INTRODUCTION

I'm Susan Dervishi I am 48 and I live in Coventry . I am a mother and grandmother I love to go walking and be close to nature, I enjoy reading, I have a wide, varied taste in music, I am a vegetarian, I am constantly working towards positive change, both within my self and in my community. I have worked as a carer and support worker for many years. Since my mid 20s I have been involved with work at the Crossroads Women's Centre in London . Here women and men from many nationalities and backgrounds, work together crossing their divisions of sex race and class to campaign for justice, peace and environmental issues, locally nationally and internationally.

This website has been created because I have just received the news of a recurrence of cancer. I have ran out of much needed funds to get me through more treatment. Please can you help me by making a donation through this site.

I would like to share my journey with others, so that it might help them on their journey, it might help them to find their way through the confusing maize of treatments that are on offer out there.

I was first diagnosed with Breast Cancer in May 2005. I had a lumpectomy and choose to seek alternative treatment. With lots of help from my friends at the Crossroads Women's Centre I was able to access help and advice to set up a program of healing. With financial donations from friends at the centre, family and friends in Coventry I was able to buy a juicer and pay for treatment.

When I was first diagnosed in May 2005, I was terrified. All of my experience with cancer as a care worker was very negative I cared for people who suffered greatly and finally died. Now this was going to happen to me I couldn't see anything but pain and suffering in front of me and death at the end of it. I also knew that because of my earlier history of depression, I would find it impossible to overcome the effects of chemotherapy. I went to bed crying and would wake up crying. I felt that life had been cruel to me, I had struggled for years as a single mother, I had suffered years of abuse and now just when I felt I was moving on with my life this dreadful cancer was here and threatening to take my life away. I stayed in this dark place until my good friend Cari told me that I could look at alternative treatments and helped me access homeopathic treatment. For the first time in weeks I was given hope.

Sadly not every one I knew felt the same, some friends and family members along with the medical people didn't and still don't agree that this was a choice that I could seriously make. Throughout my journey with cancer and the types of treatment I have chosen I have come up against resistance from those close to me and of course the medical profession. In the early days this often caught me off guard and I would have feelings of doubt, I would loose confidence in myself and my choices. Today I am positive that I am choosing the right way for me, I have learnt so much about cancer, conventional treatment and the wide variety of alternative treatments. I have gone from confusion to a clear understanding.

I still need guidance with which treatments to use and when, I have chosen to use Cancer Options to give me the direction I need to get me through this latest part of my journey. With the aid of donations through this web site with Just Giving, the support of Yes to Life and everyone else who supports me, I know I can get through this. I have worked to make healing changes to achieve health and balance on a daily basis. I have more work to do, I hope you can help me with your kind donations.