Walking Next To Cancer

In May of 2015, a holistic lifestyle coach is hired to help the post-operative recovery of a successful tough-as-nails business woman determined to defeat cancer with the same aggressive strong-willed determination that had served her so well this far. But what soon becomes clear is that much of “Jocelyn’s” success has been driven by internal hurt and emotional dysfunction and that what had once passed for happiness and peace of mind was, in Jocelyn’s case, predicated on dark unresolved issues. While her past experiences had forged Jocelyn into a “success” they are now getting in the way of her recovery. At war with herself, she is driven to compete with everyone around her. Unfortunately, the tactics and strategies that have served her so well in business are impotent when matched against a dis-ease like cancer, and so Jocelyn slowly and inexorably gives up ground in a fight for the first and last time in her life. Walking Next to Cancer is a clarion call for us to look within and resolves the issues that are constraining us and eroding our internal resources.

In May of 2015, a holistic lifestyle coach is hired to help the post-operative recovery of a successful tough-as-nails business woman determined to defeat cancer with the same aggressive strong-willed determination that had served her so well this far. But what soon becomes clear is that much of “Jocelyn’s” success has been driven by internal hurt and emotional dysfunction and that what had once passed for happiness and peace of mind was, in Jocelyn’s case, predicated on dark unresolved issues. While her past experiences had forged Jocelyn into a “success” they are now getting in the way of her recovery. At war with herself, she is driven to compete with everyone around her. Unfortunately, the tactics and strategies that have served her so well in business are impotent when matched against a dis-ease like cancer, and so Jocelyn slowly and inexorably gives up ground in a fight for the first and last time in her life. Walking Next to Cancer is a clarion call for us to look within and resolves the issues that are constraining us and eroding our internal resources.

Wisenberg may have lost a breast, but she retained her humor, outrage, and skepticism toward common wisdom and most institutions. While following the prescribed protocols at the place she called Fancy Hospital, Wisenberg is unsparing in her descriptions of the fumblings of new doctors, her own awkward announcement to her students, and the mounds of unrecyclable plastic left at a survivors’ walk. Combining the personal with the political, she shares her research on the money spent on pink ribbons instead of preventing pollution, and the disparity in medical care between the insured and the uninsured. When chemotherapy made her bald, she decorated her head with henna swirls in front and an antiwar protest in back. During treatment, she also recorded the dailiness of life in Chicago as she rode the L, taught while one-breasted, and attended High Holiday services and a Passover seder. Wisenberg’s writing has been compared to a mix of Leon Wieseltier and Fran Lebowitz, and in this book, she has Wieseltier’s erudition and Lebowitz’s self-deprecating cleverness: “If anybody ever offers you the choice between suffering and depression, take the suffering. And I don't mean physical suffering. I mean emotional suffering. I am hereby endorsing psychic suffering over depression.” From The Adventures of Cancer Bitch: I found that when you invite people to a pre-mastectomy party, they show up. Even those with small children. The kids were so young that they didn't notice that most of the food had nipples. . . . I talked to everyone—about what I'm not sure. Probably about my surgery. Everyone told me how well I looked. I felt giddy. I was going to go under, but not yet; I was going to be cut, but not yet; I was going to be bald, but not yet. As my friend who had bladder cancer says: The thing about cancer is you feel great until they start treating you for it.

