From Dr. Burk: The original inspiration for a dreams research project I conducted, which led to the publication of my paper, “Warning dreams preceding the diagnosis of breast cancer,” began in 2004 when Diane, one of my best friends, called me to say she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. A cardiac physiologist-turned-mindfulness meditation teacher, she had just had her 50th birthday and was previously in good health with no symptoms related to her breasts.

What Diane told me next would many years later send my research career off in an unusual direction into the world of dreams. She said a month earlier she had had a vivid, morereal-than-real dream of being on an operating room table having surgery on her breast for cancer by a woman surgeon. The dream was so compelling that she immediately went to her doctor to request a mammogram even though she had no symptoms or palpable lump.

After having the test every woman dreads and sitting in the waiting room anticipating bad news, the woman radiologist came out to assure her everything was fine, and she could go home. Diane was so certain of the warning from the dream that she asked for an ultrasound just to be sure. The radiologist refused saying that since there was no lump or abnormality on the mammogram she wouldn’t know where to do the ultrasound exam.

Diane pointed to the spot indicated in her dream and refused to leave without the ultrasound being done in that location. The exasperated radiologist finally agreed and put the ultrasound probe on the spot. She was shocked to find a small cancer deep in the breast and turned white as a ghost. She stammered, “How did you know it was there?” Diane replied that she was shown the cancer in a dream, and as a radiologist I can imagine that was quite an unexpected explanation for the doctor.

Kathleen O’Keefe-Kanavos is a three-time breast cancer survivor who used dreams to diagnose her illness. In her first book, Surviving Cancerland, Kathleen’s recounts how she learned to connect with her physician-within through dreams, meditation, and prayer. Believing in her intuition, Kathleen used it to self-advocate a course of cancer treatment, often having to persuade her doctors to cooperate with her and leading to physical and emotional healing triggered by dreams that were validated by pathology reports. 

In Kathleen's years of coaching others on journaling and interpreting their dreams, she has come to know that dream memory is like a muscle that can grow strong with continued practice. In the book, gives specific techniques to successful journaling and better recall.

From Kat: One example of a prophetic dream of mine was when a spirit guide appeared and handed me a feather and told me to immediately return to my doctor, without making an appointment, and ask for exploratory surgery. If I remembered the feather from my dream and used it as a sward to fence with against his arguments, I would win.

I returned to my doctor the next day, imagined holding the feather in my fingers and convinced him to do exploratory surgery. A lump was found. Pathology stated it was stage 2 aggressive DCIS ductile carcinoma in situ. A second surgery was performed to check for clean margins and cancer was found in my lymph node.