In the early 1900s, cancer affected one in every 750 individuals in the industrialised world. Those figures have since soared and today’s statistics make for sobering reading. In 2000 (the most recent year with data available), cancer claimed the lives of 36,750 Australians — that’s more than 100 per day — and it is now estimated that one in every four women and one in every three men will develop a major cancer before the age of 75. The dollar cost to the community runs into the billions, but the cost in terms of heartache and human suffering is immeasurable. It is estimated there are now more than 200 different types of cancer that affect humankind. And while methods of early detection may have improved somewhat in recent years, the incidence of cancer continues to rise alarmingly.

The initial shock

No other illness fills the mind with such dread or diminishes hope as ruthlessly as cancer. And nothing can prepare one for the sledgehammer blow of its diagnosis. Numbness and disbelief give way to fear and uncertainty. Routines are disrupted and relationships suffer. Spontaneity disappears. Feelings of isolation and desperation are common.

In many instances the cancer patient will undergo radical surgery followed by lengthy treatments of chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. There is often a sense of loss of identity as they feel they have become little more than an extravagantly long number on a brightly coloured card. Psychologically, cancer can become all-consuming.

Oncology departments can be frightening places. Lengthy delays in waiting rooms allow plenty of time for contemplation. Conversations are punctuated by words such as ondansetron and cyclophosphamide. Corridors echo to the sounds of beeping machines.

Chemotherapy drugs are designed specifically to attack rapidly reproducing cells, such as cancer cells, but these cytotoxic drugs are indiscriminate and show no mercy when it comes to the body’s other fast-growing cells that are healthy. These healthy cells can be replaced, but the side effects of chemotherapy are numerous and unpleasant and the patient’s body is subjected to a battering sufficient to render it immuno-deficient.

Unpleasant as chemotherapy might be, it does at least instil in the patient a sense that they’re being treated on a continuing basis and that their wellbeing is constantly being monitored. Once discharged, however, they often feel a nagging sense of trepidation and vulnerability as they face an uncertain future. For those battling cancer, life can become a nightmare that no day seems to follow.

The way out

But far from biding their time, there is much cancer patients can do to wrest back some control over their lives and to repair the physical and emotional trauma they have endured.

Dr Ivy Bullen is a tireless and dedicated individual. She runs a busy general practice in suburban Perth by day and cancer-related support groups by night. She is also chairperson, founder and voluntary administrator of Balya Cancer Self Help and Wellness Inc in Western Australia, a non-profit organisation committed to providing a unique support service to cancer patients and their carers.

The Balya Retreats have been running since 1989, but it was only in early 2004 that the new all-purpose facility opened on 21.5 hectares of rambling bushland in the hills suburb of Gidgegannup.

From the early days of her medical career Dr Bullen was determined to make a difference to patients she believed were being treated more as a diagnosis than as an individual. She felt a need to talk to them.

“It’s a terrible shock to be diagnosed with cancer, no matter how it is put,” she says. “At Balya we try to lessen that blow by focusing on the fact that we are going to do something to help the individual in every way possible. Every person is different and has a unique ability to do something for themselves, no matter what the diagnosis.”

Dr Bullen speaks calmly and with deliberation. Her words are positive and borne of many years of experience during which she has seen hundreds of people turn their lives around after receiving a life-threatening diagnosis. This has been made possible by the implementation of a lifestyle plan aimed at optimum health.

Time out

To date, Balya has catered for thousands of cancer patients ranging in ages from 11 to 91 — and their carers — as well as providing two-day Optimum Health Seminars for those seeking a healthier lifestyle by adopting the attitude of prevention through education.

The site for Balya has been well chosen. It is peaceful and quiet and slots perfectly into providing, for those who attend, what Dr Bullen refers to as “time out from everyday life”.

Each new arrival is greeted by a sociable wag of the tail from Scruffy, a dog of dubious lineage, who, once over his duties of concierge, settles down to life as Balya’s mascot as well as trusted companion to Hilly, the complex’s live-in caretaker.

In many respects Balya is like a five-star resort except that here you won’t find the whiff of snags emanating from the barbecue or a bar bristling with colourful cocktails. There are no television sets, no tea/coffee-making facilities, not even a newspaper to be found, but no one seems to care and the place is far from lacking.

