Nine years ago, Chris Pablo learned the importance of nurturing the body and soul while dealing with the debilitating physical side-effects of cancer treatment.

When Pablo, now government and community affairs director for Kaiser Permanente, was diagnosed with leukemia, he thought he was being sentenced to death. The emotional and physical pressures put on him by the disease worried him constantly, but prayer and talking with other cancer patients helped him cope, he said.

"You really have to attend to other things than what's under the hood," Pablo said yesterday at a news conference at the John A. Burns School of Medicine in Kaka'ako. "You need to take care of your psyche when you're going through that."

Every week in Hawai'i, more than 100 people are diagnosed with cancer, according to the Turning Point Cancer Center, a Hawai'i nonprofit education group. More than 70 percent of cancer patients seek out "complementary" treatments to help them deal with the mental and physical stresses associated with radiation treatment and chemotherapy.

Massage therapy, acupuncture, nutrition, deep relaxation and group therapy are just some of the methods promoted in a lecture series starting Saturday that focuses on what cancer patients can do to help fortify their body and spirit during the treatment process.

"This lecture series is for the people of Hawai'i, patients, people that love them as well as healthcare professionals," said Rosanne Harrigan, chairwoman of the complementary and alternative medicine department at the John A. Burns School of Medicine. "We have a variety of experts who will talk about an approach to care for the psyche, the spirit ... and how to relax and enhance the function of the body."

Sponsored by Hawai'i Pacific Health, Kaiser Permanente and the Hawai'i Psychological Association, the lecture series will have eight installments and feature speakers from a variety of disciplines, including a clergy member, several college professors, a doctor and a nutritionist.

Laura Crites, 61, who founded the Turning Point Cancer Center after seeing the disease hit several family members, said doctors and mainstream medical practitioners don't know a lot about the emerging field of complementary treatment. She said she hopes the lecture series serves as a resource for both cancer patients and medical professionals.

"It can make it much easier to deal with traditional treatments and it can help them in the healing journey," she said.

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.