Six years ago, Chadia Scheel received the unexpected and life-changing diagnosis of Chronic Lymphatic Leukaemia (CLL), a rare form of cancer that develops and progresses relatively slowly. The 47-year-old mother from Fremantle, WA, initially felt overwhelmed and devastated.
“I then got up and decided that, rather than feeling sorry for myself, I would enjoy the rest of my life instead. My father also had CLL and lived for six years after diagnosis so I thought to myself ‘six years – I can do this’, ” she said.
“I felt completely vulnerable and knew I had a long journey ahead but was lucky to stumble across haematologist Dr Joske – founder of SolarisCare Cancer Support Centres and a believer in alternative therapies to complement traditional cancer treatments.”
Dr David Joske established the SolarisCare Foundation as “a soft place to land” for cancer patients, offering massages, reflexology, acupuncture and a range of other support services to help people cope physically and emotionally with the effects of cancer treatment.
As Dr Joske explains, “When everything is under a cloud – jobs, friendships, relationships, lifestyle and indeed life itself – we ask people diagnosed with cancer to negotiate hospital mazes, a whole new language, learn something about biology and then to decide on treatment.”
The free complementary therapies are professionally supervised, evidence-based and fully integrated with mainstream cancer treatments. SolarisCare encourages and supports communication between health care professionals, complementary therapists and people with cancer with the aim of bridging the gap of understanding that often exists between these groups.
Through SolarisCare therapies, in addition to her cancer treatments, Chadia has been able to maintain a feeling of overall wellbeing.
“My biggest revelation was that it’s not just the physical that I need to heal, as the success and progress of my treatments are correlated to my mental health,” she said.
Top Comments
A girl I knew from school died today from cancer far too young at 24 y/o she spent the last few years living her life to the fullest. Such a beautiful soul lost to this terrible disease. This is such a worthwhile cause for those most in need.
I would like to say that my dear dad died with CLL seven years ago now. It takes people slowly, and too young. Good on you Dr Joske, for helping so much. I wish we had known of your centre when my dad could have made use of it. xx