My Breast Cancer Diagnosis

23 Sep, 2006

Medical chart cancer diagnosisThe day we’ve been wai­ting for has finally arri­ved. On Sept. 20th, we had an appoint­ment with the sur­geon to go over the “autopsy” results. They did the patho­logy and biopsy on the remo­ved breast tis­sue and Wed­nes­day, they deli­ve­red the results in a neatly typed 8 x 10 envelope.

Honestly, we were hoping for bet­ter results. Up until this point, we had no idea whether or not the can­cer had inva­ded my lymph nodes, and we were pra­ying that it hadn’t and that it had been caught in time. We weren’t really pre­pa­red for any other news.

So, the rea­lity of how far this can­cer had gone really hit us rather hard. We’re still ree­ling from it.

We are bles­sed to have an ama­zing doc­tor on our side. He has been kind, gentle and very caring throughout all of this. As he deli­ve­red the infor­ma­tion, he did his best to explain the com­pli­ca­ted medi­cal terms to us. He also did his best to avoid sca­ring the crap out of us. But as won­der­ful as he is, the rea­lity of what he was saying star­ted to sink in and we rea­li­zed what a battle we were facing in the coming year.

The news wasn’t great. In fact, I would need to think pretty hard to come up with a sce­na­rio that would be more challenging.

Essen­tially, the can­cer had already spread to the lymph nodes prior to the sur­gery. They dis­co­ve­red this when they remo­ved 17 of the 30 lymph nodes and tes­ted them. Out of the 17 lymph nodes, 5 were inva­ded by can­cer cells, which means that the can­cer has tra­ve­led to other parts of my body already.

Lymph nodes are glands, and when can­cer stri­kes that area of the body, it’s “out of con­trol,” if you will. It’s in “sprea­ding” mode, is another way to say it.

Bot­tom line? Pretty aggres­sive the­rapy is ABSOLUTELY requi­red to pre­vent the can­cer from sprea­ding. This means che­mothe­rapy, radiothe­rapy and hor­mone the­rapy. The whole frea­kin’ ball o’ wax.

It was a bit dif­fi­cult to unders­tand all the medi­cal jar­gon, and I rea­li­zed how help­ful it would be to have a medi­cal trans­la­tor along with us when the doc­tor was going over the test results. When con­tem­pla­ting how I was going to make this entry to my diary, I won­de­red how I could pos­sibly explain the mea­ning behind the medi­cal lingo, what it meant to us emo­tio­nally as it was read to us, how each line meant something huge for us. As the doc­tor went through each page (six pages in all), and explai­ned what each item on the list meant, I found myself trying to see past to the next line, terri­fied that the next line meant I was going to die. I was strug­gling with my own inter­nal dia­lo­gue, trying to sim­plify it so I could absorb it without losing my sanity.

I loo­ked over at Michel’s face, blin­king back the tears that threa­te­ned to spill from my eyes. The look on his face imme­dia­tely stop­ped my tears. His expres­sion was stoic, fierce, and deter­mi­ned. I’ve never seen a look like that on his face before. I knew he nee­ded me more than ever in that moment. He nee­ded to know, to be cer­tain, that we could do this, and that he wasn’t alone. I grip­ped his hand in mine and held it tightly, taking com­fort from his strength, and giving com­fort in turn. He couldn’t look at me in that moment. He was des­pe­ra­tely trying to main­tain his com­po­sure, for my sake. If he loo­ked at me in that moment, he would have burst into tears, and he didn’t want to take any atten­tion away from hea­ring it all, hea­ring the harsh rea­lity that was being deli­ve­red in an 8 x 10 envelope.

And I won­de­red how on earth I could pos­sibly explain the results to others. My friends, my family, my chil­dren. Oh My God! How can I pos­sibly explain it to my children?

Sure, I could pro­bably just explain it in medi­cal terms, deli­ver it without emo­tion, dis­tance myself from the words. But deli­ve­ring the facts like a doc­tor explai­ning it to medi­cal stu­dents wouldn’t do it jus­tice. It wouldn’t help anyone unders­tand the dee­per mea­ning behind each fact. And I need to do this right. I need to do this so I can delve into my own emo­tions and unders­tand and face the rea­lity of what it all means.

So, I’ve deci­ded to trans­late the medi­cal jar­gon into real world lan­guage. At least, trans­late it into what each of the pie­ces of infor­ma­tion mean to me and to my family in the coming months.

Here is the doctor’s report, sta­ted in the lan­guage of the inter­nal dia­lo­gue I had with myself while I was hea­ring it.

————
SURGICAL PATHOLOGY REPORT
————

The Spe­ci­men

My breast. The breast that first made its appea­rance when I was 13 years old, and was with me for 23 years of my life. The breast that betra­yed me and let can­cer des­troy it. MY breast. I once loved that breast, and now it is sit­ting in a jar and is refe­rred to as The Spe­ci­men. (Please tell me this didn’t spread to my lymph nodes)

Mul­ti­cen­tric Cen­tral Carcinoma

Three little words that mean it’s pretty bad, right. Mul­ti­cen­tric means it was all over the place. If it had only been in one or two pla­ces, it would have been pretty easy to deal with. But because it was mul­ti­cen­tric, it means that it wan­ted to take over my whole body. That’s bad, isn’t it doc? (Please tell me this didn’t spread to my lymph nodes)

Tumor Dimen­sions: 7.0 x 5.0 x 3.5 cm
Breast cancer tumor size

Holy crap! Are you seriously telling me that this lump I felt was that big? How the heck did it grow so fast? When I first felt this in June, it felt like a tiny little pea. And you’re telling me that in less than 3 months, it grew that fast? Does this mean it spread to the rest of my body by now? (Please tell me this didn’t spread to my lymph nodes)

Modi­fied Scarff Bloom Richard­son Grade: 3/​3 with a Total Score of 8/​9

OK, this doesn’t sound good at all. So, let me unders­tand this correctly. You’re saying that out of all the types of breast can­cers, mine is the worst it can get? I have to look this up when I get home to see what this really means. (Please tell me this didn’t spread to my lymph nodes)

(update: I did look it up when I got home. It means I have a 50% chance of sur­vi­ving another 5 years.)

Lymphatic/​vascular inva­sion: Extensive

Oh crap! It spread to my lymph nodes! Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! OK, now what? What does this mean? Does this mean I’m going to die? Is that what this means? (Please tell me you can fix me!)

Inva­sive Tumor Nec­ro­sis: Absent

OK, so this means that the can­cer didn’t use up its entire supply of oxy­gen, and that means that there’s hope? Really? OK, it’s a teeny, tiny spot of hope, but it’s hope nonethe­less. I don’t care what the sta­tis­tics are, I’m going to make it dam­mit! (Please tell me you can fix me!)

Com­plete Diagnosis:

  • Inva­sive duc­tal car­ci­noma with exten­sive lympha­tic invasion
  • Exten­sive Duc­tal car­ci­noma in situ, comedo type
  • Fibroa­de­noma
  • 5 of 17 lymph nodes posi­tive for malignancy

Recom­men­ded Treat­ment Protocols:

  • Radia­tion
  • Che­mothe­rapy (mini­mum of 8 monthly treatments)
  • Hor­mone the­rapy (to be determined)

OK, so there it is. The rea­lity of what I’ve got. I have can­cer. Harsh rea­lity, but I need to face it so I can get through this.

Hell, with a 50% sur­vi­val rate, I can look at it either way, right? I could look at it that I have a 50% chance of dying within 5 years, or I could look at it that I have a 50% chance of sur­vi­ving to a ripe old age.

If I was pla­ying the lot­tery, I would gladly put down a LOT of money for a 50% chance of win­ning a few million, right?

So, I’m going to look at this as my own per­so­nal lot­tery. Every time I think posi­tive thoughts, it will be like buying a tic­ket to inc­rease my chan­ces. Every time I laugh, I’m buying a tic­ket. Every time I help someone else who’s going through this, I’m buying a tic­ket. Every time I say something that makes someone else feel good, I’m buying a tic­ket. Every time I per­form a ran­dom act of kind­ness, I’m buying a tic­ket. Every time I feel a wash of love come over me, I’m buying another ticket.

And I plan to buy a LOT of tic­kets to this par­ti­cu­lar lottery.

After all, with a 50/​50 chance of win­ning, those are ama­zing odds!

About this post

Posted on 23 Sep, 2006. Filed in Biopsy, Breast Cancer, Diagnosis, Survival, Treatments, Tumors. .

193 Comments so far »

  1. abdellah said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 6:35 pm

    take care, I am sure that you are going to make it.

    you and your family are always in my thougth.

  2. Joel Comm said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 7:03 pm

    Michel and Sylvie,

    My heart just breaks to read this latest news.

    Yet, I see the cou­ra­geous and heroic way in which you are both facing this enemy, and I too believe that you can make it through to com­plete healing.

    I am so glad you have each other so you don’t have to walk through this alone.

    And for what it’s worth, I believe in a God who knows exactly what you are going through, and who wants you to depend com­ple­tely on Him to be all-​​sufficient to meet your needs. My pra­yer is that you will find His strength and love abun­dantly suf­fi­cient to make it through the dif­fi­cult trial that has inva­ded your lives.

    With much love and prayer,

    Joel

  3. Lawton Chiles said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 7:15 pm

    Syl­vie, I am sad­de­ned that you are going through this dif­fi­cult time, but God has a plan for all of us.

    I know that some­ti­mes, the hard things in my life, when they are hap­pe­ning, I’m like ‚“what the heck!”. I don’t know what’s going on.

    But…God does. You are in my thoughts and pra­yers and even though I don’t really know you guys, just through Michel’s work, I admire your strength, cou­rage and faith.

    Law­ton Chiles

  4. Barry Densa said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 7:19 pm

    Ask your doc­tor, and inves­ti­gate for your­self, the suceess rate and the appli­ca­bi­lity of mas­sive doe­ses of vita­mind C deli­ve­red tho­rugh an IV.

    I’ve read that it’s wor­ked for others in the fight against cancer.

    Also, and I’m not advo­ca­ting alter­na­tive medice as a supe­rior metho­do­logy, but you might want to inves­ti­gate cer­tain and spe­ci­fic her­bal sup­ple­men­tal applications.

    Again, I’ve read that it’s wor­ked for others.

    I’m sure you’re doing your research…but nothing will aid you more — in more ways than you know — than a storng and deter­mi­ned attitude.

    Dig deep, be strong…and I’ll keep you in my thoughts.

    Life is and has always been a fight for survival.

    –Barry

  5. Alvin said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 7:23 pm

    Hi Syl­vie and Michel

    Both of you are in my heart. I know how dif­fi­cult the situa­tion is right now because I have gone through something of simi­lar nature before with my wife.

    Having said that, I’d also know that both of you will go through this together as a loving cou­ple and come out even stronger.

    You have our bles­sing and do keep all of us pos­ted whe­ne­ver possible.

    Alvin Poh (from Singapore)

  6. Allan Gardyne said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 7:23 pm

    Hi Syl­vie, I had che­mothe­rapy three years ago. I won’t try to kid you that it’s easy. Howe­ver, you’ll find that wri­ting about it and sha­ring your fight with friends will help you get through the bad times.

  7. Joe Barton said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 7:24 pm

    My thoughts and pra­yers are with you and your family!

    Put your trust in the Lord, and He will com­fort you.

    Psalm 23 — Those who follow the Good Shepherd fear no evil.

    May God truly bless you and HEAL you,
    Joe

  8. Michelle MacPhearson said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 7:24 pm

    Syl­vie (and family),

    My thoughts are with you. I am so deeply sorry you’re faced with this cha­llenge, and send all my strength to you for your swift and com­plete recovery.

    –Miche­lle MacPhearson

  9. Steve Brown said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 7:25 pm

    Hi Syl­vie and Michel,

    My Heart Is With Both of You in this very dif­fi­cult time.
    You are two truly ama­zing human beings.

    All My Love,

    Steve

  10. Eric Graham said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 7:27 pm

    Syl­vie,

    I’m so sorry the news was not more encou­ra­ging. But your atti­tude about this set back is outs­tan­ding as usual.

    Stay strong, stay positive.

    You WILL make it through this challenge.

    And, kno­wing what awe­some peo­ple you and Michel are, I’m sure you are going to use this tem­po­rary situa­tion as the catal­yist for something great.

    Happy hea­ling… You are both still in our prayers.

    Eric Graham

  11. Michael Fiala said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 7:29 pm

    Syl­vie,
    Your atti­tude is great. Atti­tude is everything in this fight. Fight to win and you’ll win. There’s no other way to approach the situa­tion.
    You’re in my thoughts and pra­yers.
    All the best!

  12. Yoke Wong said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 7:30 pm

    Dear Syl­vie And Michel,
    I am so sorry about the news. It is so hard to go through the time of trial..My heart broke when I read the blog.

    Would like to share with you a favo­rite hymn of mine:

    I know who holds tomorrow:

    I don’t know about tomo­rrow,
    I just live from day to day.
    And I don’t borrow from its sunshine
    ’Cause the skies might turn to grey.
    And I don’t worry about the future,
    ’Cause I know what Jesus said,
    And today I’m gonna walk right beside him
    ’Cause he’s the one who knows what is ahead.
    There are things about tomo­rrow
    That I don’t seem to unders­tand
    But I know who holds tomo­rrow
    And I know who holds my hand.
    And each step is get­ting brigh­ter
    As the gol­den stairs I climb.
    And every bur­den is get­ting ligh­ter
    And all the clouds are sil­ver lined.
    And, over there the sun is always shi­ning
    And no tears will ever dim the eye
    And the ending of the rain­bow
    Where the moun­tains, they touch the sky.
    There are many things about tomo­rrow
    I don’t seem to unders­tand
    But I know who holds tomo­rrow
    And I know who holds my hand.
    Yes I know who holds my hand.

    We love you! You will be in my prayer!

    Yoke Wong

  13. Marketing Mark Sinaguglia said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 7:30 pm

    Dear Syl­vie,

    I’m so sorry to hear the results of your biopsy.

    You and Michel will be in my pra­yers and those of many who know you and love you.

    You both have taught many of us so much and I’m sure ever­yone is going to buy into the lot­tery on your side.

    Stay focu­sed and stay posi­tive. You can beat this thing because you have good doc­tors, hun­dreds if not thou­sands of peo­ple kee­ping you in their pra­yers and good thoughts.

    Most of all you have a loving hus­band in Michel who will be figh­ting right with you all the way.

    God Bless you both during this dif­fi­cult time.

    Mar­ke­ting Mark

  14. Tammy Ames said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 7:32 pm

    Syl­vie, Your strength, cou­rage and posi­tive atti­tude will carry you far. Together you and Michel will learn to keep moving des­pite the trials. I’m sorry the news wasn’t as good as we all hoped but you have each other and we are pra­ying for you both through this. Your sha­ring will help you and others going through such trials — making you a bles­sing to all of us.

    Tammy

  15. Ruth said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 7:33 pm

    Dear Syl­vie and Michael,
    I’m so sad­de­ned to hear of this. I believe that we have the power to heal our­sel­ves and our body. At 54 I recently had con­ges­tive heart fai­lure then lear­ned I have 3 arte­ries 100% bloc­ked and not enough good heart to have bypass sur­gery. I’ve done the medi­cal model and am inte­gra­ting it with the alter­na­tive model. I’m an enigma to the heart trans­plant cli­nic that says I should be much sic­ker than I am. I have lots of peo­ple of all fla­vors of belief pra­ying for me. One show I’ve seen on public tele­vi­sion about can­cer alter­na­tive treat­ments is the Ger­son Ins­ti­tute at http://​www​.ger​son​.org/ There’s good and bad said this many year cli­nic based on the fin­din­dings of Char­lotte Gerson’s father. I believe Char­lotte is in her 70s or 80s. In any case my pra­yers and thoughts are there with you.

    Bles­sings,

    Ruth

  16. Robert Lehrer said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 7:33 pm

    Syl­vie, Michel,
    I know the two of you only through your blogs, but my heart and thoughts go out to both of you. Cou­ples like you deserve (and will ulti­ma­tely receive) a bet­ter prog­no­sis. Good rea­ding: “Ana­tomy of an Ill­ness” by Nor­man Cou­sins about the power of humor in the face of a serious ill­ness.
    Warmly,
    Robert Lehrer

  17. Joanne Robbins said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 7:37 pm

    Dear Michael and Silvie,

    My hus­band and I went through this 3 years ago. It was him who had the can­cer, though.…not me. He under­went the sur­gery and sub­se­quent treat­ments. Today, he is just fine. It was dif­fi­cult to go through, but with the help of the Almighty, we made it. We both know that more hardships will face us in the future, espe­cially as we become old, but we can look back and know how we came through this major pro­blem and rea­lize we can face tomo­rrow with joy.

    I pray for you to have strength, cou­rage, hope, and faith that no mat­ter what hap­pens, you will be in the cen­ter of God’s will. Just kno­wing this will give you peace and the abi­lity to face your difficulties.

    God bless you both,

    Joanne

  18. Tom O'Brien said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 7:41 pm

    Syl­vie & Michel,
    You have my sup­port and best wishes in these trying times. The glass is indeed half full and long may you crack out this blog ;-)

    All the best,
    Tom

  19. Anthony said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 7:41 pm

    Just wan­ted to buy a lot­tery tic­ket for Syl­vie and one for Michel.
    You’re in my thoughts and pra­yers
    Good luck and God bless
    Anthony

  20. Murtaza said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 7:42 pm

    Come On Sylvie,

    You Have to Come out with Bet­ter Health.…

    You WILLPOWER will reco­ver you soon. So, Never Loose Hope..Get Going!

    Mur­taza Ali.

  21. Mable-Jane Mark said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 7:50 pm

    Hi Syl­vie and Michel

    Geez ‚I wish I had something funny to say at this time but this one has Mable speechless.

    I can still see the two of you sit­ting at a table,
    late at night in Phoe­nix, and the love in your eyes
    which I know will get the two of you through this together.

    You are in Phil and my thoughts and when I can think of something to make you laugh, I will send it on.

    For now just know that we trea­su­red the time
    we spent get­ting to know you and that you will and you must get through this.

    Love and Love

    Jane

  22. Roberta Rosenberg said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 7:51 pm

    50% chance at a long, happy life? Sounds like a num­ber worth pla­ying! Sen­ding you strong, hea­ling thoughts as you pre­pare for the battle ahead.

  23. Jeanette Cates said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 7:52 pm

    Syl­vie

    What a cha­llenge! I can’t help but think you are sha­ring so much with others who may be facing the same cha­llen­ges that your going through it is hel­ping so many others. But I know that doesn’t make it any easier!!

    You and Michel epi­to­mize the loving rela­tionship that many others want. And by sha­ring that love and your bra­very you are giving others a true hope to shoot for. If ever there was a woman deter­mi­ned to beat this thing and get on with her life it is YOU! You are ins­pi­ra­tion to many — and a women truly to be admired.

    I want to buy some of those win­ning lot­tery tic­kets for you — I think we ALL can help! You *will* win!!

    Play to Win —

    Jea­nette

  24. Katherine Ly said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 7:54 pm

    Syl­vie and Michel,

    I am so sorry to hear the bad news. I know you can fight it and beat it. Just keep that deter­mi­na­tion and strong spi­rit you have Syl­vie. And with Michel by your side, I know you can do it. Hang in there and stay tough.

    Best wishes and Pra­yers,
    Kathe­rine
    (from Michel’s board)

  25. J said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 7:55 pm

    As you reco­ver over the next few years…

    …the years to come will be some of the most beau­ti­ful years of your life.

    The meals you eat…
    The friends you talk to…
    The laughs you have…
    The con­tri­bu­tions you make to peo­ples lives…

    …all of it will taste, feel, and sound bet­ter than anything anyone without your situa­tion will ever have experienced.

    J

  26. Frank Welzig said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 7:55 pm

    You don’t know me and I only know Michel from a video and lots of good things I have read about him. I do remem­ber his exci­te­ment over get­ting married to you Sylvie.

    My story for you: Our neigh­bor, Janice, lost both breasts, went through aggres­sive chemo, etc. It was rough but she now has all her hair back, is abso­lu­tely radiant again and is a true ins­pi­ra­tion for my wife and I and ever­yone she knows. She beat it — and you’ll beat it!!

    Love to both of you,
    Frank
    Frank

  27. Maria Madeira said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 7:55 pm

    My Dear Friend Sylvie

    I am “giving” you a very spe­cial “ticket”.

    Thanks With All My Heart

    Maria Madeira -“The Angel Of Dis­tance Loving Help”

  28. Shannon said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 7:56 pm

    My thoughts and pra­yers are with you both!

    You will beat this and you atti­tude pro­ves it. Thank you for sha­ring your story with all of us. You bring hope to a world that needs hope.

    You bring hap­pi­ness to the per­son who needs happiness.

    You bring tears to the per­son who needs compassion.

    Last but not least you bring strength to the women who are batt­ling this war beside you.

    God Bless,

    Shan­non

  29. David Phillips said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 7:57 pm

    Syl­vie,
    Wishing you suc­cess in your battle. I believe that you
    will make it. Love and pra­yers always.
    David

  30. Anthony Tomei said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 8:03 pm

    Michael & Sylvie,

    God Bless you both. My mother has can­cer so I know what you must be going through… It’s real uplif­ting to see someone keep a posi­tive out­look regard­less of the situa­tion because that is what will be your catalyst to a full reco­very. Hun­dreds of peo­ple have beat can­cer, they’ve over­come because they held a belief sys­tem above and beyond the norm.

    Keep your thoughts outside of the box and accept nothing less.

    YOU WILL TRIUMPH!

    Warmly,

    Anthony Tomei

  31. Scott Gingrich said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 8:04 pm

    Syl­vie,

    As I tell my 10 year old daugh­ter when she’s set her sight on a goal…“YOU GO GIRL!”

    You have a whole com­mu­nity sen­ding you posi­tive energy…for every one post here, there’s pro­bably 50 peo­ple or more who are kee­ping tabs.

  32. Mr. Subtle said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 8:05 pm

    I’m not a reli­gious per­son so I can’t pray for you, but I hope wishing you good for­tune in your battle helps just a teeny tiny bit.

    Mr. Subtle

  33. Kelvin Parker said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 8:07 pm

    Hello Syl­vie, hello Michel,

    Every day of life is a pre­cious gift … and you, Michel, and your chil­dren deserve the gift of your heart, your soul, your life for more days yet than you can count.

