When you recieve news of a terminal illness as insidious as cancer the important things quickly sharpen in focus. One woman's fight with this disease was aided by spending time in her garden. It started as a single flowerbed and has now continued through the large back yard.

Deb Patrouille runs a home based hair styling salon and some of her clients are also cancer patients. They find the garden a soothing environment as Deb did 12 years ago when she first contracted the illness.

"It forced me to focus on something other than myself," Patrouille said.

She says the therapeutic value of tilling the soil and nurturing plants helped her to cope during difficult times.