Ch 2 - Cancer Conquerors Take Responsibility

The following is a series of excerpts from chapter 2 of Journeys with the Cancer Conqueror: Mobilizing Mind & Spirit, by Greg Anderson, 1999, Andrews McMeel Publishing, Kansas City, Missouri, previously published under the title: The Cancer Conqueror (1988). Emphasis is added with bold print to draw attention to cancer conqueror traits. Much of the summary is quoted directly from the book, but I also add editorial comments along the way that reflect my own personal convictions, Scriptural support of ideas expressed, as well as research from other resources. These are indicated by italicized print. Portions in blue print that are NOT italicized are direct quotes from another source other than the Bible.    *******************************************************************************
This chapter is, of course, a narrative of the man’s 1st journey with the Cancer Conqueror. She’s very warm, approachable & hospitable.

She asks the man to describe briefly his disease & the prognosis. After she heard this, she asked, “Do you have a high level of confidence in your medical team?”

“Yes,” said the man, “I believe they are very knowledgeable & that they have the latest in available technology.”

“Excellent. The basis for my recovery also started with a fine medical team. I had a great deal of confidence in their abilities & in them as individuals also. But I insisted that they share all information with me in terms I could understand. And I wanted explanations for each & every test. I had to be part of every treatment decision. What I was really doing was taking personal responsibility for my health – personal responsibility for my getting well.”

(The patient’s role isn’t to be passive & unquestioning. We need to be proactive – actively involved – in our medical treatment & our health. Author Stephen R. Covey, in his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, describes proactivity as follows: “It means more that merely taking initiative. It means that as human beings, we are responsible for our own lives. Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions. We can subordinate feelings to values. We have the initiative & the responsibility to make things happen.


“Look at the word RESPONSIBILITY – ‘response-ability’ – the ability to choose your response. Highly proactive people recognize that responsibility. They do not blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behavior. Their behavior is a product of their own conscious choice, based on feeling.” Although I love this definition, I feel that it is necessary to qualify the fact that in terms of being a proactive cancer patient, our choices are NOT based on FEELINGS but on information learned by asking questions, research conducted to help understand what we’ve been told, &, most importantly, God’s guidance sought through prayer.


When I go to appointments, I either have the person with me take notes or I take notes. We also go to every appointment with a list of questions we want to have answered. I research what I’m told on the Internet. From my research, I often come up with questions to ask at the next appointment. I’m vigilant in following instructions, in terms of taking medications or following my doctor’s orders. These things are my response-ability. My doctor cannot do them for me. In fact, God cannot do them for me either. They are my response-ability.)

When the man didn’t quite understand, the Cancer Conqueror added, “Personal responsibility for getting well, for conquering cancer is one of the most important principles of the entire journey. If you choose this path – the cancer conqueror path – personal responsibility will come up again & again. It is one of those cornerstone principles that supports everything else.

(I was not always a proactive patient, but my family was for me. During the first few months, my husband & daughter searched things on the Internet & read everything that was sent home for us to read. I read only what I HAD to read before our appointment with the surgeon we thought would perform my mastectomy, depending on the final outcome of the staging of my cancer. When the family was making a list of questions before an appointment, I would maybe contribute one. They completed the list.


December 20, 2007 I had an appointment with Dr. Patel. [I write extensively about this appointment in Chapter 8 of “My Story.”] I was going to go to the appointment by myself; I thought I was asked to come in for this unscheduled appointment because Dr. Patel was going to tell me he wanted me to have another test run before next week’s appointment, because of something he saw on my PET scan results that we hadn't seen or discussed with him yet. I had already insisted that Ed not cancel his meeting at work. The 19th, I was finally convinced to take someone with me. My sister agreed to go along. I needed a list of questions. Guess who wrote the list? Me! Finally, I was involved. Since that day, I have been the one to write out the list of questions for my appointments. I’m the one who does the Internet research; I read books about treating cancer with nutrition. etc.)

Personal responsibility for health means refusing to be a victim. It means participating in recovery by recognizing & changing self-destructive beliefs & behavior. Personal responsibility for health means believing ‘I am in charge of my cancer. My cancer is not in charge of me.’

