Being diagnosed with an incurable cancer and told I may only live 5-years forced me to become an expert in the misconceptions of how to behave and what to say to cancer patients. Itâs all bunk! What I know: (1) Donât tell me âCall if you need anything.â Iâm the one whoâs sick, you need to call me. (2) Please donât patronize me; I live in reality, not the land of rainbows, unicorns, and miracles. (3) Itâs okay not to know what to say; Iâm as blown away as you are. What patients need is honesty, present and available support, and laughter â a lot of it.
What a wonderful, moral-rich, non-preachy, feel-good, tapped several of the big societal issues (adultery, death, divorce, pride, bullying, regret, work vs. family; you get the point), without ever once making me squirm with too many religious overtones, or want to run off to confess my improprieties. As a flower child at heart, I loved the continual nuances of people and growth compared to good soil and water, seasons, and blooms. This book was beautifully done.
When the matriarch of a loving family is diagnosed with cancer and determined to live out her days without treatment, there are twists and turns of reality that make this book a must-read. I too, nearly chose the path of non-treatment and this book resonates.
From New York Times bestselling author Julie Cantrell comes a story of family and the Southern roots that call us home.
"If Julie Cantrell isn't on your reading list, she should be." -Lisa Wingate
Years ago, Lovey chose to leave her family and the South far behind. But now that she's returned, she's realizing things at home were not always what they seemed.
Eva Sutherland-known to all as Lovey-grew up safe and secure in Oxford, Mississippi, surrounded by a rich literary history and her mother's stunning flower gardens. But a shed fire, and the injuries it caused, changed everything. HerâŚ
Lois Roelofs' bold account of her husband's terminal illness and his treatment decisions provides the reader with a compelling story about life-affirming choices despite painful truths about morbidity.
Roelofs chronicles her husband's final months exquisitely and honestly, with humanity and respect for her husband, Marv's decisions about the quality of life and treatment, despite his dire diagnosis.
Reading Roelof's book renewed my admiration for healthcare heroes and family members who become caregivers. A compelling read that is both realistic and celebratory, honoring her dear husband, Marv.
Lois Roelofs always knew that Marv, her husband of fifty-five years, had strong convictions. So when he was diagnosed with âvery aggressiveâ small cell lung cancer, with a few weeks to a few months to live, she accepted that he wanted to die on his own termsârefuse chemo, choose quality of life over quantity, and die at home. She tells their story in a mix of personal notes, family and friend emails, and public blog posts written during Marv's illness and her first months as a widow. At the time, she could find no personal accounts of refusing treatment andâŚ
Iâve long been fascinated by how life unfolds from a single fertilized egg cell containing just one set of DNA, whether itâs a human, mouse, frog, worm, or anything else. While studying for my PhD in the Gurdon Institute in Cambridge, which combines brings together researchers working on development and cancer, and spending twelve years in science communication at Cancer Research UK, the worldâs largest cancer research charity, I came to see cancer and development as two sides of the same coin: one process unfolding healthy life as egg becomes embryo, and the other ultimately bringing disease and death as a single cell grows into a deadly tumor.Â
I worked alongside Henry at Cancer Research UK for many years and was devastated by the news that his partner Zarah had developed bladder cancer. Part memoir, part scientific odyssey, Cross Everything captures the story behind her treatment and why it ultimately failed to save her life, and what lessons can be learned to help others in the future.
An extraordinary memoir that explores the further reaches of today's cancer science - alongside a deeply tender story of loss, grief and love.
'A moving, compelling and vital book, that sheds much needed light on the very latest understanding of cancer.' Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of The Emperor of All Maladies
'A gripping, heartbreaking, accessible personal journey through love and cancer' Charles Graeber, New York Times bestselling author of The Breakthrough
'Sensitive and informed. Essential reading for anyone supporting a loved one through cancer. Heartbreaking, emotional - and totally and utterly uplifting and hopeful.' Deborah James (@bowelbabe), writer and broadcaster
Moorjani's description of coming back to life and beating cancer after an astonishing near-death experience was both comforting and eye-opening, especially for me, as I grieved the loss of my husband in 2025.
In this truly inspirational memoir, Anita Moorjani relates how, after fighting cancer for almost four years, her body began shutting down-overwhelmed by the malignant cells spreading throughout her system. As her organs failed, she entered into an extraordinary near-death experience where she realized her inherent worth . . . and the actual cause of her disease. Upon regaining consciousness, Anita found that her condition had improved so rapidly that she was released from the hospital within weeks-without a trace of cancer in her body!
