“Marla Shapiro makes it clear that she’s been blessed by an extraordinarily successful medical career. But, as a newly diagnosed breast cancer patient, ‘being a doctor’ she tells us, ‘is a curse.’ She knows too well what’s wrong, knows that there’s so many more than one way to try to make things right. She learns that no matter how well informed, well connected or well off you are, there are no exemptions from the terrors of battling a serious illness. Anybody contending with cancer will feel less lonely with her words next to them. But the people who will most need to read this book are the galaxy of friends, family, co-workers and doctors who surround all cancer patients—patients who are often too fatigued, fearful or furious to tell us what they need, or more to the point, what will make things worse (the nausea-making scent of flowers sent during chemo treatments, e-mails that include the words Horrendous, Terrible or Tragic). The book’s first words are ‘Who I was . . .’; its last, from Marla’s family, describe who she, and they, have become. The story of that transformation, body and soul, is a stunning tale, powerfully told.”
—Andy Barrie, CBC Radio