(Especially at the beginning of the journey, it’s so easy to feel as if cancer controls your life. Everything in your life seems to revolve around your disease. You are overwhelmed by it! The following is just a partial list: There are doctor’s visits, diagnostic tests, lab work, phone calls to make, waiting on return phone calls, waiting on test results, dealing with medical insurance matters, taking new prescriptions & watching for side effects; concerned people call to get updates, which you are very happy to get, but you also can find draining at times; nearly every conversation begins with, “how are you doing,” which is usually your cue to give a brief update on where things stand & how you are feeling. If your treatment involves chemotherapy and/or radiation, these appointments consume portions of your time, as well as dealing with any side effects. In my case, I was put on a very strict diet so that I felt as though every time I shopped for food & every time I prepared a meal cancer was the deciding factor in my choices. When I chose to add exercise, because I learned that cancer cells “hate” oxygen [it kills them], I initially felt as if cancer was driving my regular exercise routine. Every time I took my nutritional supplements I was reminded of my cancer’s seeming control over me & the monthly cash outlay to purchase them, since they are not covered by insurance. In most cases you are TRYING to manage all of this while leading the rest of your life as “normally” as possible. SURE!! How do you fit in all of your normal responsibilities & activities? You want to spend extra time with your family & friends, but when do you have time to do that? Prior to your treatment starting you feel well enough to have a good time with your loved ones. Will your feel well after your treatment starts, so that you can enjoy the extra time you want to spend with them? These are common questions.


It took about a year for me to come to a point & place where I realized that I am in charge of my cancer. I am doing things such as going to doctors’ visits, having diagnostic tests done & making healthy choices, which work in conjunction with my medical treatment to control the cancer. In this way, I am in control of my cancer. My cancer is not in control of me.


Of course, I am also past all of the initial merry-go-round of appointments, tests, & decisions. I know that God is ultimately in control, but I also know that I have personal responsibility to take these actions. I’m not to just sit by passively & wait for God to “take care of the cancer.” That would be irresponsible; I would be doing things that contributed to my cancer in the first place. [More about that in a later chapter.] If you’ve read my story, you know I am doing what God’s led me to do. I feel it is imperative that I remain vigilant in following His plan & leave the results to Him. Since He promised that this is not a death sentence, I have tremendous hope. Praise God! Jeremiah 29:11-14a “I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you & not to harm you, plans to give you hope & a future. Then you will call upon me & come & pray to me, & I will listen to you. You will seek me & find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you.’” Proverbs 16:3-4 “Commit to the Lord whatever you do & your plans will succeed. The Lord works out everything for his own ends.”)

“Selecting a medical team in which we have a high level of confidence is our first responsibility after diagnosis. But once they are in place, our attention must also focus on the role of mind & spirit in this journey.”

The Cancer Conqueror explained, “When I encountered cancer, I instinctively knew that this was not just an experience on a physical level. I knew that my mind & spirit had a central role to play. Personal responsibility meant that if I was to live a full & healthy life, whatever the length, that decision rested not with my doctors but with me. . . Once my medical team made its contribution, it was my job to discover & use all my healing potential. This perspective leads beyond the body to the mind & the spirit. . . The members of the medical team will do all they can to help the body. If you will support them with good nutrition, exercise, & rest, the physical portion of the journey will be in place.”

(The phrase “healing potential” may seem off-putting to some, but, if you read on to the later portion of the paragraph, you discover some of what he’s referring to. Certainly, the physical portion is easy to see & understand. The spiritual portion is one sought through prayer & searching the Scriptures for God’s hope, peace & encouragement. It’s also helpful in maintaining &/or building a personal relationship with Him on a daily basis, so that He is your source of strength for the challenges you meet physically, mentally & emotionally. Habakkuk 3:19 [Amplified Bible] “The Lord is my strength, my personal bravery, & my invisible army . . . & will make me walk [not to stand still in terror, but to walk] & make [spiritual] progress upon my high places [of trouble, suffering, or responsibility].”)

