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Grace Gawler

Grace Gawler (born in Victoria in 1953) is the founder and director of the Grace Gawler Institute for Integrated Cancer Solutions in Australia. Grace is also an author and speaker best known as a pioneer of cancer support medicine whose original methods created the Gawler Foundation nearly 30 years ago. Despite nearly four decades helping cancer patients build survival strategies, Grace still consults with patients on a daily basis.

Her 1994 book Women of Silence, the Emotional Healing of Breast Cancer has been a bible for many cancer patients and is still in vogue In 2008 Grace wrote her memoirs, Grace, Grit and Gratitude, to provide an accurate account of her previous husband, Ian Gawler's famous cancer recovery story. In 2011 Grace converted her books to eBook format to make them instantly accessible to cancer patients worldwide. Her latest eBook is called Grace Gawler's Survivor's Secrets and builds on the experiences of long term cancer survivors.

Early Life
A gifted student from a poor family in Geelong, Grace worked at the local veterinary surgery after school and on weekends. She had an avid interest in animals and curing cancer and was intending to work as a vet nurse then go to university to study veterinary medicine. She received a lucrative modelling offer, which would have paid her university fees but concurrently, her boyfriend and co-worker, veterinary surgeon, Ian Gawler, lost his leg to bone cancer. They had only been dating a short time when the illness hit. At 22 Grace was at a vital choice point—either pursue glamorous, well-paid modelling work, while studying to become a vet, or support her boyfriend through his dying months. The latter meant foregoing her personal and financial independence—and lifelong dreams of becoming a vet. Grace chose to support Ian but always believed his cancer was curable. She had no premonition that her great act of altruism would later result in much controversy. Grace directed her passion into his healing, dedicating 18-hour days—focussing on juicing, massages, and pain management, whilst researching every cure imaginable. With just a few weeks to live—Ian proposed. Grace accepted, taking him to the Philippines for a healing honeymoon, the beginning of a long road to recovery. He survived! Resultant widespread publicity saw hundreds of desperate cancer patients contacting them each week. They began to run support groups, the first in Australia and later, in 1983, they established the Gawler Foundation, helping thousands of cancer patients gain hope and lead better lives. Now a mother of four, including a child with special needs, and with Ian in remission, Grace developed her own methods for helping women with breast cancer and authored her first book, Women of Silence, in 1994. Life was good. In 1996, Grace left her position as co-director of the Foundation. In 1997 Ian Gawler unexpectedly left the family. A few days later, in total shock, Grace experienced a uterine prolapse - repair surgery went wrong and her major health crisis began. She would lose most of her colon. Grace had strained her pelvic floor because she did all the carrying for the family, 4 children, vet practice, farm, gardens, orchards and so on - a husband on crutches can't carry anything - children - tools - or do heavy lifting. Now after 22 years of loving service the care giver and guide/coach for Ian and thousands of cancer patients was struggling for her life. For 13 years Grace battled on with little support, having to sell all she owned to pay for surgeries. She still had 3 children at home; one with special medical needs. She endured 20 serious surgeries but through her drive and extensive research, she became a world first bionic colon recipient. This required groundbreaking surgery in Holland, 2003. After 6 good years, the bionic device stopped. Following two failed surgeries in Australia she was running out of options. With Grace near to death, her new partner, Pip Cornall, raised money on the internet for restorative surgery in Singapore. After a long convalescence Grace attained good health in late 2009. She is still sole support and care giver for her son (31) who is experiencing severe medical challenges. In 2010, Grace was gifted a Health Promotion Charity in recognition of her life’s service to cancer patients. The new 'Grace Gawler Institute for Integrated Cancer Solutions' enables Grace to assist large numbers of cancer patients once again. September 2010 -The Medical Journal of Australia (MJA) and the Australian Doctor published her rigorously fact-checked paper exposing serious errors in papers published by Gawler Foundation employees, Ruth Gawler and George Jelinek. The now famous story about previous husband, Ian Gawlerin which Grace had been an integral player, had been changed beyond her recognition.

Career
Grace began her cancer support career when she was just 21 becoming the full time care giver of Ian Gawler who had lost his leg to bone cancer. After publicity about his successful remission in 1978 Grace and Ian were in demand from cancer patients wanting guidance.

