Vera Eikon

Social and Spiritual Dancing in Cancer: Inspired by a True Story Vera Eikon

The presence of cancer cells that is now called a disease does not just grow overnight. Chemotherapy alone cannot cure the disease either - my mother believed these too. She once pacified a stage 4 breast cancer diagnosis and defied the odds as her disease went into remission. A strength based model, specifically the psychological process of family resilience became a guiding framework as I and my mother chose to take a positive stance in the midst of a threatening situation. In addition to recognizing family strengths and resources, this book also focuses on the significance of positive relationships within the community. The interplay of resilient characteristics is highlighted while at the same time recognizing actual and real challenges that come along with a cancer experience - the ?silent struggles? toward social issues that all had an impact in my mother's disease. Yet, cancer can be a gateway to heal and to evolve one's consciousness in the process. It is a consciousness that is inherent to each but is usually dormant and unrecognized. This can allow both the person with cancer and other family members be positively transformed by the illness ? an opportunity and gift of cancer. In this book, I do not speak as an expert but as an observer of my own life and my environment as I attempt to document my mother's cancer experience. The time I became her immediate caregiver during initial cancer treatments and until she was re-integrating into the community as a woman diagnosed with cancer. - Vera Icon