Patrick and Lisa Through Illness

How to Change Your Mind

Patrick Mettes’s treatment journey changes how he and Lisa Callaghan face terminal illness, offering a temporary reprieve from fear without changing the medical outcome.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

A Diagnosis Enters Their Home

Cancer Reshapes a Marriage Illness advances Patrick’s bile-duct cancer spreads to his lungs, and chemotherapy becomes debilitating. Lisa fears that his interest in the study might mean he is giving up the fight. A different need Patrick seeks help with anxiety and regret. Their disagreement reflects two forms of care: the wish to keep fighting and the wish to face what is happening.

The Decision to Volunteer The Decision to Volunteer from "How to Change Your Mind". Choosing the Trial Seeking another tool After reading about NYU research, Patrick contacts the team and is accepted.

The Decision to Volunteer from "How to Change Your Mind". Choosing the Trial Seeking another tool After reading about NYU research, Patrick contacts the team and is accepted.

Choosing the Trial Seeking another tool After reading about NYU research, Patrick contacts the team and is accepted. Preparatory meetings introduce him to the session format and the importance of trust and surrender. Reluctant support Lisa’s concern does not disappear, but Patrick proceeds. The decision brings the treatment room into their shared story of illness rather than replacing medical care.

The Session’s Rebirth The Session’s Rebirth from "How to Change Your Mind". An Experience of Connection A difficult passage Patrick cries, speaks of birth and death, and imagines giving birth.

The Session’s Rebirth from "How to Change Your Mind". An Experience of Connection A difficult passage Patrick cries, speaks of birth and death, and imagines giving birth.

An Experience of Connection A difficult passage Patrick cries, speaks of birth and death, and imagines giving birth. His guides remain present as the experience moves from intensity toward joy and love. A life still chosen He approaches an image of death but decides he is not ready to leave Lisa. The session becomes a change in perspective, not a wish to die.

A Changed Daily Life A Changed Daily Life from "How to Change Your Mind". Meaning in Ordinary Days A renewed focus Patrick meditates, feels more present, and describes loving Lisa more.

A Changed Daily Life from "How to Change Your Mind". Meaning in Ordinary Days A renewed focus Patrick meditates, feels more present, and describes loving Lisa more.

Meaning in Ordinary Days A renewed focus Patrick meditates, feels more present, and describes loving Lisa more. He tells his therapist that he feels happier than ever, despite continuing cancer. No simple cure The treatment changes his emotional life but does not reverse the disease. Its significance lies in how he inhabits the remaining time, not in an altered prognosis.

A Conscious Death A Conscious Death from "How to Change Your Mind". Letting the Wheel Turn Choosing how to live Patrick stops chemotherapy when he no longer wants to live that way.

A Conscious Death from "How to Change Your Mind". Letting the Wheel Turn Choosing how to live Patrick stops chemotherapy when he no longer wants to live that way.

Letting the Wheel Turn Choosing how to live Patrick stops chemotherapy when he no longer wants to live that way. As his health fails, he gathers loved ones and says goodbye with striking calm. A legacy for Lisa He dies shortly before Lisa returns from home. She credits the session with helping him access his own resources and remembers the experience as an affirmation of a larger world.

Three years before his 2010 application

April 2010

January 2011

The months after the session

In the autumn of 2012