Beating Cancer One Truth at a Time: What You Believe Determines Your Journey

When someone says you have cancer, it’s like stepping into the cockpit of a commercial airbus, sitting at the controls, and wondering what all those strange buttons do. At first you don’t even know the destination much less the timing. You have no idea how to fly the plane, but there you are, a pilot learning how to something you never wanted to learn.Moreover, you feel as though you have already crashed.Author Marianne McDonough understands. From her own experience in 2012, she believes the initial weeks of cancer are the hardest part and, as a result, focuses on writing for newly diagnosed patients. In her introduction, she writes, “The diagnosis and treatment periods are notoriously intense, sometimes confusing, and always life altering.”In this encouraging, direct, and practical guide, McDonough packs a quick-read book with helpful information, inspiration, and step-by-step tips on how to live a strong journey, make good decisions, and be confident that you did everything you could to fight cancer the way you believe is best for you.To facilitate those goals, the author present myths and misconceptions that patients often encounter such as cancer is always fatal, too complicated to understand, and will define you for the rest of your life. One truth at a time, McDonough will encourage you to reconstruct and articulate your own beliefs. She wants you to determine for yourself what makes the most sense to you based on honest reflection, the best data you can find for your situation, and conclusions you draw for yourself as a result.Describing this book as a “simple path for a complicated journey,” McDonough includes information and resources to consult both during treatments and into survivorship. She doesn’t shy away from tough subjects such as residual effects from treatment and fear of relapse. But throughout the book she focuses on hope, positive mindsets, and proactive actions that will help you, as she says in her introduction, “attack cancer with a dedicated vengeance and more determination and courage than you ever thought possible.”