Royal Tea store owner Roberta Douglas recently defended the book Breast Cancer After the Diagnosis by Jayne Pritchard at the recent Simcoe Reads championships.
While the book wasn't declared the champion, the two women wanted to do something to show their support for the Georgian Bay Cancer Support Centre (GBCSC) in Penetanguishene.
So, Douglas invited Pritchard to Royal Tea in Midland earlier this month for a meet and greet for the public and a chance to sell some books with $5 from each copy going to the GBCSC.
"I thought it would be nice for people to meet Jayne and pick up copies of her book," said Douglas, who donated tea and sweets for a donation to GBCSC.
Breast Cancer After the Diagnosis: One's Woman's Story of Overcoming Setbacks details Pritchard's personal journey through breast cancer and alternative therapies, important supplements, nutrition tips and how to find the blessings in life.
A news anchor with CTV Barrie for close to 40 years, many in the area have grown up watching her on television. Pritchard has always exuded a positive mental attitude and remains the picture of health. She was diagnosed with cancer in February of 2018.
She took a leave of absence to get surgeries to remove the cancer, but the certified nutritional counsellor and reiki master would not agree to chemotherapy.
"I refused chemotherapy. I blended traditional Western medicine — seven surgeries, I needed those unfortunately because I had setbacks — with other treatments that build up the body instead of tearing it down, poisoning myself, and I felt great all that summer," she said.
Pritchard, who was living in Barrie at the time, took all her alternative treatments in Barrie.
"I didn't even have to leave my home town," she said.
She took chelation therapy, specifically vitamin C and another vitamin cocktail intravenously twice a week for six months. She took acupuncture twice a week from an acupuncturist who was trained in China. Pritchard said treatments cleared pain from her right breast and spleen. She also saw her homeopathic doctor frequently.
"I talk about those things in the book because doctors don't know about them and, therefore, they don't tell their patients about them. Patients feel they have no options and yet there are options out there," Pritchard explained.
"I had no side effects, I was never sick a day. I was super healthy through this whole ordeal," she said.
Pritchard self-published the book in November, 2021. All the contacts for her alternative health teams are listed at the back.
The book is also a guide for good living. Pritchard shares her top 10 health and wellness tips and she talks about immune boosting supplements.
Pritchard doesn't use the word remission.
"As far as I'm concerned the cancer was gone after the second surgery."
Pritchard returned to Barrie CTV after beating cancer. She retired in 2022 and moved to a new home in Tiny Township with her husband.
Pritchard supports the GBCSC through fundraisers. She was the guest auctioneer at a fundraiser at the Midland Culture Centre. She signed and sold books at the Georgian Bay Cycle for Hope in August. Pritchard is also a member of Georgian Bay Gals Give. At the fall giving event, the Gals raised $22,000 for the GBCSC (and another $22,000 for the Salvation Army).
Breast Cancer After the Diagnosis is available on Amazon.
