Michael S. Barry - A Reason For Hope: Gaining Strength for Your Fight Against Cancer

This is a book about taking control of your cancer rather than being controlled by it.

I can vouch for the fact that the views presented are written by a man of faith, experience, and wisdom.

There are no rabbit trails here that will take you to dead ends. Every piece of advice you are about to read leads to life and life abundantly.

From the foreword

by H AROLD G. K OENIG , M.D.

A SSOCIATE P ROFESSOR OF M EDICINE AND P SYCHIATRY

AND

F OUNDER AND D IRECTOR OF

T HE C ENTER FOR THE S TUDY OF R ELIGION /S PIRITUALITY AND H EALTH

Duke University Medical Center

This book is dedicated to my wife, Kay; my daughters, Sara and Becca; and my sister, Peg. My hope is that what I have learned about life in Christ will enable you to rise above all of lifes challenges, remembering that God is always for you and never against youand that all things are possible through Christ who strengthens you.

I also dedicate it to the cancer fighters who have fought and continue to battle to live the life God has given them, and to the members of Hope Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Libertyville, Illinois, who have graciously allowed me time to research and write.

Lastly, throughout the writing I have remembered my mother, Rose, who died of breast cancer decades before I was ready to let her go.

As a first-time author, I had not been aware of how much help authors like me get from people behind the scenes. I am deeply appreciative of all of those who have worked long and hard to insure that the message of hope this book brings was helpfully edited, handsomely published, and fervently marketed.

My thanks to Keith Wall, author of the included study guide, Your Life Journey . It helps the reader integrate the message into his or her personal life experience. This, of course, is why I wrote the book in the first place.

My thanks to Dan Benson, editorial director at Cook Communications Ministries, who shared my interest in getting the books message of hope to the wider Christian community and for insuring that a good book was made better.

My thanks to my literary agent, Les Stobbe, whose interest, encouragement and helpful suggestions gave me hope that I might find a publisher, as well as someone who, at its inception, shared the vision of the book.

My thanks also to Dr. Harold Koenig who wrote my foreword. Knowing how busy he is, I still cannot believe that he took the time to write it at all, much less put so much of his heart and mind into corroborating the books message. An act of sheer grace.

I am especially grateful to Stephen Bonner and Roger Cary of the Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Zion, Illinois, for their commitment to insuring that the spiritual needs of patients are not overlooked. And to Rev. Percy McCray, director of Pastoral Care at CTCA, who is a good friend, capable mentor, and dear brother in Christ.

M ICHAEL B ARRY

T HIS IS A BOOK ABOUT TAKING CONTROL OF YOUR CANCER RATHER THAN BEING CONTROLLED BY IT .

C ancer is a disease in which attitude is everything. Getting and maintaining the right attitude is critical for survivalemotional, spiritual, and perhaps even physical survival. Scientists are only beginning to discover how closely the mind and the emotions are connected to the body and its responses to disease. The right attitude, then, becomes literally a matter of life or death.

Having cancer can be a difficult experience even for persons with deep religious faith. For those struggling with their faith, however, the burden of this disease can be enormous. This book will help you to bear that burdenand it will increase your faith.

The diagnosis of cancer sends a clear message: Now is the time to get it right. This time in your life, right now, presents a tremendous opportunity. At no previous time has there been such pressure and urgency to make the changes that really matterchanges that you had always intended to make, but never got around to. The time to delay, to put things off, is over. Cancer has a way of riveting a persons focus beyond the many usual distractions and onto the important things. Dont waste this precious time experimentingdesperately grabbing at one thing and then another. This is the time to embark on a new paththe right pathand this book will help you find and stay on that path.

Dr. Michael Barry has worked in the trenches with cancer patients and their families for many years and knows how to provide spiritual guidance. He knows what this disease is likethe devastating effects it can haveand what works and what doesnt work. I can vouch for the fact that the views presented in A Reason for Hope are written by a man of faith, experience, and wisdom. There are no rabbit trails here that will take you to dead ends. Every piece of advice you are about to read leads to life and life abundantly.

Cancer doesnt have to devastate your life. There are many reasons why you should have hopereasons most people arent aware of, reasons you probably wont hear from your doctor and maybe not even from your pastor. The information presented in this little book will help normalize and neutralize the fear that accompanies this disease and replace your fear with hope, determination, and direction.

T his is a book about taking control of your cancer rather than being controlled by it; about fighting the cancer; about becoming assertive in your treatment. It is also a book about forgivingforgiving others, forgiving yourself, and forgiving God. It will help you release the health-damaging, cancer-fertilizing anger and despair that drive many to their graves and redirect this emotional energy toward life and hope. Dr. Barry will help you want to live, fight to live, and understand what you have to live for. Following his advice may not only add years to your life, if that is Gods will for you, but it will infuse life into those years. Dont let cancer rob you of the joy that God wants you to experience during this time.

Dr. Barry supports the view that it may be Gods will for you to be cancer-free so that you can serve and glorify Him in your life. So this is a book about miraclesreal people like you who were miraculously healed and given a second chance. I dont know if its God will for you to be cancer free in order to glorify and serve Him, or whether it is His will for you to glorify and serve Him in your dying and death. I do know that it is His will that you bear this disease with a Christlike attitude to whatever end it takes you. We are all destined to die, and whether you live a few more years is less important than making the changes in attitude that can transform your relationship with God, with yourself, and with others so that you will become the person God created you to be. If you accomplish that, then it really doesnt matter how long you live or how soon you die.