READ THIS: Picture Your Life After Cancer edited by Karen Barrow Published by the American Cancer Society Our Coverage Sponsored by Dee Keller Designs
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Cancer is a disease that, unfortunately, most of us are touched by in one way or another. Almost everyone has, or will have, a loved one that is affected by the disease. Those who are diagnosed with cancer embark on a courageous battle. Picture Your Life After Cancer, edited by Karen Barrow, highlights those struggles and success stories in a collection of moving photos and essays. The book contains images of pain and confusion, but also of hope, joy and new found beginnings. The book will touch your heart and inspire you. It provides a unique perspective on the disease. People who are struggling to deal with cancer will find comfort in these depictions of others. Even if you have not experienced cancer first-hand or through the pain of a loved one, this book will offer you a connection to the beauty of humanity. After witnessing the heroic stories in this book, I have new strength to deal with my everyday challenges.
Cancer touches different people in different ways. Nobody's experience is quite the same as anyone else's, and nobody's life is quite the same after. Picture Your Life After Cancer is a fascinating and inspiring book which pays tribute to the millions of unique experiences that people have with cancer by sharing photos and stories of numerous people whose lives have been forever changed by cancer. Published by the American Cancer Society and edited by Karen Barrow, Picture Your Life After Cancer began with The New York Times asking readers who had survived cancer to submit their photos and answer the question, "How is your life different after cancer?" Almost immediately, photos and stories began to stream in. There is an ever-growing "Picture Your Life After Cancer" display online, but last year, the American Cancer Society published a beautiful book featuring over 200 people who have shared their cancer experiences. The pictures and responses are as varied and unique as the readers who submitted them. They are, at times, funny, sad, inspiring, and thoughtful...and sometimes, all of these things at once! Some of the stories are told by family members whose loved ones, unfortunately, lost their battles with cancer, others are told by cancer survivors, and some are told by those whose battles are still ongoing. The one thing they all have in common, though, is that they're told from the heart and are all deeply touching in their own way. From start to finish, a beautiful book, and a wonderful testament to those who have battled with this terrible disease.
Ironically, I had already participated in the New York Times blog associated with this, but didn’t realize until now that there was also a book. I know that I was told by veteran medical professionals that had I had my exact same breast cancer diagnosis in the 80s, I might not be around too long. Thankfully, today with the advancement of medical treatment, there is every hope that I, like many others with cancer, should live a long, long time. That said, all cancer survivors must live knowing that there could be a recurrence one day. Picture Your Life After Cancer is a beautiful and inspiring celebration of the complex range of emotions people living with and after cancer experience. We are grateful to be long-term statistics in the fight against cancer, but also acutely aware of the fragility of life. Some of my favorite stories in the book are of Kaethe Weingarten, a 3-time cancer survivor, shown jumping off a 35-foot cliff, who aims to “turn private pain into public purpose;” Erik Marrero, also a 3-time survivor, who became a yoga instructor and is shown lifting his entire, very fit, cross-legged body with his hands; and Amy Dodson, shown beaming after completing a race, who explains that she exchanged her leg and lung to undifferentiated sarcoma 25 years for “perspective.” It wasn’t all that long ago that “cancer” was a word spoken in hushed tones. How wonderful that we live in a time when so many people, from ordinary citizens to red-carpet celebrities, are willing to speak publicly about their cancer experiences and to fight strong!
Published by The New York Times, "Picture Your Life After Cancer" embraces those smiles that come to people when "happy" is a state of mind, and not just a physical reaction. This little hard cover book should be on everyone's coffee table, in every home. Give it as a gift to those just beginning the trials and tribulations of treatment. Give it as a gift to friends and family. Someone always knows someone going through the Big C. With hundreds of pictures sent in by ex-patients, or "survivors" and their own commentary, it's all about happy. Stories of how-why-where become adjunct to the tale of "after". After is riding a camel in the desert. After is playing your music again. After is fishing, hiking, adventuring out there in the big, wide world. Edited by Karen Barrow, it includes a touching forward by Tara Parker-Pope, the health writer for the New York Times. Enjoy the faces and the stories in this book, and give it to someone who needs it. It's a life-affirming volume that should be a website. Maybe it is. Maybe every picture out there shows the joy, the celebration of life. This book captures the essence of just that for a very specific group of happy folk, and share it with the rest of us.
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Powerful New Book Published by The New York Times and the American Cancer Society Explores Life After Cancer
Picture Your Life After Cancer shares over 200 stories of cancer survivors
Cancer survivors from all walks of life responded to a New York Times request to send in a photo and answer the question, “how is your life different after cancer?” The responses make up a powerful new book from The Times and the American Cancer Society titled Picture Your Life After Cancer.
In the 96-page book, edited by Karen Barrow, web producer for the science desk of The New York Times, more than 200 people share their responses and photos. Picture Your Life After Cancer speaks to a reality that is at times frightening and lonely, joyful and beautiful, and filled with possibility.
“We received well over 1,000 stories from our readers who have had a cancer diagnosis and come out the other side,” remarked Karen Barrow. “We hope Picture Your Life After Cancer represents the truth and the amazing possibilities for life after cancer.”
“I am not among those who ascribe to the belief that cancer is some sort of gift, in any form,” writes Tara Parker-Pope, columnist and blogger for The New York Times in the foreword to the book. “It is a terrible disease. But I do believe that we can learn from the people who have experienced it. And that is essentially what this book is about.”
The stories shared are from adults, children, parents, siblings, partners, lovers and friends. What they share is their “new normal”—the reality of facing life after cancer. By turns inspiring, celebratory and surprising, this book explores the honest truth of life after cancer.
“Life is much more vibrant. Words have more meaning. Actions have more meaning,” said Robin B. Katz, a cancer survivor who is featured. “Butterflies, coffee, and bright blue skies seem so much more important than petty disagreements. Relationships are more important than how many hours a week I have worked. And every day is truly a gift.”
Complete with a section of information from the American Cancer Society about surviving and thriving after cancer and a resource guide for anyone facing a cancer diagnosis, this book serves as a reminder that there is in fact life after cancer.
Picture Your Life After Cancer (ISBN-13: 978-1-60443-063-9, $19.95) is available for purchase at www.cancer.org/bookstore, by calling 1-800-227-2345, or at any online or retail bookseller.
About the American Cancer Society
The American Cancer Society combines an unyielding passion with nearly a century of experience to save lives and end cancer for good. As a global grassroots force of three million volunteers, we fight for every birthday threatened by every cancer in every community. We save lives by helping you stay well by preventing cancer or detecting it early, helping you get well by being there for you during and after a diagnosis, by finding cures through groundbreaking discovery and fighting back through public policy. As the nation’s largest non-governmental investor in cancer research, contributing more than $3.8 billion, we turn what we know about cancer into what we do. As a result, an estimated 13.7 million people in America who have had cancer and countless more who have avoided it will be celebrating birthdays this year. To learn more about us or to get help, call us anytime, day or night, at 1-800-227-2345 or visit cancer.org.
