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I'D Had Cancer, a Breast Lump Removed and Was Getting on for 40

Posted on: Sunday, 5 June 2005, 09:00 CDT

BERNADETTE Bohan is an ordinary mum who has experienced an extraordinary life.

The mum-of-three has beaten cancer TWICE, lost a baby to the disease and watched her teenage daughter battle a deadly brain condition.

But instead of asking why these things happened to her, Bernadette has inspired others in the same situation.

The 50-year-old Dubliner said: "I first found a lump in my breast when I was 17 years old, but thankfully it was benign.

"I was young, carefree and just wanted to get on with my life so I had the lump removed and forgot about it. In those days people didn't really talk about cancer, it was very taboo.

"I'm not sure I was fully aware of how drastic it would have been at that age, I was more thinking about how sore the operation would be and if I'd have a scar.

"But I put it behind me and eventually got married. We had two children, Richard and Sarah.

"And when Sarah was four and Richard was seven I banged myself off the kitchen table.

"Suddenly a lump appeared on my groin area where I'd banged it but we were going away on holidays so it wasn't until we came back that I went to the doctor.

"He put me on antibiotics and then sent me straight to the oncologist.

"And much to our surprise, at 33 years of age, not feeling sick or anything, I was diagnosed with cancer of the lymph glands.

"But as the kids were so young, our main concern was protecting them so that they wouldn't get wind of it.

"I was lucky because the cancer was at a very early stage, so they treated me with steroids, not chemotherapy, for about six months and it was very tough.

"But because it was in the lymph system, they couldn't cut it out."

As if Bernadette didn't have enough to come to terms with, she discovered she was pregnant.

"I was about four weeks pregnant when I was diagnosed. I think the shock of being diagnosed caused me to lose the baby.

"And thankfully I did because it was a decision I was glad I didn't have to make myself.

"My alternative was to take the treatment and destroy the foetus, or not take the treatment and the cancer would spread, because lymphatic cancer can spread quite quickly and you don't have nine months to wait.

"And while we were looking forward to another child, it was a blessing in disguise.

"But from there on out I attended the oncologist for check-ups every three and then every six months.

"I spent my time asking him if I could have another baby and he kept saying no, that I had a boy and a girl, was luckier than some and to get on with my life because they weren't sure if it was the hormones from the pregnancy that brought on the cancer.

"So they didn't even want me trying for anymore children.

"But as anyone who has lost a baby knows, there's a compulsion, you feel you want another baby. And even though the risk was huge, seven years on as I approached my 40th birthday, we decided if we didn't do it now, it would never happen.

"We went ahead and had Julie. But it wasn't a normal pregnancy. There were no 'congratulations'.

"I was whisked off to the oncologist and we were back in the medical loop. I did feel a bit reckless, and wondered if I was jeopardising our lovely existence. And thankfully we took the chance because we now have Julie. She is 10 years old now and the light of our lives.

"I call her our little miracle."

But just five years later, there was more heartache. She said: "My mother had had a stroke and was starting to go senile. I was up and down to the hospital. And then my eldest daughter Sarah, who was 15 years old at the time, had a cyst on her brain.

"There is nothing worse than watching your child sick, it's so hard. They think it may have been left over from the embryo and that because of the position inside the brain they wouldn't touch it unless she was severely impaired.

"Thankfully the numbness went away and she returned to normal. And she still has the cyst but thankfully it hasn't affected her life."

But just one month after her daughter's life hung in the balance, Bernadette got the devastating news that she had breast cancer.

She said: "We just couldn't believe it. I had a lumpectomy, six months of chemotherapy and had 25 radiations."

Remarkably, the diet she was put has changed her own and so many other lives.

She said: "My research has shown me that you are never clear of cancer, even though I finished treatment five years ago. What I have learnt is that you stay on the nutritional therapy.

"Cancer is a deficiency disease caused by deficiency and toxicity and that when the body's immune system is impaired or stressed or strained in any way, that's when the trouble can start.

"So I decided the second time I got cancer that I was going to educate myself and if I was going down, I was going down fighting. I really began to discover that nutrition played a big part in combating cancer.

"And I set about making four simple changes over time.

"Suddenly I couldn't see the cancer anymore and the arthritis I had suffered from was gone and I no longer needed my reading glasses.

"I figured that by giving the body what it needed, it was rewarding me.

"So after my treatment, people started asking me what I was doing.

"And I was only too willing to share my advice with them.

"I told them how I got big into juicing, I also started to include powerful foods like apple seeds and apricot kernels which protect us against disease in my diet.

"And I cleaned the water coming into my home because cancer hates a hydrated body.

"Finally I stopped using all chemicals like perfumes, make-up and body lotions, finding safe alternatives instead."

Eventually Bernadette decided to put her story and advice into a book, The Choice, which is now a bestseller.

"Because it's very simple to change your life for the better, if you eat bad food, you're going to feel bad," she

Source: Sunday Mirror; London

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