    Syl­vie, we do not know each other… and Michel, we have never had the plea­sure of mee­ting (yet) — though I feel to at least a small extent I know you from your pro­fes­sio­nal work and our com­mon pur­suits in that area.

    What you face now, and what you are about to sol­dier through with supreme con­fi­dence of vic­tory is not exactly new to more than a few mem­bers of my own family, and some friends also.

    Yet I know that you Syl­vie, and with Michel by your side will have more than enough reser­ves of spi­ri­tual strength to get you through.

    My wife and I, our family and our friends will pray for you every day — and look for­ward to your vic­tory message.

    War­mest wishes,
    Kel­vin Parker

  34. Dr. Mike said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 8:12 pm

    Syl­vie you are a very strong woman, and with Michel’s love you will get through this. My pra­yers are with you for a strong reco­very. YOU WILL BEAT THIS.

    Dr. Mike

  35. Michelle said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 8:24 pm

    Hi Syl­vie,

    I won’t ask you how you are fee­ling b/​c I can imagine.

    In our brief mee­ting we never tal­ked about per­so­nal stuff, but I’ll tell you how I feel about this now & I’ll be my blunt self with no harm inten­ded. I come from a place of wan­ting to help, but I feel strongly about what I do & don’t know.

    I don’t believe in con­ven­tio­nal medi­cine, not unless it’s a car acci­dent & I need a sur­geon to sew me up & at that point I’m already in a state of dis­re­pair, so cut­ting me open won’t mat­ter much, but the trauma the body & emo­tio­nal self feels when they go thru sur­gery is quite debilitating.

    I stop­ped taking drugs a long time ago. I don’t believe they can cure you & from what I know, doing all this stuff only makes things worse, not better.

    Kevin Tru­deau (no rela­tion, as he’s in the Sta­tes) wrote a book on the whole sub­ject & while he’s too long win­ded for my tas­tes & I already knew most of this stuff prior, it’s a good first book for new­bies to edu­cate them­sel­ves on.

    I unders­tand this is the path you wish to take, but if you ever decide to try other methods to heal your­self, I’m here to help you find the way for you if you want to take me up on my offer. I will find the time amongst my very busy/​hectic schedule.

    Can­cer has been cura­ble for years, that’s why I won’t give to any can­cer societies.

    I’m not know­led­gea­ble enough in this area to give any advice b/​c I’ve never had can­cer, so there’s been no need for me to research this, but I’ve been into alter­na­tive health for years.

    What I know from my edu­ca­tion of holis­tic approaches, is that can­cer is cura­ble, but of course the best approach is to look after our­sel­ves prior to it beco­ming an issue. That’s a moot point of course.

    Of course all of the info depends on what stage you are at. You will start on your jour­ney to unders­tan­ding your body. It’s an exci­ting journey : )

    There’s a beau­ti­ful yet pain­ful story about the can­cer nurse who lived in Onta­rio back in the 40’s (I think it was) & hel­ped to heal TONS of humans from all over the world who had can­cer & tra­ve­led to see her.

    Of course the govern­ment tried to do wha­te­ver they could to bring her down & this is why this infor­ma­tion is not known to the majo­rity of society, but I won’t go there : ) b/​c I don’t want to start spe­wing LOL

    Also, just so you know, I have an appt. with a chann­ler who trai­ned him­self to chan­nel like Edgar Cayce (if you know who he is, his bio is truly inte­res­ting & emo­tio­nally moving) on the 30th not just for my own health pro­blems, but to ask ques­tions of var­ying spi­riu­tal degrees.

    If you want to know how the ses­sion goes, you can e-​​mail me after that date. He can do this via the phone & he’s also here in ON (believe it or not), a cou­ple of hours away from Toronto.

    He does have a wai­ting list though, so I already boo­ked my other appt. b/​c if all goes well, I don’t want to be wai­ting 30 days.

    He’s coming to Toronto on the 21st, he comes in once a month & does wee­kend ses­sions in a hotel.

    I also took seve­ral con­se­grity ses­sions in the last 2 yrs. & whe­ne­ver I had a ses­sion, I did feel bet­ter, I just stop­ped b/​c I had issues with the prac­tio­ner & the money was just adding up.

    Of course you may have dif­fe­rent expe­rien­ces & she is a nice person.

    The last thing I just recently heard was something about the water cure & can­cer. My brother knows way more about it than I do, but I’m going to be loo­king into it in the next week or so for myself.

    So, I hope you still have hope, & wish you a pain-​​free day, taking it one day at a time : )

    Miche­lle
    Peace & Sere­nity & loving energy to ya

  36. Paul Colligan said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 8:24 pm

    Pra­yers go with you. Heart bleeds for you.

    Paul

  37. Chris said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 8:29 pm

    Dea­rest Sylvie,

    Know this, the mind con­trols the entire body.

    Make your mind, every bit of your mind, the cons­cious and the sub­cons­cious mind-​​heal your body and kill the can­cer. Deter­mine this minute that the 50% is not 50% but 110% POSITIVE for survival.

    Deter­mine this truth into every cell of your brain, force it to bend to your will.

    You’ll be around for a very long time, and you and Michel will live to be a very old cou­ple, white hai­red, laughing, happy, and still very much in love.

    Don’t fear…trust that your brain will heal you.

    God bless and keep you both.

  38. Bob said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 8:30 pm

    Syl­vie,
    You indeed face a cha­llenge as you move forward.…however it may give you com­fort to know that thou­sands have faced a simi­lar cha­llenge and come through vic­to­rious. Modern medi­cine has made a great many advan­ces in the area of can­cer treat­ment in just the past few years.You have good rea­son to have faith and sin­cere belief that each step that you take and each day that pas­ses will bring you clo­ser to your own vic­tory. Remem­ber, loo­king for­ward will help to pull you forward.

    You might also take com­fort in kno­wing that each day that pas­ses, during this dif­fi­cult time, will not only bring you clo­ser to vic­tory but is a cha­llen­ging day that you’ve put behind you on your jour­ney to vic­tory.
    Bob

  39. Gary Gil said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 8:30 pm

    Syl­vie my thoughts and pra­yers are with you. Although I’ve never had the plea­sure of mee­ting you, you sound like an ama­zingly strong and posi­tive woman. We are all pulling for you. I’m con­fi­dent you will win this battle!

  40. Eric Louviere said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 8:32 pm

    My pra­yers are with you both! You can do this. Every thought must be positive!

    Eric

  41. Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 8:32 pm

    What a night­mare. Thank GOD you have each other to lean on. You WILL make it Syl­vie. And you’ll tell the sto­ries of how you con­que­red can­cer to your grand­ba­bies. Just an incon­ve­nient set-​​back. This time next year we will be cele­bra­ting the next stage of your char­med life.

    Love,
    Lo

  42. Ken Jarvin said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 8:37 pm

    Syl­vie,

    You said you were going to work at “Mas­te­ring the art of doing nothing”…
    Do that… spend more time just appre­cia­ting time.

    You’ve already been dec­la­red a winner…

    Kenny J

  43. vincent gagliardi said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 8:43 pm

    Michel & Sylvie,

    I am so sorry at your news. But you seem so strong and deter­mi­ned and your love for each other just reso­na­tes through your words.

    A story: a friend of mine at work had exten­sive colon can­cer some years ago; ever­yone gave up, but not her. She ente­red an expe­ri­men­tal pro­gram at Sloane-​​Kettering and had a plas­tic pump sur­gi­cally inser­ted into her abdo­men which con­ti­nually drip­ped meds into her sys­tem. Basi­cally, she was on che­mothe­rapy 24/​7 for seve­ral years. She’s can­cer free now, and her doc­tors had to figure out how to remove the pump because no one before had ever sur­vi­ved that treat­ment all the way to being cured! She refu­sed to be bea­ten, and your words sound so much like her!

    You are in my pra­yers, God bless you both.

    Best wishes,
    Vincent

  44. Daniel Russell said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 8:47 pm

    Hello Syl­vie; No words to what my heart is saying? May the uni­verse grants you all your tic­kets you deserve. May it also had 75% of mine to your list.

    Michel; you have married the Uni­ver­ses most ama­zing woman, with all she is facing.….she is thin­king of others and their needs.

    May the Angels of East and West, North and South stand by you in these times you’re about to face and facing?

    I want to let you know too that I am here stan­ding by you as a friend of and of Sylvie’s
    Stay strong; your faith in her will carry you both through this?

    I will con­ti­nue to send love and energy to her each day.…she is also on my world hea­ling list.

    By the way she chan­ges things.…things do not chan­ges her.

    Daneil
    Rag­Sac
    Solu­tions Archi­tects Consultants

  45. Corena said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 8:48 pm

    I have read of ever­yone pra­yers and thoughts..advice and an out pour of love to you..it is beautiful.

    You can and will survive.

    I know of two sur­vi­vors of breast can­cer. SURVIVORS

    My friends. One lost both of her breasts and went with tra­di­tio­nal the­ra­pies and also took mas­sive doses of vita­min C

    The other went on a spe­cial diet to rid her­self of all toxins that she believe the can­cer fed on.. She ate alot of grapes.

    But both had one treat­ment they sha­red and I see you are taking that treat­ment also.

    Deter­mi­na­tion.

    Keep up your strength and accept my thoughts and prayers..you can do this.
    .

    ~Corena

  46. Phil Basten (Joe) said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 8:52 pm

    Hi Syl­vie and Michel

    The love you have for each other will win the day. No power on earth is as strong as love. I am ins­pi­red by your cou­rage, your deter­mi­na­tion, and your com­mit­ment to each other. Thank you
    for sha­ring this with us. It helps us to remem­ber how cri­ti­cal each moment we have on earth is.

    You already know, deep inside, what I am about to share, I have this han­ging on a wall in our office.

    Pos­si­bi­lity Thinker’s Creed.

    When things go wrong as they some­ti­mes will,
    When the road you’re trud­ging seems all up hill,
    When the funds are low, and the debts are high,
    And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
    When care is pres­sing you down a bit,
    Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.

    Life is queer with its twists and turns
    As ever­yone of us some­ti­mes learns,
    And many a fai­lure turns about,
    When he might have won, had he stuck it out.
    Don’t give up though the pace seems slow,
    You may suc­ceed with another blow.

    Suc­cess is fai­lure tur­ned inside out,
    The sil­ver tint of the clouds of doubt,
    And you never can tell how close you are,
    It may be near when it seems so far,
    So stick to the fight when you’re har­dest hit,
    It’s when things seem worse,
    that you must not quit.

    I encou­rage you to hang it on a wall in your office, so it stays in your mind and heart everyday.

    You are in my pra­yers and I will keep you both before the throne of God untill vic­tory is assured.

    Phil Bas­ten
    from the Joe and Mable Show
    1 John 4:18

    PS: If you need someone to talk to or a shoul­der to lean on email me and I’ll shoot you our phone number.

  47. Jozsef Pal said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 8:52 pm

    Dear Syl­vie and Michael,

    I have just read the email about the bad news. I am so sorry to hear that.

    I would like to help — may be I could. (I hope)

    I have a very good friend here in Europe, in Hun­gary where I live. He is a won­der hea­ler, heals only with his energy /​ touch.

    I met him about 5 years ago, when my wife nee­ded urgent help (she had another disease) — she was hea­led within a few days.
    Since then we are very good friends — and he hel­ped our whole family and my friends too, who recom­mend him to their friends… because he is a real wonder.

    His name is Les­lie Kallos. To make it short, he makes unbe­lie­va­ble things /​ hea­lings, even doc­tors come to him to learn, because he does not only heal the

    peo­ple, but he can teach them to make the same to be able to heal others.

    I know, that it sounds unbe­lie­va­ble — but it is true. He hea­led so many peo­ple who had very serious ill­nes­ses (can­cer, tumor, etc).

    In some cases the tumors disap­pear in only a few days, some­ti­mes in weeks. He can help almost every­body, there were only a very few cases, when he couldn“t

    help.

    I would never make a joke about your ill­ness –i would like to help you, If I can.

    Les­lie is the best hea­ler I ever met. I am so thank­ful to him, that I per­so­nally send him more 100s clients, the most were my family mem­bers and friends. He

    is the only man in the world now, that I can recom­mend without the fear, that I can blame my truthfulness.

    At the other side, Les­lie is the worst “busi­ness­man” I ever met. He is a hea­ler, who recei­ved his talent from a big­ger autho­rity as we peo­ple are — and

    the­re­fore he is afraid of to lose it. That is the rea­son, that he heals for almost nothing, more times for free, too. (That is the reaon, that he lives in an

    ave­rage life level)

    He can even heal more 100s — 1000s peo­ple at once, too.

    Ear­lier I had never ima­gi­ned, that it was pos­si­ble — but since I know him, I know, that everything is possible.

    He does not speak english (he is hun­ga­rian), but if you — or some­body in your neigh­borhood — need his help, I help you to con­tact him.

    You can fly to Hun­gary to meet him per­so­nally — or he can fly to you, if you wish.

    If you have ques­tions, write me (Michael has my email address.)

    Once again, I really beleive in Les­lie. He heals our whole family, my wife, my chil­dren, ever­yone I really love. I know, what he really can, that is the

    rea­son, that I am not afraid of to lose my cre­di­bi­lity recom­men­ding him to anyone.

    I wish you all the best

    your friend

    Joz­sef Pal

  48. A Friend said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 9:00 pm

    Hello Syl­vie,

    I don’t know you or Michel personally.

    I was diag­no­sed in 1990.
    I’m still here.
    In 16 years you will be too.

    Bles­sings to you both.

  49. Mike Sigers said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 9:00 pm

    We’re pra­ying for you and for the strength that you’ll need to defeat this evil mons­ter of a disease.

    You can do it and I believe you will do it.

    Life’s pre­cious — FIGHT HARD !

  50. Cartess Ross said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 9:06 pm

    I’m sorry to hear what you’re going through.

    You and the family will be in our pra­yers daily!

    Car­tess

  51. Jason Cain said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 9:06 pm

    Aloha Syl­vie And Michel,

    Well now we (you two and all of us — your friends and family) now what we are dea­ling with. We now know how fierce we are going to have to fight.

    This is beatable!

    My best friend is a breast can­cer sur­vi­vor and many of the peo­ple lea­ving com­ments know sur­vi­vors too.

    Fight, fight, fight.

    I am proud of you both,

    You are lucky to have married a French-​​Canadian, they fight quite well! :)

    Love to you both,

    Jason Cain

  52. Jim Furr said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 9:14 pm

    This is inten­ded as gui­dence in a time of need
    and I have sta­ted it as clearly as I know how:

    ————

    Just a word about peace.

    Peace is not natually within us — but can be.

    Peace — True Peace, is peace with God.

    You are at War with God because of your sin.

    Sin = Brea­king God’s law (even once)

    God is Holy and will not tole­rate even the sma­llest sin.
    You Can­not make up for a sin — it is done and that is that.

    We must die because of sin.

    We are lost (sepa­ra­ted from God) and bound to an Eter­nity in Hell without God’s Love.

    We Must have an Advo­cate. Someone who can mediate bet­ween us and God,

    Someone Who can be a Righ­teous Sac­ri­fice for sin to satisfy

    God’s demand for Justice.

    That per­son must be sinless.

    Who is sin­less except God Himself?

    That brings us to the fact that God loves us (even though we break His Law in our inner­most being (down to the bone)), and He made a way for us to be right with Himself.

    Christ Jesus came to earth as the sin­less God/​Man, He died for sin­ners by dying in our place and shed His Blood for the washing away of our sins. He took our sin and punish­ment
    on the tor­tu­rous Roman Cross. He arose from the Grave.

    He was Cur­sed and Jud­ged for us and we receive His righ­teous­ness and right stan­ding with God — IF we Receive Jesus the Christ (Savior) as Our LORD and Savior by Faith and not by any Works we do to try to Earn the favor of God.

    The Works Were Accom­plished by Jesus dying on His Cross. He laid down His Life for sin­ners, willingly.

    Jesus the Christ (Prophet, Priest and King) Rose, in a Phy­si­cal Body, from Death and the Grave. It was God’s Power that accom­plished this, through the Holy Spi­rit, pro­ving that this is Truly the God/​Man Christ Jesus.

    His Sac­ri­fice was Accep­ta­ble to God the Father as 100% Pay­ment for Our Sin.

    If we are Saved, we are now Chil­dren of God and our Home is in Heaven.

    We are Free to Serve God and not the world, the flesh and the devil.

    We are Freed by Faith alone, Given by Grace alone, through Christ alone.

    Writ­ten by one who truly Knows Free­dom and is at Peace,

    jim furr

  53. Mike said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 9:15 pm

    Hi guys,

    This blog and your jour­ney will help you keep your mind, body, and soul in the right frame nee­ded to get thru this. Thanks for allo­wing your friends to be part of your jour­ney. We are here to help and theese replies can only put in the best energy back for you.

    With Love,

    Mike Fil­saime and family and staff

  54. Ted and Kim said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 9:17 pm

    Syl­vie,

    First of all, please smile, just for the moment. we will never send you a sad or sym­pathe­tic com­mu­ni­ca­tion. Since we first made con­tact, there has been some pretty uncanny para­llels bet­ween the two of you and the two of us. Thus, from the day this was announ­ced, it wasn’t very hard for us to see our­sel­ves in your shoes. We have been han­ging on your every word and we’re not going to lie, quite a few tears have been shed on this end, from both of us.

    Our won­der­ful new friends are going through a rough time and we can’t help, all we can do is sit here frus­tra­ted and wait for blog posts.

    But we can tell you. Michel and Ted would have reac­ted the exact same way to this most recent news. No NO NO this is NOT going to hap­pen. And it most cer­tainly will not!

    You have a boat­load of peo­ple sen­ding hea­ling energy to you and all of us will beat this with you!

    50/​50 MY ASS!

    We love you sweetie!

    Ted and Kim

  55. Ministerene said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 9:18 pm

    I admire your strength and cou­rage. My encou­ra­ge­ment to you is with these scriptures:

    “No, des­pite all these things, overwhel­ming vic­tory is ours through Christ, who loves us. And I am con­vin­ced that nothing can ever sepa­rate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomo­rrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the dee­pest ocean, nothing in all crea­tion will ever be able to sepa­rate us from the love of God that is revea­led in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:37–39

    And the peace of God, which pas­seth all unders­tan­ding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. ~ Phl 4:7

    The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gra­cious to you; the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace. ~ Num­bers 6:24–26

  56. Jose Molina said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 9:19 pm

    Syl­vie and Michel,
    My pra­yers are with you both!
    May the love of God Almighty be with you.
    Best wishes in you hour of need.
    Love and pra­yers for both.

    Jose Molina

  57. John Evans [Australia] said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 9:21 pm

    Hi Syl­vie and Michel

    Hang in there — a posi­tive approach is inc­re­dibly powerful.

    I’m now 75 — bet­ween the ages of 65 and 70 I’ve had pros­tate can­cer, a mela­noma and bowel can­cer. In each case I’ve belie­ved that this was just a minor hic­cup along the way and that I’d soon be OK — and I am ! Totally suc­cess­ful treat­ments for all of them

    I’m now as fit as I was at 50 — go to gym three times/​week, play golf and run a home based webdesign/​internet mar­ke­ting business.

    I believe that my utter belief that I would get suc­cess­fully though each of these ‘inci­dents’ was a major part of my suc­cess­ful reco­very in each case.

    You have that atti­tude — hang on to it — never doubt it — you’ll be OK — and an even bet­ter per­son when you’re through all this because you’ll unders­tand, and appre­ciate your inner strength.

    My love and thoughts to you both
    John

  58. Tom & Barb Saunders said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 9:22 pm

    Hello Syl­vie and Michel

    May God Bless you both!

    Tom & Barb

  59. Willie Crawford said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 9:22 pm

    Hi Syl­vie and Michel,

    Our pra­yers and love are with you. I’m sure that you rea­lize the impor­tance of your thoughts and atti­tude. This is a fight that many win and it’s one that you’ll win.

    Willie

  60. Kevin Newman said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 9:24 pm

    Michael and Slyvie,

    The two of you are always in my pra­yers. I am con­fi­dent you will make it through this.

    We’ll light another candle for you tonite.

    Kevin

  61. Ann said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 9:26 pm

    Hi Sil­vie:

    Yes this is a cha­llen­ging time. Yet there are so many peo­ple in your court and on your side roo­ting for you and pra­ying for you.

    Peo­ple here have men­tio­ned alter­na­tive treat­ments and hea­lers. There is much good stuff out there. Please also look into medi­ta­tion and rela­xa­tion music. Visua­li­za­tion exer­ci­ses are also very very good.

    I can recom­mend Dr Simon­ton http://​www​.simon​ton​cen​ter​.com/ who is an expert on can­cer and its treat­ment. His rela­xa­tion and men­tal ima­gery cd’s are very good and relaxing.

    May peo­ple pos­ting here come up with a good ins­pi­ra­tion for you to try out and may it help guide you at this time.

    Thank­fully there is lots of help and lots of hope.

    Ann

  62. Shawn Casey said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 9:38 pm

    Syl­vie,

    I am cer­tain that you will be fine. There is no ques­tion that the atti­tude you’re brin­ging to this situa­tion has already deter­mi­ned the posi­tive outcome.

    Michel’s strength, com­mit­ment and deter­mi­na­tion will give you the firm sup­port on which you’ll build an inc­re­di­ble future together.

    And this story you have to tell will be all the swee­ter when you’re sha­ring it with your grandchil­dren… and great grandchildren!

    Shawn and Patri­cia Casey

  63. Dr.Mani said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 9:40 pm

    (Please take what I’m saying below as the opi­nion of a NON-​​specialist — my know­ledge about breast can­cer is at least 12 years old, and is in no way inten­ded to be, nor should it be cons­trued as, medi­cal advice — more as data to be recon­fir­med by your doctor/​specialist)

    Syl­vie, this is not good news, but it could be worse. Smile :)

    The way we unders­tand breast can­cer today is dif­fe­rent from the 1980’s — now we con­si­der it a ‘sys­te­mic’ disease from the very begin­ning. Its spread beyond the breast tis­sue already hap­pe­ned when the can­cer was a few milli­me­ters in size — or smaller.

    In other words, while the spread to your lymph nodes has some ‘prog­nos­tic’ value (impact on mode of adju­vant treat­ment to be used and a ‘pre­dic­tive’ sta­tis­ti­cal value about disease-​​free sur­vi­val), it does not, per se, indi­cate spread of the con­di­tion beyond the breast. Ditto for ‘multi-​​centricity’, though the beha­vior of these tumors has cer­tain uni­que features.

