cancer
Cross-shaped story
On April 13, 2005, Richard Lischer's 33-year-old son, Adam, phoned his dad. The cancer had spread throughout Adam's body.
by LaVonne Neff
50/50
50/50 is a balancing act: a comedy-drama about a
man who learns
he has a tumor and a 50 percent chance of surviving. Writer Will Reiser and director
Jonathan Levine pull off twin feats: they sustain a tone midway
between ironic and poignant, and they touch the audience without pushing
pathos at us.
reviewed by Steve A. Vineberg
Disrupted, by Julie Anderson Love
After her bleak diagnosis, Julie Anderson Love learned that hope has nothing to do
with passivity. She was, she writes, "the patient from
hell."
reviewed by Marilyn McEntyre
Windfall: Luke 17:11-19
There are moments when you just know what’s coming next. No one has to confirm it for you; the feeling in your gut is confirmation enough. After I lay on the ultrasound table for two minutes, the technician left me alone while she went to find the radiologist. I knew I was in trouble. No one had biopsied anything. No one had uttered the word “cancer,” much less “lobular invasive carcinoma,” but I knew.
The art of dying
Since most people today die of chronic illnesses such as heart disease, cancer, stroke or dementia, and many live with these diseases for years, this handbook will be enormously helpful for pastors, patients and families. The book gives compassionate and sensible guidance to those seeking to negotiate the difficult spiritual and medical terrain that surrounds the experience of dying.
reviewed by Henry G. Brinton