Kineret Sherman

In 2015, at age 43, Kineret discovered she had Stage II rectal cancer. She used alternative healing methods for a year and a half. When tests showed the tumor had developed into stage III, she agreed to the surgery and other allopathic care she had hoped to avoid. However, she also continued several of her alternative and spiritual healing practices.   The combination worked! Seven years later, she is cancer-free, and this book is her remarkable story—and her way to help others avoid some of the pitfalls she encountered. Learning to deal with this disease, she has found internal and external resources to heal her life and, in the process, help others. Patients with this specific cancer and others with cancer-related issues often approach her for coaching, speaking, and teaching.    Every type of cancer offers familiar and unique challenges, depending on the location and stage. Rectal cancer treatments are harsh on the body and multi-step, each creating a challenging aftermath. How the author navigated through and what she learned over time that she wishes she had been forewarned about—especially in the area of sexuality—is a gift for others. For those who want to understand what it was like to receive the diagnosis, receive radiation and chemotherapy, the effects of pelvic radiation on sexuality and what to do about it, what's involved in living with a stoma, how to live with a reconnected body after the stoma is reversed, what spirituality has to do with your medical journey, and how to be with your mind and emotions while you're healing from cancer—then read on. This book is also written for health professionals, giving doctors and other stakeholders a rare window into a patient's unusually candid experience.    Here is a brief bio and a taste of Kineret's journey. It was a warm, casual, mid-September Saturday in 2015; I was forty-three years old. I had given six consecutive Thai yoga therapy sessions earlier that day. I hurried home, hungry as a ravenous wolf, and devoured my lunch. I stepped upstairs to lie on my bed, and relief set in. My euphoria lasted for less than ten minutes when my bowels signaled for a movement. I reluctantly peeled my exhausted body off the bed and walked to the bathroom. I was about to flush the toilet when I saw a red spot on the stool. My gaze laser-focused on it. It was a bloody clump, not liquid, diffusing into the water. What is THAT? I thought. Two months later, I heard, "You have cancer in the rectum. I sent referrals to an oncologist, a surgeon, and a radiation oncologist."  "Say what???   Kineret Sherman graduated from UCLA with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry and received a Master of Science degree in Life Sciences from The Weizmann Institute of Science. In addition, she had a spiritual insight. She also holds a Master of Arts in spiritual psychology from the University of Santa Monica. Certified as a Life Coach by The Coach Training Academy, an ICF-accredited school, Kineret has taken subsequent coach training with Michael Neill, Rohini Ross, Dicken Bettinger, Mavis Karn, and Pransky and Associates. Kineret went to Byron Katie's 9-Day School for the Work and Eckhart Tolle's School of Awakening. She studied Nonviolent Communication with Marshall Rosenberg for many years.   Today Kineret works as a life coach and a hospice spiritual care provider.  She has worked as an intervention coach for Alzheimer's patients and their caregivers for a study with the University of Washington on the LGBTQ community. She is certified in Thai Yoga Therapy, Reiki, and Holoenergetic Healing.