiotherapy  had  impacted  on  the  muscles  in  his  anus  and  his  buttocks  so  much  that  that's  why  he  couldn't  stop.But  anyway,  he  ended  up  using  a  smaller  syringe.  syringe  which  he  found  easier  to  insert  and  then  you  know,he  could  still  do  the  one  mil  with  that.  So  yeah,  that  was  that  was  that's  still  his  preferred  method.  And  I  think  we'll  see  whether  he  goes  to  having  it  under  the  tongue  as  he  goes  along  because  he's  only  been  on  this  maintenance  dose  now  for  three  weeks.or  something  like  that,  you  know.  So,  yeah.  And  he's  very  happy  to  continue  taking  that  for  the  rest  of  his  life.  And  he  said  to  me,  you  know,  it  was  funny,  because  he  was  doing  so  many  things.And  some  people  were  saying  to  me,  well,  how  do  you  know  what's  working?  And  I  said,  I  don't  need  to  know  what's  working,  because  everything's  working  together,  you  know,  like  everything's  working  holistically  together.So,  he  said,  but  I  do  know  know  that  the  cannabis  oil  is  the  most  important  thing  that  I'm  doing  and  if  I  miss  anything  that  is  the  thing  I  don't  miss  you  know  so  I  thought  that  was  really  interesting  because  I  was  so  pleased  this  time  to  be  able  to  get  it  because  I  thought  now  he  just  has  a  way  of  keeping  the  cancer  at  bay  you  know  so  he's  going  to  stay  on  his  vegan  alkaline  diet  that's  an  brainer  for  him,no  alcohol,  no  brainer,  no  sugar.  And  he's  finding  ways  to  live,  and  as  you  can  imagine  living  in  London,  where  eating  out  is  such  a  big  thing  and  night -slubbing  are  such  a  big  thing,you  know.  But  he's  wanting  to  find  people  to  have  outdoor  adventures  with.  And,  you  know,  he's  been  hiking  on  the  South  Downs  and  he's  been,  you  know,  doing  some  wild  camping  and  he's  training  for  a  marathon.You  can  believe  it.  So  yeah,  I  mean,  he's  pretty  determined.  And  when  he  got  the  diagnosis  that  he  was  clear,  he  walked  out  and  he  said,now  I  know  I  will  live  to  see  another  summer.  So  I  was  crying.  I  mean,  you  know,  26  year  old,  you  know,nearly  five  years  with  cancer  and  yeah,  yeah.  An  extremely  aggressive,  you  know,  as  it  turns  out  to  me,  it's  extremely  aggressive  in  this  case.And  what  he's  accomplished  is  nothing  short  of  a  miracle.  I  mean,  it's  absolutely  amazing.  Yeah,  in  such  a  short  time.  Yeah,to  turn  around  from  having  a  tumor  that's  re -growing  so  aggressively  in  November  and  then  by  February,  it's  gone.  I'd  say  that's  pretty  good.Catherine,  did  this  change  your  attitude  about  cannabis?  Oh,  well,  yeah.  Listen,  I  work  as  a  healer.healer.  So,  you  know,  and  I  met  Charmin  and,  you  know,  I  work  with  Reiki  and  it's  incredible  plant  medicine.  I  just,  what's  so  frustrating  to  me  is,you  know,  the  value  of  what  he  had  with  the  multistrains  and  the  whole  product  and  all  of  that.  And  they  think,  oh,  well,  this  compound  and  this  compound  and  then  they  strip  it  out  and  they  take  it,all  these  different,  elements  and  separate  them.  To  me  you  don't  understand,  like  they  don't  understand  what  they're  doing,  they  don't  understand  how  topically  the  whole  plant  works  together  and  all  the  different  strains  work  together.So  it's  kind  of  nature  creates  this  incredible  product  and  then  you  mess  around  with  it  and  you  take  out  half  compounds,  you  know  it  doesn't  make  any  sense.  