Has anyone heard of the breast surgeon Dr Hud Shaker - he may come from, or be based in, Manchester? He is offering a free workshop online about how to maximise your chances of avoiding a recurrence after breast cancer treatment. I’ve done Breast Cancer Now’s online Moving Forward course, which was excellent, but at the time I had just finished RT and was pretty fatigued and I regret not trying harder with the exercise part. I’m also keen to get as much help and advice as I can from trustworthy sources. I’m tempted to sign up for Dr Hud’s course but I can’t find any reviews, and his website thrivebeyondworkshop.com/optin-420324501597789495828 wants your email upfront and seems a bit ‘pushy’ with an American-style marketing feel. I’ve found a YouTube video of Dr Hud in which he seems genuine and gives very good and sensible advice, but it’s only had 44 views. All of his 4 or 5 YouTube videos seem very new and googling him is not bringing up much. My latest breast cancer drug Letrozole makes me a bit anxious so I’d be grateful to hear if anyone knows anything about this guy! He has a PhD from the University of Manchester, but uses the letters MD, which suggests an American connection… Thanks in advance for any thoughts xx
Hi Ellie,
I came across Hud Shaker a couple of months ago, soon after finishing my treatment for triple negative breast cancer. Like you, I was intrigued so signed up for a free telephone consultation with him. The tone of the conversation was quite pushy to be honest, basically saying that if you didn’t want to join his programme then you were ignoring valuable advice which would prevent a recurrence. About 20 minutes in he suddenly asked me to tell him how much money I would be prepared to pay to join the programme - he quoted 800 pounds (!) as a “special price” for a 12 week course with access to himself or “others” as mentors and an online forum to chat with other women on the programme. I felt rushed into making a decision (also in shock at the price!!) so decided not to sign up and ended the call. I’ve also seen his videos on You Tube and feel that much of his “valuable” advice seems to be common sense and readily available elsewhere. There seems to be a growing trend online for people offering cancer survivors a personal mentoring programme, Melissa Merchant is a Canadian cancer survivor who offers help similar to Hud Shaker but does appears to be less pushy. It’s so hard when treatment ends to feel confident about food and lifestyle choices but I do wonder if some people seek to take advantage of our vulnerability in this way? I hope you manage to get some good advice with the Letrozole moving forwards. Sarah xx
Apologies for the late reply.
I have seen this and went through the free introductory session. After that you are asked to pay. Its quite expensive and I turned it down. After a couple of follow up emails they stopped pursuing me.
I signed up to Dr Shakers programme last year after seeing it on Facebook. I was quite stuck after my treatment and found that his programme allowed me to focus on the important things (mainly the right diet and right exercise to be honest). He is a great listener and I found his support very beneficial.