On the way to her first chemotherapy treatment in October 2017, Nina London vowed that at some point in the future she would do something to help others with cancer.

Pals can confirm she has done that, and then some.

Three years after that trip to Miami with her husband Bill Rosser, Ms London started Healing Vibes, a free, weekly support group for cancer survivors and caregivers. She describes it as her “calling”.

“I incorporate all the techniques that helped me during [my treatment],” she said. “Most people lack energy – after chemotherapy, after an operation, after radiation. There is a lot of negative emotion. There are fears – lots of fears of dying: will I leave? How will I leave? There is anger – why did it happen to me? There is sadness – how am I going to leave? And there are also worries – will it come back to me?

“So there are a lot of these psychological issues; I was thinking every second about them. It’s so difficult [but]….it’s a coping mechanism that you have to master.”

Thinking that she might be able to use her own experience to help others she approached Colleen English DeGrilla, the executive director of cancer charity Pals.

“It was amazing how Colleen immediately said, ‘Yes, we will do it. We will try,’” said Ms London, a certified wellness coach, author and columnist for The Royal Gazette. “She gave enormous support.”

She created four classes and offered one each Saturday of every month: Laugh & Feel Positive; Breathe & Relax; Strong As A Tree; Move & Energise.

According to Ms English DeGrilla, there hadn’t been anything on the island like it before.

“Pals is always looking for more services we can give to our patients or more tools we can give to our patients to help them live day to day with their cancer, so it sounded like a great deal to me,” she said. “You don’t have to be or have been a Pals patient; anybody with cancer, we wanted to provide this service for.

“There used to be a woman who was doing care at Pals but it wasn’t really that well advertised. I think it was the same five people that came every week and did it and I think it was just sitting in your chair. It was a little different. Nina’s is much more vibrant and alive.”

Despite that, the programme had a rocky start when it was launched in tandem with Cancer Awareness Month last October. Full of enthusiasm for a flyer Ms English DeGrilla created to advertise the inaugural meeting at Warwick Long Bay beach, Ms London was disappointed by the lack of response.

“The first day the programme started it was raining and only two people had signed up,” she said. “We were calling back and forth – should we do it? I said, even if only one person will come I’ll still do it. I got there and I saw this group of people and I literally almost started crying.

“I knew we had to do this. I knew it was important. After that we saw a big, big interest from the community and we decided to go further and create the Healing Vibes programme.”

How to mediate, laugh like a child, enjoy nature and perform breathing techniques in response to anxiety and panic attacks are among the lessons taught.

“An MRI machine was broken and one of my participants was there,” Ms London said. “She first had a panic attack and then remembered me and started breathing, started calming down. When it comes to emotions, to sadness, how we deal with it? We laugh and we feel better.”

Because of the pandemic, the group hasn’t met in person since March 13 but is to resume meetings this coming Saturday. Ms London and Ms English DeGrilla are both grateful for the support the programme receives from the Centennial Bermuda Foundation and that Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art has gifted a room where members can gather.

“We want people to know about the programme, about the experiences,” Ms London said. “We’ve had great feedback but [when the number of Covid-19 cases increased], cancer patients, because of their immune system, they did not participate. Not so many people participated as when we started.

“Now that it’s a better situation I’m sure there will be much more participation, more people will come.”

Jill Symons attended that first meeting and every one since.

“I was reading the newspaper back in October when Nina started and I saw … what she was planning to do and that it was for anybody. I was retired and looking to see what I could be involved in to be a better person, inwardly, outwardly. And when I saw that the programme was designed to support and stay strong, energetic and positive during difficult times I said let me try this. And I found it to be very benefiting.”

Added Ms English DeGrilla: “I’ve heard nothing but positives about the programme. The reviews and all the feedback that Nina gets from patients or anybody have been very positive, and life-changing [for the participants] I think. It’s been very helpful from what I understand.”

For more information or to register for Healing Vibes: 516-4536; nina@ninalondon.com; www.pals.bm