    That’s also the rea­son sur­gery has moved from exten­si­vely radi­cal and muti­la­ting super-​​radical mas­tec­to­mies to a more limi­ted, breast-​​conserving cos­me­tic approach — along with more aggres­sive sup­por­tive treat­ment (chemo, immuno and hor­mone the­rapy) to des­troy the micro-​​colonies of cells in dif­fe­rent parts of the body.

    And sys­te­mic spread is not always as bad as it first sounds. If you haven’t read Lance Armstrong’s “It’s Not About The Bike”, you should do it BEFORE chemo begins. It is an inc­re­di­ble — even scary — insight into how things can get… and how you WILL over­come it, and thrive. Lance desc­ri­bes his chest xray as loo­king at a SNOWSTORM — it was so filled with can­cer cells, he couldn’t breathe comfortably!

    With chemo, it ALL disap­pea­red. He has been can­cer free for years now. He had an aggres­sive form called cho­rio­car­ci­noma — at age 28. Doc­tors gave him a 40% chance of sur­vi­val. He sur­vi­ved. And won the Tour de France — 4 more times!

    On a rela­ted note, I’m pretty good at put­ting medi­cal jar­gon into lay­per­son lingo. Have done it for various com­plex sur­gi­cal pro­ce­du­res that help parents unders­tand what their kids are going through. Even did one for Allan Gardyne’s rea­ders when he went through Bone Marrow Trans­plan­ta­tion some years back.

    If you would like me to do one for you, either for your per­so­nal use or to share with your rea­ders, please email me a copy of the medi­cal report and I’ll work on it.

    It’s ok to feel depres­sed and ner­vous about the report you got, Syl­vie. But breast can­cer at a youn­ger age is expec­ted to be more aggres­sive. The report only con­firms that. My ear­lier belief still holds — you will fight it and WIN. Many of us are with you, chee­ring you along.

    Through it all, you will be sup­por­ted by our hopes and pra­yers. Each of our wishes for you buys an extra tic­ket in your ‘lot­tery’ — which means there’s no doubt who is going to win the prize, right? :)

    All suc­cess

    Dr.Mani

  64. Kim said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 9:47 pm

    Sil­vie,

    Sta­tis­tics are just that — sta­tis­tics. And you are from from being a sta­tis­ti­cal norm in a book.

    In 1997 I was diag­no­sed with car­diom­yo­pathy. It carries a life expec­tancy of 70% dying within 5 years of diag­no­sis. Its nine years later and with the help of an implan­ted defi­bri­la­tor, lots of drugs and a caring car­dio­lo­gist or two — I’m still here.

    Your life expec­tancy after a diag­no­sis has more to do with your atti­tude, your sup­port line and your care than statistics.

    Fight, fight, fight. Don’t give up and take exce­llent care of yourself.

    You will survive.

  65. Pamela said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 9:59 pm

    With no per­so­nal expe­rien­ces to share, I can only give you my pra­yers — they are heartfelt.

  66. Elaine said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 10:00 pm

    Dear Syl­vie and Michel,

    I joi­ned the copyw​ri​ters​board​.com last year when I wan­ted to learn the tra­des of being a free­lance copyw­ri­ter. Well, it was from the very same board that gave me ins­pi­ra­tions and les­sons that I got the news of your condition.

    You are a very strong woman, Syl­vie, at least stron­ger than me because as soon as i read the way you desc­ribe Michel’s expres­sion while the doc­tor read and explain your report, I just broke down. Tears star­ted strea­ming down my cheeks.

    I will always have both of you in my thoughts. I’ll wish that you, Syl­vie, will win each of the lot­tery tic­kets and I hope that you will hit the jack­pot of life very, very soon. And I’ll also wish Michel to have faith and strenght to cope for any hurd­les that may come in the future.

    I may not know you two per­so­nally but my heart aches when I see two beau­ti­ful peo­ple who are in love being thrown a hurdle that threa­tens to sepa­rate them. Can life be more tragic?

    Well, with your opti­mism and faith, i bet you’re more stub­born than those can­cer cells, and you will smack them down, girl! Here is all the love and sup­port a stran­ger could ever give.

    Sadhu, sadhu, sadhu…

    ———————————————

    Love your­self and be awake -
    today, tomo­rrow, always.
    First esta­blish your­self in the way,
    then teach others,
    and so defeat sorrow.
    To straigh­ten the croo­ked
    you must first do a har­der thing -
    straigh­ten your­self.
    You are the only mas­ter. Who else?
    Sub­due your­self,
    and dis­co­ver your master.

    ~ Buddha

    ————————————————-

    From,
    Elaine

  67. Sarah Hurty said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 10:03 pm

    Dear Syl­vie and Michael,

    I tea­red up as I read the news. Our family has been through this recently.

    My hus­band, a car­dio­lo­gist, is not an expert in can­cer either. But we just went through all this with his brother’s wife. Everything that Dr. Mani wrote is what we lear­ned also.

    The can­cer pro­bably spread quite early, whether you find it elsewhere or not, and chemo “mops up” those bits.

    Really strong nutri­tio­nal sup­port can only help. As much as you can, eat well to care for your­self :-) .

    The road ahead is a cha­llenge and the emo­tio­nal impact can­not be ima­gi­ned by anyone who has not been through it.

    But 50% chance is great! And the days will be swee­ter while you live through to dis­co­ver that you made it.

    We will be pra­ying with you.

    Sarah

  68. Neill Neill said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 10:04 pm

    Dear Syl­vie,

    No one knows why you are having to go through this, but please never lose hope.

    I know from my daughter’s expe­rience that it is pos­si­ble to sur­vive and thrive far beyond what con­ven­tio­nal wis­dom dic­ta­tes. She has sta­yed positve through sur­ge­ries for skin can­cer as a teen, mul­ti­ple deep muscle can­cers over the next 15 years, bone can­cer, breast can­cer, lymph node can­cer and others. She was also diag­no­sed with leu­ke­mia part way through. Mul­ti­ple cour­ses of radia­tion the­rapy and chemo-​​therapywre requi­red. She’s now 46, rema­rried again, still posi­tive and can­cer free for a few years. She has never stop­ped wor­king. She’s a fighter.

    I don’t know you per­so­nally, but I would urge you use wha­te­ver means and wha­te­ver peo­ple you can find to help keep you loo­king for­ward and sta­ying in charge of your life.

    Love and blessings,

    Neill

  69. Daniel Levis said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 10:07 pm

    Hi Syl­vie and Michel,

    Our thoughts and love are with you. Your deter­mi­na­tion and posi­tive out­look will see you through.

    Daniel Levis

  70. Perry D said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 10:13 pm

    Syl­vie and Michel,

    You have each other and that is very strengthe­ning. Wha­te­ver you do, don’t give up. I don’t know either of you per­so­nally but some­ti­mes I feel like I do. I’ll keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

    Keep up the good fight. There are plenty of nutri­tio­nal sup­ple­ments that can help the tra­di­tio­nal medi­cal treat­ments work even better.

    Perry Droast

  71. Susann Arber said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 10:24 pm

    Syl­vie and Michel,
    Without a doubt in the world, YOU WILL BEAT THIS!
    My pra­yers are with you!
    Susann

  72. Rick Driscoll said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 10:25 pm

    I saw Michel and you for the first time last April, on stage, sha­ring your insights while dis­pla­ying your love for one another. I thought you two must share a uni­que bond, for your love shown through.

    While you are on this jour­ney remem­ber: The mode in which the ine­vi­ta­ble comes to pass is through effort.

  73. Gary Cogley said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 10:26 pm

    Syl­vie,

    Dit­tos on loo­king into Vita­min C inter­ve­nous the­rapy and her­bal the­rapy. I have read that it helps without des­tro­ying your immune sys­tem. Also, as Robert Mai­ler did when he was diag­no­sed — lock your­self up with a comedy marathon. Laugh­ter helps the immune sys­tem stave off bugs.

    Hang in there and stay posi­tive — I know it is hard to do — but it really does help.

    My best and posi­tive thoughts to you and Michael.

    Gary C.

  74. Patrick Patten said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 10:32 pm

    Dear Syl­vie and Michael:

    When I still wor­ked in the medi­cal field, had an oppor­tu­nity to spend a lot
    of time with mas­tec­topmy patients and their spouses.

    One thing stood out more so then anything else I remem­ber. The abso­lute cou­rage of these women in dea­ling with what they ter­med “a very real enemy”. We taught them to view each inva­sive cell as an “enemy ship”, that could be des­tro­yed by the toxic miss­les of che­mothe­rapy and the land mines of their own natu­ral immu­nity. They taught us that they could not only refine the methods, but give us real results by visua­li­zing the des­truc­tion of those cells, one by one. Was it just the posi­tive out­look that they had a cer­tain amount of con­trol over what the des­tiny of their lives and bodies would be? Perhaps. But one thing is cer­tain. Their out­look about what the results “should be” had just as much to do with their health, as did all the medi­cal atten­tion we could give.

    If there is one thing that wis­dom teaches us, it is that with every ans­wer we recieve, it is only another step toward 12 new ques­tions. Except one ans­wer that has always remai­ned con­sis­tent. Life is our right, and there is no finer gift to fight for. You and Michael now have your batt­le­ground and your war, well defi­ned. It is not the “gene­rals” that will deter­mine the battle play in the end, it will be you two. It is your heri­tage, it is your gift. In so much as this is your gift, you, also, are one of our gifts. For this rea­son, please know that you two have addi­tio­nal “warriors” on your side. You will be in my pra­yers, you will be in my heart. And when you feel your lon­liest and most vul­ne­ra­ble, simply let go, and know that your are not ever ALONE.

    Your per­so­nal warrior,
    Patrick

  75. Kim said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 10:33 pm

    You are always in my thoughts and pra­yers.
    –Kim

  76. Beth Ferree said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 10:33 pm

    Sly­vie,
    I’m very sorry to hear the news. I am going to send by a cou­ple of friends who had the same agres­sive type. One is nearly at her five year mark now I believe. I hope they are able to make a con­nec­tion with you.
    God bless,
    Beth

  77. Tatyana said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 10:36 pm

    Hi Michel and Sylvie

    I shall pray for your reco­very! Please take what I say here seriously.
    Read about http://​www​.ena​gic​.com water. It is Kan­gen Water. The water that helps to fight can­cer and other diseases.

    Tat­yana

  78. George Butler said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 10:38 pm

    HI Michel and Syl­vie,
    I am on Michel’s new­let­ter list and thats how I lear­ned of your pro­blem. As I read your blog I had tears rolling down my face. And as I got near the bot­tom at the “Lot­tery” meta­for sec­tion I rea­li­zed that this lady has the right atti­tude. This life we are enga­ged in is nothing but one Giant Pos­si­bi­lity and having the right atti­tude is a part of that Giant Pos­si­bi­lity.
    You guys have my pra­yers for that 50/​50 lot­tery ticket.

    With my pra­yers George Butler

  79. Peter Chai said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 10:40 pm

    Hi Syl­vie & Michel

    I sent an email to michel@​successdoctor.​com
    in reply to Michel’s Sub­ject: Re: [Michel For­tin] Can­cer: The Results Are In — Sep­tem­ber 23, 2006

    … with a per­so­nal sharing

    I hope you get the email

    Peter
    ps: my email address starts with “genevie .…

  80. Andria said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 10:58 pm

    My thoughts and pra­yers with you, your hus­band and your kids…You are not alone, a lot of peo­ple will be with you! Receive the LOVE, your are giving, you will receive! My mom is a sur­vi­vor– three and a half years, still on some the­rapy as a pre­ven­tive mea­sure for five years, chi­miothe­rapy was hard ’cause inmune sys­tem is hit bad…support recei­ved from AMGEN bio­tech­no­logy, it was very impor­tant for her blood…

    Andria

  81. Amy Stanton said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 11:08 pm

    The bible teaches us as long as there is breath there’s hope. Grab that hope with both hands. Hold onto it. You remem­ber we are all pulling for you, pra­ying for you, and behind you 100% with our love. I will say a spe­cial pra­yer for you every day Syl­vie. We love you very much.

  82. Nell Taliercio said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 11:13 pm

    I’m not sure what to say. I just know my heart aches for you, but at the same time is very hope­ful. You have a strong sup­port sys­tem, strong spi­rit, and many peo­ple pra­ying for you. I wish I could offer bet­ter words of sup­port or a sim­ple hug. I’m pulling for you Sylvie.

  83. Jackie Alarie said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 11:16 pm

    Syl­vie,

    I know there is inc­re­di­ble power in the mind, body, spi­rit con­nec­tion. The wes­tern world is only begin­ning to recog­nize this. I believe it is far more than we can even ima­gine. I have seen it so clearly in my life and in loved ones.

    Be strong, be posi­tive. Nou­rish your body with the healthiest of foods. You’ll make it. You have an enor­mous body of peo­ple pra­ying for your return to good health. That is mighty powerful.

    My thoughts and pra­yers are with you and Michel,
    Jackie

  84. Thorsten Happel said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 11:16 pm

    Syl­vie — My thoughts are with you and your amzing family. I wish you all the best for the tough times you have ahead of you. I know you will be fine and you will get back to all you love and enjoy in no time.

    –Thors­ten

  85. Kenny Handelman said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 11:26 pm

    Hi Syl­vie,
    My pra­yers are with you.
    I want to thank you for being so brave as to share your expe­rience on this blog.
    I know that it takes a lot of cou­rage to share your fears and vul­ne­ra­bi­li­ties with anyone, let alone pos­ting them on a blog.
    As you know, my wife is going through the same thing. She has had chemo, mas­tec­tomy and we are wai­ting to hear about radia­tion and hor­mone the­rapy.
    I find this blog so help­ful because I can relate very per­so­nally to the strug­gles, hopes and fears. I also know how hard it can be on the hus­band, Michel.
    I com­mend you on sha­ving your head. I offe­red to do that but my wife refu­sed, saying she didn’t want me to look bad (and under my curls, I do have a really big head ;-)
    Using your ana­logy, Syl­vie, you are buying a lot­tery tic­ket (or many) by sha­ring this info with me. You are an outs­tan­ding per­son.
    My ori­gi­nal offer to dis­cuss any aspect of this treat­ment with you still stands. Not only are you bright, but you are fully capa­ble of fin­ding the resour­ces you need to get the ans­wers that are impor­tant to you. If you want me to be a resource (to the extent that I can), just let me know.
    Keep strong, and I look for­ward to seeing you soon.

  86. Mike Humphreys said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 11:28 pm

    Syl­vie and Michel,

    My pra­yers are with both of you. You have the inner strength to win this battle. On behalf of the entire Humph­reys family, we are pulling (and pra­ying) for you!

    Mike Humph­reys

  87. Phil Ballard said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 11:35 pm

    Syl­vie & Michael ~

    First let me say how sorry I feel about the news. I have been follo­wing the two of you and have been so happy to see and read about the LOVE you two have for each other. ” It does us all good.” We can feel it!

    I don’t know what God’s plans are but I see above in other copy that they men­tio­ned the ~ 23rd Psalm. I know you believe in that because of the strength you show through your Blogs.

    You are one strong lady and I know for sure ~ You will be just fine in time.

    What a MAN to have by your side ~ Michael will help the two of you be together for ever.

    Sil­vie, Please go to the web­site I gave above and read & lis­ten to some of the most talen­ted doc­tors on the pla­net and peo­ple who have and are going through what you are ~ I think it will help you !

    I do know what this all natu­ral juice has done for the sons of two friends of mine and there was little or no hope.
    One thing is for sure ~ It will give you strength and help your white count and with the chemo.

    I am wri­ting too much but ~ PLEASE YOU & MICHAEL ~ Check out the site and lis­ten to ~ Dr. John Edwards and Dr. Amod Tootla ~

    This is all Natu­ral, researched for years and you can check that out too at PUB MED on the bot­tom of the same site.

    I am not men­tio­ning the name because I care about hel­ping you ~ not adver­ti­sing this all natu­ral juice that I believe has been touched from above,
    although I should because ever­yone on the pla­net should know about it.

    Syl­vie, I hope to GOD that this WILL HELP YOU as it has SO MANY OTHERS .

    I have pra­yed for you and for Michael and I will be watching for your letters.

    You are so uplif­ting for so many peo­ple ~ God love YOU & GOOD LUCK!

    I hope I have hel­ped you two with my site and advice to lis​ten​.to these doc­tors & hear about what this is doing!

    If I can be of help with anything or can ans­wer ques­tions ~ Please let me know.

    I care about you two as do many, many others!
    Phil,
    Phil Ballard ~ 813–936-0215 ~ My E-​​Mail is above:

  88. Amy said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 11:39 pm

    I’m a stran­ger pas­sing through, but I wan­ted to let you know that you gave me a “lot­tery tic­ket” of bles­sing with your won­der­ful, strong atti­tude. Keep your chin up and hold on to faith in God.

  89. Rob Palmer said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 11:39 pm

    Syl­vie and Michel,

    Best wishes and fin­gers cros­sed to the both of you…our thoughts are with you.

  90. Peter and Mathew Frank said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 11:45 pm

    Hi Syl­vie and Michel,
    I unders­tand the pain and maybe even con­fu­sion you are both going through. My wife of 35 years, Anto­nia, was just diag­no­sed with a brain tumour after years of unex­plai­ned ill­ness.
    The good thing (you must look for the good and posi­tive) is that now we know what we are figh­ting… just as you do. Remem­ber, anything is pos­si­ble when you work at it.

    So our pra­yers are with you both as you face this journey.

    Love from Peter, Anto­nia and Mathew

  91. Stephen Voight said on:

    September 23, 2006 at 11:58 pm

    Syl­vie,
    As a sur­vi­vor of devas­ta­tion and des­pair I can relate to you both in so many ways and I only know you through pro­ducts and ser­vi­ces I have got­ten from you or the many times I have seen artic­les and read your advice or your stories.

    I know it hurts in ways where there are no words to even desc­ribe it.

    I came to believe this:

    Des­pair leads to pain, pain leads to fear, fear leads to energy, energy leads to hope, hope leads to love, love leads to healing.

    The truth is that it starts with where you are at now but ALL is possible.

    You have to believe beyond every doubt that you can make this the best part of your life and you will find that it will become that for you.

    Bless you,
    Stephen Voight

  92. Carol said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 12:01 am

    I defi­na­tely believe in mirac­les both by only God and also God using medi­cal peo­ple. I had my miracle when someone gave me the “gift of life” about 5 1/​2 years ago.

    I know anything is pos­si­ble with God and will join in the voi­ces lif­ted to God for your miracle of hea­ling and strength.

    Some­ti­mes we need to take each day minute by minute; may you find strength, joy and peace to take those minu­tes with.
    Carol

  93. Mark Krusch said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 12:04 am

    Hi Syl­vie (and Michel),

    I’m sorry to learn of your can­cer pre­di­ca­ment. I lost my first wife when she was 34 to breast can­cer. It was an 18 month battle for her and she never gave up even at the end. She was a Chris­tian and fully belie­ved that God would heal her. We had a 3 year old son whom she just knew she would be around to see grow up. But God did have other plans for her and she left us in June of 1994.

    After she pas­sed, I was at a retreat and I heard of a man named George Malk­mus. He is a (now) reti­red Bap­tist Pas­tor who beat colon can­cer by using a “Halle­lu­jah Diet”. It is a diet that basi­cally uses whole fresh vege­ta­bles and fresh fruits — the type of food that Adam and Eve ate. Any­way, I often wish that we had heard about this before my won­der­ful wife pas­sed. It seems that very often these natu­ral food diets will help a per­son to beat can­cer. If you’re inte­res­ted in rea­ding about the diet or just get­ting some uplif­ting rea­ding, you can read about it here: http://​www​.hac​res​.com

    I’m pra­ying for the two of you and sin­ce­rely hope that you are able to beat this disease! Keep up your spi­rits — a posi­tive atti­tude truly helps! God bless you both. If there’s anything I can do to help in any way, please con­tact me.

    Sin­ce­rely,
    Mark Krusch

  94. Tom said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 12:17 am

    Syl­vie and Michel,

    My thoughts and pra­yers are with you both.

    May God grant you healing.

    Tom

  95. Shaun O'Reilly said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 12:24 am

    Dear Syl­vie and Michael,

    Although I’ve never met you I was touched by the exci­te­ment of your wed­ding and the genuine site you had set up there. I am now sad­de­ned to learn about the latest turn of events.

    Let me first say that I have no idea what you are going through at the moment nor do I pre­tend to do so.

    What I can offer is an exam­ple from my own life and some obser­va­tions too — which you are free to do with as you wish.

    Firstly, about 3 years ago I recei­ved the shoc­king news that an Aunt on my Mother’s side was diag­no­sed with a advan­ced stage can­cer and had to have a strong course of che­mothe­rapy too. The can­cer had spread to her lymph­no­des too so natu­rally I was worried and con­cer­ned for her.

    Thank­fully she has pulled through and now has the all clear and we all hope it stays that way.

    I’m an advo­cate of posi­tive thin­king and com­pli­men­tary approaches to can­cer (e.g. the work of Dr. Dee­pak Cho­pra at the Cho­pra Cen­tre). Howe­ver, once my Aun­tie was diag­no­sed sud­denly the alter­na­tive approaches see­med a bit too sim­plis­tic — espe­cially amidst the tur­moil of the time from diag­no­sis through treatment.

    At that time, I didn’t quite know whose approach to trust from the doc­tors through to the alter­na­tive practitioners.

    My obser­va­tion is that con­ven­tio­nal medi­cine (and parts of this blog) are overly focu­sing on the disease (the can­cer cells, the chemo, etc). If I were in the same situa­tion I’d most likely do the same too so.

    That said, I’m of the belief that you get in life what you focus on. What you focus on expands.

    The­re­fore, spend the majo­rity of your time, energy and focus thin­king about your impro­ving health, your loving rela­tionship with Michael and many of the other gifts that life has given you and that you are gra­te­ful for.

    Remem­ber the law of attrac­tion and that what you think about comes about. If you haven’t already seen it you may want to watch The Sec­ret movie.

    I’m cer­tainly not saying that if you just think posi­tive everything will be OK — that’s way too sim­plis­tic. What I am saying is be care­ful of your words, actions and focus and keep them on what you DO WANT to create in your life more often than the times you may think about the disease.

    I hope that the above story and my obser­va­tions are use­ful for you Syl­vie and Michael. I can­not pre­tend to unders­tand one ounce of what you’re going through right now but do know that I send you my best wishes and love from the UK.

    With very best wishes,

    Shaun

  96. Tim Warren said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 12:29 am

    Hi Syl­vie and Michel,

    My thoughts and pra­yers are with you both and with your family.

