A CANCER survivor from Ascot has revealed how she overcame her life-threatening illness as well as a stroke, and now uses her recovery experiences to help others in need.

Sophie Wedlock-Smith, now aged 42, was 24 years old when she first diagnosed with leukaemia.

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She underwent gruelling chemo and radiation therapy – something she later found out had contributed to a stroke she suffered unexpectedly, nine years later.

Sophie was having coffee with a friend when she began to have the stroke.

As she fell unconscious she was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery to remove a clot on her brain.

She said: “I had been warned that the treatment could narrow the arteries and make blood stickier, but I never believed it would happen to me."

While surgeons were able to remove most of the clot, they kept her in a coma for a week to stop it from doing more damage.

When she finally woke up, she was told she was paralysed down one side.

She was kept in hospital for five months and underwent physiotherapy every day to try to get some movement back into her left arm and neck.

Sophie Wedlock-Smith.Credit: swnutritionuk.com/

Sophie Wedlock-Smith.Credit: swnutritionuk.com/

Sophie added: “They told me I’d never walk again, but I learned to reprogramme my brain using affirmations and visualization – imagining myself walking and raising my left arm until, one day, I could.”

At this point, she knew she had the capability to make a natural, full recovery – realising how she could teach these techniques to help others with their road back.

After 14 years of working in property sales, she decided to re-train as a Nutritional Therapist at the College of Naturopathic Medicine in London, where she learnt to use food as a key component in rejuvenating and enhance the body and its self-healing abilities.

Using her expertise to share her experience through a food blog, Sophie quickly found a large base of readers asking for further advice.

She added: "I love to be able to change people’s lives using the power of nutritional knowledge.

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"I’ve had all kinds of people approach me – from people just trying to lose weight, to many young girls with leukaemia who find hope in my story.

“I’m passionate about helping women aged between 30 and 60 with improving their gut health and balance hormones to become the best versions of themselves possible.

"I teach thousands of women to speed up their metabolism in an environment that’s welcoming and safe – a group that a mother would want her daughter to be involved in.”

For more information, visit Sophie's website, swnutritionuk.com.