Showing me the image of my mammogram on her screen, the doctor said: ‘I’m almost certain you don’t have cancer.’
She pointed at a very small white area. ‘This looks like normal, age-related changes,’ she said. ‘We’ll take a biopsy just to be sure, but it’s only routine.’
Evidently, this friendly, graying radiologist had a lot of experience. Instead of feeling relief, however, this news made me feel alarm. Because I had good reason to believe I did have cancer — an aggressive form.
You might wonder how it was possible that I believed I had more knowledge than the medical professional.
Lesley Gibson (pictured), who sensed her own cancer, firmly believes that everybody has an aura — an electromagnetic energy system or field that surrounds the physical body
Some may roll their eyes in disbelief — and I do understand that. I, too, was once a sceptic — but I’m a healer and ‘medical intuitive’, which means my natural ability, training and experience allows me to sense unhealthy changes in the body’s energy field. Yes, I was able to sense my own cancer. ‘How can that be possible?’ you may ask again. Well, I firmly believe that everybody has an aura — an electromagnetic energy system or field that surrounds the physical body — and that I’m able to feel disturbances in it which correspond to illness.
Scientific evidence supports the existence of this aura, as many scientific papers and medical books have established that it can be measured and proven.
James L. Oschman is a biophysicist and author of Energy Medicine. The Scientific Basis. He has also published over 100 articles in academic journals.
Since ancient times, people in India and Far East have been using aura therapy to treat ailments. Just a few weeks before this appointment, I had found a ‘hotspot’ in my own energy field, a couple of inches above my right breast, as well as a larger disturbance in the energy around it. I specialise in working with people with cancer and was convinced what I could feel wasn’t just this condition, it was an aggressive form.
Three years ago, the Mail published the story of how I had found a tumour in my father’s lung by sensing it in his energy field, and reported it to his GP. I was right after scans.
The NHS couldn’t help and expected Dad to die within six months. I provided healing. I used my own methods and the sensitiveness of my hands to remove the energy trapped in his energy field.
Six months later, the scan revealed that there was no sign of any cancer. The cancer did not return and the patient was among only five per cent who survived more than ten year.
Lesley believes that she was prompted by a voice from her subconscious to test her right breast in July 2018. Pictured: Lesley with partner Darren and daughters Arianne and Elodie
My cancer was discovered just weeks after the article had been published. This was a shock. My health check revealed that I was ten years older than I thought. Never had I thought cancer could ever affect me.
Through intuition and feeling my energy fields with my fingertips, I discovered the truth. When I’m healing, knowledge comes to me through images, words and messages that I see or hear inside my head.
I’ve learned to trust my ‘psychic screen’. Many people believe that these messages are from spirit guides or guardian Angels. Others also think they come directly to our subconscious or higher selves. I can’t explain it. There’s so much we don’t know. However, my experience taught me how to remain open-minded.
I was just waking one morning in July 2018, when a voice inside my head said: ‘Check your right breast.’ I was astonished; it came out of the blue.
It felt like I was breathing in hot air, similar to the heat from a hairdryer.
My energy field was not able to detect anything other than normal breast tissue. And that’s when I found it: a tiny patch of hot energy, like air blowing from a hairdryer but infinitely more subtle.
Suddenly I ‘saw’ words scrawled on my psychic screen: ‘breast screening . . . surgery’. ‘Oh, God,’ I thought. ‘That can only mean cancer.’
My partner, Darren (a maths teacher who also works as a consultant to a major exam authority), encouraged me to contact the GP. My message requested screening. ‘I trust my intuition,’ I insisted. ‘The GP might send me away; there’s nothing to see or feel physically.’
I had just turned 50 and hadn’t yet been invited for routine screening offered to all women at this age but, uncannily, that same afternoon, an envelope bearing the NHS logo dropped through my letterbox. It was an invitation that I had received, and it arrived in my mailbox. I was right.
Lesley (pictured) said the results of a biopsy at St Luke’s Hospital, Bradford, revealed she had DCIS
Three weeks later I was able to have a mammogram at Holmfirth’s mobile screening unit. I couldn’t help asking myself: would I live another decade?
When I answered, the nurse inquired if my concerns were valid. ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘There are no lumps; nothing to see. But I’m certain I have cancer.’