    In a past life, I wor­ked for many years as a research engi­neer, and one thing I can tell you about sta­tis­tics is that they don’t mean a thing. The sta­tis­tics the doc­tor is quo­ting inc­lu­des young peo­ple, old peo­ple, peo­ple in good health, peo­ple in bad health, peo­ple with good atti­tu­des (like yours), and peo­ple with terri­ble attitudes.

    You can’t com­pare all those peo­ple to you. You are an indi­vi­dual. You’re young, in good health, have a great atti­tude, and have a ton of peo­ple pra­ying for you. How can you miss?

    Stay posi­tive, and know that life will be just that much swee­ter when you get through this.

    God Bless,

    Tim

  97. Shariq said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 12:33 am

    you guys ins­pire me!!

    wat cou­rage!! man you both gonna rock..!

    God bless!

  98. Mikki said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 12:45 am

    Hi Syl­vie,
    I don’t know if you remem­ber me. You per­so­nally emai­led me after rea­ding my first post to your can­cer site (Mas­tec­tomy Tomo­rrow and How I’ve Pre­pa­red For It). I was sup­po­sed to be having sur­gery a few days after that post. It was post­po­ned because a second biopsy found still more can­cer in my left breast. Ins­tead of having a lum­pec­tomy, I too am to have a mas­tec­tomy. Of course, the lymph­no­des will also be explo­red.
    My sur­gery is set for Mon­day, Sep­tem­ber 25th at 1:30pm. I am having the sur­gery at Sloane-​​Kettering Memo­rial Hos­pi­tal in Manhat­tan, NY. I am to arrive at 11:30am so that they can do the map­ping (of lymph­no­des) pro­ce­dure.
    Your blog has been enor­mously help­ful to me as I enter into the jour­ney you have already begun. It has been an “eye-​​opener”. Slowly but surely, the infor­ma­tion that I need to know & unders­tand is see­ping in. That’s how it has been for me since fin­ding out my diag­no­sis. My belief is that this is Gods way of pre­pa­ring & pro­tec­ting me men­tally & emo­tio­nally from infor­ma­tion over­load.
    Today I went to mass & after­wards I asked the priest for an annoin­ting. He pra­yed over me & annoin­ted me with holy oil asking God to guide the doc­tors as they do what needs to be done to heal my body. We pra­yed together & he hug­ged me & wished me all good luck & asked me to let him know how I am doing when I am able. It was both uplif­ting & cal­ming at the same time.
    God & good peo­ple like your­self & Michel are what is going to get me through this. I just know it.
    And I know that you are going to make it too. You are too strong & too much of a bles­sing to others to loose this fight.
    You & your family are in my pra­yers as God & His angels watch over you.
    God Bless,
    Mikki-​​NY

  99. Michael Koenigs said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 12:52 am

    Hi Syl­vie (and Michael),

    Just recei­ved your mes­sage from your e-​​mail tonight. Sorry to hear the news of your cancer.

    I have something to share with you — perhaps it will be help­ful in your quest to inc­rease your odds of recovery.

    I’ll pro­vide a disc­lai­mer now and later in this docu­ment: I do have a busi­ness rela­tionship with the orga­ni­za­tion I’m about to tell you about. Hope­fully after rea­ding this mes­sage, you’ll feel as though this infor­ma­tion is being pro­vi­ded to you with integrity.

    Over the past 4 years, I’ve inter­vie­wed dozens of can­cer “guests” (more on this soon) and sur­vi­vors who have gone through the cha­llen­ges you are expe­rien­cing right now. Each has gone through what appea­red to be insur­moun­ta­ble odds in attemp­ting to beat cancer.

    In hind­sight, the #1 thing every inter­vie­wee has said is the thing that has made the big­gest dif­fe­rence in their sur­vi­val has been hope.

    I just retur­ned from a trip and inter­vie­wed ten more remar­ka­ble peo­ple who have beat the odds of a variety of “ter­mi­nal” disea­ses inc­lu­ding cancer.

    They’ve all been “guests” (ins­tead of patients) at a remar­ka­ble hea­ling hos­pi­tal called Sano­viv. It’s a faci­lity that pro­vi­des treat­ments to patients suf­fe­ring from can­cer and all kinds of other dege­ne­ra­tive disea­ses with subs­tan­tive, real results.

    Although they pro­vide “tra­di­tio­nal” treat­ments inc­lu­ding che­mothe­rapy, the pri­mary focus is on trea­ting the cause of the disease ins­tead of the symp­toms. They employ com­ple­men­tary the­ra­pies and detoxification.

    They fre­quently work with their guests pri­mary care pro­vi­ders so as to not inter­fere with allo­pathic treatments.

    The foun­der of the hos­pi­tal is Dr. Myron Wentz, a world-​​renouned immu­no­lo­gist who has deve­lo­ped over a dozen gold-​​standard tests for detec­ting a variety of disea­ses inc­lu­ding fibrom­yal­gia and others.

    He’s spent the bet­ter part of his life­time stud­ying human cells; lear­ning how to best heal the body and eli­mi­nate or reverse dege­ne­ra­tive disea­ses inc­lu­ding can­cer by pro­vi­ding pro­per nutri­tion and eli­mi­na­ting toxins.

    He set out to create a faci­lity that treats the whole body (body, mind, spi­rit) with dig­nity and res­pect in as non-​​toxic of an envi­ron­ment as possible.

    Of the over 140 peo­ple I’ve inter­vie­wed on video, nearly every one of them says in addi­tion to the care and treat­ments they recei­ved, they were filled with HOPE by the staff and guests.

    I can’t say that every per­son I’ve inter­vie­wed has expe­rien­ced full reco­very. Some are no lon­ger alive. But every one of them impro­ved the qua­lity of their lives and most inc­rea­sed the time they were with their families.

    He’s also the foun­der of the publicly-​​traded nutri­tio­nal com­pany, USANA. One of his goals has been to create a laboratory-​​quality faci­lity for trea­ting peo­ple suf­fe­ring from “incu­ra­ble” or dege­ne­ra­tive disea­ses in addi­tion to those who want to improve the qua­lity of their health.

    The faci­lity is loca­ted in Mexico, 45 minu­tes south of the San Diego bor­der. Dr. Wentz chose this loca­tion for a variety of rea­sons. One of the pri­mary ones is that some of the treat­ments and medi­cal devi­ces they use are not FDA appro­ved but are utlii­zed in much of Eas­tern and Wes­tern Europe. Some of the drugs can­not be paten­ted and the­re­fore are not given atten­tion by US drug companies.

    In the seven years they’ve been open, they’ve never had one ins­tance of staph infec­tion. The place is remar­kably clean and was built using no toxic pro­ducts, paints, fabrics or chemicals.

    Disc­lai­mer: My wife and I have pro­vi­ded mar­ke­ting ser­vi­ces for Sano­viv for nearly four years. We’ve both per­so­nally wit­nes­sed dozens of “medi­cal mirac­les” from peo­ple who have rever­sed or subs­tan­tially slo­wed the growth of can­cer and other dege­ne­ra­tive disea­ses after being trea­ted at the facility.

    Please take some time to visit the web site:
    http://​www​.Sano​viv​.com

    Watch the video — I pro­du­ced and edi­ted it and can tell you that abso­lu­tely everything you see is real. Nothing is hyped or exa­ge­ra­ted in any way. Dr. Wentz isn’t in this for the money – he has plenty. Ins­tead, it’s his way of giving back and pro­vi­ding a new para­digm for health care.

    And if you research him, you’ll find that he’s also esta­blished a cli­nic in Uganda to treat chil­dren and adults on a purely huma­ni­ta­rian basis.

    I’d be happy to make the neces­sary calls if you would like to speak to a doc­tor there and can make cer­tain the two of you get full VIP treat­ment if you should desire to check it out and see if it would inc­rease your odds of recovery.

    My very best to you, your health and your family,
    Mike Koenigs

  100. Tina Lorenz said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 1:06 am

    Hi Syl­vie and Michel,

    Syl­vie, my mother was diag­no­sed with metas­ta­tic mela­noma in
    her early 80’s. There was lymph node invol­ve­ment. There wasn’t
    any par­ti­cu­lar treat­ment offe­red other than sur­gery, due to her
    advan­ced age.

    Guess what? She just cele­bra­ted her 92nd birthday.

    Your mind and spi­rit are power­ful allies. You’ve already expe­rien­ced
    one of life’s mirac­les in fin­ding each other. Onward to your com­plete
    hea­ling and the rest of your bles­sed life.

    Ron and I are sen­ding out lots of posi­tive thoughts and pra­yers
    for you, and Rusty the Won­der­dog sends a sloppy kiss on the nose.

    Wishing you strength, peace, and hea­ling,
    Tina, Ron, and Rusty the Wonderdog

  101. Ralph F. Wilson said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 1:07 am

    Dear Syl­via and Michael,
    I’ve been pra­ying for you through this and will con­ti­nue to do so. The won­der­ful thing is that you not only have Michael and some friends, but God him­self, will be wal­king through this time with you. You have friends and a Friend. My pra­yers are with you both.
    Ralph

  102. Jay Aaron said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 1:11 am

    Syl­vie and Michel,

    Although you may not know me very well, I have admi­red both of you for your con­tri­bu­tions to people’s busi­ness and per­so­nal lives for a long time.

    I, myself, am someone who was diag­no­sed with can­cer in July, 1996. Although I had no out­ward symp­toms, Squa­mous Cell Car­ci­noma had swo­llen my ton­sil to the size of a plum, and inva­ded my lymph sys­tem. The doc­tors who diag­no­sed me sat me down to tell me that I had 2 months to live.

    Suf­fice it to say: They were wrong.

    Like you, Syl­vie, I chose a Wes­tern medi­cine course of inter­ven­tion — 8 weeks of twice daily sur­gery, follo­wed by a radi­cal neck dis­sec­tion which left me without my ster­noc­lai­do­mas­toid muscle and a seve­red major nerve — both lost to the knife when the sur­geon remo­ved ves­ti­ges of tumo­rous material.

    In addi­tion, I tur­ned to Eas­tern tra­di­tions of accu­punc­ture and herbs to help me through the dif­fi­cult radia­tion treat­ments and surgery.

    And I also tur­ned to friends and family, and did a lot of jour­nal wri­ting, medi­ta­tion, spen­ding time in nature, lis­te­ning to won­der­ful hea­ling gui­ded ima­gery CDs, making and lis­te­ning to music, rea­ding anything uplif­ting that I could find, and watching plenty of come­dic movies.

    i share this with you in order to remind you that none of us has any way of kno­wing how long we have here in our phy­si­cal being. At the time of my diag­no­sis, I didn’t know if I would live for two months, or less, or more. I had no con­trol over the quan­tity of my life — any more than anyone else has, even if we are well.

    But I WAS in charge of the QUALITY of my life, and I did everything to ack­now­ledge and enhance my con­nec­tion to myself, to others, to the world in which we live, and to that Uni­ver­sal Force to which I feel so connected.

    I’m glad I’ve had all this time since my diag­no­sis, and I hope you, too, can be here as long as you’d like. But if I have any encou­ra­ge­ment beyond that, it’s to let you know that wha­te­ver time you have — howe­ver dif­fi­cult the jour­ney of can­cer and che­mothe­rapy — can be full of peace, joy and love, and wha­te­ver else you want to expe­rience, if you choose.

    I’d also like to share with you about my dear friend Jan Adrian and her orga­ni­za­tion: http://​www​.Hea​ling​Jour​neys​.org. Hea­ling Jour­neys offers free workshops for anyone who has any rela­tionship to can­cer. (Don’t we all, given how pre­va­lent it is these days, whether our­sel­ves or someone we know?)

    They’ve just held their most recent con­fe­rence in San Fran­cisco, and they record the pre­sen­ta­tions from their con­fe­ren­ces and make them avai­la­ble as CDs for purchase at their Web site. I encou­rage you to visit the site, and to get a copy of the audio pre­sen­ta­tions to lis­ten to your­sel­ves. So much love and so much joy, in addi­tion to all the great infor­ma­tion and ins­pi­ra­tion to be found there.

    You are both ins­pi­ra­tions to me, and I know to many others as well.

    Along with all of them, I will be kee­ping you in my thoughts and in my heart.

    Jay Aaron

  103. Dave Brogan said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 1:25 am

    Dear Syl­vie and Michel,

    I would shave my head too if I thought it would help. My family and I will pray for your com­plete recovery.

    I lost my mother to breast can­cer in 1981 but not before she gave the enemy one hell of a battle.

    We are all uni­que and we all need spe­cial care. Sur­gi­cal tech­ni­ques and medi­ci­nes have impro­ved dra­ma­ti­cally over the last 25 years. My mother’s fate need not be yours.

    Life is very pre­cious and you are at war now! Fight like hell with every fiber of your being.

    If you’ve ever seen the campy Tim Allen movie “Galaxy Quest” you know the Captain’s motto was “Never Give Up, Never Surrender”!

    If you haven’t seen it I highly recom­mend it. Some really good laughs in there! (Laugh­ter, the best medicine.)

    Stran­gely enough, for a while today, I though I had lost my dad too. I recei­ved a call from my brother-​​in-​​law infor­ming me that my dad had collap­sed at the super mar­ket and they were una­ble to revive him.

    Hours pas­sed and I finally lear­ned that his blood sugar was low and that he’s going to be fine. For a while there I fea­red the worst. Your mind tends to do that in the absence of solid intelligence.

    Don’t let that hap­pen to you. You have to be your own advo­cate. Read, learn, research.….….….…get second, third and fourth opi­nions. Make sure you have an onco­lo­gist whom you trust impli­citly and who is willing to be more aggres­sive than your enemy.

    Syl­vie, we have never met, but I did met Michel at the Big Semi­nar in Atlanta in April last year. He’s a very good man, so you both hold on very tightly to each other and see how far your love can take you. Only God knows how much time any of us has.

    Wishing you only the very best and brigh­test days ahead.

    Dave

  104. Peter said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 1:33 am

    Hi Syl­vie,

    I’ve thought about it and the per­fect cos­tume for you at The Big, is a cape with an “S” for Superhero.

    –Peter

  105. Vish said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 1:48 am

    Hi Syl­vie and Micheal,

    THe coming months would obviously be very cha­llen­ging for both of you and would ena­ble you to look at your own life from a dif­fe­rent pers­pec­tive and i am very sure that both of you are men­tally strong enough to handle this. I pray to God that He helps you to mani­fest your inner strength in a way that would make the whole world stand and applaud you guys

    Here is wishing you all the very best for the future.

    The pain that you are going thru will bring more cla­rity into your life so dont feel bad about it. I know it hurts but let it hurt so that when the pain goes away all that will be left is the ele­ment of good­ness within you

    You will do very well i can for­see that . So des­pair not , The Lord is taking care of you every day. Not to worry

    take care and good day

    Vish

  106. Ray Edwards said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 2:16 am

    Syl­vie and Michel,

    My heart aches for you both. I know you’re hol­ding on to each other, and I pray for you each day; you deserve hea­ling and wellness.

    You are so loved.

    You know what stri­kes me about the two of you? Every memory I have of being with you both is of you smi­ling, laughing, and touching the hearts of the peo­ple you meet. You’ve built up a big ol’ “love bank” — and now it’s being pou­red out for you.

    I wish I could write the per­fect words that would bring a smile to your face, and lift your heart for a moment. It’ll have to be enough to say that I care, and that you are in my thoughts and prayers.

  107. Glenn Coleman said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 2:23 am

    Hi Syl­vie,

    I read a book — the name esca­pes me — about a heart surgeon’s
    per­so­nal expe­rience in watching patients who were diag­no­sed
    with life cri­ti­cal ill­ness and the pat­tern he noti­ced was shocking.

    What he noti­ced was that as soon as the doc­tor told a patient
    that they only had a short time to live, if the patient accep­ted
    it, usually they would pass away soon after. If a doc­tor told a
    patient they will likely live, then they did.

    What really stood out was that some patients were told they
    only had a short time to live, but they beat the odds and kept
    on living. He inter­vie­wed those peo­ple and dis­co­ve­red that it
    was their own belief that they would sur­vive that made the
    dif­fe­rence. End of story…

    Another inte­res­ting tid-​​bit — there is a doc­tor in Van­cou­ver at
    the Uni­ver­sity of Bri­tish Colum­bia named Dr. Lee Pulos. He
    is famous for his hyp­no­tism and in alter­na­tive methods of hea­ling.
    He works directly with patients suf­fe­ring from can­cer, and walks
    them back in time through hyp­no­sis to a time when the can­cer
    wasn’t pre­sent. He brings that vibrant cancer-​​free energy back
    to the pre­sent, and uses it to heal the body.

    Dr. Pulos said the most power­ful thing you can do to cause hea­ling is
    to say “I send love from my heart to my body”. He said
    the heart is our most power­ful healer.

    Dr. Pulos has spent his life tra­ve­lling the world stud­ying all forms of
    alter­na­tive hea­ling, and uses this know­ledge to pro­vide these uni­que
    solutions.

    I know in buddhism the cen­tral prac­tice with medi­cine buddha
    cen­ters around sen­ding vibrant rays of light of all colors of the spec­trum
    from your heart to those you want to heal, inc­lu­ding your­self. So it makes
    sense what Dr. Pulos is saying.

    I’ll be doing a medi­cine buddha prac­tice again this week with a famous
    monk named Rin­poche (www​.callit​kar​mathe​mo​vie​.com), and will inc­lude you in my medi­ta­tion. Rin­poches has a fas­ci­na­ting story of sur­vi­val under
    the worst con­di­tions pos­si­ble. He tra­ve­lled for two months in 20 below weather through the Hima­la­yas with only his rob on his back, a torn up pair of run­ning shoes and no food. Living and hea­ting him­self purely with spi­ri­tual energy and he wal­ked out without any frost­bite. He had wit­nes­sed many peo­ple dead along the way and had night­ma­res for a month after his trip, but is a vibrant and healthy monk today. Most peo­ple would have died after one night. I think anything is pos­si­ble after hea­ring his story.

    Keep on tap­ping into that posi­tive energy — you radiate with it in your writing…

    Many bles­sings,

    Glenn Cole­man

  108. Geoffrey said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 4:18 am

    It’s the pits and then some. I remem­ber when I was told by my Mum that she had been diag­no­sed as having can­cer of the jaw and that she only had 6 months to live. It wqas devas­ta­ting, and yet just like her you sound so strong and positive.

    I, through a friend, con­tac­ted a monas­tery of Tibe­tan Buddhist Monks and Nuns, and had them pray for my Mum 24x7 for a whole year and per­form some hea­ling Puja’s. Yes I did say a whole year, withon that time Mum was given an all clear, com­ple­tely free of can­cer, and that was within the 6 months after the diag­no­sis. I can give you the con­tact for the Monas­tery if you are inte­res­ted, it is all done over the inter­net so it is easy and sim­ple to set up.

    My heart goes out to you, your family and your friends and rela­tions, and to all those who are suf­fe­ring from any form of cancer.

    May the hea­ling light of love and com­pas­sion show the way through this ill­ness and my deep Joy, Hap­pi­ness and Libe­ra­tion be its outcome.

    Big Hugs

    Geof­frey

  109. Bailey said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 5:15 am

    Syl­vie,

    At the risk of soun­ding like a corn­dog :D I’m going to quote a TV ad run­ning for Can­cer Treat­ment Cen­ters of Ame­rica, here in the U.S.

    There is a lady (can­cer sur­vi­vor) who says, well this is as close as I can remem­ber it,

    “I saw peo­ple who sur­vi­ved my kind of can­cer. As long as there is one per­son who sur­vi­ved my kind kif can­cer, THERE IS HOPE.”

    Honey, there IS hope. There IS good news. Piles of it. You CAN win. You WILL win. Now go kick some ass. :D

    xoxo­xoxo

    :) Bailey

  110. Arika said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 5:30 am

    Syl­vie,

    I know we don’t know one another per­so­nally, but I’ve “met” you through Nell and Michel through Alice. Guess that gives away the fact that I’m a new­bie inter­net mar­ke­ter hu? :)

    I’m sad­de­ned of your news and diag­no­sis, but from what I know you are a very strong woman and you have 2 very strong men in your cor­ner: Michel and GOD! You will make it through this. I com­mend you for sha­ring such a per­so­nal jour­ney and know that it will help other­sin many many ways.

    Kee­ping you and your whole family in my thoughts and prayers.

  111. Tys said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 5:59 am

    You WILL make it! You have ALL the rea­sons in the world to KNOW you will! You’ve got the fight, the drive, the POSITIVE atti­tude, and the firm FAITH to WIN (not to men­tion Michel’s unflinching deter­mi­na­tion to beat this WITH you)! 50% chance? Where do I sign up? Those are AWESOME chan­ces! That is a BIG chunk!

    I don’t know what your reli­gious beliefs are, but I sin­ce­rely believe and even know that Jesus Christ not only con­que­red all death and sin, but He con­que­red (and is inti­ma­tely aware of) our pains, suf­fe­rings, afflic­tions, ill­nes­ses — everything — so that “He may know accor­ding to the flesh how to suc­cor his peo­ple accor­ding to their infir­mi­ties”. He IS there for you. He KNOWS your name. He UNDERSTANDS your cir­cums­tan­ces. He LOVES you. Through Him you WILL WIN.

    God Bless You Both,
    Tys

  112. Yvonne Tagbo said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 6:15 am

    Hi Syl­vie and Michel,
    I feel so sorry and hel­pless in this situa­tion. I wish I could do more. Please che­rish every sin­gle second and see each day as a bles­sed bonus. Happy Happy thoughts are abso­lu­tely ESSENTIAL. Its your state of mind that will con­quer this. God Bless you both .We are all pra­ying for you
    Yvonne

  113. Martin & Lizel said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 6:59 am

    Syl­vie and Michel,

    Our Pra­yers are with you and your strength in each other will pull you through those hard moments of your day(s).

    Know that there are hun­dreds if not thou­sands of peo­ple who’s thoughts are with you and willing you to a suc­cess­ful reco­very. Keep the faith and fight in the only way you know how, with deter­mi­na­tion, desire, love and sup­port for one another.

