A Fife woman who specialises in oncology massage is planning to train people to help more cancer patients recover from treatment.
Carol Anne Brown started The Secret Garden Rooms from her Kirkcaldy garden in 2020.
Since then, she has moved to a bigger space at the town’s John Smith Business Park.
She and her employee Michelle Winter offer various types of massage therapies.
However, Carol Anne believes that the oncology massage and lymphatic drainage side of the business is particularly important.
Few specialists for oncology massage in Fife
Carol Anne started her career as a massage and spa therapist at the Old Course Hotel in St Andrews in 2005. Since then, she travelled the world as a spa and massage therapist in places like Australia and Switzerland.
Before she decided to start her own business, she was working as an international training manager for a spa consultancy.
Although she was training people in oncology massage and lymphatic drainage, she noticed there was a greater need for the service.
She explained: “I just wanted to offer that specialised service, and I didn’t see another business that was going in that direction.
“So having my own business, that has allowed me to develop that aspect that I’m really interested and passionate about.
“I don’t think I would have been able to do had I worked for somebody else.”
One of the treatments for cancer involves the removal of lymph nodes. These treatments can often cause lymphoedema.
Carol Anne has personally seen how these treatments can be helpful to those who are undergoing cancer treatments.
She said: “Lymphoedema unfortunately needs lifelong management. Lymphatic drainage rapidly speeds up the recovery, reducing swelling in the area and promotes healing.
“My mum had breast cancer and I saw how much treatments made her feel better and made the experience that little bit easier.
“I think almost everybody unfortunately has a personal experience where they know or know of someone with cancer.
“So it was really an area that I wanted to focus on and help people.”
Plans to train more specialists
Currently, Carol Anne is booked weeks in advance. Due to the lifelong treatment needs of recovering cancer patients, she isn’t able to offer the service to as many people as she would like.
She recruited Michelle, who focuses on the other parts of the business such as remedial and sports massage, while Carol Anne focused on the oncology side.
She said: “I am the only person in Fife and one of only a few in Scotland that offers lymphatic massage for post operative clients.
“The next step is recruiting another therapist to support us with lymphatic drainage and oncology.
“My plan is to start offering training courses this year so there is more availability for these services to make people’s recovery easier.”
Throughout her career, she has had support from Business Gateway Fife in the form of grants, training courses and advice.
Conversation