Grace Gawler Writes About the Early Days of Conquering Cancer
Following are some some exerpts from my memoirs Grace, Grit and Gratitude. I was 21 years of age when faced with full-time caring for Ian Gawler. These were challenging days for a carer/partner who was thrown in at the deep end- especially when our relationship was relatively new. It was not as easy as has been portrayed in the media - the challenges, physical loads and responsiblities were enormous. It was certainly not a single-handed event as has been said in many interviews. Indeed, to say so, sets cancer patients and partners up for an even rockier ride through this insidious illness. When a partner is so ill and the prognosis poor - it would be impossible to even attemprt recovery without a pro-active carer. In writing my Memoirs I have attempted to provide the reader with a realistic and authentic picture of our attempts to conquer cancer. Read more
The Gawler Foundation-Yarra Valley Living Centre Co-founder Grace Gawler
Grace Gawler’s Memoirs, Grace Grit and Gratitude, for the first time, tells the story of how the Gawler Foundation and the Yarra Valley Living Centre came into existence.
The following is an exerpt from the book:
Chapter 20
“It was late evening when we arrived at a small village called Yarra Junction in the heart of the Yarra Valley. It had been a ten-hour drive and too late to arrive at Roger’s unannounced, so we spent the night at the local caravan park. What a surprise when we awoke the next morning! Surrounded by mountains, old gracious gum trees and a river, the ground itself hummed with nature’s rhythms; the bird choruses were amazing and the air was crispy clean. I had never experienced such things before. In the freshness and dewiness of the early morning, bright blue sky above me, baby on my back, I pirouetted on the spot, taking in the awesome 360º views and breathing in the delicious aromas created by warm sun on gum trees. It was my birthday, November 19, 1979 and I had found home.”
Chapter 21 - On the threshold of a Dream
”Inspired by the events of the early morning, we landed on the doorstep of the local real estate office at nine o’clock. Read more
Grace Gawler’s Grit and Gratitude
Since its release in early October, Grace Gawler’s Memoirs, Grace, Grit and Gratitude has gathered excellent feedback from readers in Australia and New Zealand. In these troubled times the world is ready for more stories of hope and inspiration. A few recent comments from readers are listed below.
John W. Travis, MD, MPH, co-author, Wellness Workbook writes:
“As a Johns Hopkins preventive medicine-trained physician, who developed the first wellness centre in the US, I am very aware of the need for balance around health issues. Grace Gawler’s memoirs, Grace, Grit, and Gratitude, apart from being an inspiring and gripping story, alerts the reader to a whole host of assumptions that are prevalent regarding cancer healing. It is a vital exploration into what really heals. The book is aptly named! Read more
The Gawler Foundation-Co-founder Grace Gawler
Grace Gawler’s memoirs: Grace,Grit and Gratitude is of historical significance because it maps and traces the origins of The Gawler Foundation through the eyes and experience of co founder Grace Gawler. The reader will be taken on a very personal journey of discovery…Was meditation the answer, the reason why Ian recovered? Or perhaps it was diet and positive thinking? No, says Grace Gawler who was there; they have some importance, but it was neither meditation nor diet - in fact with all our intensity and energy in these two areas - Ian spiralled into a rapid decline and was given a few weeks to live. Meditation was unable to help his pain - so we scaled down the intensity of the dietary approach and concluded our time with Ainslie Meares. This very challenging and harrowing period is described in Grace, Grit and Gratitude. These approaches played a small part of a very large circle of therapies - the most important being a total surprise - a healing that appeared from out of left field! His remission was gradual and amazingly; Ian lived long enough - living well with cancer - for a miraculous event to occur. Herein I learned a valuable lesson about keeping the human spirit alive. The turning point was the Philippines - where Ian crossed the bridge - he became a man living with cancer not a man dying from it. It was in the Philippines where I learned a hands-on healing method - magnetic healing and Ian had more than 5000 hours of this treatment before and after his remission. Grace and Ian’s combined skills made for an effective healing partnership.
Wellbeing magazine published the following quote from Ian in 1984:
“Many individuals contributed to my recovery. My wife Gayle( now Grace) has played the most significant role by far. If everyone could have a person in their life, so capable of showering total loving care on them, as Gayle (Grace) has for me, then disease would be a thing of the past. She has shared in all my trials and efforts, and, most importantly, right from the start, she always ‘knew’ I would get better….no doubts she ‘knew’ and remained devoted to helping me do it.” Read more
Grace Gawler - The Gawler Foundation and Grace, Grit and Gratitude
Grace, Grit and Gratitude – Grace’s Memoirs (October 2008) is a story of a woman’s courage to take responsibility for another’s life – to dare—to think outside the square—to go against all opinion—a belief and love so strong that it breathed life into her dying partner. They married when he had just a few weeks to live. As the story weaves and unfolds, we see Grace’s absolute and unshakeable commitment and support work towards putting the flesh back on her partner’s bones. It took two and a half years of hard work. He recovered; but therein the story becomes even more intriguing as for the first time, in the public domain; step-by-step, Grace describes the complex issues that surrounded Ian Gawler’s remission and recovery.