    Stay strong, our thoughts & best wishes are with you on this .. God Bless

    Mar­tin & Lizel Salter

  114. Joe Faia said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 7:22 am

    Dear Syl­vie and Michel,

    While this latest news is of con­cern, the temp­ta­tion to allow further poten­tially detri­men­tal ingre­dients to enter the mix must be resis­ted at all costs, the can­cer itself needs no further help. I am par­ti­cu­larly refe­rring to how one’s state of mind can be nega­ti­vely affec­ted by what one might con­si­der ‘nega­tive’ feed­back. The impres­sions I’m get­ting about your own mind­set, Syl­vie, is that it’s strong. This is cru­cial and mustn’t be allo­wed to deteriorate.

    It might be help­ful, in con­ti­nuing on with a good mind­set, to cate­go­rise the news you’ve recei­ved in a new fol­der. Ins­tead of the fol­der labe­led ‘bad news’, it should ins­tead be pla­ced in the fol­der ‘very impor­tant news’. This latest infor­ma­tion was essen­tial for you to have. With it, you can now deve­lop a more focu­sed battle plan. Inte­lli­gence, whether it be in war, busi­ness, or other human endea­vour, under­girds a suc­cess­ful campaign.

    The news itself did not create the spread of the can­cer, that had already hap­pe­ned. Ins­tead, it armed you with impor­tant and timely infor­ma­tion. You are now bet­ter posi­tio­ned to take the battle to the can­cer. Posi­ti­vise (I tend to invent words as I go along) the very news itself. Enve­lop every aspect of this whole situa­tion with a veneer of posi­ti­vism. Even if you can’t rea­dily ‘see’ how that might apply to every aspect of what you’re facing, simply trust that it does.

    Unders­tand, further, that this latest reve­la­tion will also engage more migh­tily those who have enjoi­ned you in this travail.

    As impor­tant as mind­set is, it isn’t the only capa­ble sol­dier you must enlist in your army. Rec­ruit also the cavalry of the phy­si­cal, and the sni­per of the spi­ri­tual. This three­fold cord won’t be easily resisted.

    As it per­tains to the phy­si­cal I must defer to others bet­ter qua­li­fied. Howe­ver, a quick search unvei­led the impor­tance of eating raw foods to bet­ter equip the immune sys­tem to do what it is even now see­king to do–heal you. It’s worthwhile to see what Dr. Lorraine Day has to say on the mat­ter. She, her­self, over­came a serious bout with can­cer by con­ver­ting her diet to raw food, among other steps. http://​www​.drday​.com is her site.

    As it per­tains to the spi­ri­tual I have strong views. Simply put…God heals. This isn’t to say that He choo­ses to heal every sin­gle time He is approached. He often choo­ses to forgo a more direct super­na­tu­ral inter­ven­tion. He alone retains full con­trol of that. He does, howe­ver, heal. I must, at this junc­ture, cau­tion you against falling into the mind­set of many who believe that God is like a genie that can be mani­pu­la­ted via a well craf­ted for­mula. I don’t know where you are in your awa­re­ness of God, or spi­ri­tual things, in your pre­sent sta­tion in life, and it could be that if, here­to­fore, you’ve not min­ded much in that regard you might feel ‘hypoc­ri­ti­cal’ in now see­king favor with God. This course of inac­tion would be a terri­ble mis­take. As I advi­sed, recently, someone who felt this way–pride is never a good com­pa­nion, par­ti­cu­larly when we are in a situa­tion most need­ful. None of us ‘merits’ an audience with God. Howe­ver, God does enter into such on the basis of His good plea­sure and bene­vo­lence. Coun­ted among what God does per­mit into His pre­sence is humi­lity, meek­ness, cha­rac­ter, con­fes­sion (as recog­ni­tion and assu­med res­pon­si­bi­lity for one’s fai­lu­res), repen­tance (as one’s expres­sed inten­tion of repu­dia­ting what one’s cons­cience itself has soun­ded the alarm on), for­gi­ve­ness, and the like. What God can­not resist is sheer and utter depen­dence on, resig­na­tion to, and aban­don­ment to, Him­self. At this point we have allo­wed the crea­ture to be the crea­ture and God to be gran­ted His right­ful place as God. This right order of things secu­res a power­ful spi­ri­tual ele­ment when approaching God in pra­yer. It isn’t man­tras, fixed rituals, and well craf­ted words, that resolve God’s will in our favor; but, ins­tead, a spi­ri­tual demea­nour that resem­bles His in very nature.

    I would leave you most poor if I did not address something that is fre­quently rejec­ted as ‘a most inap­pro­priate sub­ject’ and even in some cases ‘a rude reli­gious inter­jec­tion’. It is, simply put, the per­son of Jesus. Again, I maneu­ver, here, in blind­ness not kno­wing the state of your spi­ri­tual pro­gres­sion. All I know, and who am I to con­test it, is that Scrip­ture addres­ses the per­son of Jesus most empha­ti­cally. It almost lea­ves no sta­te­ment unsaid when pro­cu­ring to effec­ti­vely craft a pro­per unders­tan­ding of this inc­re­di­ble man. It outrightly refu­ses to iden­tify him solely in human terms (although it does that as well). It esta­blishes him as une­qua­lled, pree­mi­nent, and sin­gu­larly ‘above’ both in terms of his nature, and in his impor­tance as it per­tains to the rela­tionship bet­ween God and man. As I read it, any peace with God is only ‘havea­ble’ (there I go again) via the only means God him­self offers. I define reli­gion as man’s efforts at reaching God and secu­ring favor with Him. As his­tory attests to, we’ve been pretty crea­tive in that effort, as well as mise­ra­ble fai­lu­res. If only we would ask the ques­tion, “What does God him­self say about the mat­ter”. The Divine ans­wer is sin­gu­lar, “there is no other name given under hea­ven by which man must be saved”, except that of Jesus, that is. Scrip­ture refu­ses and rejects any other method, means or man­ner (leave 3M to the busi­ness world!).

    Syl­vie, Michel, I have gone on much too long. I couldn’t help it. You’re impor­tant to me. And even though I don’t know you, you mat­ter to me.

    Please be fully assu­red of my pra­yers and inter­ces­sions on your behalf.

    Most sin­ce­rely,

    Joe Faia
    joefaia@​hotmail.​com

  115. Tom Jones said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 7:30 am

    I was gut­ted when I read your news.

    But your atti­dude is ins­pi­ra­tio­nal. In fact, when Michel men­tio­ned your wed­ding I deci­ded that I should not put off any lon­ger something that I should have done a long time ago.

    I pro­po­sed, last week, to my girl­friend on a short trip to Rome. She said yes!

    We send our love and best wishes to you both.

    Tom

  116. Fatimah Musa said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 7:37 am

    Dear Syl­vie and Michel,

    Stay strong.

    My sis­ter was diag­no­sed with can­cer of the cer­vic about 9 years ago. Went through chemo and cea­sium. She is can­cer free now and living each day the best she can.

    Never give up hope.

    Love
    FM
    Malaysia

  117. Rudy Poonwasie said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 8:50 am

    Syl­vie

    What’s there to say that hasn’t already been said but that you’re one heck of a cou­ra­geous indi­vi­dual. I wish we could bottle the stuff you are made off and all take a shot of it each and every day. Your an ins­pi­ra­tion to us all but hope­fully we can repay some off that via these posts.

    I hope you draw eter­nal strength from the notes and well wishes as with a posi­tive mind and atti­tude comes favou­ra­ble results.

    Michel — keep being a rock (and cut­ting your hair.…..we know that it is really old age catching up with you ha ha!).

    Lots of Love and warm wishes to you both
    Rudy

  118. Heather said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 10:00 am

    Again… your spi­rit is just an ins­pi­ra­tion to us all. We will all be thin­king of ways to buy you extra lot­tery tickets!

    Heather

  119. Ellen McCurdy said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 10:29 am

    Dear Syl­vie,
    I see one of the other posts refe­rred you to the Ger­son Ins­ti­tute. Good idea. Here is another web site to con­si­der: http://​www​.royl​re​treat​.com/ . Click on the link for Dr. Vir­gi­nia Vetrano. I have con­sul­ted with her myself in the past and would follow wha­te­ver advice she gives. And you won’t need a translator.

    Remem­ber this — your body has great inte­lli­gence and wants to heal itself. All you need do is remove the cause of disease and pro­vide the con­di­tions for health. Chemo and radia­tion do not bring health.
    The whole can­cer ‘treat­ment’ industry is HUGE busi­ness for the drug com­pa­nies; you can­not ignore their motives.

    Best wishes for your reco­very. You have a strong heart and that will serve you well.
    Ellen

  120. Jared said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 10:54 am

    Hello Syl­vie,

    I just wan­ted to say you will be in my pra­yers. I also wan­ted to share a web­site with you called http://​www​.dyna​mic​greens​.com. I am not affi­lia­ted with them but they sell fro­zen wheat grass. I have been taking their wheat grass for two years now and it has really chan­ged my whole health.

    Here is a spe­ci­fic thread regar­ding wheat grass and can­cer.
    dynamicgreens.com/wheatgr…t=84&highlight=cancer

    I usually don’t post com­ments on blogs. But after rea­ding about your situa­tion I was com­pe­lled to make sure I could offer anything that may help you in your jour­ney to recovery.

    Jared

  121. Frederico Vila verde said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 11:16 am

    Hi Syl­vie and Michel

    I want to express my deep sup­port to the can­cer situa­tion you are facing Sylvie.

    Althought I have never met you in per­son I have been rea­ding about your situa­tion from Michel and all I can say is that you have my sup­port and for what you are going through.

    Kee­ping you, Michel and your whole family in my thoughts and prayers.

    Yours sin­ce­rely,

    Fre­de­rico Vila Verde
    (from Portugal)

    P.S. Please keep us all pos­ted about your situa­tion in the future.

  122. Ray Paquette said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 11:20 am

    Syl­vie and Michel

    I am very sad­de­ned that you are going through this and I almost did not res­pond because I just don’t feel like I can find words to say. I just want you to know that I will be thin­king of you and pray for you.

    Your love for each other and your deter­mi­na­tion are your best assets in this fight.
    Best wishes.
    Ray

  123. Lance Curtis said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 11:38 am

    As a male, I can­not pos­sibly fathom what you are going through or how you must feel.

    I offer you my pra­yers that God will give you both the strength and grace to endure any cha­llenge, and His peace that (and I do know this) goes beyond all human understanding.

    Lance

  124. Shekinah Errington said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 12:01 pm

    Dear Syl­vie and Michel,
    I truly believe life–and love–is eter­nal; it just takes dif­fe­rent forms at dif­fe­rent “times.” For exam­ple, my hus­band left for a busi­ness trip this mor­ning. Just gone for a few short days, but I’m aware of how I already miss the warmth of having him phy­si­cally next to me, nearby. I miss the plea­sure of gazing on his smile, his form that is so dear to me…receiving the direct res­pon­ses and reas­su­ran­ces of his love too. Though, of course, I know he still exists and loves me from afar as well as nearby. So it’s clear to me that what i lite­rally “mourn” in his absence are these sen­sory aspects. And on a gran­der scale, any­time we face the threat of losing a loved one through misun­ders­tan­dings, divorce, tra­gedy, death…the fear is that we may never again expe­rience or get back those spe­cial com­forts and inti­ma­cies. Yet in the lar­ger scheme of things in the con­text of ETERNAL LIFE and LOVE, these “sepa­ra­tions” are but a “blink of the eye.” And meanwhile, the Truth is, our love remains stead­fast, as per­fect as we are willing and able to feel and expe­rience it. Every rela­tionship is pos­si­bi­lity for a cer­tain warmth, joy, com­fort, growth–not just these spe­cial ones whe­rein we’ve allo­wed our­sel­ves to feel par­ti­cu­larly safe and open and loving. Michel, the level at which you are able to share with Syl­vie and sup­port her is such a bles­sing. Together you both have such love, gene­ro­sity, cou­rage, and pur­pose. (And you have spread such joy by openly sha­ring who you are together as a cou­ple with all of us “per­fect stran­gers” on your mai­ling lists!) The key to con­ti­nuing this beau­ti­ful energy and inner peace of mind is to remem­ber, no mat­ter what hap­pens (and we are ALL mor­tal in terms of these par­ti­cu­lar bodies on Earth at this time ;) , so we ALL need to hear and remem­ber this, because our time will come too, whether we have/​take the option to really think about, rec­kon with it, and pre­pare for it or not)–the key is remem­be­ring that we are NOT ALONE–EVER! Neither those of us who do pass on to the other side, nor those of us who feel that we have been left behind by them. We each are intrin­si­cally con­nec­ted to and through the Uni­verse. We *are* “felt,” vital, we exist in infi­nite essence, yet in dif­fe­rent form–in this plane and in many, many others…we all “go on” over and over again. For the here-​​and-​​now, you two have expe­rien­ced great joy and bliss having found and embra­ced one another. Sta­ying in this place, this “vibra­tion” is the Light and Love that can poten­tially expel all fear, pain, or sense of sepa­ra­tion or loss. It also has the poten­tial power to knit a bro­ken body, and res­tore life to disea­sed cells and body sys­tems.
    So now is the per­fect time to release old hurts and “poor-me’s,” old grudges–forgiveness (inc­lu­ding of Self and “God” for allo­wing this to hap­pen now). Now is the per­fect time to find and gene­rate a place of joy, humor, and yes, con­ta­gious belly-​​laughter, even at times like these. Now, in this moment, you have the option to appre­ciate and expe­rience gra­ti­tude for all that IS and has been good and help­ful and reas­su­ring and reju­ve­na­ting, as well as for all that will be beyond these current cha­llen­ges. Now is the time to go with the Flow and find accep­tance for those things you may *not* be able to change or reverse, yet *while* still being pro-​​active with all and any wis­dom, strength and hope you can find from withIN, nur­tu­ring self and others with that which brings faith and bles­sings and posi­tive change–all these con­tri­bute to relea­sing all dis-​​ease and pro­pe­lling the mind-​​heart-​​body ener­gies into re-​​balancing of life ener­gies and health-​​full phy­si­cal mani­fes­ta­tion. Now is the time to prac­tice those thoughts which gene­rate peace, not panic; love, faith, and hope–not fear and des­pair. The more you prac­tice, it beco­mes a habit, a way of life. The more enriched will be our time remai­ning together in these human forms. Music, comedy, ins­pi­ra­tio­nal sto­ries, medi­ta­tion, pra­yer, jour­na­ling and wri­ting let­ters (and blogs! :) –all of these, well-​​chosen, have the capa­city to assist you in shif­ting your focus back onto that which is help­ful, hope­ful, hea­ling, posi­tive and cal­ming.
    I will attempt to paraph­rase my husband’s words of wis­dom. He says, in truth, it’s very dif­fi­cult to fight or con­quer the dark­ness (or if you will, “evil” of any form). Really, the only way we *can* dis­pel it, is to turn on the light. In the same way, when we are faced with what appear to be insur­moun­ta­ble cha­llen­ges and odds, the most effec­tive use of our energy is not by directly enga­ging and batt­ling with that dark­ness (or that which we do not want)…but rather, vic­tory is most pos­si­ble as we apply our focus and strengths toward see­king, recog­ni­zing, and appl­ying those ways in which we can turn on–and spread–the Light. It is only natu­ral Law that dark­ness can­not exist in the Pre­sence of Light. (Yet, thanks to the con­trast pro­vi­ded by that void, we can now acti­vely choose to be res­to­red and invite in the full­ness of light.)
    It could be that simple–just as a child, we are pro­tec­ted by our inno­cence, we can enter into bliss, hea­ling, release and rebirth, and become the most we can be…(or perhaps “just” the full­ness of who we always “were,” but meanwhile for­got about, as we got enmeshed in attemp­ting to “pro­cess” and grap­ple with fear, pain, cruel injus­ti­ces, anger, loss, grief, the unk­nown dark­nes­ses. Just being love is all that really is. This is how we can best assist the doc­tors in our “batt­les” for healthy, happy life-​​in-​​the-​​body. In that light, all else is seen for what it is/was–but an illu­sion, kee­ping us from fully expe­rien­cing the truth of our eter­nal One­ness in this pre­cious “now” moment. By prac­ti­cing release of any regret, pain, fear in both our yes­ter­days and our tomo­rrows, and by taking our power and accep­ting God’s Grace—who we truly are is eter­nally “safe” in this “now” moment.

    Sen­ding you both: bles­sings, strength, com­fort, and peace…and the capa­city to expe­rience each “now” moment of rene­wed thought and fresh pos­si­bi­li­ties. Thank you both for your exam­ples of cou­rage and honesty—and above all, your love.
    –Shekinah

  125. Mary Greene said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 12:02 pm

    Dear Syl­vie,

    Every hea­ling miracle I have ever encoun­te­red or expe­rien­ced per­so­nally inc­lu­des these ele­ments: focus, cou­rage, love, laugh­ter, and opti­mism. And you have them all ente­ring your trial by fire.

    We believe you will trans­form this inva­der into many more years of pas­sio­nate life and cau­ses. And we’re not about to let go of your hand in the meantime.

    With love and res­pect,
    Mary Greene

  126. Suzan St Maur said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 12:20 pm

    Hi again Sylvie

    In an email to Michel (it was because I’m on his busi­ness mai­ling list that I heard of your ill­ness) I men­tio­ned a great friend of mine who was diag­no­sed with ter­mi­nal can­cer. It was in his colon, his bones, in one kid­ney and somewhere else I’ve forgotten.

    That was 10 years ago.

    I spoke to him on the phone a cou­ple of days ago and his doc­tors have told him they don’t need to see him again until 2007.

    Obviously he has been through sur­gery, che­mothe­rapy and other treat­ment. But he still sails his boat, runs his busi­ness, dri­ves us all crazy with his terri­ble jokes, and fights the ill­ness like a grumpy lion with toothache. And he is living proof that you CAN win that fight.

    My point here is, with the right treat­ment and atti­tude — both of which you have in abun­dance — you, too, can and will beat the so-​​and-​​so.

    Be strong — you’ll need to be — but keep smi­ling, too. That’s the most power­ful drug of all.

    SUZE

  127. Jannette Robert Murray said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 1:31 pm

    Syl­vie & Mike:

    Without taking the time to read everything else that has been writ­ten, I hope this will be help­ful, and I hope ever­yone else who has or knows anyone with any type of can­cer will see it.

    My hus­band, Paul, has given me per­mis­sion to share his story. He was diag­no­sed with pros­tate can­cer (a cou­ple small lesions) about four years ago. He had been having some cha­llen­ges with uri­nary tract infec­tions. The doc­tor put him on some female hor­mo­nes to reverse the growth effect that male hor­mo­nes would have on the can­cer. (This does reduce the size of one’s organ; and takes a long time for the nega­tive effects on sex drive to wear off.)

    Then shortly after we met in the late sum­mer of ’04, in early Octo­ber he was sche­du­led to go and get rea­med out (TURP), which pro­ce­dure is pre­pa­ra­tory, and also cured his uri­nary problems.

    Shortly before that he’d also found GRAVIOLA, online, and got­ten on it. It’s the thing I want you to go find. One is sup­po­sed to take it for about three months, but Paul took it for four, just for extra mea­sure. He was taking it and the female hor­mo­nes through the time he came here, and before we bought and moved into our house (Jan. ’05).

    In Late Oct. ’04, he moved from New Jer­sey to Spo­kane to be with me, and he was to get with a for­mer teacher of the New Jer­sey doc­tor, in Seattle, to sche­dule a seed implant.

    He also went to see some sur­geons here in Spo­kane to get another hor­mone shot, and neither one of us felt com­for­ta­ble with the man and that they were more inte­res­ted in per­for­ming their own kind of sur­gery than in giving him his shot, nor in having him go over to Seattle for the seed implant. The strong impres­sion we got was that it was more about their poc­ket­book than Paul’s health.

    He deci­ded to do neither and was fee­ling fine, and tal­king with his Higher Self, as I was with mine, both of us get­ting the ans­wer that the Gra­viola was wor­king and that our health and lon­ge­vity were going to be good, long and happy together.

    We were married in May of ’05, and Paul has just this week had another PSA test and stress tests (he’s been sup­po­sed to visit a car­diac spe­cia­list all this time and hadn’t; he has a stent in his heart, which is sup­po­sed to get watched from time to time). And everything looks good. It’s time enough that the PSA test is even more rele­vant. It’s 1.7, and anything below 4.0 is con­si­de­red good. We’re delighted!

    TO FIND GRAVIOLA: Get on Goo­gle and type in Gra­viola. You should find Rain­tree about the third entry on the page, which is where he orde­red his. It’s not expen­sive, and acor­ding to the page it now is pro­ven to work for any can­cer. The only ques­tion is the stage; can­cer can be too far pro­gres­sed for the Gra­viola to help (my guess, and Paul agrees). It can­not do any harm. It ran about $20. for a month’s supply.

    Accor­ding to their online infor­ma­tion it is 10,000 times more effec­tive than any che­mothe­rapy, with no side effects. It is deri­ved from a plant in South America.

    Paul says to tell you if he had any other kind of can­cer he would try Gra­viola before he did anything else.

    One of my new coun­se­ling clients who has can­cer where the first part is already remo­ved, but had tra­ve­led to liver and lungs, has now got­ten on Gra­viola, at my recom­men­da­tion. He’d come to see me for hyp­no­sis (which I didn’t want anyone to see as a magic wand); and I’ve only seen him twice, so far, so don’t know what his next step is.

    We’ve also just lear­ned and will be using our­sel­ves, and with my coun­se­ling clients, a new tool, called PSYCH-​​K. The thing that is so impor­tant about this is that we can get at and heal the things that are making us sick, hol­ding us back, making us stuck, etc.

    Go to http://​www​.psych​-​k​.com and order the book and the DVD and I think you’ll be blown away, as we were. We’ve taken the Basic trai­ning in Boise last month, and are eagerly awai­ting the Advan­ced as soon as we can do that.

    I’m not a doc­tor, I’m a psychothe­ra­pist and cli­ni­cal hyp­nothe­ra­pist. We lean strongly toward alter­na­tive treat­ments for most things, and are very aware how much the tra­di­tio­nal medi­cal esta­blish­ment is more inte­res­ted in kee­ping them­sel­ves and the drug com­pa­nies in busi­ness, than in pre­ven­tive medicine!

    We are also very aware and teach how much our minds, thoughts and beliefs affect our phy­si­cal health. I know Mike has some awa­re­ness of that!

    The Alter­na­tive medi­cal press tell us they have known many can­cer cures for years, but they are sup­pres­sed by the AMA, and the FDA and the whole medi­cal esta­blish­ment. If peo­ple went with pro­ven alter­na­tive methods, sup­ple­ments, etc., it might just put the allo­pathic doc­tors out of business!