Amys story is a most inspiring one to read for anyone going through lifes struggles - one that will give encouragement whatever one may be dealing with. First and foremost, this is an account of a cancer journey; a journal revealing an absolute faith that God is willing to walk the journey alongside of you, all the way! If you are reading this and you are someone setting out on, or already in the middle of, a similar journey, this is an important read for you! Amys story will certainly not hide any of the rough times; but it will tell you about many positive aspects as well, and how faith is the only way to make the trip. This book is not just for cancer sufferers, but also for anyone experiencing lifes many trials, whatever they may be. Amys raw and emotive style tells it just like it is. You will feel the emotion; shed some tears and certainly draw many smiles. There is little more powerful than hearing this story told literally, while experiencing each and every aspect of the journey along with her. The power is in hearing Gods story, as told through Amy, and thats just what this is. You will be encouraged that its okay to have roller coaster emotions, to feel anger, to experience joy, to feel spiritually low and equally high; that its okay to ask why me? Amy is one amazing lady who turned what could have been a very negative experience - focusing on feeling sorry for herself - to one that focuses on making an impact on others. For example - Amy refused to wear a wig once she lost her hair so she would not miss opportunities to testify to others who would otherwise not have approached her. Perhaps most compelling is how many people have told Amy that while they should have been supporting her in keeping a positive attitude, she was in fact being the inspiration for them. I know! I was one of those people! I pray for them every day and I know that they do the same for me. It is this, together with God, that will keep us all positive and moving forward, whatever the challenges of life that are thrown our way.

Celebrates the spirit of the thousands of women -- and increasing numbers of men -- who every year walk in the Avon Walks for Breast Cancer, the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and Breast Cancer 3-Day walks, and the American Cancer Society¿s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer. All participate to raise money in the hope of finding a cure for this disease. When asked why they walk, the participants talk about the experience of the walk, the shared spirit of suffering and hope and joy. These women and men come together to give of themselves, endure the hardships, and share their hope for the future. Their stories are remarkable. Includes a CD featuring the original song by Phil and Julie Vassar. Color photos.

Walking London is the essential companion for any urban explorer―visitor or native―committed to discovering the true heart of one of the world's greatest capital cities. In 30 original walks, distinguished historian Andrew Duncan reveals miles of London's endlessly surprising landscape. From wild heathland to formal gardens, cobbled mews to elegant squares and arcades, bustling markets to tranquil villages―Duncan reveals the pick of the famous sights, but also steers walkers off the tourist track and into the city's hidden corners. Handsomely illustrated with specially commissioned color photographs and complete route maps, the book provides full details of addresses, opening times and the best bars and restaurants to visit en route.

WINNER OF THE 2020 PULITZER PRIZE IN GENERAL NONFICTION "The Undying is a startling, urgent intervention in our discourses about sickness and health, art and science, language and literature, and mortality and death. In dissecting what she terms 'the ideological regime of cancer,' Anne Boyer has produced a profound and unforgettable document on the experience of life itself." —Sally Rooney, author of Normal People "Anne Boyer’s radically unsentimental account of cancer and the 'carcinogenosphere' obliterates cliche. By demonstrating how her utterly specific experience is also irreducibly social, she opens up new spaces for thinking and feeling together. The Undying is an outraged, beautiful, and brilliant work of embodied critique." —Ben Lerner, author of The Topeka School A week after her forty-first birthday, the acclaimed poet Anne Boyer was diagnosed with highly aggressive triple-negative breast cancer. For a single mother living paycheck to paycheck who had always been the caregiver rather than the one needing care, the catastrophic illness was both a crisis and an initiation into new ideas about mortality and the gendered politics of illness. A twenty-first-century Illness as Metaphor, as well as a harrowing memoir of survival, The Undying explores the experience of illness as mediated by digital screens, weaving in ancient Roman dream diarists, cancer hoaxers and fetishists, cancer vloggers, corporate lies, John Donne, pro-pain ”dolorists,” the ecological costs of chemotherapy, and the many little murders of capitalism. It excoriates the pharmaceutical industry and the bland hypocrisies of ”pink ribbon culture” while also diving into the long literary line of women writing about their own illnesses and ongoing deaths: Audre Lorde, Kathy Acker, Susan Sontag, and others. A genre-bending memoir in the tradition of The Argonauts, The Undying will break your heart, make you angry enough to spit, and show you contemporary America as a thing both desperately ill and occasionally, perversely glorious. Includes black-and-white illustrations