I’m used to doctors glazing over or looking at me askance when I try to explain my practice. The screening nurses were attentive and listened to me, much to my relief. The mammogram didn’t look suspicious. But the nurse stuck a yellow Post-it note on my file and said: ‘Because of your concerns, I’ll flag this up; you should be invited for further tests.’
That’s how I came to be having a biopsy and further mammograms at St Luke’s Hospital, Bradford, on August 17, 2018. Again, the mammogram results seemed clear.
That’s when I told the radiologist I had grave concerns and she tried, in vain, to reassure me. I had simply told my daughters, Elodie, then 13, and Arianne, eight, that I was going for another chat with a doctor; I didn’t want to worry them.
One day, I awoke to a sound in my head that said “Check your right breasts!”
Three years earlier, their father died from a heart attack at 51. Surely I wasn’t going to die, too? I prayed that I would live to see my children grow up; that I wouldn’t be taken from them before they could cope without me.
The biopsy results took two weeks to come back. We went on vacation to Poland in the interim. Darren seemed reassured by the radiologist’s words. But when he wasn’t looking, I checked my energy; I was still sure I had cancer.
I was back at the hospital two weeks later and Darren and i sat together with a couple and an elderly woman as we waited to receive our biopsy results. What would it be? I was first called by a nurse wearing a blue uniform. Something about her smile — kind and knowing — made me think: ‘It’s me.’
She led us into the consultation room and my heart raced. We were asked to get down by a doctor. ‘I’m afraid you have DCIS,’ she said. ‘Ductal carcinoma in situ.’ That meant it didn’t appear to have spread yet. ‘But I’m vegetarian!’ I cried irrationally, indignantly, as if that should make me cancer-proof.
Lesley stated that telling her daughters the news about cancer was nearly as difficult as telling them his father died. Pictured: Lesley with partner Darren and daughters Arianne and Elodie
Darren squeezed my hand. My eyes blurred from the tears. Just for an instant — a fleeting split-second — my emotions threatened to overwhelm me: a mixture of fear for myself and, mostly, my girls, jostled with anger, sorrow and, yes, self-pity. It was grade 3, which meant that the cells were rapidly multiplying and it was possible for the cancer to spread. The cancer was very aggressive. They thought there was 23mm of DCIS; all high grade, and exactly where I’d said.
But one thing puzzled me: the area I’d felt was much bigger. Did they misunderstand me? They said I needed a lumpectomy followed by radiotherapy — I wasn’t at all sure this was enough.
It was my decision to hold off until I understood the situation before sharing it with family.
My cousin Vanessa, who had survived breast cancer herself, recommended Manchester’s Nightingale Centre. My father’s story was shared with me by my consultant. I stated that I believed I could have more cancer than the doctors thought.
My daughters were so difficult to hear. My daughters cried.
‘I think at least a third of my breast is affected,’ I said. ‘A lumpectomy might not clear it. Wouldn’t it be better to have a mastectomy?’
He listened kindly, but clearly didn’t believe me. It was my choice, he said, but he wouldn’t recommend such major surgery. ‘Having a mastectomy would be like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.’ I advise my clients to take medical advice, and now it was my turn. All of us make mistakes. My hope was that the doctors would not be mistaken. I agreed to the plan but insisted on a histology report — a detailed analysis of cells only doctors normally see.
It was nearly as difficult as telling my daughters that their father died. They wept. They cried. I hugged them, forcing a smile. ‘I’m not going anywhere,’ I said. ‘No one knows when they’ll die, but look at me; I’m not frightened.’
They followed me as I did and happily, so I continued on my way.
After the lumpectomy, I was initially told my tissue margins were clear — but the histology report showed they weren’t.
Lesley assured her that Darren was a rock and would help her raise her daughters with the support of her family if necessary. Pictured with Lesley is her family
Worse still, part of my DCIS had spread outside the duct, exactly where I’d felt the tiny ‘hotspot’. To test my lymph nodes, I had the option to go back for a second surgery. To be certain, I chose it.
They also removed breast tissue for further testing. And still I wasn’t clear.
Darren held my hand as I was told by my consultant that a mastectomy may be in my future. Five months after I’d diagnosed my own cancer, malignant cells were still creeping, clandestine, through my breast ducts.