    We subsc­ribe to the HSI E-​​Alert, and seve­ral other alter­na­tive doc­tors’ newsletters.

    Our posi­tive thoughts and pra­yers are with you both, Mike and Sylvie.

    All the best to you both.

    Warmly,

    Jan­nette Robert Murray, CCHt, RC
    http://​www​.ins​pi​red​coun​se​ling​.com
    http://​www​.con​su​me​rad​voa​ware​.info (web pages and blog up soon)

  128. Dannie L. Sheldon said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 1:52 pm

    Mike & Sylvie,

    Step one : win the battle in your mind, your mind is strong and tells your body in many ways how to feel, know you are going to beat this PERIOD!!!

    Step Two: work as it depends on you, pray as if it depends on God!!!
    because it does, God has per­for­med many, many miric­les and this will be one more of them.

    Also remem­ber God says he will not give a per­son more than they can handle, you are Mike will be even stron­ger after this, and will be able to help other peo­ple thru thier trials. God Bless YOU !!!

    Dan­nie Sheldon

  129. Julie Perry said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 2:00 pm

    Syl­vie and Michel,

    You WILL win this lot­tery. You WILL, YOU WILL, YOU WILL! I’m con­fi­dent. I’m con­fi­dent because you have the right attitude…you have so much love around you, bet­ween the two of you, among your family and friends, and more impor­tantly, within. You will because your will is strong…and YOU can con­trol that. YOU CAN BEAT THIS MONSTER. I know it. And yes, keep sta­ying positive…As hard as it is to do it, KEEP LAUGHING! Make your­self laugh. Stay posi­tive. Hold your mind in a place of joy and plea­sure to allow your body to fight off this natrual enemy, because it can and WILL. NO FEAR.

    And I know this is what you’re doing…I know this is what you and Michel are both doing. And it WILL work. You WILL beat this. You WILL WIN!

    I’m thin­king about you constantly…And posi­ti­vely.
    Love and Light,
    Julie

    P.S. OKAY, I just went and crea­ted a little something to lift your spi­rits. It’ll take a second to load, but check out you, me, and our fancy disco moves (you MUST; this is hila­rious): dancesisterdance.com/myvi…index.php?v=a9f9841734293

    Note: The up and down ele­va­tor but­tons will allow you to try on dif­fe­rent wigs, too. It’s per­fect! …And I hope it gives you a chuckle.

  130. Jorg said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 2:13 pm

    Syl­vie,

    I don’t think I ever met you in per­son but I have hung out with Michel at many Inter­net semi­nars since about 1999, if I remem­ber correctly.

    I can­not even begin to ima­gine what you’re going through. Some time in their late 30s almost every­body begins to rea­lize what fra­gile sys­tems our bodies are …and that we are indeed not as invin­ci­ble as we believe to be in our youth. The news hits us that we are all on this pla­net tem­po­ra­rily. It must have hit you like a 18-​​wheeler truck.

    Spi­ri­tua­lity tells us to live in the moment and in accep­tance of our mor­ta­lity. Easy to say while you’re healthy! You are truly being tested.

    But even if you’re able to actually “accept” and “live with” the can­cer, such “accep­tance” in the spi­ri­tual sense, shouldn’t ever lead to giving in and giving up. Quite the con­trary, it should give you the calm and piece of mind to put up an even more focu­sed fight.

    Our bodies are “miracle machi­nes” cons­truc­ted in a way that no human inven­tor could have thought up, with safe­guard mecha­nisms deve­lo­ped in millions of years of evo­lu­tion. The grea­test miracle is the body’s abi­lity to self-​​heal, with the right the­ra­peu­tic help and with the big­gest hea­ler you have avai­la­ble: Your mind. In that mind of yours, keep the faith in your body’s abi­lity to recog­nize and fight the enemy — with the help of modern therapy.

    Remem­ber your body is desig­ned to fend it off and recover…

    Best,

    Jorg

  131. Julie Perry said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 2:33 pm

    Syl­vie and Michel,

    Oh my…after pos­ting that video link above (two com­ments up), I got to thin­king: now WHY didn’t I create one of the two of you!? (Sorry — been so used to making these for friends of mine with me in them the last few days…I just think it’s so damn funny.…Talk about a great viral mar­ke­ting campaign!)

    SO, without further ado…Ladies and Gent­le­men: SYLVIE AND MICHEL FORTIN–Dancin’ Machi­nes!:
    dancesisterdance.com/myvi…index.php?v=9f8bd6f434630

    If it says “video not found” simply try again in a bit. It will even­tually go. And have fun with those ele­va­tor but­tons. [I per­so­nally think Michel looks fan­tas­tic with an afro (got him in a cow­boy hat first).]

    Much love to you and your family,
    Julie

  132. Warren said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 2:43 pm

    This is worth reading.

    http://​www​.maryc​li​nic​.com

    Best of luck!

  133. Marian Lewis said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 3:09 pm

    Syl­vie & Michel:

    The world wide pra­yers that you have as well as your own along with an extre­mely posi­tive atti­tude and the love of family and friends will get you through this.

    I was told at 36 that I had less than 10% chance to sur­vive a very rare type of can­cer and there was no chemo for it. It was in my saliva gland.

    I deci­ded to tell my kids (ages 13 and 15) the “truth” and not have them hear it from someone else. When I told them the grue­some details of the only hope I had, which was radi­cal sur­gery that des­tro­yed my facial nerve and dis­fi­gu­red my face, but it did offer me that 10% chance to live, my young daugh­ter told me not to hesi­tate a minute. She said, “I would rather come home to an ugly face than an empty house!” “You can do it, Mom!“
    “Someone has to be in that 10%.”

    I wan­ted so des­pa­ra­tely to see my kids gra­duate from high school.

    And so, with the loving sup­port of my won­der­ful family and friends and through the power of pra­yer, I did.

    Then, after 14 years and some recons­truc­tive facial sur­gery, the can­cer retur­ned in my lung. I was told I had less than 2 years to live. I was 50 and had seen my kids gra­duate from high school, college, get married and I had a grand­son and expec­ting a granddaughter.

    A month after my grand­daugh­ter was born, I had lung can­cer sur­gery. As I held this pre­cious red head in my arms while I was recu­pe­ra­ting, I won­de­red if I would see her go to nur­sery school. The odds weren’t good.

    Well, my grand­son, that red hea­ded grand­daugh­ter and another grand­daugh­ter after that are all in college now and I am the prou­dest
    grand­mother on earth. We also have another adop­ted grand­son who is 12 and we tho­roughly enjoy him.

    In 1982, my dear (best friend and buddy) hus­band had kid­ney can­cer. He currently batt­les skin can­cer, but he is han­ging in …selling real estate in a slow mar­ket in FL at the moment.

    We lost his mom and dad to can­cer within 1 year of each other the year before I had the lung can­cer. Both my husband’s brother and his wife have sur­vi­ved can­cer since.

    So, yes, we, as a family have batt­led can­cer many times. We do not con­si­de­rate it a death sen­tence no mat­ter what the odds. We remain posi­tive, we pray and we do what we have to do to try to take care of the pro­blem the same as any other ail­ment. We trust the doc­tors who care for us and go regu­larly for check-​​ups. We take one day at a time and with the Lord’s help, we get through it.

    God has put so many peo­ple in our path that we have been able to reach out and offer hope and sup­port to. You will do the same through your blog.
    This is very good medi­cine not only for you, but for others.

    Somehow, as strange as it seems, we feel our lives have been enriched by these expe­rien­ces and we are bet­ter, more appre­cia­tive people.

    You are in our pra­yers. Remem­ber my favo­rite verse: Phil:4–13. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” This got me through the worst of times and gets me through every day.

    Smile for me ( I can’t since my face is paraly­zed) and I will pray for you. I have a direct high speed line to my Lord and Saviour.

    God Bless You.

    Sin­ce­rely,
    Marian Lewis

    PS: I am 69 now. The doc­tors call me a miracle because they can’t explain it. It’s been a rough, but good ride and I look for­ward to an even more exci­ting journey…after all, I have a web­site now and some ebooks I’ve writ­ten with the encou­ra­ge­ment of those grand­kids. Who knows what is ahead for this old lady. I love each day, one day at a time.
    Remem­ber, someone has to be in that 50%! Go for it!

  134. Allison Sheffield said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 3:37 pm

    Hi Syl­vie,

    Can you ima­gine having this situa­tion without Michael in your life?
    It seems so many times when we must go through a very dif­fi­cult
    situa­tion that the per­son we need is somehow with us, I think it
    is not by hap­pens­tance. I really believe that God is loo­king out
    for you and all of us even when our exis­tance is trying. We reflect
    how we will meet our cha­llen­ges, you have shown that you have
    a half full cup, a love and friend and soul­mate in Michael, your
    chil­dren who are old enough to unders­tand, many, many peo­ple who know and care for you. Many who don’t know you and still care and pray for
    you.

    I know so many women who have been in treat­ment for breast can­cer
    and all of them are still kic­king — after quite a few years (10) and in some cases many.

    Keep a smile on your face and read and lis­ten to jokes and wha­te­ver you love.

    My daugh­ter the The­rapy stu­dent says:
    “How many psycho­lo­gists does it take to change a light­bulb?
    Only one, but the light­bulb has to want to change”

    My Love and Pra­yers to You All,

    Alli­son Sheffield

  135. Ken Calhoun said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 3:58 pm

    Dear Syl­vie and Michel,

    I wan­ted to wish you both the best in over­co­ming this and to have the strength and will to heal and reco­ver during the months ahead. The ama­zing thing about the mind is it’s abi­lity to have a pro­foundly hea­ling impact on the body…and I know you’re a smart, strong person.

    Seeing how much love you and Michel have for each other was an ins­pi­ra­tion to me, and I’m roo­ting for you both to fight through this and emerge victorious.

    Make it so! The world’s a bet­ter place for having you and Michel in it; I know how much you two care for each other … and the months ahead will help you forge an even clo­ser relationship.

    Best wishes, you’re one of the good peo­ple.… make it!

    Ken Calhoun

  136. Helen Broomfield said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 5:19 pm

    Dear Syl­vie & Michel

    The very best of luck. Keep strong together.

    Helen

  137. Phyllis Schwartz said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 6:13 pm

    Syl­vie,

    I am bet­ting my heart on your ‘lot­tery win” …

    … and thin­king about the lives that are going to
    be touched AND saved because you have the
    cou­rage to share the pain of all you are going
    through.

    What lies ahead of you in the imme­diate future
    sucks … but deca­des from now you will still
    be making entries into your vic­tory blog –
    and touching millions upon millions of lives.

    How do I know this? Because I do.

    To Syl­vie & Mike … To Life.

    Phy­llis

  138. Angela Wills said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 6:55 pm

    Syl­vie & Micheal,

    I’m sorry this has hap­pe­ned to you and that there was no way to pre­pare for this type of news. All the best and keep figh­ting and sta­ying as posi­tive as you can. I’m bet­ting you’ll win this lot­tery too! :)

  139. Wendy M. said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 6:59 pm

    Hi Syl­vie,

    I don’t nor­mally leave com­ments, but what you’re going through rang so many bells for me, I felt pro­pe­lled to. Maybe it’ll help you, or someone else… and I think it’s a kind of ‘the­rapy’ for me too.

    Like you, my jour­ney star­ted in June, but the year before in 2005, when I found the lump. I was 45. (also Cana­dian) Actually, the lump announ­ced itself to me with a not-​​to-​​be-​​ignored thump-​​thump-​​thump pulse. I took that to be the “uni­verse hel­ping me” by making sure I could deal with it NOW!

    A few days before, chan­nel hop­ping, I caught a short bit of NYPD Blue where a female offi­cer was going in for a biopsy of a breast lump and worr­ying about all the pos­si­bi­li­ties, and all the sta­tis­tics… and the res­ponse was “Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

    That, too, “had” to be the “uni­verse” — what are the odds of a 5 minute bit of police drama pre­pa­ring me for breast can­cer…? ;-)

    That became my man­tra — “Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

    Although I tend to anti­ci­pate the what-​​ifs, that man­tra hel­ped me get through a lot — inc­lu­ding the tests and wai­ting until late August when the lump was diag­no­sed as can­cer. I had DECIDED that there was no point to frea­king out before — that could come when the time came.

    Belie­ving that each thing that hap­pens is somehow “for a rea­son” helps. It’s found when it’s found, so that it can be trea­ted. Every new thing they learn about your can­cer tells them more about how to fight it. It’s sca­rey, but it’s not a nega­tive. The nega­tive would be them not kno­wing where it is and what cha­rac­te­ris­tics it has! You may find, as I did, that more infor­ma­tion comes out as you go through treat­ments. It’s weird not kno­wing everything right away, but…

    So much of this seems to be about dea­ling with wha­te­ver you need to deal with right NOW — at the moment. “Don’t get (too far) ahead of your­self.” This applies in almost every way. One of the most cha­llen­ging things is the sheer length of time it takes — and no mat­ter how you pre­pare, each day or week or month can be very dif­fe­rent. Pre­pare where you can — like for help when you’ll need it — but a lot of it will be about adap­ting as you go. It’s dif­fi­cult to get into a “rou­tine” that lasts.

    You have already expe­rien­ced this with the way your pain chan­ged from hour to hour and day to day after the sur­gery. If I were going to pre­dict anything, it will be this: what you will be dea­ling with, and how you will deal with it, will change from hour to hour, day to day, month to month.… I have found myself for­ced to deal with the imme­diate in a dif­fe­rent way than I ever have before.…

    A big cha­llenge is trying to see farther into the future and plan ahead when the focus is so inten­sely on the pre­sent — espe­cially on the “wea­ker” days.… The only way I could make sense of that was to focus on “one foot in front of the other” — by doing that, you even­tually get to the end of it, and get to where you are going.…

    Like you, I had sur­gery in Sep­tem­ber (2005) (a lum­pec­tomy), and I “almost” had a second sur­gery (the radi­cal), but at the last minute it was can­ce­lled, as not being help­ful in my case. Like you, I had it in the nodes (remo­ved)… and chemo, and radia­tion, and hor­mone the­rapy… to get at wha­te­ver stray cells they couldn’t get at with surgery.

    The chemo was sca­rey befo­rehand. There is so much varia­tion in how peo­ple res­pond, and so many kinds of che­mos, it’s hard to pre­dict exactly what you’ll experience.

    –> Make sure you let your doc­tors know what’s impor­tant to you. For me, it was to have my treat­ments as close to home as pos­si­ble whe­ne­ver pos­si­ble (ins­tead of in another city) — and they arran­ged that as much as pos­si­ble. For me, I pic­ked the type of chemo (out of two types) that had less chance of nau­sea (hair regrows!) because of my res­pon­si­bi­li­ties as a sin­gle parent.

    –> Make sure you let your nur­ses and doc­tors know what you are expe­rien­cing as you go along — it’s ama­zing how they can come up with things that help — even when you don’t expect it.

    I rea­li­zed early on that it didn’t help me to read too many pamph­lets and such about what to expect from chemo and radia­tion — because they tend to focus on all the bad side effects that can hap­pen — and so you end up expec­ting worse than actually hap­pens, or things that don’t end up hap­pe­ning. I found just tal­king to the doc­tors and nur­ses about those spe­ci­fics more helpful.

    Chemo isn’t fun, no doubt about it — but it is defi­na­tely pos­si­ble to keep going. It’s a case of ADAPTING to wha­te­ver you are expe­rien­cing. I didn’t get nau­sea, but I got other anno­ying diges­tive issues at times. I was some­ti­mes tired, and couldn’t face sit­ting at my com­pu­ter, so I pulled out my typew­ri­ter and wor­ked at my living room table. ADAPT. For me, I some­ti­mes had leg side-​​effects that made it hard to walk for days, so I adapted.

    Adapt in wha­te­ver way you need to, whe­ne­ver you need to, to keep going “one foot in front of another.”

    BTW — I’m not the only one who had GREAT skin during chemo. I wish I still loo­ked so good ;-) During one set of the che­mos, I sud­denly had great inte­rest in coo­king again. That pas­sed too — oh well… (It’s not all bad…)

    Radia­tion was easier, just time-​​consuming mostly, with tra­ve­lling. I’m through that now.

    Now, I’m into the hor­mone the­rapy — well, meno­pause symp­toms (like hot flashes) are aggra­va­ting, but we all go through it eventually.…

    For­get sta­tis­tics. The second worst day I had was the doc­tor who ratt­led off the the sta­tis­tics for each kind of treat­ment. Sta­tis­tics only mat­ter when you are choo­sing bet­ween treat­ments — and then only “bet­ter” or “worse.” Num­bers take on a power of their own. I refuse to think about sta­tis­tics because they don’t mat­ter if you are the “1” or “20” or “60” or wha­te­ver in the hun­dred that makes it. All that mat­ters is doing what YOU need to do.

    It’s all DO-​​ABLE. The can­cer isn’t WHO you are. YOU are big­ger than it is. It’s just something you have to DO.

    Even­tually, you WILL get to the end of what you have to DO — one step at a time — and, yes, you’ll learn new things about your­self, and ever­yone around you.… And, yes, one of the things you’ll learn is how to let others take care of you… and how to take care of yourself…

    A final thought — do wha­te­ver YOU need to do — advice is fine, but ulti­ma­tely, the day to day of this is so imme­diate that you need to do wha­te­ver it is that keeps that “one foot in front of the other.” Lots of peo­ple have all kinds of ideas about what you should do or could do — and if it works for them, great — accept what helps out of it, shut out the rest, whe­ne­ver the times come that you need to do that.

    Make sure to laugh regu­larly. And some­ti­mes to cry. You’ll find your­self stron­ger than you knew — and wea­ker. You’ll want new things, and shed things that aren’t impor­tant any­more. And you’ll put one foot in front of the other… and get to the end of it. Even­tually, you’ll look back, and rea­lize how far you’ve wal­ked — and or maybe lim­ped ;-)

    May all the gods in the uni­verse be with you,

    Wendy M.

  140. Pavel Berestneff said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 7:05 pm

    Sil­vie & Michel!

    I’m very, very sorry for these results… But I believe in you, I dream about happy end of this terri­ble story. And I’m pos­ting this lines jist to keep you know that all your Rus­sian friends are pra­ying for you!

    God bless you, Sil­vie and Michel, we love you!

    With best wishes and best belie­ves — from Russia!

  141. Fabian Lim said on:

    September 24, 2006 at 10:10 pm

    Hi Syl­vie,

    War­mest Gree­tings from Singapore…

    Our pra­yers are with you and even though I don’t know you per­so­nally,
    your warmth and bubbly per­so­na­lity radia­tes so vibrantly within
    the pages of this blog.

    So keep smi­ling and laughing — enjoy life to the fullest.

    Live life as if there’s no tomorrow.

    And the collec­tive pra­yers of your fami­lies, friends and loved ones
    will help pull you though this tem­po­rary con­di­tion of yours.

    God bless.

    Fabian Lim

  142. Jay White said on:

    September 25, 2006 at 12:30 am

    Syl­vie and Michel,

    My heart goes out to both of you in your time of need. Syl­vie, I am awes­truck by your bra­very and your strength. Michel, you are a shi­ning exam­ple of what a hus­band and best friend should be. You both are such ama­zing peo­ple, and I feel pri­vi­le­ged to know you.

    When I need com­fort, I turn to the Word. And when I think of you and your situa­tion, my mind goes to one of the most well-​​known pas­sa­ges in the entire Bible. I hope it’s as ins­pi­ra­tio­nal to you as it has been to me.

    Psalm 23
    The LORD is my shepherd,
    I shall not be in want.
    He makes me lie down in green pas­tu­res,
    He leads me beside quiet waters,
    He res­to­res my soul.
    He gui­des me in paths of righ­teous­ness
    for His name’s sake.
    Even though I walk
    through the valley of the sha­dow of death,
    I will fear no evil,
    for You are with me;
    Your rod and Your staff,
    they com­fort me.
    You pre­pare a table before me
    in the pre­sence of my ene­mies.
    You anoint my head with oil;
    my cup over­flows.
    Surely good­ness and love will follow me
    all the days of my life,
    and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
    forever.

    Pra­yers and sup­port to you both from our home to yours…

    Jay White

  143. Kevin Riley said on:

    September 25, 2006 at 12:34 am

    Syl­vie and Michel

    Very IMPORTANT note! My ex-​​wife had breast can­cer and nee­ded aggres­sive che­mothe­rapy. I con­tac­ted a natu­ral health cli­nic in Washing­ton or Ore­gon State. Sorry, I don’t remem­ber the name.

    They sent me Co-​​Q10 to help her body withs­tand the chemo (it is quite dama­ging to healthy tis­sue too). She also took a mush­room extract and shark’s car­ti­lage. In the end, she only had slight sto­mach dis­com­fort and a slight tyhin­ning of hair — but mainly, sta­yed very healthy.

    Please do a search for this cli­nic. It has a name like “Natu­ral Hea­ling” or “Natu­ral Health”. You need to send them some info like blood mar­kers, type of chemo, etc.

    The doc­tor there gave me a telephone interview.

    You can do this. Beat it, get healthy, and back into the game.

    Kevin

  144. Rick Butts said on:

    September 25, 2006 at 1:55 am

    Michael and Sylvie —

    What can I say that has not already been said by your many friends and sup­por­tive associates?

    II Corinthians begins with the ans­wer to the ques­tion “why must we suf­fer?” — to learn to trust Gods power over our own — and to equip us to help com­fort others who suf­fer as we have — in the way that only another who has been through it, can.

    I see this com­fort in the com­ments on this blog already.

    You are immer­sed in the science of it and focu­sed on the solu­tion — this is a very good thing — you are power­ful peo­ple, with a strong sense of pur­pose, and a new love sprung full bloom to marriage to carry you through.

    Pra­yers to you both for the peace that trans­cends all unders­tan­ding — and a great hea­ling and return to your wacky and beau­ti­ful romance as soon as possible.

    Rick Butts

  145. Charlie said on:

    September 25, 2006 at 2:02 am

    I know that hea­ring about someone else’s vic­to­ries might not help much when it’s still YOU that has to go through it. I wan­ted you to know that my mother has had can­cer three times: Hodgkin’s in her twen­ties and breast can­cer twice.

    She is still alive, still beau­ti­ful and about 10 times the woman I knew before. She has fought three times and won it all. She has ear­ned the res­pect of every sin­gle per­son around her, as I’m sure you will as well.

    My best goes out to you. It may not be easy, but you can beat it as so many others have done. And on the other side with your clean bill of health life will spar­kle and those around you will be inspired.

