Winner of the 2022 Living Now Book Award for Health/Wellness
Featured In The Washington Post's "10 Books To Read In May 2021"
A surprisingly open memoir co-authored by the married duo of a world
class oncologist and a cancer survivor about love, pain, hope, strength
and resilience while navigating the overwhelming breast cancer advocacy
movement.
Off Our Chests recounts the story of Liza and John's experience with
her diagnosis and treatment. Written in alternating voices, Liza details
her treatment, the complex decisions she had to make throughout her
course of chemotherapy and radiation, including clinical trial
participation and an elective double mastectomy, the added complexity of
being treated at the cancer center of which John was the chief of
hematology and oncology, and the emotional impact of knowing she may die
as a young woman with young children.
John, who lost his own mother to cancer at the age of 13, provides an
inside look into the world of cancer care and research, but also the
perspective of someone who understands the medicine but who was
unprepared for assuming the role of caregiver and worried husband. John
adds insights into his world of running the clinical operations of the
cancer center where Liza would receive her care, commentary on the
breast cancer machine, the need for clinical research, the high cost of
cancer care, and an easy to understand explanation of the clinical and
scientific background of oncology.
While they both felt that they were already expert commentators on their
own "Cancer Channel" during the course of Liza's illness, they both came
to realize how little understanding they truly had of what a cancer
diagnosis does to the patient, caregivers, children, family members, and
friends. Liza and John share their most intimate thoughts, including
many that were previously unsaid--even between the two of them. Both
gain an understanding of the other's life, a deeper appreciation of what
it means to be a cancer patient, and of the emotional strains of being
an oncologist where so many of the patients die on their watch.