There are numerous fine walks to be had, a cosy 30-seat chapel for quiet personal time and the library is increasingly stocked with relevant literature.

For those who attend the retreats, Balya is all about education and repairing dislocated lives. This is achieved through numerous specialist lectures as well as one-on-one and group sessions where people are able to share their experiences. These sessions are of immense benefit not just to cancer patients but also to family members and carers, who can often be overlooked during these times.

Rooms are tastefully decorated and comfy. The dining hall is bright and airy and the kitchen, Balya’s hub, is spotless. Even more impressive than Balya’s cleanliness is that it’s the work of volunteers.

The food is vegetarian and, whenever possible, organic. Dr Bullen beieves vegetarians suffer less heart disease and cancer and less of the numerous other degenerative diseases compared with non-vegetarians and is unyielding in her belief in the benefits of good nutrition. She says the prevalence of cancer is due largely to lifestyle, poor nutrition and our exposure to environmental toxins.

Lectures start almost immediately but there is no formal atmosphere or white-uniformed attendants here. Dr Bullen presents in a brightly coloured sweater, and the glint of determination in her eye suggests unconquerable mountains do not exist.

“Balya is about giving support, education, self-empowerment and hope,” she says. “Education can bring about prevention and that’s why I’m so keen to keep going with the Optimum Health Retreats.”

Fighting back

Dr Jason Han (PhD) is a psychologist of 30 years’ standing, with a special interest in motivation. He has been involved with the Balya Retreats for 17 years and his lectures, laced with gentle humour, add that vital component for people seeking to manage their illness and improve the quality of their lives.

According to Dr Han, those who attend the retreats fall into several categories: “There are those who feel helpless and don’t know where to start after a diagnosis, and there are those who are highly motivated and keen to find out as much as they can. Others believe in a bad prognosis that may have been given but have been persuaded to attend the retreat by their family. In these cases it is the carers who believe there is more that can be done for the patient.”

Balya’s two-pronged retaliatory assault against cancer — a healthy mind and a healthy body — makes perfect sense, for you cannot have one without the other. And the alternating lectures focusing on nutrition and attitude certainly provide the ammunition to enable attendees to set about turning their lives around.

“Health begins with thinking,” says Dr Han. “For anything to do with human endeavour, the place to start is the mind. The same is true of a lifestyle change. To convert our dreams to reality we need action, we need will. It’s important to replace our negative thoughts with positive thoughts so they are not recycled.”

Heal yourself

The Balya philosophy is one of sharing and caring. Self-help and goal setting are strongly encouraged. There is nutritional advice to help boost and repair the body’s immune system and educational programs dealing with the nature of cancer and the lifestyle changes necessary for optimum health. All of these are vital in providing what many feel is missing in mainstream medicine and traditional treatments.

Margaret Ferguson is just one individual who’s benefited from the retreats and now feels she is in control of her own destiny. In 1974 she was diagnosed with cancer of the kidney, which was subsequently removed. In 1990 she was diagnosed with secondary cancer of the liver and told that she’d be lucky to last three months as there was absolutely nothing that could be done for her.

“In 1991 I attended my first Balya Retreat and that was the beginning of the rest of my life,” said Margaret. “For the first time in 17 years I was told that there were lots of things I could do, options I could choose, and that I could have hope for a normal life. I learned how to live healthily, how to eat the right foods, how to meditate and deal with stress, how to laugh and be positive and how to set goals and achieve them.”

Margaret credits Balya with helping her to find her own strengths and she now works as a facilitator at the retreats. She continues to lead a full life and even took up hang-gliding to celebrate her freedom.

Over the mountain

When pressed on what she would like to impart to those who’ve attended the retreats, Dr Bullen’s response is unequivocal: “I would like people to return home feeling more positive and more empowered so that they can take charge of their own lives. I would like to think that we have made a difference.”

A measure of just how far patients and their carers have come in the few days they’ve spent together at Balya can be gauged by the final-night concert during which they get to sing, tell jokes or perform skits as individuals or in groups. Everybody participates and is clearly all the happier for it.

The atmosphere of appreciation and encouragement at the concert reveals this is a group of special people who now believe mountains are there to be conquered. Many remark that they haven’t laughed so much in years. All agree they have grown.

Into the light

The complacency of human nature leads us to believe cancer is something that only affects somebody else in the next street. But for the tide of humanity that continues to ebb and flow through the doors of cancer wards and oncology departments the world over, the cold reality is that some of us are that person in the next street.

