'Aromatherapy eased my cancer stress'

Over the last 12 years Karen Illingworth has had breast cancer three times.

She has had radiotherapy, chemotherapy and a double mastectomy.

At one stage Karen thought she was going to die.

She was severely stressed and found day-to-day living a strain, but said she found her salvation in aromatherapy.

The 41-year-old said that, alongside more conventional therapies, aromatherapy from the Bradford Cancer Centre had given her the strength to fight her cancer.

Relax

She said the scents from the essential oils had allowed her to escape her worries for a while and relax.

"I found it gave me time out and time to switch off from what I was going through.

"It almost transported me to somewhere else.

"The atmosphere, the music and the oils are great.

"I just found the whole package a way of chilling out for an hour.

"I found it helps me with stress. It gives you the strength to go on."

"It almost transported me to somewhere else "

Karen Illingworth

Bearable

Karen said she now lives each day at a time, but said complimentary therapies had definitely made her life more bearable after cancer.

"Originally when I found a lump I was only 29. I had a lumpectomy and chemotherapy and I was fine until five years later when I got a lump in the same breast.

" I had to have it removed and I had radiotherapy.

"Then I got a lump in the other breast and ended up having to have a double mastectomy.

"When it happened to me I thought I was going to die and then I thought no.

"When it happened a second time I was philosophical, but when it happened the third time I thought someone was out to get me."

Therapies

Karen said that although she has now been clear of the disease for nearly five years she is not assuming she has beaten her cancer.

"I went nearly five years the first time. You have to take each day as it comes."

She said she plans to continue with her aromatherapy, which is provided free of charge to cancer sufferers in her area.

Dr Michele Kohn, Macmillan Complementary Therapies Advisor, said the alternative therapies were popular because they gave patients tactile care at a time when they felt "untouchable".

She said that cancer care was often very clinical and hospital-based, while this offered patients the chance to relax in a more informal situation.