For Christine “Cat” Parlee, who has stage IV metastatic melanoma, the Roots to Thrive program was a godsend. Not that she expects it to save her life: The probability of surviving advanced melanoma for 5 years is about 15%-20%, according to the American Cancer Society, and Parlee was diagnosed in 2017. But an innovative approach to group therapy at Roots to Thrive, based in Nanaimo, British Columbia, has helped her deal with this life-threatening disease.
Parlee’s health issues are complex. As if malignant skin cancer wasn’t enough, the 50-something resident of Vancouver Island also has a condition called trigeminal neuralgia with…
