Fighting Cancer:
Jarrod used his mind to help the drugs defeat the tumors. Great wars took place within his body and as his army won the battles, his cancer disappeared. This is how Jarrod saw things in his mind as can be seen in the illustration "The Battle".
Jarrod was fortunate to have achieved excellent results. Just like the treatments used to fight cancer, visualization can definitely help but there are no guarantees it will work every time. There may still be times, despite a child's best efforts, that transfusions are still
necessary and stronger drugs are required. But by visualizng, a child can take an active roll in the fight against cancer, and that, by itself, can be a big help. In Jarrod's case, he was originally told that in addition to a year of chemotherapy, he would require six weeks of radiation and to have part of his bladder removed. Fortunately, he was able to avoid both the radiation and surgery and his chemotherapy ended three months earlier than was expected. We realize that his visualization did not defeat the cancer by itself, rather it may have assisted the chemotherapy do its job better.
Controlling His Blood Levels:
Jarrod practiced his visualization fairly regularly. He found it very helpful for many of the challenges he faced, although it did not work all the time. For example, despite his best efforts he could not control his nausea following chemotherapy. However, visualizing did seem to help him with his roller-coastering blood levels.
During chemotherapy treatment it gets harder and harder for the body to keep blood levels high on its own, so transfusions often become necessary. During Jarrod’s first few months of chemotherapy, before he’d been introduced to visualization, he required several blood transfusions. Once he began visualizing, things seem to change. There were countless times blood levels measured on a Friday would be so low, doctors ordered a blood transfusion for Monday. But after a weekend of intense visualization, we would show up for the transfusion only to be told to go home; he no longer needed it.
Once we planned to go to a water park with several families from Jarrod’s soccer team. The Friday before we were to leave, his absolute neutrophil count (ANC) was extremely low and we told the families we would probably not make the trip. Jarrod was upset, but determined. He used visualization to work very hard on his ANC levels and sure enough, when he had his blood checked the following Monday, not only were they above where they needed to be, they were through the roof. It should also be noted that Jarrod was receiving G-CSF injections which help the body to increase the number of white blood cells. Whether it was the injections by themselves or the combination of injections and visualization, it is not important. Jarrod felt empowered. And we had a great time at the water park.
There is certainly no proof that Jarrod’s visualizations raised his blood levels or that anyone else would have similar results, however, visualizing certainly made him feel as though he had some control over what was happening in his body. After we experienced this several times, the rest of the family also began to believe in the power of his mind to control his body.