Within these pages, Anita recounts stories of her childhood in Hong Kong, her challenge to establishâŚ
Iâve been passionate about animals, the environment, and social justice since I was a child. As an adult I have been frustratedâeven enragedâthat so many products and practices are considered safe and ânormalâ even though they harm wildlife, pets, and people. I think it's bizarre that people imagine themselves as separate from the chemicals they spray in their homes and their yards, even as they breathe in the toxins. I hope that the concept of âtranscorporeality,â which urges us to see our own bodies as literally part of the environment, will convince people that environmentalism isnât optional but is a vital part of human health and social justice.
The title says it all: How Politics Shapes What We Know and Donât Know About Cancer! This massive study demonstrates how political and economic forces have restricted, diminished, and warped our understanding of the causes of cancer. Not a conspiracy theory, this meticulously researched study carefully demonstrates how science is shaped by economic forces in ways that leave us without the information we need to lead healthier lives. This is no accident, since, as Proctor explains, ignorance doesnât just happen, it is constructed: âControversy can be engineered, ignorance and uncertainty can be manufactured, maintained, and disseminated.â In our rapidly transforming world, we need approaches to science that neither dismiss it nor assume that it is capturing everything it should, since it is shaped by politics and economics.
This brilliantly argued and researched book tells the story of how government regulatory agencies, scientists, trade associations, and environmentalists, have managed to obscure the issues and prevent concerted action. Explains why we still dont have straight answers to questions such as: Why do rates from some cancers appear to have risen and others fallen? and suggests how we might actually win the war on cancer.
Iâm an award-winning playwright and screenwriter. My work has been widely staged in London, across the UK, and internationally. Iâve had the honor of receiving the Royal Society of Literature Award and the Michael Grandage Futures Bursary Award, and I was also nominated for Political Play of the Year. Before I began writing, I worked as an anthropologist. Happy Death Club is my first nonfiction book.
Flora Baker's nonfiction guide combines a heart-wrenching memoir detailing her personal experience of a form of grief rarely discussed: losing both your parents in early adulthood, with an intensely practical guide for what to do when someone you love dies or is going to die.
I met Flora when we were interviewed on BBC Women's Hour together, and I wish I'd had this exact book to help guide me after my parents died because it provides invaluable advice on how to handle the bureaucracy of death, how to plan a funeral, how to clear someone's house after they have died, and how to juggle the demands that death makes on the survivors while remaining gentle with yourself and other mourners.
A vulnerable, honest and deeply personal guide to finding your way through grief. Flora Baker was only twenty when her mum died suddenly of cancer. Her coping strategy was simple: ignore the magnitude of her loss. But when her dad became terminally ill nine years later, Flora was forced to confront the reality of grief. She had to accept that her life had changed forever. In The Adult Orphan Club, Flora draws on a decade of experience with grief and parent loss to explore all the chaotic ways that grief affects us, and how we can learn to navigate it.âŚ
I think a lot about being welcoming, especially in regard to caring for our neighbors and teaching our children that we are all responsible for each other. Picture books are a wonderful way to teach those lessons and show concrete actions we can take. Books are windows to look into the lives of others with empathy and curiosity. I am a childrenâs author, but I am also a mom trying to raise caring kids and a neighbor trying to serve my community through the Little Free Pantry and Little Free Library I steward. Hosting a refugee family in my home was another way I could show compassion and fight against hate.
I love how this sweet book shows neighbors coming together to help in even the most stressful of times.
Not only do the different neighborsâfrom trees to animals to peopleâhelp the house find a new âhatâ (roof) during a storm, they all weather that storm together, and the house finds ways to help his neighbors too.
Kids learn that they can get through tough times with the help of friends. The warm illustrations also convey the range of emotions experienced in the book and show that it is OK to have all those feelings. I also love that the authorâs motivation for writing this story was her experience of leaning on friends and family during her cancer treatment.
An uplifting picture book debut about community and hope after a damaging storm.
One windy day, House's hat blows clean oďŹ his head!
His friends are happy to help, but nothing they try seems quite right. Then the wind gets even stronger and thunder rumbles, making House wonder how he can keep his family safe and if he'll ever feel quite like himself again.
But just in time, more neighbors come to pitch in. And they have a plan for a new hat that fits him perfectly.
