Suddenly he was vividly alive...

Cancer diagnosis often unlocks people's creative urges-

Suddenly he was vividly alive...

Postby Judith » Tue Mar 18, 2014 10:14 am

Suddenly he was vividly alive….

Wilko Johnson and Roger Daltrey of the Who have teamed up for a new project- (see both links below)—
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The difference here is that WJ has been diagnosed with terminal cancer—he says that when the doctor told him the news ‘my depression lifted….why didn’t I work this out before, it’s the moment that matters’

he has already outlived the prognosis (as have many so diagnosed-even to the extent of the cancer ‘disappearing ’)-- and who knows how long he may go on—

You don’t have to have a terminal prognosis to find that cancer focuses the mind, makes you use your time creatively, whether it be another twenty years or months…again it’s another of those clichés, overused maybe but nevertheless holding within it much truth-- here it comes , a wake-up call--- you may just carry on what you do but more vividly, or try something totally new and unexpected… of course for many of us there is the initial stunned and horrified period, not many of us go straight to elation as WJ did, but you can get there…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03t3dvz (starts at 7.53 re the diagnosis)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH-oENTbgUI (13.57 mins to the end)
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Re: Suddenly he was vividly alive...recovering green-nesse

Postby Judith » Wed Apr 30, 2014 3:40 pm

His shrivelled heart recovered 'greenesse'...
Shrivelled hearts can recover greene-ness after shock and trauma...

17th century poet George Herbert’s poem in this link below talks about a recovery from profund despair and an ability to take up the joy of living again:

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And now in age I bud again,
After so many deaths I live and write;
I once more smell the dew and rain,
And relish versing.
Oh, my only light,
It cannot be
That I am he
On whom thy tempests fell all night.


It’s written to a personal God in a ‘religious’ vein because of the time he was writing and also because of his inclinations- but whatever your view on this is, he’s writing from the heart about renewal, recovery, rebirth after trauma...this could so much apply to our situations, recovering from the trauma of cancer diagnosis, and carrying on with creative living...

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/181059

• The heart , as it now turns out,is more than just a bodily organ: it appears to operate as an actual endocrine gland that secretes hormones with various important functions.
One of these hormones is called ‘Atrial Natriuretic Factor’ (ANF), which significantly influences our bodies’ blood vessels, kidneys, adrenal glands, and a large number of regulatory regions in the brain.

The heart also contains cells known as ‘Intrinsic Cardiac Adrenergic’ (ICA) cells, which release noradrenaline and dopamine neurotransmitters.
it also secretes a hormone called oxytocin, which is commonly referred to as the ‘love hormone’ or ‘bonding hormone.

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An interesting fact came out of research by David Vesely, MD, PhD, professor of medicine, molecular pharmacology and physiology at the University of South Florida, as well as chief of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism at the James A. Haley VA Hospital in Tampa (at the time of writing):
He discovered that heart hormones were able to get rid of up to 97% of all cancers in cell cultures within 24 hours !

Vesely, D.L. (2012), “New Anticancer Agents: Hormones Made within the Heart,” Anticancer Research, Vol. 32 (7), pp. 2515-2521;
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Re: Suddenly he was vividly alive...energy flowing...

Postby Judith » Fri May 02, 2014 12:35 pm

Levon Helm- creative till the end- ‘I still got the energy to make music’-

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Helm's throat cancer was diagnosed in 1998, and he had several bouts of radiotherapy .

He survived fourteen years after his first diagnosis.

On stage and in recent interviews, his voice was sometimes strong but other times was reduced to a low rasp. But at one his last shows, in Ann Arbor on March 19th 2012 with a 13-piece band, the audience roared when he sang the Band classic "Ophelia." "I'm not the poster boy of good health," he said in an interview last year. "But I'm not doing too bad. I still got the energy to make music. As long as I can do that, I'm great."

Message from his family after his death,


Thank you fans and music lovers who have made his life so filled with joy and celebration... he has loved nothing more than to play, to fill the room up with music, lay down the back beat, and make the people dance! He did it every time he took the stage…

Levon Helm, singer and drummer for the Band, died on April 19th 2012 in New York of throat cancer. He was 71.

"He passed away peacefully at 1:30 this afternoon surrounded by his friends and bandmates," Helm's longtime guitarist Larry Campbell tells Rolling Stone. "All his friends were there, and it seemed like Levon was waiting for them. Ten minutes after they left we sat there and he just faded away. He did it with dignity. It was even two days ago they thought it would happen within hours, but he held on. It seems like he was Levon up to the end, doing it the way he wanted to do it. He loved us, we loved him."

Photos: Levon Helm Through the Years


Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/ ... z42J4AayaU
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