EXPER IENCE
A journey through cancer Chris Drury Land artist
This is the story of one man’s journey into the maelstrom of prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment: hormones and radiotherapy, then progress and hope dashed by recurrence and despair. But this setback served to empower him ‘to hit it from all angles’: healers, vegan diet, mindfulness, the removal of mercury fillings, plus supplements, herbs, vitamins, Essiac tea, turmeric, mistletoe, yoga. Ultimately his path led to a famous healer in Brazil, John of God, and to Mother Meera, believed by her devotees to be an embodiment of the Divine Mother.
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I am an internationally known land artist, or an eco-artist, or an art and nature artist. I also collaborate with scientists, doctors, technician, ecologists, farmers and small local indigenous communities. My work has taken me to every continent including Antarctica. I work mostly to commission and the context gives rise to the form, materials and process, which I deem most appropriate to the situation. This could be a large land work or sculpture outside, or it could be a film or video, a digital work or a small work on paper for exhibition inside. The mushroom’s ability to break down dead matter back into soil on which new life grows has been an ongoing preoccupation.
In the summer of 2014 I was getting prostate problems – mainly running to the loo and feeling tired. I went to my doctor who said he thought it was nothing but sent me for a blood test. A week later I phoned the surgery to find out what the results were and was told by the receptionist who was reading from my notes ‘that no further action was required.’ Relieved I went to Norway where I was mounting an exhibition. A few days before my return I received a text saying not to forget my hospital appointment in the urology department at The Royal Sussex Hospital – a complete surprise. Luckily it was for the day after I returned, some six weeks after my blood test. Here I learned that the doctor had referred my blood test results straight to the hospital and not told me. I had a PSA (prostate specific antigen) of 45 and it was likely I had prostate cancer. That was a shock; a big shock. I was given an appointment in two weeks for a biopsy, then I would wait six weeks for the results, but I knew they would also need to give me an MRI scan and they would have to wait a further six weeks for that, and several weeks for the result. I realised that with the cockup with my GP, this was all taking too long. So I paid for a diagnosis at The Prostate Centre in London. This took 10 days. I was seen by a doctor from Guy’s who gave me
an MRI scan, a biopsy, urine flow test, and a bone scan. The cancer covered most of my prostate and they thought surgery was out as it may have been in the seminal glands and surgery would simply spread it. There was nothing visible in the bones, so they thought that with radiotherapy, they would get it. I asked the consultant if I could come under him on the NHS at Guy’s and he agreed. He said to me, ‘You are young and fit and you will come through this’. My GP was not in a position to refuse me, but complained that it would cost his practice 20% more for me to be treated outside the area. I was immediately put on hormone pills and then three monthly injections and we went on a somewhat wobbly holiday to France. I had the radiotherapy at St Thomas’ Hospital travelling to London every week for seven-and-a-half weeks over Christmas and into January 2015. At this point I was just dealing with radiologists. By the summer my PSA had come down to 0.5 and I thought I was done. I was still having hormone injections. I had read a lot about cancer and had put myself on a vegetarian diet with no dairy, eggs or sugar. 2015 and 2016 were busy years for work; I was travelling all round the world – Sri Lanka, Australia, South Korea and Montana with a heavy workload. In the summer of 2016 my PSA started
© Journal of holistic healthcare
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Volume 15 Issue 2 Summer 2018