Sweetly illustrated and studded with humor, this tale of community is perfect forâŚ
As a massive nerd from a very young age, I have always gravitated towards science and sci-fi stories. When it comes to YA and NA novels, most tend to be dystopian fiction or borrow heavily from fantasy. Hard sci-fi scenarios and real scientific speculation are hard to come by. When well-researched science meets an awesome storyline, that is my definition of perfectionâwhat I love reading and also what I strive for as a writer.
This medical sci-fi thriller is an exploration of the darker side of biotechnology. It follows a med student as he unravels the strange mystery of multiple cases of medulloblastoma and how a prestigious medical center is claiming a 100% remission rate for this type of cancer. Readers sink into the medical world and are kept at the edge of their seats as this mesmerizing tale takes them on a wild ride from start to finish.
Sean, a highly motivated medical student in his third year at Harvard Medical School, is thrilled to take a two-month research post at the renowned Forbes Cancer Centre. But Sean is denied the opportunity to work on the cancer project and so he starts his own investigations into the centre.
I started conducting primary research about the Holocaust in the 1990s, when I spent a week interviewing my grandfather, a Holocaust survivor and a pious Hasid, about his life. Fascinated with the survival of his faith, I applied for and received a grant from the Religion News Service to explore spiritual aspects of the Holocaust. I also sought to answer my sabaâs question: How did Israelis end up fighting their 1948 War of Independence with Nazi weapons such as the Mauser he had received? I answered it in the 2015 PBS documentary I directed and produced, A Wing and a Prayer, and the 2020 nonfiction book I wrote, Saving Israel.
My Polish-Hasidic grandfather, Ozer Grundman, survived several Nazi labor and death camps in his teens but succumbed to cancer in his early 70s. Reading about another Central European Jew (Otto Warburg) who outlasted Hitler, albeit through radically different means, made me wish my saba had been familiar with this German biochemistâs research. Had he heard the Nobel Laureateâs argument that metabolic factors propel cancerâs growth and spread, my saba might have cut down on his unchecked sugar consumption. Then again, despite the recent reevaluation and, in many cases, reappreciation of Warburgâs work, the jury is still out on sugarâs portrayal as the puppet master of Americaâs No. 2 killer. What is certain is Sam Appleâs assured Ravenous portraiture of a puzzling protagonist who capitalized on the Nazisâ cancer fears to such an extent that he carried on his experiments at Berlinâs Kaiser Wilhelm Society throughout World War II and livedâŚ
The Nobel laureate Otto Warburg was widely regarded as one of the most important biochemists of the twentieth century. A Jewish homosexual living openly with his partner, he was also among the most despised figures in the Third Reich. Yet top Nazi officials-perhaps even Hitler himself-dreaded cancer and protected Warburg in the hope he could cure it.
Using new archival sources and interviews with current cancer authorities, Sam Apple depicts a relentless figure, hungry for fame, who pursued his research even as the world around him disintegrated. Remarkably, Warburg's theory about the metabolic origins of cancer has been revived inâŚ
Life caught me by surprise when our youngest son was born with a birth defect that launched our family into the world of surgeries, and treatments. After experiencing the management of chronic care for our child firsthand, I realized how important it is to share personal stories and experiences. It enables empathy and a deeper understanding and appreciation of what patients and families go through. Autobiographical accounts of patients and families are still very limited. We need more people to come forward and share their own patient/family experiences in order to promote the betterment of healthcare and healing through relating with others and learning from othersâ experiences.
Imagine being a medical school student in the best of health and full of spirit and ambition, and suddenly being engulfed by a strange and mysterious illness that even the best of doctors in the most renowned hospitals are unable to appropriately diagnose, let alone treat. This chilling story of a doctor who literally chases his own cure is a great example of the much-needed patient advocacy that may often be required to diagnose and treat rare and complex conditions effectively. The authorâs passion for finding the underlying cause of his disease (Castlemanâs disease) and experimenting with innovative unlikely combinations of drug therapies makes his story memorable and truly inspiring.
LOS ANGELES TIMES AND PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BESTSELLER ⢠The powerful memoir of a young doctor and former college athlete diagnosed with a rare disease who spearheaded the search for a cureâand became a champion for a new approach to medical research.
âA wonderful and moving chronicle of a doctorâs relentless pursuit, this book serves both patients and physicians in demystifying the science that lies behind medicine.ââSiddhartha Mukherjee, New York Times bestselling author of The Emperor of All Maladies and The Gene
David Fajgenbaum, a former Georgetown quarterback, was nicknamed the Beast in medical school, where he was also known forâŚ
