Someone once asked me, what was my secret of conquering cancer? I told him it was confidence. I firmly believed that I could beat cancer. Confidence promoted all my body functions, especially my immune function to remain in a thriving state. Confidence is the immune agent to enhance the immune function.
Life is a process of constant struggle, those who dare to face difficulties, overcome hardship and continue to meet the next challenge are the last winners. Survivor’s confidence helps them make great leaps and overcome cancer, this is what’s known as confidence therapy.
In the early 1990s, I was a visiting professor in the United States. There was a laboratory technician who performed flow cytometry tests. He told me he had colon cancer with liver metastasis, he had been feeling pain in his liver for a few months so a doctor gave him a subcutaneous venous catheter and regular injection of analgesics. This completely relieved the pain and he was able to return to his daily work. He said that he was the only person who could finish the work he was engaged in. He was confident that he would survive at least a year, striving to finish the task. Then he shrugged and winked, grinned as if he was healthy without any pains. Five years later I heard that he was still alive.
The Guinness World Records recorded a patient who had received 889 surgeries which broke the world record. The record holder was the American Jameson, an electrician from South Dakota. Thirty years ago, he had skin cancer, which spread to his bones and internal organs. Thus he underwent surgeries one after the other, including on his face, neck, arms, back, brain and gallbladder. He is a longtime patient of the Mayo Clinic, a world-renowned clinic in Minnesota. Doctors prepared to study his body after his death, but this idea has not happened as he is still alive and continuing to create a world record. For decades, Jameson has been facing up to diseases calmly, not letting death envelope or shadow his life. Obviously this psychological state is a factor for his victory in conquering cancer.
In recent years our hospital has been much honored to treat a top administration official, Dr. Endang, the current Minister of Health in Indonesia. She used confidence and tenacity to overcome her serious illness.