For individuals whose lives have been made uncertain by the threat of cancer, Balya offers not merely a glimmer of hope but a guiding beacon of light. Conventional medicines clearly have a place but it would be remiss to ignore the major contributor for propelling the incidences of cancer to such stratospheric heights in the first place: our modern lifestyle.

Balya is dedicated to educating and informing individuals about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. And the generous meting out of hugs, from Dr Bullen right through to the kitchen staff, is indicative of a genuine compassion that fills the heart and spirit with warmth when it is most needed.

As patients and their carers depart, armed with new strength and determination to face a brighter future, Balya is busy planning a future of its own. Foundations are being laid for another 12 (double) rooms and there are plans for a conference room and craft centre as well as stands of fruit trees and a vegetable garden.

Friendships are formed and phone numbers exchanged, for the support and encouragement have been infectious. There is genuine all-round remorse when the time finally comes to leave; even Scruffy seems a little glum.

But you can tell by the brightness of eye and spring in the step of those drawn together by a desire to confront a beatable enemy, that Dr Bullen, her staff and her band of devoted volunteers have indeed made a difference.

The pervasive threat

The old adage “prevention is better than cure” was never more apt than in the case of cancer. Worldwide, the chemotherapy business is a US$7-billion-a-year industry. By comparison, a mere pittance is spent on prevention through education and our GPs receive very little formal training on nutrition during the course of their studies.

Since the dawn of time, humankind has displayed an amazing capacity for inventiveness and discovery. Medical breakthroughs and new surgical procedures occur almost daily. We can grow skin in laboratories and create functioning artificial human organs. We have a complete cure, or prevention, for previously untreatable illnesses such as beriberi, scurvy, pellagra and polio — yet we seem to have failed comprehensively in our endeavours to conquer cancer.

Cancer and heart disease have now reached epidemic proportions and are the two leading killers in the Western world today. Many experts describe both these diseases as preventable.

Laboratory and epidemiological evidence strongly links cancer to diet. In cooking we destroy much of the nutritional content of our food and our modern lifestyles make it increasingly difficult to resist the convenience of processed and fast foods.

Much of the fruit and vegetables that we eat are sullied by organophosphates, saturated with pesticides, stripped of minerals and now increasingly genetically modified. Take the average apple found on the supermarket shelf, for example. Typically, it will have been soaked in captan, iprodione, chlorpyrifos and vinclozolin before being embalmed in wax to give it a longer shelf life. These pesticides, when tested, have variously caused fungal growth, genetic damage, impaired immune response, disruption to the endocrine system, birth defects and cancer.

With virtually everything we put in our mouths nowadays, liquids as well as solids, we are exposing ourselves to a virtual avalanche of additives (such as sugar), preservatives, colorants, flavourings and enhancers. Clearly we have become a convenience society, but at what cost?

And it’s not just food we need to be wary of. Many everyday products such as toothpaste, soap, household cleaners and cosmetics contain a cocktail of chemicals that can seriously damage our health.

The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health in the US found that 884 chemicals available for use in cosmetics have been reported to the government as toxic substances. Of these, 134 can cause cancer. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in that country classifies cosmetics but, amazingly, does not regulate them. As a consequence, cosmetic manufacturers can use any ingredient or raw material and market the final product without obtaining government approval.

And while many of the chemicals we are exposed to on a daily basis might not kill us outright, they do alter the course of our development and will eventually affect us over time.

The cost

• In males, the most common cancers are prostate (one in nine), melanoma (skin), bowel, lung and lymphoma. The most common cause of death is lung, bowel, prostate, unknown primary and pancreatic cancer.
• In females, the most common cancers are breast (one in 11), bowel, skin, lung and lymphoma. The most common cause of death is breast, lung, bowel, unknown primary and pancreatic cancer.
• Cancer is the leading cause of death among Australians, accounting for 28 per cent of deaths.
• Cancer is the number-one killer of people aged one to 15 years.
• In Australia, cancer costs almost $2 billion per year in direct healthcare costs, of which more than 80 per cent are treatment costs (latest available figures are from 1993-94).
• In the past two decades, more women in the US have died from breast cancer than all Americans during World Wars I and II and the Korean, Vietnam and both Gulf Wars combined.