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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, October 21, 2016 | 22 John Bkila Sub-Editor jbkila@oakvillebeaver.com Author shares her cancer journey in new book, launches in Oakville by Julia Lovett Metroland West Media Artscene "Connected to your Community" E veryone is on a journey. Whether it be easy or hard, right or wrong, everyone must follow their own path and they decide how best to live each day ­ and so it was for Jill Robinson. Sitting in her back yard on a hot summer afternoon, sipping a cold herbal drink under the canopy of a gazebo surrounded by flowers, she's a far cry from where she was two years ago when she was being treated for a disease that should've taken her. And yet, it didn't. She survived and is telling her story through her recently published book, Jill's Journey: Embracing Medical and Holistic Choices to Healing. The author held her Oakville launch Saturday (Oct. 15) at the Joshua Creek Heritage Art Centre, where she read excerpts from her book and spoke with audience members. In January, 2014, the Greensville resident was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma - breast cancer affecting the milk ducts. "I was just knocked off my feet; I was a deer in the headlights. I just went into this dark place," she said. During her experience, she kept two journals ­ one for medical appointments and one for getting her thoughts and feelings out. As she wrote her book, Robinson went in with a mission: to help people understand that they have options. "The bottom line is that whatever you choose is your choice and nobody else's," she wrote in her book, "It's very important to be at peace with the decisions that you make." Robinson, who has been in the holistic industry for over 20 years, suddenly was faced with the possibility of adding the words chemotherapy and radiation to her vocabulary. After she was officially diagnosed, she went to a surgeon who told her that the tumour in her chest was about the size of a ping-pong ball and needed to be shrunk by chemo before they could do surgery. Robinson decided against it. "They go to school and they learn that when a person has cancer, this is what the standard of care is," she said referring to the options of chemo, radiation or surgery presented to her by her caregivers. "I was in a place when I found out that I wasn't convinced that I wanted to go down that road, so I made a choice ­ and this is where the foundation of my book came ­ that, `Okay, I want a second opinion," Robinson added. "Our bodies are all made of energy and so it can be affected by energy," said Simone Usselman-Tod, a health and wellness practitioner who worked with Robinson. "We can impact a body in different ways depending on...what we introduce into it. So we know the benefits and the drawbacks of things like chemo and radiation on health," said the former registered medical radiation Greensville author Jill Robinson is pictured with her book at her book launch for Jill's Journey, held last Friday (Oct. 15) in Oakville at the Joshua Creek Heritage Art Centre. The book chronicles her cancer battle journey. | Franki Ikeman photo technologist, noting that chemo can not only affects tumours but can also affect the body in the process. While taking an alternative route, Robinson decided to wait to get in with another surgeon who could possibly offer a different option. In the meantime, she went to a naturopath who is a nurse, she worked with oncologists and began a regimen of treatments to promote wellness that in- cluded herbs, Reiki, reflexology along with other natural treatments. When the time came to meet with the second surgeon, however, Robinson learned that western medical intervention was necessary. "She was really concerned because the type of cancer that I had was a very aggressive form of cancer. I was already at second stage because the size of the lump," said the author. When she left that appointment, she was disappointed, but with the help of her husband, her friend and her naturopath, decided that she still had options and would do both conventional treatment and complementary treatment. "None of the medical doctors were supportive of my choice to do natural," she said. see Robinson's on p.23 Junior League of Hamilton-Burlington For tickets & event details joy volu nteer Choose your visit juniorleague.ca or call 289.337.9526 friday nov. 11th to sunday nov. 13th Tour three fabulous homes completely renovated and professionallydecorated for the holidays! Get great renovation and festive decorating ideas, dine at a discount, and more! Purchase online or at one of many retail locations listed on the website. Look for more information in the Hamilton Spectator insert on October 29th. charity you can Win flights anywhere in the world + More $10/ticket uwoakville.org For Tickets Call: Raffle Licence # M768588 adventure 905-845-5571