Stories of Cancer and Hope

"I became aware of this book because I’ve communicated with several of the contributors online. They reached out to me, and I reached out to them. The reason I chose Stories of Cancer and Hope is because it both supports and balances my own perspective in a nice manner. My message may seem somewhat brutal, and I sometimes get the response, ‘You are probably right, but we have to maintain hope. We have to believe.’ My answer to that is, ‘Yes, we have to maintain hope, but it shouldn’t be a false hope about eliminating cancer and every other disease. That’s not how it works.’ The good thing about this book is that it focuses on the personal stories. It’s about people sharing their feelings and their experiences as cancer patients. It’s about the silver linings and how something good comes out of even a cancer diagnosis. Life goes on even though we get cancer and some die far too early. That’s why I think this book conveys an important message, because that’s the kind of hope we should promote—and not this false hope about a future without cancer. Yes, Stories of Cancer and Hope is providing the human support. I’m trying to provide the intellectual support to broaden the conversation about cancer, to step away from the war metaphors and the enemy, and to see cancer in a different light—from many different perspectives. Most of all, it’s about understanding that cancer is a part of life and what it means to be human."