Contents
- “Trial by Disease: How to Survive Breast Cancer” by Thierry Jansen
- “Anti-cancer. A New Way of Life by David Servan-Schreiber
- “Defeat Cancer” Katerina Gordeeva
- “One blood. Love is stronger than death “Roman Super
- “I really want to live. My personal experience” Daria Dontsova
- “Trial by Illness” by Letty Kottin Pogrebin
Cancer diagnosis causes shock and paralyzing fear, impotence and incredible lust for life. Doctors, psychologists, and journalists who have come into contact with cancer personally say that being tested by a disease is not only a blow, but also a chance to get to know yourself better and understand how it is worth living. The best books about it.
“Trial by Disease: How to Survive Breast Cancer” by Thierry Jansen
Belgian Thierry Jansen, a former surgeon and now a body-oriented psychotherapist, regularly consults women diagnosed with breast cancer. From the experience of his work, he made a conviction: in the fight against cancer, you can help yourself if you act, and not feel like a victim of circumstances. How? First of all, it is important (and quite realistic) to reduce psychological stress, bodily tension, side effects of treatment, and alternative medicine methods can help with this. And do not deny yourself the joy and pleasure – based on the achievements of science, Thierry Jansen shows that they strengthen our immune system and are the most important components of the recovery process. (Corps, 2010).
“Anti-cancer. A New Way of Life by David Servan-Schreiber
MD, neuroscientist and psychologist, Psychology expert David Servan-Schreiber (1961-2011) learned that he had a brain tumor when he was 30 years old. He discovered it by accident, during an experiment he conducted in his laboratory, which studied the functioning of the brain. In the book “Anti-Cancer” his personal history of the disease is intertwined with a story about the biochemical mechanisms of cancer, about the achievements of integrative medicine in this area and practical recommendations. In 2010, having learned about the recurrence of his illness, David Servan-Schreiber wrote another, last book – “You can say goodbye many times”, where he spoke about his daily struggle with the disease and said goodbye to everyone he loved (both – RIPOL classic, 2015).
“Defeat Cancer” Katerina Gordeeva
The book by journalist Katerina Gordeeva is a continuation of the NTV documentary project of the same name. It combines the stories of doctors and scientists from different countries about modern methods of treating oncological diseases with particular cases. The central line of the book is the story of the doctor Marina Pak, who herself once turned out to be a patient and began to keep a diary, asking herself a lot of questions, feeling confused, helpless, afraid … and hopeful. Marina admits that this hope was given to her by David Servan-Schreiber’s book Anticancer, which “changed the course of the disease more than medicine.” In the project of Katerina Gordeeva, the voices of other people who survived cancer are heard, among them – Lyudmila Ulitskaya, Laima Vaikule, Emmanuil Vitorgan. “Fears and prejudices, superstitions and rumors – this is what surrounds a person with cancer in Russia,” writes Gordeeva. Its goal is to change the attitude of society towards this disease, to make the word “cancer” associated not with tragedy, but with struggle (Zakharov, 2013).
“One blood. Love is stronger than death “Roman Super
If the heroine of the book by Ekaterina Gordeeva was supported by the book of David Servan-Schreiber, then the book of Ekaterina Gordeeva herself helped the Moscow journalist Roman Super and his wife Yulia. Julia struggled with Hodgkin’s lymphoma for 5 months, was treated at the oncology center on Kashirskoye Shosse, and Roman went through all the tests with her, and then described everything in detail in the book. In the foreground here is a family story, a love story. But at the same time, it is both a social portrait and a story about how cancer is treated in today’s Moscow. “For Russia, this disease is like World War II: it affected every family without exception. But our society still … lives according to the principle “you know less, you sleep better,” Roman Super notes. Now we have one more honest and inspiring book. (Individual Publishing, 2015)
“I really want to live. My personal experience” Daria Dontsova
Writer Daria Dontsova talks in detail about her experience of fighting breast cancer and defeating the disease in order to support women who are faced with a terrible diagnosis. And to convince them: the disease is curable, it can and should be fought. Dontsova describes the feelings and actions familiar to many cancer patients: attempts to hide their heads in the sand for as long as possible, not recognizing the diagnosis, then horror, despair and fear. She talks about meetings with doctors, far from all of whom were attentive and conscientious, about operations (including the one that most women think is the most terrible – radical mastectomy), the side effects of chemotherapy and hormonal treatment, and how she coped with them … Dontsova never tires of repeating: illness is not a curse, it is a chance to change your life. It was the fight against cancer that taught her, against all odds, to look at the world with humor and optimism and to appreciate life, to notice its simplest joys. As you know, it was in the intensive care unit, recovering from the operation, that Dontsova began to write her first detective story. (Eksmo, 2013)
“Trial by Illness” by Letty Kottin Pogrebin
When someone close to us is seriously ill, we often get lost, do not know how to behave, how to help, what to say and what to avoid. Journalist Letty Kottin Pogrebin, a cancer survivor herself, shares her experience: there is no need to impose the halo of a “fighter” or “hero” on a patient, try to play a psychologist and guess what he feels. It is more important to just be there, offer help and show interest in his real (and not imaginary) thoughts, feelings and experiences. (Livebook, 2014)