Darren was a rock. Even though we were only together for one year, he told me he loved me as much as he loved his girls. He said that if the need arose, he would raise them, with my family’s help.
I kept working in between operations. I didn’t want to let clients down. I didn’t mention my illness, since many had much more advanced forms of the disease.
Ironically, both I and my clients felt great. One client’s surgery to remove his oesophagus was cancelled — after healing, his high-grade cells had vanished. Two years later, another client was going strong despite being informed she only had a few weeks to live. Yet, like many healers, I couldn’t treat myself; I couldn’t be objective.
Doctors realized I was right only after my accident
However, Liz Maloy, my dear colleague, offered remote healing. Although the cancer didn’t vanish, healing may have stopped it spreading. I’m convinced it helped me to recover from surgery and stay positive.
As a nurse, I strongly encourage my clients to seek NHS treatment. Each person must find their own way to healing. It was obvious that I required surgery. I also needed healing. I feel very fortunate to have had both.
I also practiced mindfulness. The answer was always the same: on my psychic screen, written clearly were the words: ‘Mastectomy, mastectomy, mastectomy.’
The Macmillan Nurse who helped me was a great encouragement to be able to trust my instincts. Thanks to charity Breast Cancer Now, I was able to speak to other survivors of cancer and experts.
A mastectomy and reconstruction using tissue from my stomach was the right decision for me.
Lesley (pictured), stated that the doctors never had to meet anyone with cancer who was as informed about her diagnosis as she was.
Some research was done. In a Femail article on ‘Britain’s top breast surgeons’, I found plastic surgeon Stephen McCulley at Nottingham — a world leader in his field.
Richard Linforth from Bradford, my lovely consultant, recommended me instantly to the NHS. The surgery was then booked for February 2019. Three weeks earlier, my father died from a heart attack. He’d had pneumonia and emphysema.
This time, he wouldn’t accept healing, insisting: ‘You need to look after yourself.’
Of course we were distraught. The day following his funeral, I had to go to Nottingham hospital. In my deepest selves, I summoned the strength I never knew I had.
My sisters, mother and Darren got over their grief and took care of me and my children. They taught me how to clean, cook, and make endless cups of tea. Their achievements made me so proud.
Before surgery I was lying in bed with my breasts covered in black ink. My window showed me a large double rainbow. It was a sign that all would be well, I thought.
Even though I was found with more DCIS than expected, it was a huge success. I haven’t needed more treatment and was recently discharged.
Today, I feel incredibly grateful not just to my consultants —Mr Linforth and Mr McCulley — but for my own gift, too.
They had not met anyone who knew they were suffering from cancer like me. Indeed, they had no previous awareness of the human energy field, though they did tell me that some patients ‘just have a feeling’.
Lesly hopes one day healers will be available free on the NHS, for everyone’s benefit. Pictured: Lesley with partner Darren and daughters Arianne and Elodie
It was after my two failed mastectomy attempts and two failed lumpectomies that I realized my mistake. ‘[An energy field] is not something I’m aware of or familiar with, but I’m not dismissive either,’ said Mr McCulley. ‘I’m not arrogant enough as a scientist and surgeon to say that I know everything.’
An MRI scan would probably have shown up the extensive cancer — but this wasn’t offered because mammograms are considered better for screening.MRI scans are time-consuming, expensive and can give ‘false positives’.
My job as a healing practitioner for animals and people continues. Since Dad’s story was published, grateful clients have donated money to a fund for people who can’t afford full-price healing.
During lockdown, the fund enabled me to give free remote healing to a London A&E matron in intensive care with suspected Covid and a genetic illness. She said: ‘The therapy was very effective. My pain and symptoms improved massively.’
I’ve also qualified as a mindfulness teacher; I train people to meditate and strengthen their intuitions. While not all people can sense cancer in their energy field, it is possible to learn how to listen and trust your inner voice.
One day, I hope healers will be available free on the NHS, for everyone’s benefit, rather than ignored or dismissed. Clinical trials and research are essential. I’d welcome this and I’m happy for scientists to contact me.
The lifesaving advice I received from my energy field will be a part of me forever.
Lesley Gibson can be reached at lesleygibson.co.uk to contact her. To donate, go to justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ lesleygibsonhealing.