PSYCHIATRIST and trauma specialist Dr. June Pagaduan Lopez has fought for women?s rights all her life, championing peace and the cause of traumatized women and children in war-torn areas like Mindanao, and on a global scale, East Timor.

Today she fights a different battle. June is battling Non-Hodgkin?s Lymphoma. In this fight of her life, the mental health specialist has opted to take the bio-psycho-spiritual approach, and so far, it?s been working.

The diagnosis came as a surprise a few months ago although she is the first to say she had been feeling out of sorts the last two years. ?Every patient really needs to take charge of her own health and listen very closely to her body. You need to insist and tell your doctors what your symptoms are, don?t just set it aside. It?s your body, after all. Your doctor can know only so much unless you tell him or her the full story or show him the whole picture.?

There are many valuable lessons June has learned from her experience, which she shares with me one afternoon.

?First of all, you need to arm yourself with information, as much information as you can find but you also need to be discerning with what you read,? she says. She swears by this book which she says has been like a bible for her, ?Anticancer ? A New Way of Life,? by David Servan-Schreiber.

Among other things, Servan-Schreiber talks about the Pro-Cancer lifestyle each person must avoid. Among these are:
1) chronic exposure to toxins (chemicals in toiletries, even perfumes and moisturizers and sunblocks, household cleaners/detergents, insecticides, pesticides);

2) a diet that is high fat, high sugar and low in fiber;

3) minimal physical activity ? meaning less than 30 minutes of active exercise per day, which results in obesity, especially among middle-aged menopausal women which results in an unhealthy body mass index of >24;

4) the presence of chronic inflammatory conditions like chronic infections such as gingivitis, gastritis, hepatitis, to name some, and degenerative diseases like arthritis; and

5) chronic stress.

June says that looking back now, she unfortunately garnered a perfect score on all five points.

The moment she got a confirmed diagnosis, June dropped everything and focused her energies on getting well. ?Do what needs to be done. Be task-oriented and do not be afraid to ask your doctor questions. Explore all your options and make sure you get balanced information.?

But more than the proactive approach to her treatments, June cannot begin to overemphasize the importance of the psycho-spiritual aspect of healing, which has been working for her so far. ?To have a strong support system cannot ever be underestimated.?

Irreverent

Drawing from her experience as mental health practitioner, June says most newly diagnosed cancer patients tend to withdraw and keep the illness to themselves. G.I. June, as she likes to call herself now, has chosen to be irreverent about it. ?I guess I have chosen to be this way as a reaction to all the fears and misconceptions about cancer,? she explains.

Fast-forward, many years later, the exact opposite has happened. June is very diligent in updating friends and family about the status of her treatment. She has become completely open about the difficulties and the treatment she regularly receives.

?I didn?t feel there was a huge change in the way people saw or treated me when I became open about my cancer, and I don?t think it had anything to do with my being a doctor myself. This is why I want to encourage newly diagnosed patients to get out of their tendency to withdraw. That in itself can be very healing.?

Finding a deeper meaning in the midst of the battle has also helped June immensely in her war against cancer. ?I know now that God needed to give me a message. Cancer is just a medium and at least what I have is curable. He put things in place.?

A few months before her diagnosis, June says eldest daughter Kaye graduated at the top of her class in culinary school. ?Now she is my yaya-driver and personal chef,? she says.

Younger daughter Krissy, who graduated summa cum laude from the National University of Singapore (NUS), also a few months before she got sick, had majored in Biomedical Engineering and Life Sciences. Her graduate thesis was on the cloning of cells for cancer treatment. ?She is now at the forefront of cancer research in Singapore,? June says.

June feels that having been in the helping/healing field of psychiatry has helped her face herself and dig deeper into what has happened. ?Emotional intelligence is so important because it enables you to see yourself from afar and be able to tell yourself what is going on.?

In a letter to her younger sister Carol Araullo, she shows a soft side ? a more human, enlightened, sensitive and positive sense of self, the self she sees that has resulted from her battle with lymphoma.

She writes: ?Not having the money and the strength to take care of myself even just physically is somewhat of a dread. It helps to have read ?The New Earth? (by Eckhart Tolle), which put things in perspective for me. Our identity is not so much centered on our achievements, possessions, image, relationships, as it is all about our ?presence? ? how we touched people?s lives and how we intend to continue doing so.?

A fundraiser by her friends will be held for Dr. June Pagaduan Lopez on September 1, 7 p.m., at the Forbes Park Pavilion, featuring Richard Merk, Mario Andres, Lory Paredes, Lester Demetillo, Area One, Electromaniacs and Mulatto. Call Dr. Liecel Trinidad at 5548470, 0917-8634021.

E-mail the author at cathybabao@gmail.com