If you have read You Can Conquer Cancer by Ian Gawler and are trying to follow his dietary regimen – then Grace, Grit and Gratitude is a must read—because the book accurately paints a realistic picture of the ups and downs and day-to-day challenges that the Gawler’s met throughout Ian’s recovery.
Grace Gawler Comments on Guy Allenby’s: The Dragon’s Blessing to be launched 10 October 2008
It is unusual if not rare that a formerly married, high-profile couple, launch their biography’s not only in the same year—but also in the same month, 7 days apart.
The discerning reader who purchases Ian Gawler’s biography Dragon’s Blessing due to be launched publicly at Readings Bookstore in Hawthorn Victoria Friday night 10 October 2008, may find themselves in a dilemma, particularly if they have had association with both co-founders of the Gawler Foundation.
Grace, Grit and Gratitude - Grace Gawler-First Edition Copies
Grace’s Memoirs have arrived and were launched at a celebration at the Gold Coast October 3. Copies of Grace’s remarkable story Grace, Grit and Gratitude are available now. Purchase online at www.gracegawler.com - Copies will be available in selected bookstores for Christmas (within Australia) Purchase your personally signed copy today or buy a copy for friend. For all enquiries contact Grace.
Grace Gawler’s book launch October 3 2008
It is unusual if not rare that a formerly married high-profile couple, launch their biographies not only in the same year; but in the same month. Grace Gawler has been writing her life story for eight years and it was due for publication Christmas 2006 – a blockbuster Christmas release by Black Swan Press, Department of Women’s Studies, Curtin University. However the group lost their university funding and along with many other author’s, Grace’s contract was rescinded and manuscripts returned.
In late 2007 she was approached by journalist Guy Allenby to contribute to her ex- husband, Ian Gawler’s biography that Mr Allenby was writing. Grace willingly travelled to Sydney to see Mr Allenby where he interviewed her for more than six hours. At that stage, Grace’s Memoirs had already taken shape and were to be published late 2008. Titled Grace, Grit and Gratitude; it is a compelling and inspiring read and a remarkable Australian woman’s untold story. The book is bold yet discrete; however, it does raise some controversial points. Grace feels that both books will complement each other. Writing from the “hands-on” 24/7 carers point of view the first section is a chilling account of what it is like to go through the cancer experience with a partner who is so ill - then survives. Read more
Review - Grace Grit and Gratitude by Eve Hillary
Book Review of Grace, Grit and Gratitude – Grace Gawler
By Eve Hillary (September 14 2008)
Grace Gawler’s memoirs, Grace, Grit and Gratitude kept me reading well into the night. The book is written in an easy style that rewards the reader with insights into Grace as a woman, mother, wife, carer, healer and pioneer of the original supportive care movement for cancer patients in Australia.
A uniquely Australian story, Grace brings alive the 1950’s Australia of her childhood. Her love of animals drew her into vet nursing. She teams up with a young vet and they set up a seemingly idyllic Victorian country vet practise. Almost immediately after their romance develops he is diagnosed with a usually fatal type of cancer. Their relationship unfolds in the shadow of his illness. Meanwhile Grace has grown into a beauty and comes to the attention of a modelling agency. She forgoes lucrative modelling opportunities in order to remain her boyfriend’s full time carer and they marry doctors give him only a few weeks to live. Later their marriage becomes the fertile ground from which Grace discovers the depth of her ability to love and to heal. In time, he becomes well again and for a while, they flourish and are further blessed with four children. Their journey into his healing and their joint establishment of the Gawler Foundation is alone worth reading. But what was originally a lifeline for Ian comes at a price for Grace. Read more
Grace, Grit and Gratitude for a Life - Grace Gawler
My Memoirs, Grace,Grit and Gratitude; 8 years in the writing are completed. There have been many reasons for writing this book. In the beginning it was a therapeutic tool, in fact it was so essential for my recovery that without the process - I doubt I would have survived with sanity. As well, writing a memoir was important as a record of events for my children and grandchildren, a way of making sense of how past events, create a path to our present and our future. However, when the threads of the story-line were pulled together, I had another valuable realisation - that my own journey paralleled the stories of my clients, the ‘threads’ were universal themes and their weaving had created the tapestry that was my life.
An uninvited life-changing experience in December 1997, proved to be an initiation into another world. I stepped upon the medical treadmill- a nine year dark night of the soul. I had known this path well enough from my work with cancer patients and from my time with Ian Gawler in the seventies, when he was diagnosed with bone cancer and given only weeks to live. We married then, and together we embarked on an amazing journey to recovery; eventually teaching others and sharing our experience, we co-created the Gawler Foundation. The accurate and personal story of this time in my life needed to be written for the public record as well as to inspire patients and particularly carers, whose stories and voices are often silent, but whose lives and emotions are severely challenged by the act of caring and being a carer. Love and compassion given freely and unconditionally can bring out our finest human traits - being a carer is character building, challenging, and perhaps the best spiritual practise we can ever experience. However, carers must proactively care for themselves in the process. Read more
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Women Of Silence
