Tara, 45 – COVID

After a totally unexpected diagnosis of triple negative breast cancer in early 2017, I was left reeling in shock and disbelief. I had lived a consciously healthy lifestyle and done all the right things, so this was beyond belief. I was started on treatment immediately and my life became one big rollercoaster ride of doctors, appointments, blood tests, needles and the list can go on and on. Over the next year I had surgery and reconstruction, that I struggled to recover from, various courses of chemotherapy as well as Radiotherapy. I responded really well to these treatments, but the relief was short lived and in 2019 my cancer came back.

During my initial treatment I had toyed with the idea of integrated medicine and complementary therapies as an option and so when my cancer resurfaced, I actively started pursuing these options.

After a consultation with Wellbeing Medical Group, we decided that I was going to embark on a programme of high dose Vitamin C infusions. We started them almost immediately. The team of medical practitioners designed an infusion programme to include Vitamin C, Artesunate Infusions along with a variety of other ingredients that they believed would best suit my diagnosis.

I am halfway through the programme and to date I am feeling well, the lesion is under control. The medical team at Wellbeing Medical Group have offered constant support to me during these past few months, overseeing all my clinical needs and offering emotional support and strength. My journey is far from over but for now I feel like I have chosen the right path.

My mum got diagnosed with stomach cancer in her late 60s and needed to have major surgery. The hospital told us that she would need to be admitted to hospital for 15 days and that even this was optimistic. I have been a patient of Dr Kloppenburg for years and she was the first medical practitioner I pursued to see what could be done to get my mother as strong as we could before she had to endure this gruelling surgery. My mum was started on a course of preoperative infusions. Her surgery went well, and she was discharged after 9 days because her recovery was so good. The doctors were really amazed with her healing capacity and told us it’s not often that they see this kind of speedy recovery. I have now planned for her to have a course of post operative infusions which we hope will improve her overall wellbeing while she waits for her next round of treatments.

We finally got to the end of the road with conventional treatment for my brother who had been diagnosed with metastasized colorectal cancer a couple of years ago. He had multiple surgeries and rounds of chemo, but they were not able to get on top of it. We will, however, be eternally grateful for those doctors and nurses who tried so hard for him during this time.

When the hospital told us that there was literally nothing more they could do to help us, we as a family had to sit down together and really try to come up with a plan of how we could possibly make his last few weeks or months with us at home as comfortable as we could.

He could not swallow solids or drink and was desperately weak but he was awake, so we knew that this was not going to be a pleasant or easy for a few weeks. As it is not part of hospital policy, they would not administer any drips for him and proceeded to discharge him. This is when we came across the at home IV infusion service with Wellbeing Medical Group. We contacted them and we were suggested by a skilled consultant an IV programme with hydration and nutritional support. We knew that there was nothing we could do to change the situation but to watch this unfold with no support would have been too much to bear.

Within a few days we had the most delightful nurse come to our house and he started his infusions. The nurse was there for the duration of each IV and this also brought us great comfort.

Although he did pass away shortly thereafter, we believe that his last two weeks with us were much much better than they would have been without this support. Having a nurse come in regularly who is happy to help and answer all your questions at a time like this was so valuable and we knew that Gareth was as comfortable as he could have even been.

Chemotherapy knocked me out, I didn’t know how I was ever going to get back to a point where I would have the energy for everyday life. I had been on a cocktail of chemo drugs to try to treat the aggressive cancer that had begun to spread. This chemo had taken it all out of me, I was physically and emotionally exhausted, I had peripheral neuropathy, with weakness and tingling in the hands, extreme fatigue, and horrible nausea. I was started on a course of vitamin infusions which have really helped me to get on top of most of these symptoms. I had to be persistent as it took a few weeks for me to start to feel like they were helping but slowly as the weeks went on, I felt that they really started working and I began to feel like I could see some light. I am about to start another course of chemo and feel my body is stronger and ready.