CASE STUDIES

The views and experiences of some of CHT’s clients.

Wendy

“It all happened at once; I was 21, recently married and just beginning my career as a teacher of theology and art when I started to feel a pain in my eyes due to a nerve problem. Despite intensive treatment with injections into the eye, the nerve was so badly damaged that after four weeks I was completely blind in one eye and I was subsequently diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.

MS had damaged parts of my brain so that I had problems remembering names, which was very difficult when dealing with a class of children. Sometimes when my MS was at its worst, I would drop the chalk because of numbness in my hand or even fall over in the classroom and have to ‘blame’ my shoes. On occasions people would think I was drunk because I was unable to speak when my tongue went numb.

I’d used complementary therapies before and knew how useful they could be, but I couldn’t afford to have private treatment. I was really delighted when I found out that CHT offered free treatment for people with MS.

Receiving shiatsu for the first time was wonderful. People often remark how I look like a different person after a session because I am so relaxed. The shiatsu made my headaches go away and started my digestion working again, which a previous operation on my intestines hadn’t been able to achieve. In the past three years since I changed my lifestyle, I have only had one minor relapse of MS compared to the twice-yearly major relapses of the past. I remain very positive and certainly don’t want to give in!”

Patrick

“After my diagnosis, a note of terror permeated every minute of every day. I was told that I had a year left to live – it was so near the end that there wasn’t much of me left to die. I lived the next six months of my life in a pit so black and deep that I saw no way out.

It all changed when I saw a homoeopath for the first time, two years ago. He never suggested that homoeopathy would stop me dying, but his approach was so empowering. Before that meeting , it was the HIV virus that had been my enemy. Now I realise it is the way that illness can leave one so terrified and helpless which was the real enemy.”

Frances

“CHT is free, and I couldn’t afford it otherwise. Also, I’m not equipped to judge whether therapists are good or not, so you feel it’s been done for you at CHT. I was very ill in my 30s, and I’ve been healthier in the last two years than I’ve been in my life. If my cancer was cured tomorrow, I wouldn’t go back to how I was before – I’d keep seeing my acupuncturist.”

Stephanie

“One of the worst things about long-term illness is the enforced passiveness and always being the recipient of help. The treatment that was to save my life sent me to the very edges of existence, firstly because I was so ill from the chemotherapy, and then because of the suicidal depression that followed.

CHT was a lifeline because they provide therapies free of charge to people in my circumstances although, obviously, I made small donations as often as I could. So, I went to the CHT clinic and, after being assessed to determine which therapy or therapies would do me the greatest good, I first started a course of shiatsu. The effect of the shiatsu was instant. My energy levels increased, pain was relieved and my mental state improved. This continues to be the case after each session. At first, the tangible improvement lasted about two days, but now I can sense the ongoing and long-term benefits it is bringing me. The effect of shiatsu is a physical sense of my system being unblocked. This in turn unblocks my mind and gives me an enormous sense of peace and well being. The knowledge that I have taken charge of my health and am positively affecting my immune system, was the first step on my road to real recovery. I can do things now that I could not have imagined two months ago!”

Dominique

“I’d been diagnosed HIV+ very recently and I was confused about the disease and about myself. CHT really taught me to accept myself, to use my energies positively and not just sit there and cry. I have problems with my leg, so that sometimes I can’t walk any more. They couldn’t diagnose the problem at the hospital but it often comes back. AT CHT I had a session of acupuncture when the pain started and it went away immediately. CHT is completely free, which is a big relief, because I had to stop working after I was diagnosed – I’d feel very deprived if I couldn’t use CHT any more.”

David

“The effects of Multiple Sclerosis can be crippling, frightening and debilitating. You could almost say CHT save my life – aromatherapy enabled me to cope with the incredible stress of the last 18 months, and to cope with my body and my future.”

Paul

“Thank you to everyone at CHT who have encouraged me in my journey with cancer, helped me to heal myself, and who have become genuine friends of mine.”