I am still here, I am not getting worse, the big C cant have me!

[caption id="attachment_2573" align="alignright" width="307"] Rochelle Kupa during healthier times.[/caption]

Kia ora, my name is Rochelle Kupa and I have terminal cancer. My cancer is in my right lung, my liver and in some of my bones. I was diagnosed at the end of November 2014. In some ways it was a relief to find out what was wrong. For a long time now I have been a Secondary Teacher of English and Social Studies. So when I kept getting sick in 2013 and no real causes could be found, I put it down to the stress of teaching. Then in 2014 my health was getting worse, so we moved back to NZ from Australia and I took time off to give up smoking and get healthy. Then I found work. Not long after starting my new job my health went backwards again and the pain was tremendous. It was during a collapse from the pain that I ended up in Emergency. Thanks to their tests I was diagnosed and given 6-12 weeks to live. I started chemo during the Christmas week followed by radiation. The treatments were grueling. About 4 months after diagnosis I started using cannabis oil. It is now January 2016 and I am still here. My last two scans show a lack of acute disease, which means I am no longer dying. My conventional treatments ended in April/May 2015. I wasn’t expected to live past October but there was hope that I could live long enough to receive more chemotherapy at the end of last year except of course I no longer need any treatment. So at this point of time I am in stasis. The cancer is being held at bay. I am fairly healthy and the side effects I have from the oil and from recovering from the cancer and treatment are fairly minimal. I am not ready yet for work but I am in a far better position than I was at the end of 2014.

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