about me…

I am a mother of four to a beautiful blended family and am married to my soulmate Vernon. We live in Taupo on a lifestyle block and are renowned for losing our animals. I love to travel, especially to places I haven’t been… I love the Rolling Stones, cherries, and the smell of daffodils.

I am a recovering sugar-addict.

I love God.

When I was 27, I was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis (an auto immune disease). My immune system would in essence, stop the transmission of nerve impulses to muscles. I had an operation (thymectomy), where my enlarged thymus gland was removed along with a very small benign tumour, and following that the disease was very well managed with medication. I was fit, a workaholic, and always on the go.

2 ½ years ago (37 years) I was 9 months pregnant with my first-birthed baby. Plagued with breathing difficulties and pain throughout the pregnancy, I thought many of my complaints were normal for expectant mothers and that I was just being dramatic! One week away from inducement, it was discovered I had tumours on my heart, lung and chest (the largest measuring over 19cm). I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and palliative chemotherapy was offered with a life expectancy of less than 12 months. We then began the process of seeking out alternative therapies.

Coincidentally, at this same time I had a routine appointment with my neurologist Dr Matthew Phillips for the Myasthenia Gravis and when we talked to him about my cancer diagnosis, he and nutritionist Deborah Murtagh introduced me to the ketogenic diet and fasting.

The next two years were intense. Physical, spiritual and emotional limits were constantly broken. The medication I was on to control the disease was an immune system suppressant, and now I needed the immune system to fight the cancer. I was walking a fine line and too far either way could kill me (and almost did). We were in new territory and as the ketogenic diet and fasting was so foreign in Western medicine, I was always having to defend myself to practitioners who thought I had an eating disorder. In two years the cancer didn’t grow and I attribute this, partly to fasting. We are so thankful to Dr Matthew Phillips for being with us on this journey. He has freely and generously given all his knowledge and we are incredibly blessed by his friendship.

Our family were amazing. My parents basically tag-teamed a whole year of living with us to look after Pepe (our newborn) so I could concentrate on getting well. I was always in and out of hospital with the disease as I came off all my medication. Our children still managed to stay positive and in peace as we navigated through scary and unstable years - I am so proud of them, they stood with us in faith and we become a tighter family through it all.

You can read more of the journey in the blog section of this website, and information on fasting and my keto book (available for free download) is in the treatment section.

I had a pretty scary trip to ICU in 2019 (read more in near death), and had a combination of drugs (such as prednisone and octreotide) while in there to get me up and about from a Myasthenia relapse. Since then, the latest CT scan has shown the cluster of tumours to have shrunk to a small speck - at least 95% gone!! This is a miraculous outcome and is without the use of any radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immuno-therapy, or conventional cancer treatments.

I have no idea how this was possible and I give all glory and praise to God. A few years ago I didn’t know if I would see Pepe’s 1st birthday. But now I will celebrate many birthdays with her. I will be there for every milestone in our children’s lives, and my husband and I will grow old together.