Never underestimate the power of strong will. Whether we call it charma, Buddhist principle, spirituality, faith, fate, etc., when we hear bad news such as the healer you reference, it gives us the resolve to dig a little deeper within ourselves and pull through just to prove them wrong. Bad advice can stop people in their tracks or propel them to succeed, depending on your frame of reference. When the doctor told me only 50% of the people have no detectable Hep C virus after a rough year of treatment, I was thinking this is almost TWICE as high as the best baseball players getting a hit off of a pitch. Two years later, the virus is still undetectable. When the ENT told me statistics show 40% survival rate for HNC, I still thought what an awesome baseball player that would be. It is sort of the half full or half empty glass. Half full when you are tired but usually half empty, wanting more added!
Ironically, a study was released a few months back studying lung cancer patients and positive attitude. All 100 patients passed on eventually and there was no noticable difference in survival rates between the ones with the best attitude and the ones with the worst attitudes. There was a concensus, however, that the ones with the positive attitude certainly enjoyed life and had a much higher quality of life! I try to remind my wife often that we can waste a day worrying or fretting (as she calls it) about something that we can't really change anyway...the outcome is that we will lose a precious day of life that we may never get back and the problem ended up exactly the same.
It is quite remarkable that we meet each other across the ponds at all corners of the world, yet our one common bond of such a dreaded disease has brought us so much joy, happiness, fellowship and companionship! God bless all of you as he has me.
Ed