So  that's  why  I'm  on  orchestra.this  the  UK  company  GW  pharmaceuticals  who  does  does  that  is  it  GW  pharmaceuticals  yeah  I  think  so  yeah  but  I  think  it's  the  same  in  Canada  now  I  mean  my  friend  who  I  was  staying  with  in  Vancouver  her  son  is  growing  on  the  roof  and  all  the  rest  of  it  but  when  she  talked  about  the  medicinal  stuff  she  said  since  the  new  legislation  it's  just  got  so  much  worse  because  now  you  can't  get  the  whole  product  you  knowyeah  so  it's  like  well  we  legalize  this  proper  not  this  part  and  that's  just  because  you  don't  understand  you  know  and  I  think  just  because  you  don't  understand  doesn't  mean  you  you  can  mess  with  it  you  know  yeah  yeah  you  know  you  know  Catherine  I  have  a  I  have  a  saying  that  God  what  the  Creator  Creator,whatever  your  belief  system  did  not  put  that  plant  on  the  earth  with  all  these  properties  in  it  for  it  to  all  be  separated,  period.  Yeah,  yeah.  And  I  have  to  say  one  of  the  things  the  homeopathy  has  been  doing  is  working  to  counteract  all  the  like  the  radiotherapy  and  the  steroids  and  doing  a  cleaning  from  that.And  it's  like,  I  feel  we've  got  one  thing  that's  helping  clean  up.  up  all  the  drugs.  And,  you  know,  the  medical  companies  will  say,  well,  there's  nothing  in  homeopathy.  There's,  you  know,  but  it's  energy  medicine.Yeah.  And  with  cannabis,  I  think  you've  got  the  energy  medicine  element  as  well  as  the  physical.  You  know,  for  me,  it's  working  on  all  the  levels,  which  is  one  of  the  real  gifts  that  it  has,because  not  every  plant  has  that.  No,  absolutely.  Catherine,  you  remember  when  we  started  this  interview,  I  asked  you  how  these  five  years  have  been  for  you?  And  you  said  it  was  a  good  question,but  you  kind  of,  you  didn't  answer  it.  Okay.  I'm  used  to  interviewing  politicians.  So  I  saw  you  slide  by  that  one.How  is  it  being  for  you  and  your  son?  Let's  start  with  you  first.  I  Have  to  say  it's  been  really  intense  one  of  the  things  that's  been  difficult  is  because  I  work  as  a  healer  I  Immediately  had  a  role  to  play  and  for  my  husband.He  felt  he  didn't  have  a  role  to  play  and  that  was  difficult  You  know  that  was  difficult  for  him  and  it  was  difficult  for  our  marriage.  I  think  it  was  difficult  balancing.I  have  three  sons,  so  it  was  difficult  remembering,  okay,  I  need  to,  I  need  to  be  here  for  all  of  them.  Um,  and  it  was  difficult  to  let  him  go  when  I  needed  to  let  him  go  and  hope  that  he  was  well  and,you  know,  let  him  get  on  with  his  life.  It's  also  been  such  a  profound  gift  to  me.  get  to  know  somebody  so  well  and  to  have  such  a  deep  relationship  with  my  eldest  son,you  know,  that's  been  an  extraordinary  gift.  And  I've  seen  things  I  would  never  have  seen  in  life.  I  mean,  I've  seen  incredible  things  in  hospitals  that  I've  become  so  intimate  with  hospitals  in  a  way  for  someone  who's  never  been  ill.you  know,  just  witnessing  things  that  go  on  when  people  are  really  unwell  has  been  a  gift  and  it's  been,  I  think  one  of  the  biggest  gifts  Sean  has  given  many  people  is  the  capacity  to  give  to  him  because  he's  just  the  first  night  in  intensive  care  after  the  diagnosis.He  said,  "Mom,  you  must  contact  everybody  you  know  and  ask."  them  for  help  and  ask  them  for  Reiki."  And  I  promised  him  that  and  that  was  so  challenging  for  me  because  normally  I'm  quite  a  private  person  but  I  contacted  everybody  and  I  mean  in  excess  of  100  people  were  sending  him  healing  and  then  people  were  just  coming  up  going,"I  heard  about  your  son  and  can  I  help  and  I  can  do  this.  Would  you  like  me  to  do  that  for  him?  I  can  do  this.  Would  you  like  me  to  do  that?"  and  he  was  so  open  to  being  helped  this  whole  journey.The  openness  and  the  exploration  was  just  so  rich.  I  can't  explain  it.And  he  will  say  he  doesn't  view  it  as  a  bad  thing  at  all.  It's  just  been  a  very  enriching  journey.  Yeah.  