Margie Levine - Surviving Cancer

Margie Levine has written an owner's manual for cancer patients. Her lessons are from the heart and provide a blueprint to overcoming disease. Surviving Cancer teaches us how to mature and evolve as we overcome physical and emotional obstacles.

Mehmet Oz, M.D., New YorkPresbyterian Hospital, author of Healing from the Heart

This is a remarkable bookone that reveals the impact of cancer on an extraordinary person who summons the will to survive.

David G. Nathan, M.D., President Emeritus,
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Robert Stranahan Distinguished
Professor of Pediatrics and Professor of Medicine
at Harvard Medical School

Margie Levine is a woman of courage, a pioneer, and a person saving many lives.

David John Sugarbaker, M.D.,
Chief of Thoracic Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital,
Professor of Medicine, Harvard University

The most remarkable blend of raw useful information coupled to deep inspiration and wonder.

David Fisher, M.D., Professor of Medicine,
Harvard University, and Dana-Farber Cancer Research Physician

This is a book for all patients who have chronic or recurring illnesses (arthritis, heart conditions, asthma), or acute problems that are resistant to healing. For physicians, my advice is, give this book to your patients. For patients, give this book to your friends. Take control of your recovery.

Michael]. Goldberg, M.D., Professor and Chairman, Tufts University
School of Medicine, TuftsNew England Medical Center

Surviving Cancer pays tribute to the real heroes of cancer research. Patients who choose to become involved in investigational research have special qualities that have not been recognized. They show extraordinary courage, determination, and good will in the face of adversity. Margie Levine is a remarkable example. Their absolutely essential, indeed critical contribution to progress in cancer treatment, as is the case for Margie Levine, has not been appreciated and deserves to be told. All effective and curative treatments for cancer that exist today were made possible by such volunteers.

Dr. Beruj Benacerraf, M.D., President Emeritus,
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Nobel Prize Winner Medicine 1980

I recommend this book.

Bernie Siegel, M.D.

As a medical social worker, I have found Surviving Cancer to be full of hope and inspiration for people who have been thrown into the ocean of cancer and are trying to learn how to swim, frequently all on their own.

Diane Gorsky

A practical, jargon-free guide for anyone facing serious illness, Surviving Cancer should be required reading for patients and their doctors!!

Rosanne Shapiro, LICSW

In a time when more Americans are questioning the traditional ways of Western medicine and seeking alternative approaches toward healing, Ms. Levine's book could not be more timely and appropriate. This book illustrates beautifully how by incorporating many different styles and techniques, a state of well-being can be obtained.

Renee Jacobs, M.D., Ph.D., Internal Mediane,
Newton Welhsley Hospital and Deaconess Glover Hospital

As a physician dealing with my own cancer, I am now presented with a new and different challenge. We use your book in our hospital support group and have found it incredibly helpful. Your spirit of courage, love, and imagination in the face of the dreaded disease helps us touch and catalyze that spirit within each of us. With your excellent suggestions and deep insight we realize we are not alone and can find meaning in the struggle.

Dr. Charles Boren, M.D., Department of Psychiatry,
Former Chief and Medical Director of the Institute for Living,
Hartford, Connecticut

The range of topics covered is remarkable. From concrete advice about dealing with doctors (e.g., bring someone with you; take a tape recorder), to suggestions for better nutrition, to connecting with nature a unique and superb addition to the literature on Wellness.

Esther Blank Greif, Ph.D., Psychologist

You have cancer.

These are the three most dreaded words a patient can hear from his physician. When faced with the diagnosis of cancer, some patients will experience a wide range of emotions: fear, panic, loneliness, anger, desperation, to name a few. Even when the prognosis is good and treatments are likely to be effective, these reactions occur.

Margie Levine was faced with these words and for her the prognosis was poor. For others with her disease, even aggressive treatments had been ineffective. Still, she endured them. More than that; she literally embraced themthe treatments, her caregivers, and the challenge of fighting her disease. In so doing, she has written the book on Surviving Cancer, literally and figuratively.

Margie did not disdain conventional medicine in the hope of a miracle cure. She herself became that miracle through her total involvement and participation in all aspects of her care. She was fortunate in having loving family and supportive friends, but Margie truly took charge of those parts of her recovery that doctors are not always so good at reachingthe soul, the mind, the heart.

Not all cancer sufferers will be fortunate enough to survive their disease, in spite of progress in treatment and continued research. But none will fail to benefit from this book. Anyone with a loved one, a close friend, or a colleague with cancer will be enriched by Surviving Cancer. It is a companion, complete with references, resources, practical suggestions, and inspirational wisdoma guide, a hand to hold to confront the most frightening of challenges. No one should have to face this disease alone, and with this book no one will need to.

KAREN J. MARCUS, M.D.,
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF RADIATION ONCOLOGY,
HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL