Jan's Story

By Jan Lively,

Ohio, USA

I am a metastatic breast cancer survivor.  In 1988, my life was turned upside down (and perhaps right side up) when I was diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer.  The next six months I endured chemotherapy with complete loss of hair, surgery (lumpectomy) and radiation.  There was no sign of cancer in the lymph nodes and, with all indicators, my doctor predicted an 80-90% chance there would be no further recurrence. 

Getting cancer the first time was a wake up call.  I made a few concessions to improving my diet, reducing stress, and looking for more meaningful relationships in my life. But the changes were mainly superficial.  Deep down, I resented cancer, feeling greatly humiliated by the effects of the treatments and powerless to do much about it.  I was angry with my doctors, the nurses who administered chemotherapy and just about everyone else who "couldn’t possibly understand" what I was going through.

During the treatments, my friend Abby — an angel — gave me Master Luke Chan’s book, 101 Miracles of Healing, and said, “Jan, I think this could help you.”  I skimmed through the book and read a number of the testimonies of miraculous healings, but I returned the book to her with a “thanks, but no thanks” response.  My rational, skeptical mind could not accept the possibility that such miracles could truly exist.

So getting cancer the second time was like getting knocked over the head with a sledgehammer.  In January of 2001, it came back in my liver — multiple metastases throughout, the biggest mass the size of a large baking potato.  My tumor marker count was 4500 (anything under 38 is in the normal range) and I was very sick with a stressed-out and enlarged liver.  A jogger most of my life, I could now barely walk around the block.  My doctor put me on chemotherapy saying it had a 50% chance of reducing the tumors.  Forget about a full recovery, he said.  Almost no one survives metastatic breast cancer.  And the liver is the worse place for it to be.  The best I could hope for, according to the oncologist, was some extended life through chemo.  Given the severity of my condition, I could see that if the chemo didn’t work, I wouldn’t be around much longer.  It felt like a death sentence.

This time, instead of anger and arrogance, I felt a complete humility and surrendering.  My friend, the angel, came back to me and said, "Jan, open your heart,” and I did.  And once again, she gave me Luke Chan’s book and said, “Jan, I think this could help you.”  This time, I agreed to give it a try.  What could I lose?  And she offered to show me how to do the Lift Chi Up, Pour Chi Down form and practiced it with me nearly every day for the first few weeks.

I didn’t actually begin to practice Chi-Lel until after the first few weeks of chemo.  Before I began the practice, my condition did not improve and the tumor marker remained at 4500.  Six weeks after I began practicing just 20 minutes a day, my tumor marker count dropped to 2500!  The potato-sized tumor shrank to the size of a golf ball!  And I began to feel much better.  My energy improved and I felt fewer side effects from the chemo.  After three months of practicing, I was back to jogging again (while on chemo!).  People commented on how good I looked and how much energy I had. 

As I began to get results, I increased my practice to about an hour a day.  Amazing things began to happen in my life.  I had powerful visions, which I had never before experienced.  I began to develop a sense of “knowing” what I needed to do, what path I needed to follow.

All the while, I continued to improve and feel better.  During the summer months, I realized that the next step was to attend a Chi-Lel retreat.  So I went to Mt. Shasta, accompanied by my loving sisters, and Master Frank Chan taught me how to REALLY do the forms. 

From that point on, I knew my life, however long I am given, has a purpose.  In February and March of 2002, I traveled to Hawaii to study intensively with Master Luke Chan and became a certified Chi Lel instructor.  In Hawaii, much emotional healing occurred, and since then, more physical healing has followed, gradually but surely.  I have learned to become patient with the healing process, which is different for each person.  As Dr. Pang says, there is a “rhythm to the illness.”  At times my tumor markers have gone back up some, but shortly after they began to fall again and have dropped much lower.  From January of 2001 to April of 2003, my tumor markers have fallen from 4500 to 123!   During all of this, I have continued to take chemotherapy off and on.  I believe that Chi-Lel works synergistically with Western treatments for healing, enhancing my immune system and releasing toxins from the chemo.  I feel few side effects.  Although tests would indicate that I am not yet completely free of cancer, I feel healthier than I have ever felt in my life. 

Through Chi-Lel, I have discovered a vast community of loving teachers and practitioners, as if a new world has opened up to me.  I am grateful for what each of them has taught me; my practice has reached depths I could never have anticipated.  Chi-Lel has changed my life, given me new life, and most importantly, a deep inner peace.  Whereas I used to feel unhappy and unsatisfied most of the time, I am now a happy person.  Breast cancer no longer scares me.   While I hope for a full recovery, I know that deep down, I am okay.  Everything is fine.  All is unfolding as it meant to. 

I am now teaching classes in Dayton, OH.  I am especially interested in bringing Chi-Lel to those living with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.  I hope that they, too, will find their lives changed and enriched as a result.  And, of course, for all of us, I hope for complete healing of the mind, body, and spirit.