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Our Stories: Jack

Nov 21, 2023

I met Jack at the very beginning of my work in oncology massage (pre OMT) and boy did I learn some powerful lessons with him.

Jack was a family man, twice over in fact, and loved each of his children and his wife with his entire being; you could feel how much this family were together the minute you walked into their home. His sense of humour was legendary and I got a taste of it as soon as we met. “You can do anything you want to me today; just don’t step on me oxygen tube mate, I’m not quite ready to go yet” and gave me a wry grin. Well that set the scene there and then! After getting him comfortable seated at the dining table with pillows etc I then proceeded to give him a massage that I thought was a fair go at making him more relaxed. He gave me another wry grin at the end of the session and said “you were doing alright til you pulled me toes mate”. My earlier training in massage involved gently pulling on the toes at the end of the foot massage… big lesson learnt there with respect to old habits, I hadn’t even realised I’d done it.

Jack’s family were constantly by his side; his children would walk by and hug or kiss him with a “you alright Dad?”, and I came to know them well. There were also the phone calls his wife cheerfully and wearily answered; friends wanting to visit or check in. I learnt that he was a mentor to many and friend to all and decided his wife had a Superwoman cape stashed under her every day clothes.

"There have been so many spirited and inspirational people that have come through my door; some I’ve “forgotten” only to have them brought back to life with a chance remark, or conversation with their loved one…

The lessons I have learnt through these people have been gifts to me and I’d like to pay homage to them with the telling of their stories. It would be impossible to gain permission from all the families so out of respect for their privacy I’ll use pseudonyms" – Tania Shaw.

One day I walked in to see Jack looking paler than before; the change in just a couple of days was evident. I remember him looking up at me and saying “Not long now mate”. I caught my breath… what on earth do you say to that? Well, not much at all I’ve since come to learn. I think I said something along the lines of “Are you all sorted with everything? Anything you need me to do?” but really, it was a moment that didn’t need commenting on. We smiled at each other and I went about doing what I knew best, and that was to ease the deep ache in his shoulders and his back from the effort of breathing and from being sedentary in awkward positions for so long. The day he left the planet was the day I sat my muscle exam for my Diploma of Remedial Massage. His wife rang to tell me in the morning and said thank you for everything, you made the difference between Jack being in pain and not as much pain. I was able to express to her later how much I appreciated being in their lives at such an intimate time; how blessed I was to meet them and to share in some of Jack’s valuable time.

Jack’s face was floating in front of me the whole time I was frantically writing in the names of the muscles around the figure on the page... I like to think he was helping.

I attended his funeral and the hall was overflowing. I sat at the very back hoping I was far enough away to not feel the full impact of the emotion that was so tangibly present. I was wrong of course. I didn’t realise that these days there are power point presentations up on a very big screen. Watching the pictures flash past was a treat, seeing another aspect of Jack’s life that I was unfamiliar with until the picture of Jack sitting on the lounge with his children came up. He was bald from chemo and that was the Jack I knew.

Never underestimate the power of images, they have an immense impact and I was grateful I was sitting down with a fist full of tissues.

Jack’s funeral service was a beautiful tribute to him; his wife said he would have loved all the fuss that was made of him but can she go home now please? We joked about the proverbial desert island, free from technology and well meaning but emotionally draining relatives and friends, stocked to the hilt with red wine, food and hammocks.

That very gentle and humble man lives on in his talented children who are a testament to the values and ethics by which he lived his life. Thank you Jack.

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Oncology Massage Therapy and Boundaries

01 Feb, 2024

Gentle touch massage therapy is a most profound way of communicating with frail people, writes Tania Shaw, Executive Manager of Oncology Massage Limited, a not-for-profit training organisation for therapists who want to work with people with cancer.

Evidence for Oncology Massage

18 Jan, 2024

Massage & Cancer Integrative Oncology in Australia 2016: Mapping Service Provision and Exploring Unmet Needs Smith, C., Hunter, J., Ussher, J. M., Delaney, G., Grant, S., Templeman, K., Parton, C., Kellett, A. (2017) Australian organisations are increasingly providing Integrative Oncology (IO) services, signalling the need for clearer national guidance and polices. Discrepancies continue between what cancer survivors are doing or seeking, and the IO services they can access. Survivorship and wellness clinics are in urgent need of development. Coordinated strategic planning between all providers and insurers is required if the long-term needs of cancer survivors are to be adequately and equitably met. Clinical practice guidelines on the evidence-based use of integrative therapies during and after breast cancer treatment Greenlee H 1,2, DuPont-Reyes MJ 3, Balneaves LG 4, Carlson LE 5, Cohen MR 6,7, Deng G 8, Johnson JA 9, Mumber M 10, Seely D 11,12, Zick SM 13,14, Boyce LM 15, Tripathy D 16. CA Cancer J Clin. 2017 May 6;67(3):194-232. doi: 10.3322/caac.21397. Epub 2017 Apr 24 Patients with breast cancer commonly use complementary and integrative therapies as supportive care during cancer treatment and to manage treatment-related side effects. However, evidence supporting the use of such therapies in the oncology setting is limited. This report provides updated clinical practice guidelines from the Society for Integrative Oncology on the use of integrative therapies for specific clinical indications during and after breast cancer treatment, including anxiety/stress, depression/mood disorders, fatigue, quality of life/physical functioning, chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, lymphedema, chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, pain, and sleep disturbance. Clinical practice guidelines are based on a systematic literature review from 1990 through 2015. Music therapy, meditation, stress management, and yoga are recommended for anxiety/stress reduction. Meditation, relaxation, yoga, massage, and music therapy are recommended for depression/mood disorders. Meditation and yoga are recommended to improve quality of life. Acupressure and acupuncture are recommended for reducing chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. Acetyl-L-carnitine is not recommended to prevent chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy due to a possibility of harm. No strong evidence supports the use of ingested dietary supplements to manage breast cancer treatment-related side effects. In summary, there is a growing body of evidence supporting the use of integrative therapies, especially mind-body therapies, as effective supportive care strategies during breast cancer treatment. Many integrative practices, however, remain understudied, with insufficient evidence to be definitively recommended or avoided. The effect of massage on immune function and stress in women with breast cancer--a randomized controlled trial Billhult A 1, Lindholm C , Gunnarsson R , Stener-Victorin E . Auton Neurosci. 2009 Oct 5;150(1-2):111-5. doi: 10.1016/j.autneu.2009.03.010. Epub 2009 Apr 18. A single full-body light pressure effleurage massage has a short-term effect on NK cell activity, systolic blood pressure and heart rate in patients with breast cancer. However, the long-term clinical importance of these findings needs to be further investigated. Natural killer cells and lymphocytes increase in women with breast cancer following massage therapy Hernandez-Reif M , Field T , Ironson G , Beutler J , Vera Y , Hurley J , Fletcher MA , Schanberg S , Kuhn C , Fraser M . Int J Neurosci. 2005 Apr;115(4):495-510. Women diagnosed with breast cancer received massage therapy or practiced progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) for 30-min sessions 3 times a week for 5 weeks or received standard treatment. The massage therapy and relaxation groups reported less depressed mood, anxiety, and pain immediately after their first and last sessions. By the end of the study, however, only the massage therapy group reported being less depressed and less angry and having more vigor. Dopamine levels, Natural Killer cells, and lymphocytes also increased from the first to the last day of the study for the massage therapy group. These findings highlight the benefit of these complementary therapies, most particularly massage therapy, for women with breast cancer.