“Okay,” said the man. “I’ll do those things. But I’m not sure about the mind & spirit. Can I learn”

The Cancer Conquer told her story. She had breast cancer. She had surgery to remove it. Six months later a growth protruded from her neck. “Again, surgery. It was malignant. The cancer had now spread, & they could not operate. The surgeon closed the incision, ordered radiation therapy & told me to get my affairs in order. According to statistics, I had a year, maybe a little more to live.”

She was frightened & had lost all hope. She believed what the doctors had told her. The fear paralyzed her. At her lowest point of deep despair, she cried out with words that “were full of rage & anger & fear. ‘Oh God, what can I do?’”

(When I cry out to God like this, I follow it with prayer. I will often follow it by opening my Bible to look at favorite verses that I have marked by underlining or highlighting them. More recently, I decided to type these verses into a Word file so I can find them quicker. I have key words in bold print to help me in my searches. I also used the concordance & did several word searches to find additional verses to add to these. After I’d been doing this for a few weeks, my son-in-law told me about an online site that offers a concordance & several other Bible study resources, for all versions of the Bible – what a time saver! http://www.blueletterbible.org/study/ Often, God helps me to add to my list. This is the way God most frequently speaks to me, through Scripture that suddenly feels as if it is written to me personally.


This is an example that might be a first step, to reassure this frightened woman: Lamentations 3:22-23 “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”)

She continues, “But somehow through the tears, a different thought came. It was as if someone was saying, ‘You may not be given long to live, but live as long as you are given.’

“I discovered a seed of hope in that thought, a seed I knew needed special care & attention. ‘Live as long as you are given.’ It was a seed that provided sustenance for me during the countless down times. I knew that every day I had to rededicate myself to living that one day for all it was worth.

“Love now. This is the core of conquering cancer.”

The Cancer Conqueror explained that this is “merely the tip of a transformational discovery. Living today, doing the best I could to make love my aim, here & now, held a tremendous message of hope & healing for me. It changed not only my health but my entire life.

She then told the man that he would learn 3 Cancer Conqueror principles: believe, resolve & live, by visiting 3 different people over the next 3 weeks.

She reminds him: You are in charge of your response to cancer!
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Greg inserts a section, ahead of the chapter’s assignment, titled –
Personal Responsibility: Gaining a Sense of Control
The purpose of this section is to urge cancer patients to take a proactive response to their illness.

He states, “The degree to which a patient takes personal responsibility for his or her own actions & feelings in response to a cancer diagnosis is a crucially important determinant of the course of an illness.

“Awareness & choice are the twin pillars that support personal responsibility. We increase awareness through our personal research & education, become eager students, ready to learn everything we can about our diagnosis & range of treatment options. From this knowledge base, we exercise fully informed consent to treatments & make intentional choices in our physical, emotional, & spiritual lifestyles.”

“Just as less-than-mindful attention will contribute to a less-than-optimal response, a fully mindful response holds the promise of direct health benefits. We have the power to become aware of & make changes in our beliefs & behavior. It as simple, & as complex, as changing our thinking.

(A “fully mindful response” is an informed, intentional response. As you make lifestyle choices, make medical decisions & give consent to medications & treatment, your attitude toward the effectiveness of any of these is extremely critical to their actual effectiveness, as you will see, in a later chapter. If you check Chapter 11 of “My Story” you will see that Dr. Patel told me that if I don’t BELIEVE hormone therapy or chemotherapy will work it won’t. I found that to be a curious statement for a doctor to make. I now understand it, after reading the research.)

“When we assume personal responsibility for our choices, we have the ability to change our every experience of cancer.

“Central to success is assuming personal responsibility for proper diet & appropriate exercise. Stress management has a key supportive role & deserves to be understood & implemented by the serious wellness student. So do belief & attitudes, resolution of emotional conflicts & hostility, plus capturing a sense of joy. And adopting a more spiritual focus on life may be the most important recovery tool of all.

