Chester shop owner’s sister tells remarkable story of cancer fight

Feb 11 2010 by David Holmes, Chester Chronicle

Chester shop owner’s sister tells remarkable story of cancer fight

FORMER Hollywood actress Pauline Lomas has survived cancer with the help of alternative therapies.

When Pauline discovered a malignant tumour in her breast she turned her back on surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Instead, she put all her energy into finding her own cure.

Pauline, supported by her family including sister Debbie of Chester’s Rainforest shop, has now written a book And So We Heal about her amazing journey.

Pauline, who stressed she is not telling others how to survive cancer, explained: “I don’t purport it to be a book on healing cancer – it’s a love story.”

Pauline, 58, from Upton, Wirral, has led an incredible life. She was a stand-in for Meryl Streep on The Bridges of Madison County which involved sharing a bath-tub with director and co-star Clint Eastwood.

She was also Barbara Streisand’s stand-in on The Prince of Tides and her other film credits include Testament, Bugsy and All of Me.

But Pauline is convinced the cancer erupted during a less happy time in her life. She had lost her partner Tom to cancer and remade her acquaintance with Spanish sweetheart Javier, whom she had first met as a teenager, only for her romantic dreams to be dashed.

Javier suffered a heart attack and survived a triple heart bypass but was not ready for a relationship.

“I was needy. He couldn’t hold my neediness. I thought I had found love again but he needed chance to heal.”

Then on Thursday, October 25, 2001, Pauline was diagnosed with a 2.5 cm malignant tumour in her right breast. Doctors tried to persuade sister Debbie to convince her sibling to undergo surgery but Pauline had other ideas.

And so began a long process which involved Pauline boosting her immune system with vegetable juices, mistletoe injections and detoxifying coffee enemas.

Searching for a suitable treatment took Pauline down many dead ends and at one point the tumour grew to almost the size of a fist. What worked for her in the end was electro-cancer treatment developed by a Swedish professor using electrical stimulation to the tumour.

Today Pauline and Javier are a couple again and Pauline’s tumour has gone.

And So We Heal is available priced £14.44 from Waterstone’s or visit: www.paulinelomas.com