And  when  he  looked  like  he  might  die  in  November,he  said,  I  have  no  regrets.  He  said,  I've  done  everything  I  wanted  to  do.  And  if  I  go  now,  I  have  no  regrets.  You  know,  he'd  had  his  two  years  in  Whistler,he'd  jumped  off  mountains,  he'd  been  up  in  a  helicopter  and  jumped  off  a  mountain,  he'd  gone  hiking  overnight  out  in  nowhere.  You  know,  he'd  just  just  had  all  of  these  adventures  and  he  never  let  his  health  stop  him  having  adventures,you  know,  because  he  said,  "If  I  can't  live,  there's  no  point  in  being  here,"  you  know.  So  yeah,  and  he's  really  shown  all  of  us  how  to  live.Well,  he  certainly  has.  I  mean,  what  you  said,  "If  I  can't  live,  there's  no  point  in  being."  being  here.  I  mean,  that  is  a  great  comment  about  most  of  the  world  who  just  exist  from  day  to  day.And  without  any  appreciation  for  life  itself.  And  when  you  get  into  a  life -threatening  situation  like  that,  you  do  have  an  appreciation  for  life,  a  renewed  appreciation.  And  I  think  that's  what  he  has.And  you  yourself  I  imagine,  have  been  given  renewed  appreciation  for  the  life,  his  life,  and  you  look  at  your  life  differently,do  you?  - Oh,  absolutely,  absolutely,  yeah.  Yeah,  I  mean,  both  my  husband  and  I  are  working  part -time  where  planting  trees  and  making  time  in  nature  and  all  of  that  kind  of  stuff.And  we've  just  trimmed  our  financial  outgo.  to  match  our  incomeings  and  just  gone,  no,  we  can't  wait  for  some  future  Nirvana  point,you  know,  we  need  to  live  now.  Yeah.  Yeah.  And  that's  interesting,  because  so  many  people  spend  so  much  of  their  life  being  afraid  to  die,that  they  don't  live,  you  know.  And  I  think  we  have  completely  flipped  that  and  actually,  you  you  know,  if  I  was  to  go  tomorrow,  I  have  no  regrets  You  know,  there's  lots  of  things  I  still  want  to  do  But  I  feel  that,you  know,  we're  having  adventures  in  the  moment  Just  not  putting  things  off  anymore,  you  know,  because  that's  a  very  big  thing.  I'll  do  that  next  year  I'll  do  that  next  year,  you  know,and  next  year  never  comes.  So  damn  it.  Catherine  do  it  now.  Yeah  Yeah  Yeah,  yeah,  yeah.  - Catherine,  it's  a  wonderful  story  you've  told  us  about  your  son  and  what  he's  gone  through  and  what  the  two  of  you,what  you've  gone  through  as  a  family.  And  I  think  other  people  listening  to  what  you  said  will  be  inspired.  And  I  know  that  somewhere  in  the  world  you  will  change  a  life  or  a  number  of  lives  from  what  you've  told  us.We  greatly  appreciate  it.  - Thank  you  so  much.  Thank  you.  And  no,  there's  always  hope.  If  you  have  a  will  to  live,  the  universe  responds  to  that  and  will  tell  you  how  you  can  do  it.That's  the  biggest  lesson  I've  learned  in  all  of  this.  Before  we  go,  I  want  to  let  our  listeners  know  that  you  can  help  us  spread  the  word  about  the  amazing, often  life -saving  health  benefits  of  cannabis.  cannabis,  just  by  sharing  the  podcast,  writing  a review,  or  rating  us.  We  very  much  appreciate  the  help  of  everyone  who's  done  that  already.And  we  really  like  the  five -star  ratings.  We'd  also  like  to  thank  those  of  you  who  support  the  show  by  making  a  one -time  donation  or  a  monthly  donation  on  our  Patreon  page, which  you  can  do  for  as  little  as  $5  a  month.  It'll  help  to  keep  us  running.  You'll  find  out  how  to  do  that  on  our  website,  cannabishealthradio .com.Thank  you  for  your  support.  It  means  so  much  to  us.  And  we'll  be  back  again  next  week  with  another  episode  of  Cannabis  Health  Radio.  - Thanks  for  listening.For  more  information  and  to  search  previous  podcasts, 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