    Char­lie

  146. Kim Knight said on:

    September 25, 2006 at 2:10 am

    Dear Syl­vie and Michael

    Thank you for sha­ring and I am sad to hear the news. I com­ple­tely know what is hap­pe­ning and how you are fee­ling due to both my parents having had cancer ..

    Do what you know is right for you. Lis­ten to your heart and body … they talk to us.

    I think you know by now that we all care for you and feel with and for you.

    You are both VICTORS of life.

    Sin­ce­rely

    KIM

  147. KK said on:

    September 25, 2006 at 3:12 am

    Dear Michel & Slyvie,

    War­mest gree­tings & wishes from Penang,Malaysia!
    Sen­ding Reiki thoughts and hea­lings to you both.

    Everything’s and will be ok.
    Be and with joy, peace and love,

    Namaste,
    KK

  148. Sen Ze said on:

    September 25, 2006 at 3:15 am

    Hi Syl­vie,

    Your own inner strengths and Michel’s inc­re­di­ble sup­port WILL get you through this.

    Here’s Lance Armstrong’s sta­te­ment to the press in 1996 when he was diag­no­sed with tes­ti­cu­lar can­cer (which had spread to his lungs, abdo­men and brain):

    cyc​ling​news​.com/​r​e​s​u​l​t​s​/​a​r​c​h​i​v​e​s​/​o​c​t​9​6​/​l​a​n​c​e​.​h​tml

    You could pro­bably ima­gine the exact fee­lings and thoughts that must have gone through Lance’s head when that sta­te­ment was issued.

    As we all know, Lance is now kic­king more butts than ever! Some peo­ple even sug­ges­ted that the grue­lling cyc­ling com­pe­ti­tion that he won 7 times in a row from 1999 — 2005 be rena­med the “Tour de Lance”.

    I also chan­ced upon a talk show on TV some years ago where one guy got up to talk about his can­cer invol­ving 3 dif­fe­rent parts of his body, at 3 dif­fe­rent periods of his life!

    He fought the first can­cer and won, became cancer-​​free for a few years, then had the 2nd can­cer, fought it and won, became cancer-​​free for a few years, then had the third one, and fought that and won too!

    Have faith in your doc­tors, the treat­ment and yourself.

    Please don’t ever give up hope, Sylvie.

    Fight it with everything you’ve got.

    You WILL get through this!

    Sen Ze

  149. Catalina said on:

    September 25, 2006 at 3:55 am

    Dear Syl­vie, dear Michael,
    I know, it’s very hard for you, but you must think posi­ti­vely. You must never aban­don your hope.
    I know, it’s an aggre­sive the­rapy, but it might help you.
    I wish you both, the whole strengh you’re nee­ding for go trough it.
    God bless and help you!
    And Syl­vie!
    Your such a won­der­ful per­son, fight for you life!
    Catalina

  150. Marlene said on:

    September 25, 2006 at 5:35 am

    I don’t know you except thru your web pre­sence, but I appre­ciate you both. How wise & how loving you were to open your­self up to your friends — known and unknown.I have added my sin­cere pra­yers to others’.

    Let me share with you some scrip­tu­res that have meant a lot to me, and taught me to be in charge of my thin­king and spea­king, and the­re­fore my out­co­mes. They come from the book of Pro­verbs in the Bible.

    “A man’s sto­mach shall be satis­fied from the fruit of his mouth; From the pro­duce of his lips he shall be filled.
    “Death and life are in the power of the ton­gue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” (Whether death or life, obviously.) Pro­verbs 18: 20,21.

    “The heart of the wise teaches his mouth, And adds lear­ning to his lips.
    “Plea­sant words are like a honey­comb, Sweet­ness to the soul and health to the bones. (Lite­rally, I have found.) Pro­verbs 16: 23.24.

    Think and speak only of your hea­ling, Syl­vie. When you find your­self thin­king or spea­king of the alter­na­tive, remind your­self, and others if neces­sary, that you can’t afford to enter­tain defeat in thought or word, or you will give it power to over­come you. Ins­tead feed your desire for life, and let that grow in you. I’m sure you have already unders­tood this, even if, perhaps, not quite in these words.

    As you focus on your hea­ling and tra­vel towards it, receive it with thanks­gi­ving from the God Who crea­ted us with this empo­wer­ment and ins­truc­ted us how to use it.

    Jesus said, “Have faith in God.
    “For assu­redly I say to you, whoe­ver says to this moun­tain, ‘be remo­ved and be cast into the sea’, and does not doubt in his heart (refu­ses to enter­tain doubt in his heart), but belie­ves that those things he says will be done, he will have wha­te­ver he SAYS.
    “The­re­fore I say to you, wha­te­ver things you ask when you pray, believe that you RECEIVE them (pre­sent tense), and you will (not expres­sing future tense, but empha­sis) have them.” Mark 11: 23, 24.

    Don’t make the mis­take that is so com­mon, of belie­ving you WILL be hea­led — that it is something that is going to hap­pen up ahead.

    If you are deter­mi­ned to have it, RECEIVE it as yours by faith and pro­gres­si­vely take pos­ses­sion of it day by day. Do not be denied, but con­ti­nue in faith. By His own tes­ti­mony, God honours faith, and has com­mit­ted him­self to res­pond to it.

    After all, Jesus is the One Who often said to those who came to Him for hea­ling, “Go your way. YOUR faith has made you whole.”

    The Bible is a trea­sure trove of ins­pi­ra­tion for faith-​​building. And just like we inter­net mar­ke­ters use our emails to let peo­ple get to know and trust us, that’s how God uses His Word — the Bible.

    The more peo­ple know and trust us, the more they are happy to do busi­ness with us. And the more we get to know and trust God, the easier it is to take by faith the autho­rity He has given us for every area of our lives.

    It’s a big book, ‘tho and for those who are wan­ting to get straight to the meat of their need of the moment, books that point out the rele­vant pas­sa­ges are a help. For hea­ling pas­sa­ges, a little boo­klet called “God’s Medi­cine” by Ken­neth E. Hagin, is exce­llent for star­ters.
    His books are avai­la­ble from:

    Ken­neth Hagin Minis­tries,
    PO Box 50126, Tulsa, OK 74150–0126
    Or PO Box 335, Isling­ton (Toronto) Onta­rio, Canada M9A 4X3

    I sin­ce­rely hope those addres­ses are still correct. My copy of that boo­klet is a few years old now.

    My grand­father used to say, “It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good.” Out of the cha­llenge posed by this wea­pon that has been for­med against you by the enemy — the one the Bible calls “the god (little g) of this world” & “the prince of dark­ness”, may you come to know, trust and love the one true God Who crea­ted you, and Whose love for you is overwhelming.

    And may you know the truth of His word to all belie­vers, thru the prophet Isaiah, 54: 17, “No wea­pon for­med against you shall prosper.”

  151. Frank Mullen said on:

    September 25, 2006 at 8:10 am

    Hi Syl­vie and Michel

    You are both an ins­pi­ra­tion to us all and I firmly believe that you are giving your­sel­ves the best chance pos­si­ble through your posi­tive atti­tude and fierce determination.

    Good luck on your journey.

    Frank

  152. Alfredo Di Pasquale said on:

    September 25, 2006 at 8:13 am

    Dear Syl­vie and Michel,

    Our paths have only cros­sed in the digi­tal realm…so far. I truly am loo­king for­ward to mee­ting both of you at a future IM event.

    Syl­vie, your words detai­ling the trials and tri­bu­la­tions of such a per­so­nal nature are ins­pi­ring to all. The love and strength that you have for Michel, your family, and others, cou­pled with Michel’s devo­tion and deter­mi­na­tion to seeing you well again is in itself a very power­ful antibiotic.

    May God con­ti­nue to bless you and be with you always.

    God Speed ~
    Alfredo

    P.S. Kick that can­cers ARSE!!!!

  153. Liz said on:

    September 25, 2006 at 10:08 am

    Hi Syl­vie,

    I’ve been follo­wing your story. Just thought I’d post some info I found that may help with the effects of chemo, and/​or may help you beat the can­cer completely:

    ———————————————————-
    Mush­room Types and Their Cancer-​​Fighting Properties

    The Reishi mush­room, known in China as the ‘lon­ge­vity herb’ and rated as a top medi­ci­nal herb in Chi­nese Tra­di­tio­nal Medi­cine con­tains over 200 active ingre­dients and uni­que com­pounds. In fact, the pro­per­ties found in a Reishi mush­room con­tain more bio­lo­gi­cally active com­pounds than any other plant source on earth. Research con­duc­ted by Can­cer Research UK dis­co­ve­red that the Reishi mush­room con­tains active com­pounds that heigh­ten the immune system’s res­ponse to foreign inva­ders such as bac­te­ria, viru­ses and tumour cells.

    The inc­re­di­ble anti-​​tumour and immune enhan­cing pro­per­ties of the Aga­ri­cus Bla­zei Murill (or ABM, com­monly known as Royal Sun Aga­ri­cus) mush­room has resul­ted in remis­sion rates of well over 90% for all types of can­cer. In fact, one study (in which ABM was intro­du­ced into the diets of humans) resul­ted in a 3000% inc­rease in natu­ral killer (NK) cells in just 2 to 4 days. The ABM mush­room con­tains beta-​​glucans, as well as ste­rols, lec­tins, nuc­leic acids and lipids.

    The Cordy­ceps Sinen­sis or Cater­pi­llar Mush­room gets its name from where it’s found – in the sto­machs of cater­pi­llars. The Cater­pi­llar Mush­room is uni­que to all other medi­ci­nal mush­rooms in that it con­tains de-​​oxy nuc­leo­ci­des that can­not be obtai­ned from any other natu­ral source. With it ste­rols, lipids and nuc­leo­si­des, the Cater­pi­llar Mush­room has the abi­lity to inc­rease red blood cells and sti­mu­late the immune sys­tem. Cli­ni­cal human trials con­duc­ted by Chi­nese Tra­di­tio­nal Medi­cine indi­ca­ted that the Cater­pi­llar Mush­room was able to improve liver, kid­ney, car­dio­vas­cu­lar, and res­pi­ra­tory func­tion. Comi­ned with extracts from the Reishi mush­room, Cordy­ceps has shown to improve the qua­lity of life for some advan­ced can­cer patients .

    Corio­lus Ver­si­co­lor, other­wise known as the ‘Tur­key Tail’ mush­room also has immune sys­tem boos­ting and anti-​​tumour pro­per­ties. Results in the high 90th per­cen­tile have been rea­li­zed when Corio­lus was used against Sar­coma 180 during seve­ral ani­mal tests. Two extracts of Corio­lus, both beta-​​glucan protein-​​bound poly­saccha­ri­des have been shown to improve the ratio of T-​​cells, natu­ral killer cell acti­vity and IL-​​2 levels.

    The Mai­take Mush­room has long been con­si­de­red a power­ful medi­cine. In fact, they were used as far back as 206 B.C. for the treat­ment of seve­ral disor­ders, inc­lu­ding sto­mach ail­ments and hemorrhoids. Stu­dies con­duc­ted in the 1980’s revea­led even more of the Maitake’s hea­ling pro­per­ties, inc­lu­ding the inhi­bi­tion of tumours, the regu­la­ting of blood pres­sure and cho­les­te­rol, and the con­tro­lling of obe­sity.
    ———————————————————————————–

    Just one more thing — wha­te­ver you do, DON’T SETTLE. If your doc­tor or doc­tors aren’t lis­te­ning to you, it’s time to get rid of them. One of my best friends who had can­cer fired 3 of her doc­tors before she found one who would lis­ten to her. Your body is telling you all kinds of stuff — lis­ten to it, and then find a doc­tor who will lis­ten to YOU. You DO have the power to decide what is or isn’t done to your body.

    Sen­ding com­fort, strength and love to you — you are SO gonna kick that cancer’s ass ;)

    Liz

  154. Fraser Rose said on:

    September 25, 2006 at 10:44 am

    Hi Syl­vie,
    Many cacer patients regret the loss of their hair due to che­mothe­rapy. Actually, that can be vie­wed as something to be very thank­ful for. That’s because of the way chemo works: it des­troys those cells in the body that repro­duce most quickly, namely can­cer cells and hair cells. So when your hair falls out it means the chemo is wor­king, doing what it’s sup­po­sed to do. Did you know that?

    God bless!

    Fra­ser Rose

  155. Pastor Ray L. Edwards said on:

    September 25, 2006 at 11:31 am

    Hi Syl­vie,

    I’ll keep you in my pra­yers. The cha­llenge is great, and you have to keep
    a posi­tive men­tal atti­tude through this storm. But the sun will shine again!

    Live each day with rene­wed pas­sion and never blame or give up. Others
    have won the battle and you can too!

    Regards,

    Ray L.,

  156. David & Malia said on:

    September 25, 2006 at 12:03 pm

    Dear Syl­vie and Michel,

    I was in Phoe­nix to wit­ness “The Pro­po­sal”. I was touched then and I am touched now by the strug­gle you face with such opti­mism and hope. I don’t really know you both very well, howe­ver somehow both my wife, Malia, and I feel a bond with you and join with you in facing this uphill battle.

    I pray for you and Syl­vie. My per­so­nal belief is that we are not alone in our pil­gri­mage and we have a mer­ci­ful and loving God who cares for us deeply and helps us in our time of need. I was remin­ded of a book today writ­ten by Rabbi Harold S. Kush­ner called “When bad things hap­pen to good peo­ple”. http://​www​.eno​ta​lone​.com/​a​u​t​h​o​r​s​.​p​h​p​?​a​i​d​=​776 It talks of his strug­gle to unders­tand the ans­wer to the ques­tion “Why God?”

    I just wan­ted to let you know that I feel con­nec­ted to you, I love you both and pray that God would grant you the inner strength, grace and faith to grow strong in both of you. You are not alone my friends.

    David and Malia McKinney

  157. Ralph Zuranski said on:

    September 25, 2006 at 12:18 pm

    Dear Slyl­vie,
    Life just seems to keep coming up with big cha­llen­ges for those with big enough shoul­ders to deal with them. After all you have been through in your ama­zing life, this is just another hurdle to test your per­se­ve­rance and vic­to­rious attitude.

    Your strug­gle, to regain your health, is ins­pi­ring to so many peo­ple. Thank you for having the cou­rage and trans­pa­rency to share such an inti­mate expe­rience with us all. We all bene­fit from the strength of your spirit.

    When there is a life and death situa­tion, faith in the good­ness of God and hope in a brigh­ter future are our vehic­les to peace and a lack of fear. It is easy to let our fears des­troy the qua­lity of our lives, but each moment of life is so precious…no mat­ter what is happening.

    As both my mom and dad went on hos­pice in the last week, I unders­tand the value of life and the peace that comes from accep­tance of God’s plan for our lives. Some­ti­mes, it is too easy to be focu­sed on the future and miss what is hap­pe­ning in the moment.

    As I care for my mom and dad in their final days, I truly rea­lize just how little con­trol we have over life and death. The faith to trust in a kind and loving God is a great gift that trans­cends my understanding.

    All that I know is that each second is to be lived to its fullest for the past is gone and the future never arri­ves. Inc­re­di­ble indi­vi­duals like you, know at their dee­pest level of unders­tan­ding, that the pre­sent is the daily rea­lity of those brave souls who choose to live on pur­pose with faith, hope, trust, per­se­ve­rance and most importantly…love.

    You, Michel and your fami­lies are in my pra­yers,
    God bless you,
    Ralph

  158. Dori said on:

    September 25, 2006 at 2:34 pm

    Damn!

    I hate hea­ring this. What a bunch of stin­ker cards! I mean, just like ever­yone else, my heart is brea­king and eyes all swo­llen up and blurry with this news. Crap. :-(

    And, I know, if anyone can swing it over to the old age 50%, YOU CAN!

    And heck, if you do a locks for love cam­paign and need folks to donate, I got 11 inches I can loose! ;-)

    much love!
    Dori

  159. Collette said on:

    September 25, 2006 at 2:57 pm

    No one knows what the future holds, but if anyone has the cou­rage, strength and grace requi­red to beat this enemy, Syl­vie, you do.

    I’m sen­ding posi­tive thoughts, pra­yers and best wishes north­wards to you.

    Namaste
    Collette

  160. Shawn Catsimanes said on:

    September 25, 2006 at 3:17 pm

    Dear Syl­vie,

    I just read your blog start to finish. Michel is a great copyw­ri­ter, no doubt, but he’s got nothin’ on you, babe. It reads like a best-​​selling novel or a clas­sic story.

    I laughed. I cried. Most of all, I was right there with you, una­ble to lift my eyes from the page — expe­rien­cing the pro­cess. And I’ll stay right there with you until I can share the joy of com­plete recovery.

    Thank you for your willing­ness to share your jour­ney. Even though I’m sure it’s cathar­tic, the com­plete expo­sure can’t have been easy.

    You’re an ama­zing woman. I’m so thank­ful you have an ama­zing man along side you.

    I strongly trust in the hea­ling power of God, but like you, believe it comes in many dif­fe­rent forms. I stand firm in the faith that he will bring you through this.

    All the Best,
    Shawn

  161. Cris & Loretta said on:

    September 25, 2006 at 3:38 pm

    Hi Syl­vie and Michel

    As Michael Neil obser­ved in his weekly column “One of the few perks of going through a period of cri­sis and/​or suf­fe­ring is that when you come out the other side (and nearly ever­yone does, soo­ner or later), you rea­lize that you are a lot stron­ger than you pro­bably thought you were, and that
    strength doesn’t leave you even after the cri­sis has past”

    We are hoping that you emerge triumphant and stron­ger through this ordeal.

    Our thoughts and pra­yers are with you both.

    Cris & Loretta

  162. Laurence Cumbie said on:

    September 25, 2006 at 6:39 pm

    Syl­vie,

    Hea­ling and medi­cine is much too fas­ci­na­ting and gigan­tic a sub­ject to allow your­self to lis­ten to ONLY the prog­nos­ti­ca­tions from mem­bers of the medi­cal esta­blish­ment — the health prac­ti­tio­ner group that is tied to stan­dard ope­ra­ting pro­ce­du­res and insu­rance review boards.

    These are the well-​​meaning folks who also know too little about what they were not ins­truc­ted to focus enough atten­tion in medi­cal school curri­cula — namely, human nutri­tion, and natu­ral immune sys­tem boosters.

    Just ask them. Their ans­wers will be uni­formly vague. Because they are trai­ned to “manage” disease, not neces­sa­rily cure it. And they can­not advo­cate that which they know little about, can they?

    They uni­ver­sally rely upon the scien­ti­fic methods which have ske­wed the research for the deve­lop­ment of ever-​​more-​​dangerous (pro­mi­sing?) drug the­ra­pies. Because they are “managed-​​care prac­ti­tio­ners” — and not research scien­tists gene­rally, they “give you what they are told is peer-​​reviewed and acceptable.”

    And their law­yers have seen to it that the Hip­poc­ra­tic Oath is quite “dif­fe­rent” than what we’ve often unders­tood it to mean — as “first, do no harm”.

    Which is why you must accept that your body and your life is owned by you.

    Our human immune sys­tems have evol­ved over thou­sands of years; but the AMA, for ins­tance, did not even come into being as a pro­fes­sio­nal orga­ni­za­tion until the early part of the 20th century.

    Before its exis­tence, more than one “school of medi­cine” was the accep­ted order of the day — and none was pre­do­mi­nant over the other. The dis­co­very of peni­ci­llin “wowed” the scien­ti­fic elite to such an extent that the “money flo­wed like a river” into the now-​​dominant school of medi­cine we revere and trust so much — to the dis­may of other enligh­te­ned medi­cal pro­fes­sio­nals — down through the years until the pre­sent day.

    Thus firmly esta­blished, other schools of medi­cal thought simply could not com­pete for research dollars against the jug­ger­naut we call Big Pharma.

    Like all hea­ling metho­do­lo­gies, like medi­cine itself, it is always sub­ject to the accep­ted scien­ti­fic methods which are often the only scien­ces which can get subs­tan­tially fun­ded for research pur­po­ses. Thus, if a the­rapy is beyond the pur­view of the medi­cal “esta­blish­ment” — if it does not involve “cut­ting” (sur­gery), “bur­ning” (radia­tion) or “poi­so­ning” (che­mothe­rapy and drugs) — it is not con­si­de­red mainstream…or acceptable.

    Modern mains­tream medi­cine con­si­ders that we live in a che­mi­cal uni­verse; whe­reas, other prac­ti­tio­ners con­si­der that we actaully live in an elec­tri­cal universe.

    The royal family of England, for exam­ple, relies often upon the advice of homeo­paths and other natu­ro­pathic practitioners.

    Many Euro­peans and Asians still res­pect the con­tri­bu­tions from those who are serious about ALL the hea­ling arts.

    This way, they get “the rest of the story” too. Because infor­med con­sentstill must be a con­si­de­ra­tion in our judg­ments, right?

    While it’s hard to ignore the idea that if we have something “bad” inside us…we’re con­di­tio­ned to simply want it taken out, it is use­ful to keep in mind what these “accep­ta­ble”, extremely-​​invasive pro­ce­du­res are doing sys­te­mi­cally to our once-​​healthy-​​and-​​normal bodies.

    These pro­to­cols com­pro­mise the func­tio­na­lity of our God-​​given immune sys­tems big time!

    They grossly inter­fere with nor­mal inges­tion of health­ful nou­rish­ment — like that which comes from air, water, food…and plea­sant surroundings.

    Thus, when we suf­fer through such inva­sive the­ra­pies, we need to now think about the best air, water, food, and surroun­dings avai­la­ble to us in the whole wide world.

    Because, when things are not nor­mal, we may need better-​​than-​​normal nou­rish­ment to repair what is damaged.

    And the drugs just aren’t desig­ned to do that at all!

    There are some very inte­res­ting — tes­ted — alter­na­tive the­ra­pies out there from emi­nent medi­cal prac­ti­tio­ners (most of whom are also res­pec­ted medi­cal doc­tors) that may be worthy of your attention.

    I unders­tand you and Michel and others will no doubt explore all, or at least some, of these.

    Mor­tal beings all want to help. God will help.

    But, in the mean­time, please don’t allow your­self to be wea­ke­ned further.

    Can­cer loves anae­ro­bic cellu­lar envi­ron­ments and stressed-​​out living tis­sue; but your superchar­ged natu­ral immune sys­tem can deny it the new pla­ces it wants to grow…while, little-​​by-​​little bit each day, you can deny it new territory…until it has no pla­ces left in which it to thrive.