In 1981 Grace and Ian co-founded the Melbourne Cancer Support Group, the first lifestyle-based self-help program for people with cancer in Australia and one of the first of its kind in the world. Participants were taught dietary principles, relaxation, meditation, imagery and pain management skills. As an adjunct to the group experience, participants were offered and took advantage of extra support and phone counselling with Grace - thus began Grace's personalised treatment approach. Concerned by the direction the Gawler Foundation was heading, Grace resigned as co-director in 1996 to start Ellimatta, a safe haven for women with cancer. Grace continued her work with difficulty after her medical accident happened and was active as a speaker in the UK and Europe during the years she was being surgically fitted with her bionic stimulator.

Returning to Australia in 2003 and settling in Brisbane she began to rebuild her practice. In 2007, while visiting the USA, she reconnected in a serendipitous manner with a man who had been her PE teacher nearly 37 years ago, Pip Cornall. They decided to pool their talents to help cancer patients and today co-direct the Grace Gawler Institute for Integrated Cancer Solutions on the Gold Coast in Queensland Australia.

The Institute offers a trusted, qualified and time-proven consultancy and national/international case management service for helping patients survive cancer. It also consults to the corporate sector via an innovative Win-Win Sponsorship Programs. The Institute is a pioneer oc collaborative cancer medicine, a model that involves close collaboration with leading oncologists and specialists, not just in Australia, but globally. On the patient's behalf the Institute coordinates, collates reports and case manages, providing patients with ongoing psychological and emotional support.

Controversy
Over the years since Grace resigned from the Gawler Foundation (1997) Grace and her colleagues had been witnessing a rise in cancer deaths among patients who had chosen alternative medicine. Patients presenting at Grace's clinic had told her they had made such choices having been influenced the remarkable Ian Gawler remission story.

In 2009, a former patient contacted Grace concerned about inaccuracies in a Medical Journal of Australia (MJA, Dec 2008) article about Ian Gawler that was reproduced on the Gawler Foundation’s website. She suggested Grace act on behalf of all patients to set the record straight. Grace had already written her memoirs in 2008 in an attempt to publicise for cancer patients, the accurate version of Ian Gawler's cancer recovery but now decided to correct the inaccuracies in the 2008 MJA.

In 2010, after a year of fact checking, the Medical Journal of Australia, (MJA), published Grace Gawler's letter of refute to a previous MJA article written in 2008 by Dr Ruth Gawler (Ian's wife) and Professor G Jelinek (colleague, who has run programs at the Gawler Foundation). Grace's letter highlighted multiple errors in the article. The article implied Gawler's recovery was attributed to intensive meditation and adherence to a vegan diet.

Grace Gawler stated that Ian Gawler was never on a vegan diet during the 22 years she was family cook. She also provided photographic evidence that the time lines in the Gawler/Jelinek article were inverted to make it appear that after chemotherapy and radiation failed, the meditation and diet were successful. Grace pointed out that "although diet and meditation may be adjuncts to a patient's recovery it was unlikely in this case that they were curative and veganism was not a relevant factor.

Since Grace Gawler's MJA refute letter, Ian Gawler has publicly admitted he was never on a vegan diet and that he knew of errors in the 2008 MJA article by Dr Ruth Gawler and Prof Jelinek but decided to take no action. Gawler also admitted knowledge of errors in an 1978 MJA article written by Ainslie Meares, his former meditation teacher for just 6 weeks in 1975/6. The MJA also published Dr Ruth Gawler/Jelinek response to Grace's refute letter which made claims but failed to provide any proof, nor did they address the vegan diet issue.

Significance
Ian Gawler's cancer recovery has attained widespread media coverage for 32 years. If his story, as told in two MJA articles over a 3 decade period is not accurate, this is very confusing to cancer patients who pin their hopes on the often stated comment 'it only has to be done once'. Dr Calabresi, the medical director for the online Australian Doctor, said in an article called 'Providing Hope Comes with a Duty of Truth' Dr Calabresi said "I believe it is important that the record be set straight. The implications are significant for those who are faced with potentially fatal malignancies, who are often desperate and vulnerable. Fiddling with the facts is simply not fair.”