A new way of thinking to beat cancer

Conn’s form of cancer was so rare that the data available for the behaviour (and reaction to standard treatments) of the cancer was very hard to find.

That’s why he decided to create a digital platform and app, so that people can have more information on cancer.

“The app will be a space where cancer fighters can grow, learn and share skills and tools to boost their immune systems. It will also enable them to keep each other company and send each other help. Furthermore, creatives from all around the world will get to work alongside doctors and oncologists to alter the way in which we deal with the disease,” says Bertish.

Being a creative designer, he used his imagination to create a drawn series of pen-on-paper metaphors that helped him to visualise his tumour and treatments with intent. Bertish was able to imagine the effects that different treatments would have on the tumour cells. He then took the thinking into everyday life and the world around him. It became a game, a daily routine. He had found a playful, fear-debunking way to interact with, see and imagine himself beating his cancer.

As somebody whose life was built around creativity and the power of conceptual thought, Bertish was used to working with metaphors. He knew the value in bringing seemingly insurmountable problems into context. It was in his nature to deal with the usually invisible.

Since beating Cancer in 2013, Bertish has been urged by doctors, oncologists, neurologists and professors of science to share this way of thinking and use his experience as a gateway for others to enter the world of this playful visual approach (dubbed Dojo Thinking). The result is The Cancer Dojo, founded in 2015.

“The Cancer Dojo will help people unlock the powerful effects of Dojo Thinking – enabling them to alter the way they deal with their disease and play an active role in their recovery,” concludes Bertish.

More info: from: http://www.cancerdojo.org/

Adapted from: http://bit.ly/1GPExN9

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwgVUlJhx7Y