Reflections2017

Within the last two-weeks, I was asked for a favour and write on an impending book on cancer by someone I know very well. I agreed. I am choosing an Abstract of Brian's Story . An Abstract offers a sense of what the work is about without labouring and thereby discouraging the reader who first lays eyes on it, perhaps in a bookstore. In other words, what is the heart of the book? Brian's Story is not a medical book. Instead, it deals with a full range of human emotions after experiencing the diagnosis of head and shoulder cancer, through the operation and radiation therapy to recovery. Above all else, the text is very personal. It tells the story of a regular joe who used to carry a black tin lunchbox around, along with a pocket protector and a slide ruler when such items were fashionable. In this tale, he is not yet at the end of the journey. He has not been declared cancer free by the medical establishment. The best evidence suggests that declaration can be made only after