I was given nine months to live… 25 years ago! Life coach on how shes used her experiences to her advantage

CURLY MARTIN must have thought that, if it wasn’t for bad luck, she’d have had no luck at all.

In the space of just a few months, she’d lost her high-flying job, been diagnosed with cancer, given less than a year to live, and lost her boyfriend and home.

But Curly’s tale of woe has a happy ending as she’s used her experiences to become a successful life coach, subsequently married the aforementioned chap and has recently published her book Achievement: Cancer Free For 20 Years.

“They said I had an aggressive kind of breast and lymphatic cancer,” says Curly (63).

“I’d been made redundant in July, 1992 and went to Spain to live the dream, and it was diagnosed in the December.

“A local doctor told me to go to Gibraltar, so my boyfriend Pete, my friend and I went Christmas shopping — they went to the shops, I thought I’d pop into the hospital on the way.

“This young doctor examined me and told me I had malignant cancer which had spread and that I needed an operation immediately and would then have to go back to the UK for chemotherapy.

“I asked what the prognosis was and he said: ‘Well, nine months.’

“I then went to a newsagent, opened a dictionary to see what the definition of malignant was and it said, ‘imminent death’ — that was a bad day, I tell you!

“A doctor friend of mine arranged for me to have my surgery and chemo in the Royal Marsden, but that night, my boyfriend Pete said he couldn’t deal with it. I just cried and cried.

“I flew back to the UK, and on the New Year’s Eve, there was a knock at the door and there was Pete.

“To be fair, he reacted the way he did at the time because it was a massive thing to take on board.

“He accompanied me to all my appointments.

“A colleague has suggested I write a book about the people who support cancer patients, because they’re the ones who actually take most of the flak,” reveals Curly.

“The family has to deal with the fall-out while the one with cancer is the centre of attention if you like, they’re the ones who get the brunt of it, the temper tantrums, the despair.”

Curly had the “full English” of treatments, surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and says: “It was pretty grim, I was in hospital much longer than anyone else.

“It was my 40th birthday year and when my mum questioned the wisdom of me planning a big party, I said: ‘Put it this way, if I don’t make it you can have it as a wake!’

“I arranged it as a charity fundraiser and not only was it was a lot of fun, it took my mind off ‘me’.

“I wasn’t thinking about my cancer and all of a sudden, I got to the party and realised I’d passed that nine-month mark.

“I couldn’t get a job, though. I’d get the offer but as soon as they found out about the cancer, there was a restructuring and the position mysteriously disappeared — what a coincidence,” says Curly.

“I got very down, but a computer training company got in touch when someone let them down at short notice and it was a case of: ‘Here’s a laptop, here’s the course, here’s where you need to be on Monday.’

“That was it, the turning point. I worked for them as a freelance and then found out about life coaching, wrote the book and built up my company.

“I’ve explored all the alternative therapies, too, and I recommend it for people as you feel you’re in control and not just going through the standard treatment,” explains Curly.

“It started when the Royal Marsden gave me a free massage. It transformed the way I saw my body and thought about alternative stuff.

“I did a masseuse course, and I researched cancer treatment and cells and what they looked like. I imagined the white blood cells being released two at a time and nibbling away at the cancer cells — it’s a visualisation technique but I didn’t realise at the time.

“A lady taught me lymphatic drainage massage and every day, I massage my special arm — I don’t call it my bad arm — then I kiss it and say: ‘I love you.’

“I don’t know whether it works, but I do it because it makes me smile and laugh because it’s so ridiculous.

“I changed the habits of a lifetime and combined these alternative therapies and this positivity into my recovery and maintenance programmes.

“Positivity is key, it’s all about taking control and being a bit brave.”

Achievement: Cancer Free For 20 years is available from Amazon.

For more information on Curly, visit www.achievementspecialists.co.uk and she can be found on Twitter at @CurlyMartin