Dream it, Believe it, Do it...
Mark Bryant shares his incredible and inspiring journey from illness to wellness
It was June 2015. I was 36 and had just been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia – a type of cancer so rare that it accounts for less than 1 per cent of all cancer cases in the UK. Whilst it was initially a big shock, my approach was always one of trying to learn and understand what I could do to help my body heal. I tried to love myself back to health. You hear lots of people talking about their fight or battle with cancer, but I just didn’t feel like it was something to be beaten… I wanted to know why.
At the time, I was the CEO of a £15 million company and married with two beautiful children. But I wasn’t in a good place. I was mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted. To the point that I fell off the hamster wheel and my engine stopped. My treatment was considered one of the most toxic treatments in the world, it was a full intensity stem cell transplant and my brother was my donor. It consisted of two months of chemotherapy followed by four days of full-body radiotherapy, at which point my brothers cells were introduced into my body. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. And just six months later, I received the worst possible news.
The cancer was back. I was given a second-line chemotherapy tablet and a few weeks later another dose of my brother’s cells. Three days later we find ourselves at The Milestone Detox to meet a naturopath. Despite the hours of research I had already done prior to the stem cell transplant, something changed massively for me on this day. I finally got off the medical fence of ‘the disease is just one of those things’ to ‘perhaps I helped create this in the first place.’ I took responsibility and followed the protocol I was given with every detail which consisted of a raw diet of living plants and vegetable, taking supplements and eliminating toxins from my body through colonic hydrotherapy, infrared saunas, oil pulling, body brushing and other detoxifying protocols.
I looked for other people that lived a similar lifestyle and found health educators based in the UK that had been trained by the Hippocrates Health Institute in Florida. I was determined to go and experience their three week Life Transformation Programme but wasn’t allowed to leave the country.
Unfortunately, I hit another roadblock. The extra dose of my brother’s cells were now fighting inside my body and I had a severe case of graft versus host. I was man down and admitted myself back into The Christie Hospital.
It was during this period I was feeling my most vulnerable as a cancer patient, husband, father and provider for the household. I had left my business, we had no income, and our savings were running out. We had just had the estate agent out to come and value our property. Lying on the sofa late one night completely paralysed by the worry and fear about what could be around the corner, I thought that perhaps my life insurance covered me for something other than death.
In desperation, I got the insurance folder out and realised that my policies covered me for death and terminal illness. I had to wait a whole week for my consultant oncologist to return from holiday to tell me. Four months earlier I had refused to be told the revised prognosis, but today I was asking for it. I refused initially so I could put all my energy into healing and recovery without the seed of doubt that this could be the end.
Claiming my own life insurance was one of the most challenging processes I had to go through; verbally having to answer questionnaires and interviews from the insurance companies. The three insurance companies were all fantastic in the way they dealt with our claims.
In October 2016, I was finally well enough to head to Florida and immerse myself in their three week Life Transformation Programme. This for me was another game-changing moment when I realised that the healing journey I was on was so much more than just a physical journey, it was a mental, emotional and spiritual healing journey too. Returning to the UK for Christmas I believed I was on the home straight having had two all clear bone marrow biopsies and was ready for the next phase of my life. Little did I know what was around the corner.
It was this speed bump that really tested my resilience. In February 2017 I had my routine bone marrow biopsy. The result was not all clear, it was positive on the outer range. When you have a blood cancer they can only test a sample of cells down to an accuracy of 1:10,000 cells. This is amazing but frustrating as it means they can detect the tumour cell, but can’t quantify it as it is too small a number.
Given that I was a relapse case, there was a big concern that it was the disease popping its head up and was on its way back. The options I was given was; one, do nothing or, two, head back into hospital for another round of treatment meaning I would be on IV chemotherapy in isolation for another month. I decided to take a second opinion from a haematology oncologist based in Florida. The protocol he was recommended was considered quackery by my UK consultant a potential waste of money. Torn trying to decide which way to turn, a huge investment focussed on boosting my immune system back in Florida, or another month in isolation.
After another two painful bone marrow biopsies in March and April, I finally decided to head back to Florida. Whilst I have total admiration for the work that my doctor in Florida did, I am more convinced that the time I got to spend healing mentally, emotionally and spiritually has had the biggest impact on my healing journey.
One of the founding principles that I have carried forward is that our mind leads and the body follows. You have to have the imagination and belief that health is on its way. The more research and personal work I do, the more convinced I am that it is actually that change in our consciousness that can explain how spontaneous remissions occur. Spontaneous remissions are unexpected recoveries that happen and can’t be explained by medical science.
Four years later, I am now a professional speaker sharing my story to help be a shining light for others on their healing journey. I am a co-owner of a local fitness business in North Wales and mentoring entrepreneurs with my Mastermind Community. I am currently training for an Iron Man in 2021 supporting a campaign 10000donors.com to raise awareness for people to get themselves on the stem cell registers to help save lives.
If you are interested in the nutritional element of Mark’s healing journey, he has created an online course which can be accessed at www.energiseacademy.com
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