"I was a terminal patient. I had Stage IV Melanoma. And here I am, cancer free 6 ½ years later." Scott Stephens is not the typical kind of person you would expect to find meditating under a tree for two hours a day. The Aussie carpenter loved nothing more than going to the pub, having barbecues with friends and surfing. But at 24 years old, he was diagnosed with Metastatic Melanoma, an aggressive skin cancer. Scott had various surgeries and drugs over a number of years, but shortly after he was married and was ready to start his new life, doctors told him the cancer had spread to his bowel and chest and they had run out of options.

"The truth of the matter is, I never grasped the idea that something in my life needed to be changed. Not until it was too late, right at the end. I never addressed the problems. I never looked to myself. You know, I just looked to the medical system and whacked a drip in my arm and sat there and said, ‘She’ll be right mate’. Like that's the mentality that I had. But I wasn't right because it kept coming back."

Scott hit rock bottom, but a friend told him about The Gawler Foundation, an organization providing cancer retreats and programs with an integrated approach to healing. After doing the retreat Scott filled his fridge with organic vegetables, began to meditate two hours a day, took up Qi Gong each morning, and concentrated on feeling more positive. Subsequent scans revealed Scott’s tumors had gone. His doctor was astounded.

"I think the easiest way to sum it up for someone is: Would I have got well without all these approaches like meditation and essentially, looking after yourself? No. Would I have got well with just that and no chemical intervention? Maybe. But if you wanted to break it down, the drugs weren't going to cure me. Not by themselves."

Ian Gawler, who is also featured in the The Connection is the founder of the Gawler Foundation where Scott did his retreat. You can read about his story here.