When Cathy Clark was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009, she knew she had a tough road ahead of her. Now, five years later, the Fergus resident will attest, that road isn’t quite so rocky if you plant a few flowers along the way.
It is a common misconception, even among physicians, that those receiving treatment or recovering from cancer must rest up to regain their strength.
Advocates of horticultural therapy reject this philosophy and instead maintain that light to moderate activities such as gardening help reduce many of cancer’s side effects, including depression, fatigue and muscle loss.
After her diagnosis, Clark underwent a lumpectomy, mastectomy and eventually a full reconstruction. During that process she received six rounds of chemotherapy and 30 days of radiation treatment, which to most people would be both physically and emotionally exhaustive. However, Clark says she never had to force herself to get outside.
“The doctor told me that I’d be tired every day, but you know what, I wasn’t,” she said. “I was so looking forward after my radiation to do my gardening. Near the end I was pretty sore, but I didn’t let that hold me back.”
Clark, who operates a day care out of her home, couldn’t spend as much time with the children during her chemotherapy treatment due to risk of infection, so developing her gardens also helped to fill her days and keep her busy – and when her own yard was filled to capacity, Clark simply started sprucing up her friends’ properties. That way she “always had a project on the go.”
Perhaps more important than gardening’s physical benefits, are its effect on the psyche.
Described as a “serene” occupation, gardening allows for a quiet mind, engaging all of the senses and lowering levels of stress and anxiety. Clark says, during those few hours a day she spent in her garden, cancer was the last thing on her mind, as the task at hand required her full attention.
“Every day after my radiation, I would garden. It was just like I didn’t have cancer when I was gardening,” Clark says.
“I found it very therapeutic to watch plants grow and to make up planters and get on my hands and knees … and just dig in the dirt. I never knew I had cancer or was even sick.”
For those with cancer or any other debilitating disease, it is common to feel a loss of control, and in that way gardening can help regain a sense of optimism and satisfaction as a weedy plot is transformed into a beautiful garden, ripe with flowers and vegetables.
This power to change one’s environment can renew self-esteem and foster personal growth. It is also a wonderful outlet for creative expression.
“I love the flowers. I’m looking right now out my bedroom window and I have clematis opening up and it’s just gorgeous … I make sure the garden just underneath my bedroom window is appealing to me and every time I look there’s something blooming… I try to plan that.”
Ultimately gardening is a conscious action that represents hope for the future, and proof that living organisms, regardless of their plight, are able to adapt to circumstances beyond their control.
“I find it very rewarding to see something you’ve planted… there’s so much life in plants, you can see it growing, so you don’t think about your own problems,” Clark says.
After all, any horticulturalist will tell you, a seed is not planted without faith it will blossom and a yearning to see it when it does.
