Cancer survivor's decade-long path to wellness: ‘Rongoā Māori saved me'
Tanya Filia (Ngāpuhi, Ngāi Tahu) was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumour more than 10 years ago. When she was told it was terminal she turned to rongoā Māori – traditional Māori healing – a decision that she says saved her life. She shared her story with Leigh-Marama McLachlan on Marae.
For Tanya Filia, rongoā Māori has had a life changing impact on her and her whānau. In 2013, she was diagnosed with a brain tumour after she experienced the inability to recall some words and suffered from massive headaches.
'Long story short, ended up in Whangārei Hospital where I had a scan, and they found that I had a grade four glioblastoma brain tumour. My husband showed up and I told him, and we had a massive tangi. I thought about my kōtiro, thought about my pōtiki, Willow, and thought, 'what am I supposed to do with that?' It's devastating. Your whole world ends. It's devastating.'
She underwent an intense treatment plan that included surgery to remove most of the mass, followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy – a hard and fast approach she felt pressured to endure.
'No conversation at all about anything else. It was this way, highway, or no way. We're talking 42 treatments of radiation directly to my brain,' she said.
Initially she went into remission but in 2015 she was told the cancer was back and it had spread. She was given two months to live.
She refused to undergo further chemo and radiation therapy – 'the mask on to my face where they pin you down to give you radiation, I said 'I'm not doing that again'' – opting instead for rongoā Māori, natural therapies and intravenous Vitamin C.
Rongoā Māori is a wide-ranging holistic approach, not limited to just medicines.
Tanya's rongoā Māori treatment plan, which she continues to follow, includes karakia, mirimiri, tinctures and oils.
When asked to describe what happens during a mirimiri session, Tanya explains how it begins with karakia to cleanse and prepare her 'for walking in that space'.
'I go to a place where I walk and speak and talk to my tupuna,' she said. 'So it's not just a massage, like many people assume, it is done in the space of ā-wairua. So it's good for my wairua, it's good for my hinengaro, and absolutely it is beautiful for my tinana.'
Rongoā Māori is undergoing a resurgence. In 2023, the failed Therapeutics Products Bill drew criticism from practitioners and whānau for its impact on rongoā Māori. Since 2020, ACC has recognised the traditional Māori healing practice and offer rongoā as a recovery option. Thousands of people have claimed for rongoā services since.
Speaking as part of a discussion panel following Tanya's story, Eldon Paea (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou), head of Māori health partnerships at ACC, said they work closely with the rongoā community and have an advisory panel to ensure controls, process, and monitoring are in place, and to help improve outcomes.
'What we've found is as we've worked with the community through their leadership, it's kept us safe and ensures the integrity of rongoā is maintained.'
ACC has partnered with more than 160 rongoā practitioners where the registration process includes an endorsement from mana whenua, a police check and requirement for all practitioners to be subject to the Health and Disability Commissioner Act 1994.
Paea said it was about ensuring that clients are treated fairly, are respected, and that there's a good quality care of service.
When asked if rongoā Māori is valued in general, leading practitioner Donna Kerridge (Ngāti Tahinga, Ngāti Mahuta) said it is by those who use it but 'maybe not' by others who don't understand.
'I think it's hard to value something that you don't understand, and you don't know.'
She said a lot more can be done to help improve collaboration 'between those of us who will work towards the same goal' of serving people to the best of their abilities.
Tanya has been met with scepticism throughout her journey with people questioning rongoā Māori but is adamant that it is the patient's choice.
'It really comes down to the needs, wants and desires of the patient that's been diagnosed, and their whānau. Everything else should not matter. It should not matter.'
When asked if she thinks she's encouraging people to opt out of western treatments in favour of Māori healing approaches, she strongly denies wanting to discourage anyone off radiotherapy or chemotherapy but only hopes to share her experience.
'I would never, ever say to people 'don't do that'. This is my journey. Your journey needs to be yours. I don't carry the responsibility of others. All I do is share my journey so people can get a different perspective.'
Tanya wants to see terminally ill patients given more treatment options and be allocated funds so they can access whatever healing method they believe in.
Going through the ordeal of a brain scan for official confirmation took courage on Tanya's part.
'I was like, I'm not doing it. I'm not doing that. You're not doing that to me again. What if I go and have a scan and they said it's all over, [that] it's so widespread there's nothing we can do about it, then what will that do to my hinengaro, to my wairua?'
She becomes emotional recalling what her daughter said to persuade her to go through with it.
'My daughter said, 'Mum, you were brave in 2013, you were brave in 2015, and you can be brave again'.'
Her bravery was rewarded with her doctor reporting back that there was no indication of cancer, no lesions, 'nothing'.
'[Rongoā Māori is] a choice that we made and it's worked out for us. I've been blessed with quality of life, I've been blessed enough to get longevity also. Rongoā Māori saved me, there's no other way to think about that.'
Watch this episode of Marae on TVNZ+ for more on this story.
rongoā Māori – traditional Māori healing practice that takes a holistic approach to wellbeing
rongoā – medicine, remedy, treatment
tangi – cry
kōtiro – girl
pōtiki – youngest
karakia – incantations, prayers
mirimiri – massage incorporating physical, spiritual and mental aspects
tupuna – ancestors
ā-wairua – spiritual, of the spirit realm
wairua – spirit
hinengaro – mind
tinana – body
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