(For me, it is my spiritual focus, my personal relationship with God that provides me with the effective tools to work through each of these other areas. I have to pray, I have to read my Bible, I have to apply the principles I’ve learned from past trials, consistently, but it is God who is faithful to keep his promises. James 1:2-4 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature & complete, not lacking anything.” I can tell you that I did not count it a “joy” to be diagnosed with cancer, at the outset. However, I’m a little further down the road today & will now tell you that it’s one of the best things that has ever happened in my life. Praise God! It goes to show what a difference it makes when we allow God to work in our lives. I did not make that statement for the sake of impressing you; I mean it with all sincerity! How did it happen? Psalm 32:8 “I will instruct you & teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you & watch over you.”Psalm 145:13 “The Lord is faithful to all his promises & loving toward all he has made.” God has proved this to me, through experience after experience.


What about resolving emotional conflicts & hostility? Proverbs 14:30a “A heart at peace gives life to the body.” Colossians 3:15a “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.” Ephesians 4:26-28 “In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are angry, & do not give the devil a foothold.” Romans 12:19 “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written, ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay, says the Lord.”
Nehemiah 8:10d “The joy of the Lord is your strength.”)

“Nobody can accomplish these tasks for us. Nobody can get well for us. In the final analysis, we must walk the wellness path for ourselves. We stand personally accountable for this journey.”

As stated above, the portions in bold print are the key factors that define a Cancer Conqueror, for this chapter, in terms of taking personal responsibility. At the beginning of the journey, it is difficult to get your bearings. Your mind is racing with so many thoughts! Everyone is different; so, the specific thoughts may differ somewhat. However, there is a general theme that plays out for all of us. I know it did for me. There are certain questions we all ask ourselves. Unfortunately, some of these questions don’t have answers. Most questions can be answered, if we know whom to ask. There are also questions we should ask, but we don’t know what those questions are.


I thank God for the way in which He placed people in our pathway to help lead us along so that we were nudged in the right direction & stayed on the path He planned for me. As you read the beginning of my journey, from my 1st trip to investigate a sore shoulder to my diagnosis with stage IV breast cancer in chapters 2 through 8 of “My Story,” you can see how He used many people. In particular, the specific doctors’ medical knowledge, perceptiveness & understanding to help us understand the decisions we had to make, to understand a little more about cancer & the type of cancer I have, to understand the types of treatment available, etc. I write about how he used my family doctor. She was a sounding board for an additional medical opinion. She also provided referrals for a 2nd opinion surgical doctor & an alternative treatment oncologist. In addition, she was involved when I had to go off of my hormone replacement therapy, which set off a whole series of other issues I discuss in Chapter 12 of “My Story”. God used friends who kept needling us to go for a 2nd opinion to eventually prompt us to make an appointment. God used a friendly nurse or receptionist on the other end of the phone, when I called Geisinger to make the 2nd opinion appointment, to make things fall in place FAST. I could go on, & on, & on, & on, & on. . . The point is: We can see God’s hand in the entire process, in hindsight, even when we weren’t entirely cognizant of it at the present time. Obviously, we were praying about each of these circumstances & so were others, but we were so caught up in the busyness of the situation that we could not fully appreciate what God was doing until we could catch our breath.


If we’ve done our SEARCH for a survivor & found one, he or she can help us to gain a proper perspective & to be encouraged, to have hope. Assuming he or she is a Cancer Conqueror, he or she can help us understand the importance of responsibility & inspire us to take steps in that direction. He or she can answer questions, provide information & prompt us to ask questions we didn’t know to ask.


I was not so fortunate as to have a Cancer Conqueror to help me down this road. However, I thank God for the way in which He led us on this journey. It was a longer process not having a Cancer Conqueror to help me, but God did help me find the Cancer Conquer path, as He has filled that role of THE Cancer Conqueror in my life. I’m conquering my cancer, by the grace of God!! PRAISE HIM!!


It now is so satisfying when God opens the door & allows me to play the role of the CANCER CONQUEROR in someone else’s life. PRAISE GOD!!! It adds meaning & purpose to my walking this path.
“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19