    After all, by simply over­co­ming your psycho-​​physical weak­nes­ses with the bestnou­rish­ment out there, you’ll have plenty of time to heal your­self — and your immune sys­tem — completely.

    Your path to reco­very will begin when you eli­mi­nate your fear and help your­self to the best that life has to offer.

    And you’ll never, ever need to fight this fight alone, Sylvie.

    http://​www​.thehea​ling​co​des​.com
    http://​www​.can​cer​-pre​ven​tion​.net
    http://​www​.mer​cola​.com
    http:www.curezone.com
    http://​www​.healtha​lert​.com
    http://​www​.lef​.org
    http://​www​.quack​watch​.org
    http://​www​.tahoma​-cli​nic​.com
    http://​www​.komen​.org
    shir​leys​-well​ness​-cafe​.com/​b​r​e​a​s​t​c​a​n​c​e​r​.​htm
    http://​www​.drday​.com

  163. Nicola said on:

    September 25, 2006 at 7:04 pm

    Hi Syl­vie and Family

    You are all in my pra­yers and hea­ling meditations.

    I know you’ve already got loads of health & nutri­tio­nal advice and I’d like to add to that:

    EFT — Emo­tio­nal Free­dom The­rapy — gentle tap­ping on cer­tain meri­dian points.

    It’s a very fle­xi­ble, gentle yet power­ful the­rapy that can be done over the phone as well as face to face. It works very well along­side con­ven­tio­nal the­ra­pies and can sup­port the body throughout your jour­ney, inc­lu­ding during Chemo & Radiation.

    Emma Roberts from http://​www​.theeft​cen​tre​.co​.uk has wor­ked for many years with women with breast can­cer, in her pri­vate prac­tice and at http://​www​.theha​ven​.co​.uk.

    There are EFT the­ra­pists in Canada and the best place to find a good local the­ra­pist would be http://​www​.emo​free​.com which is the main EFT web­site. Dr Carol Look is also a lea­ding EFT the­ra­pist, I’m not sure if she’s in Canada or USA.

    I will cer­tainly be joi­ning you in accu­mu­la­ting a wealth of the “lot­tery tic­kets” that you men­tio­ned, being sure to “add one for Syl­vie” with every joyous moment, every hearty laugh and every moment of gra­ti­tude in my life.

    Abun­dant Bles­sings of Love

    Nico­lax

  164. Jan Evans said on:

    September 25, 2006 at 8:09 pm

    Syl­vie & Michel,

    Remem­ber the old pos­ter, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life”?

    I pre­fer to think that “Today is the best day of the rest of my life.” It is the only day of my life.

    Enjoy, no che­rish, today. Live each moment. Not only do we not know what tomo­rrow will bring, who knows what will hap­pen next hour?

    Anias Nin wrote, “Life shrinks or expands accor­ding to one’s cou­rage.” You both have huge lives–full and long.

    Thanks for sharing.

    Bles­sings to you and all you love,

    Jan

  165. Michael Ruge said on:

    September 25, 2006 at 8:37 pm

    Elly sur­vi­ved all of this and you will also.
    the next few years will have many peaks and low points .
    so as Wins­ton chirchill said ’ when you are going through hell , keep going’ .
    it will bring the two of you even clo­ser (if that is pos­si­ble)
    we have the map so call or email us with any ques­tions , we are here to help. we found the not kno­wing to be the har­dest thing.
    so now you do not need to fly blind

    peace

    Michael and Elly Ruge
    1–250-733‑2233 Elly@​LakeBB.​com or Michael@​SmallSeminars.​com

  166. Nathan Anderson said on:

    September 25, 2006 at 10:53 pm

    Hey Syl­vie!

    You’re gonna stomp this thing. Have abso­lute faith that you will pre­vail… because you WILL!

    Here’s some happy fee­lings coming your way… in the way of some pics of my newest family mem­ber: only 2 weeks old! She was the pro­duct of an Inter­net Marketer’s Carri­bean Cruise back in January… ;)

    http://​www​.goo​glean​der​son​.com

  167. Nathalie(cousin) said on:

    September 25, 2006 at 11:04 pm

    Dear Syl­vie and Michel,
    you have made it in this life. You both ins­pire many and give so much of your­sel­ves. Let us sup­port you as we send you all this Love and Light during this time. Just let our Love and the Love of God that is there ready to be gras­ped, bathe you ready to cleanse you so that you both con­ti­nue the won­der­ful path you have laid ahead for your family. We think and love you every day. A bientot!

    Natha­lie et la fami­lle Gre­goire XXXXXXXXXXXX

  168. Peter Chew said on:

    September 26, 2006 at 3:20 am

    Hi Syl­vie,

    You don’t know me but I’ve read about your can­cer and the res­ponse you’ve recei­ved from your readers.

    It is good to know that you have so many friends who are con­cer­ned about your problem.

    I have been rea­ding about Alter­na­tive Cures by Bill Gott­lieb, the author of New Choi­ces in Natu­ral Hea­ling. In his book he quo­tes Char­les Simone, M.D., direc­tor of the Simone Pro­tec­tive Can­cer in Law­ren­ce­vi­lle, New Jersey.

    “A change in lifestyle is the only fac­tor that has been scien­ti­fi­cally pro­ven to extend the ave­rage life span of women with breast can­cer”. He con­ti­nues: “A change in lifestyle stops ‘fee­ding’ the tumor and boost the immune sys­tem so that it can effec­ti­vely fight can­cer, and the most impor­tant change is eli­mi­na­ting the foods that con­tri­bute 40 to 60 per­cent of all breast cancer.

    Accor­ding to Dr Simone, more than 100 scien­ti­fic stu­dies show that satu­ra­ted fat — the kind found in red meat and dairy pro­ducts — can inc­rease the risk of can­cer. Besi­des food, he belie­ves that can­cer patients should drink only dis­ti­lled water to avoid all pos­si­ble car­ci­no­gens. Also avoid other car­ci­no­gen risks such as drin­king alcohol and smo­king tobacco, inc­lu­ding second hand smoke.

    There’s more infor­ma­tion about breast can­cer in Bill Gottlieb’s book, Alter­na­tive Cures.

    These chan­ges in your lifestyle will only improve your health and will not inter­fere with wha­te­ver treat­ment you are under­going at this time.

    I sin­ce­rely hope you will reco­ver soon and be as healthy as you can pos­sibly be. May God bless you.

    Peter

  169. Tatiana said on:

    September 26, 2006 at 8:39 am

    Hi Syl­vie,

    I truly believe that the rea­son Jesus was able to heal is that he refu­sed to see ever­yone asking for help being ill.

    I refuse to see you not being well. The only way I can see you in my mind is the way you loo­ked on your wed­ding day – happy, full of love and live. And THIS IS THE WAY TO BE.

    Love you both with all my heart. Any sup­port or help you need – is right here, you can count on it.

    Mike, I sent you an email with some infor­ma­tion that might help.

    Tatiana.

  170. Holly Cotter said on:

    September 26, 2006 at 9:07 am

    Dear, dear Sylvie,

    Your blog entry was one of the most power­ful things I have ever read. The way you were able to share your fears, your tears, and your hope brought goo­se­bumps to my flesh and tears to my eyes. You REALLY need to publish this… it will help so many others who are facing simi­lar challenges.

    It goes without saying that my pra­yers are with you and Michel, and I WILL be praying!

    Just so you know… 50% chance of living is beau­ti­ful odds.

    I don’t share this to mini­mize what you’re going through… not at all. Howe­ver, 10 years ago my hus­band was given a 10% chance of living through the next five years (40% less than you) and he’s still here 10 years later! Just one exam­ple that SOMEONE has to be in that 10% (or 50% as in your case). And, since you have SO much to live for (Michel and the chil­dren) it will just INCREASE the odds in your favor… because your emo­tio­nal mind­set is pro­bably even MORE impor­tant than your phy­si­cal con­di­tion (as they say, “mind over matter.”)

    Syl­vie, I sure hope you read this, and that it helps you inter­na­lize the fact that you have WONDERFUL odds of survival.

    With love and pra­yers for both you and Michel,

    Holly

  171. Gail Greenberg said on:

    September 26, 2006 at 12:26 pm

    Hi Syl­vie & Family,
    I believe the same doc­tors who deli­ve­red the bad news would also tell you they are cons­tantly ama­zed by all the mirac­les and baf­fling cures that they see every day.

    Jon-​​Benet Ramsey’s mom had an aggres­sive stage-​​4 ova­rian can­cer that should have been lethal in a year and she lived for 10 — even though she lost her daugh­ter and wasn’t in a cheer­ful, posi­tive mood. By the same mul­ti­plier effect, your 5 years beco­mes 50!

    I myself con­cei­ved tri­plets (with no medi­cal inter­ven­tion!) when my hus­band and I were told we were infer­tile. My friend’s vasec­tomy mira­cu­lously hea­led itself. His wife was not amused!

    Our bodies are full of sur­pri­ses. The doc­tors are telling you the worst case sce­na­rio not about all the excep­tions, which are too nume­rous to men­tion. The truth is — with or without a diag­no­sis, none of us knows how much time we have so we should all do the same thing: dwell in the sweet­ness of what we have right now. You have such abun­dance in your life with four great kids and your new hus­band. And so much love, now that ever­yone has a good excuse to show it.

    Stay strong, Syl­vie. And, as I said to LaDawn — if you think this is going to get you out of doing a pro­ject with me, you’ve got another thing coming, young lady!

  172. Jan said on:

    September 26, 2006 at 1:12 pm

    Hi Syl­vie,
    The food we eat can have a remar­ka­ble impact on our health. Please go to http://​www​.can​cer​pro​ject​.org for infor­ma­tion on diet and can­cer pre­ven­tion and sur­vi­val. Also, I recently read an article regar­ding yoga and how it hel­ped women with com­fort and func­tion in daily acti­vity after breast can­cer sur­gery. You may be able to find the article at http://​www​.ace​fit​ness​.org. My best to you!
    Jan

  173. Craig Perrine said on:

    September 26, 2006 at 3:08 pm

    As I scro­lled down this page to find the spot to post it hit me how much love and sup­port is evi­dent here for you and Michel and your awe­some kids.

    Looks like ever­yone is buying you lot­tery tic­kets baby.

    Embrace the fear that comes with news like this. Let it hit you in all it’s dimen­sions… and let it pass like the elec­tri­cal storm that it was. Figh­ting back the fear only makes it stron­ger by fea­ring the loss of control.

    Go WITH the loss of con­trol and you are still in fact, in con­trol by choo­sing not to fear fear.

    Once those natu­ral emo­tions sub­side, you’ll see the full bright­ness of your future ahead of you and that fear will flow away.

    Like you said to me the other day, no need to fight the can­cer, you’re already hea­led and the remai­ning steps you take will simply con­firm that truth as the docs are ama­zed at your progress.

    Why someone as tre­men­dous and power­ful as you had to take this jour­ney, surely only God knows… but you are ser­ving those with breast can­cer by so freely appl­ying your gifts to this blog.

    You are once again an angel to many who need your strength and your honesty and your hea­ling process.

    Bot­tom line: you are a cham­pion like Lance Arms­trong and will go on to win your own Tour de France over and over, too. That much I know for sure.

    Love Craig

  174. Edward said on:

    September 27, 2006 at 2:14 am

    Hi Syl­vie & Mike,

    I pray for you so that you come out of this triumphant.

    I pray that your love grows even stron­ger now more than ever.

    My heart goes out for both of you for the cou­rage, resi­lience and the deter­mi­na­tion you guys have in defea­ting the enemy.

    I love you guys & my pra­yers are for you again,

    Sin­ce­rely,
    Edward

  175. Charlyn said on:

    September 27, 2006 at 2:45 am

    Syl­vie, Michel,

    Be strong no mat­ter what it throws at you. I am all for what Craig com­men­ted 2 posts above me. Dang he’s always arti­cu­la­ted my thoughts well.

    Each time I read a post on your blog, I think of the lady who was hea­led in The Secret.

    May you be hea­led as she.

    Love,
    Charlyn

  176. Tatiana Velitchkov said on:

    September 27, 2006 at 6:52 am

    Syl­vie & Michael,

    It was such a shock to read the latest part
    of the “figh­ting the can­cer” story, and I feel
    with you very strongly. Actually I shed some
    tears and felt so sad for both of you and the
    family, BUT on the other hand I think you are
    so lucky to have found one an other, and love
    each other so much as you do!

    Love is the most impor­tant fee­ling in our exis­tence
    and you both are so for­tu­nate to have found your
    soul mate even though such a heart­brea­king
    story is part of your life now.

    Most of the peo­ple never encoun­ter their true love
    in their life time but you both have, and this is a
    proof that God loves you both and will do his part
    in hea­ling you Syl­vie, or help you hea­ling yourself!!

    I do believe in it and hope you do too. There must be a
    grea­ter mea­ning behind all this. Perhaps this les­son
    has it’s pur­pose somehow, perhaps you nee­ded to learn
    something so impor­tant that any other way wouldn’t
    have been that mea­ning­ful if it came the easy way.

    Besi­des all this I wan­ted to tell you about something
    that I read recently, and that is what helps in curing
    breast can­cer — taking sele­nium daily. 200 mic­ro­grams
    of it on a daily bases. Bra­zil nuts are very rich with
    sele­nium, in fact — the richest natu­ral source on Earth
    and if you just can’t stand taking any more medi­ci­nes
    than you might want to try the natu­ral way — eating
    daily a hand­ful of Bra­zil nuts.

    Please Syl­vie, Mike, keep strong and believe you can
    fight this enemy, and you will win, I am sure of it!
    Keep well dea­rest of souls and I’ll keep you in my
    heart’s prayers!

    Warmly
    Tatiana

  177. Peggy said on:

    September 28, 2006 at 9:08 am

    Hi Syl­vie,

    I was told about your fight from my friend & co-​​worker Sheila in Boise. We are long dis­tance; I live in Mas­sachu­setts.
    I was diag­no­sed with breast can­cer in April. I have gone through the 6 week radia­tion the­rapy and kee­ping my atti­tude posi­tive.
    I just want to say that you are one inc­re­di­ble woman. I read about you and am ins­pi­red! Your strong, witty sense of humor and your extre­mely posi­tive atti­tude will get you and your hus­band through this, I have no doubt.
    My hus­band fought a very rare blood disease for about 15 years and I know he is still here because of his atti­tude! He has shown me that same “tude” which has hel­ped me in my battle with cancer.

    Stay strong and I’ll but a tic­ket for you too!!!
    Peggy

  178. Tatiana Velitchkov said on:

    September 28, 2006 at 10:56 am

    Dea­rest Silvie,

    Today I read this article and thought you should
    too if you haven’t already.
    health.ivillage.com/breas…9mgd6tzl,00.html?nlcid=ht|09–28-2006|
    Keep strong and be like you are always!

    Warmly
    Tatiana

  179. Lil said on:

    September 28, 2006 at 11:54 am

    Syl­vie and Michel,

    Your strength and posi­tive thin­king will get you both through this. You have no idea how much you are hel­ping by just kee­ping this blog. You must have thou­sands of lot­tery tic­kets by now. Hang in there you two. You’ll beat this.

    Lil

  180. Matt said on:

    September 28, 2006 at 12:37 pm

    Hi Syl­vie (and Mike). I saw this on the CBC web­site today and thought you might be inte­res­ted. cbc​.ca/​h​e​a​l​t​h​/​s​t​o​r​y​/​2​0​0​6​/​0​9​/​2​8​/​n​b​-​d​o​c​t​o​r​b​o​o​k​.​h​tml

    Take care,
    Matt

  181. Paul Myers said on:

    September 30, 2006 at 4:49 am

    Syl­vie,

    We’ve never met, or even spo­ken. I’ve known Mike for a while, though.

    When he told me he had pro­po­sed, my first thought (after the typi­cal bad “guy humor” about marriage) was that you must be someone very special.

    No ques­tion of that. Not after rea­ding this. It takes someone spe­cial to say the things you’re saying here so elo­quently. The rea­lity of the day-​​to-​​day of a scary ill­ness; that it’s not just them; and that they’re not alone. You’re going to help a lot of other peo­ple to find the cou­rage you’ve clearly got in spades.

    Thank you for that.

    Paul

    PS: I don’t have any advice that hasn’t already been given, but I’ll keep you and Mike in my thoughts.

    PPS: Hey, it had to be here, right? I mean, what copyw­ri­ter wouldn’t? ;)

  182. Siriol Jameson said on:

    September 30, 2006 at 6:20 pm

    Dear Syl­vie and Michel,
    You are going to make it and you are already three-​​quarters there. You have the sur­gery and the results already behind you. Plus, you have each other and a lot of friends out here.

    Just a little more to go and this whole thing will be tur­ned around.

    We are so proud of you.
    Siriol Jameson

  183. abuabdou said on:

    October 1, 2006 at 2:54 am

    Keep the faith that God can cure you des­pite of everything your doc­tors say to you. Both of my parents have can­cer. My father has colon can­cer and my mother has non-​​hodgkin lymphoma. I can tell you it was devas­ta­ting for me at the begi­ning but I believe God can cure them. Keep the faith. Believe me. It will make you alot stron­ger and you will feel in peace.

    Peace

  184. Scott Stratten said on:

    October 2, 2006 at 5:36 pm

    From a fellow Cana­dian, stay strong and here’s to a full recovery.

    Scott

  185. Mary Kenny said on:

    October 3, 2006 at 1:50 am

    Dear Syl­vie and Michel:
    I have been “away” (moving) and am just get­ting “caught up”.

    I am wri­ting this note to you as I pray, cry, and laugh all at the same time — pray that God will cure you totally, Syl­vie and that God will give you both strength and cou­rage; cry because my heart is brea­king with this totally unex­pec­ted diag­no­sis; and laughing because that is what I think of first every­time I think about you two. Laughing is something, Syl­vie and Michel, that is so natu­ral for both of you! You have made count­less peo­ple feel happy because of your own hap­pi­ness and laughs! Laughing is good for the mind, heart and soul…so keep it up!

    Syl­vie, I’m not sure you rea­lize the tre­men­dous help you are pro­vi­ding to others by explai­ning all the “medi­cal jar­gon” and sha­ringthis dif­fi­cult jour­ney; these speak volu­mes for the per­son you are.

    I know so many have already writ­ten notes to you and are pra­ying for both of you. Be assu­red you are in my pra­yers, as well … and, every­day when I think about you and pray for you, I will also offer a “laugh” for you! Lis­ten for it every day .. and laugh back!

    God bless you both. Peace, hea­ling, pra­yers and blessings …

    Mary Kenny, Sechelt, Bri­tish Columbia

  186. Laura Strebel said on:

    October 14, 2006 at 8:12 pm

    Syl­vie,

    Just another quick note. Trust your doc­tors! Do NOT get tal­ked into “alter­na­tive” medi­cine without chec­king it out com­ple­tely!!! Your doc­tors will be doing everything they can to make sure your treat­ments fit the type of can­cer you have and the best way pos­si­ble to get this behind you.

    I had 18 nodes remo­ved and all 18 were posi­tive for can­cer. If just one had been “clean” I’d not have been quite so worried but I’m deter­mi­ned to keep living and beat this thing! Just two weeks ago I was told that I’m finally in offi­cial remis­sion! Yeah!!!

    Note; get a soft “sleep cap” for when your hair is gone. You’ll find your­self free­zing without it. It ama­zed me just how much body heat is lost without hair. I no lon­ger tease bald men for wea­ring a hat. They do it to keep warm, not just for vanity. And your hair will grow back in very quickly. As for the bald men, they’ll just have to keep wea­ring hats.

  187. Ken Chandler said on:

    November 2, 2006 at 7:29 pm

    Syl­vie, I will start by saying before mee­ting you in Atlanta I had never read your blog nor saw your site. I did howe­ver wit­ness an inc­re­di­ble hus­band and wife bond. If there were ever a dyna­mic duo you two are it. You are going to win your lot­tery. And you will with the help of a great man at your side. I think you sha­ring this with ever­yone is cou­ra­geous as well as generous.Many peo­ple will go away fee­ling bet­ter about thier own strug­gles with the exam­ple you have made.I eagerly await the day you announce your reco­very. Best wishes and pra­yers Ken Chand­ler Have­lock N.C.

  188. Siriol Jameson said on:

    November 6, 2006 at 11:27 am

    Hello Syl­vie and Michel,

    We have been follo­wing your blog these past months.
    Our thoughts are never far from you. We are also
    touched by the num­ber of those lea­ving com­ments who have suf­fe­red grave ill­nes­ses. They, too, are cou­ra­geous people.Remember that good health is just a short step away. You have done all the hard work and it is behind you.Cannot wait until you are well.
    Siriol Jameson

  189. Benedict Manovill said on:

    November 8, 2006 at 9:47 pm

    Dear Syl­vie, We haven’t met but I have been follo­wing your pro­gress. You are a real troo­per. It won’t be long before you will be com­ple­tely hea­led. Keep up the good work!
    Best regards, Bene­dict Manovill

  190. john parker said on:

    November 23, 2006 at 8:04 pm

    Dear Syl­vie and Michael,
    You don’t know us
    but on this par­ti­cu­lar novem­ber night my wife and I are both pra­ying for you.
    You are both in our thoughts.
    your cou­rage and deter­mi­na­tion are ins­pi­ring.
    It’s things like this that make you rea­lise what really mat­ters.
    love and best wishes
    julie-​​ann and john

  191. What Surgery Taught Me About Copywriting » Copywriting Blog By Copywriter Michel Fortin said on:

    May 19, 2007 at 3:23 pm

    […] Even now, after close to a week later, com­ments are still pou­ring in every sin­gle day (over 170 at the time of this wri­ting, to be exact). See the blog post for yourself. […]

  192. Ellen Davis said on:

    August 2, 2007 at 2:19 pm

    First I must say ‚with God there is always hope.I know of women that were hea­led in His Name.If you have tried everything with no hope ‚try this last chance ‚just call on Him,AND FOLLOW HIS LEADING,YOU WILL SEE,iM PRAYING FOR YOU TO MEET SOMEONE,WHO KNOWS HIM.YOU WILL KNOW.ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS JUST START THANKING Him right now for the ans­wer ‚and keep your eyes and ears open ‚there is HOPE​.iM LOOKING TO HEAR OF YOUR ANSWER AND WHAT YOU WILL BE LIKE THEN.LET ME KNOW iM WAITING TO HEAR TOO. LOVE YA
    SHEISGODSWOMAN

  193. gfbvbxv said on:

    September 20, 2007 at 3:00 pm

    peo­ple are stranger

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