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How to fight cancer: Thai Buddhist yogi leans on alternative therapies before accepting conventional ones in lengthy disease battle
- Your attitude towards your cancer and a strong belief in the natural healing power of the body determine the outcome, Thai Buddhist says
- She took cues from her siblings who did not have conventional treatment, choosing coffee enemas, nature walks and diet changes – until her cancer spread
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If you were to come across 66-year-old Siriluck hiking with her dog in the hills of Sai Kung in Hong Kong, you would not imagine that this Thai native, brimming with energy, has been battling cancer for 16 years.
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Hong Kong has been her home for four decades. Now retired from the airline industry, the daily meditator and trained yoga teacher moves with grace and confidence.
When a doctor first broke the news that she had breast cancer, Siriluck – who chose to use only her given name to protect her family’s privacy – recalls thinking: “This is just another disease, like so many others. I will not be scared.”
She received the diagnosis of stage 1 cancer when she was 50 years old. Cancer was not new to Siriluck. She was seven when her mother died of leukaemia, a cancer of the white blood cells; her sister was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996, and died in 2017; her brother was diagnosed with prostate cancer 17 years ago, and has been in remission for the past decade.
“My sister was my hero. I learned to be fearless from her. I saw her take charge of her life by eating well, exercising and practising meditation. She led a normal life for more than two decades after her diagnosis,” Siriluck says.
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“Both my siblings believed in the body’s natural ability to heal and did not undergo conventional treatment.”
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