Blindsided: Lifting a Life Above Illness: A Reluctant Memoir [Paperback]

Richard M. Cohen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2005

Richard Cohen, a veteran writer, producer and distinguished journalist, has lived with multiple sclerosis for over 25 years. Recently diagnosed again with colon cancer, Cohen describes his lifelong struggle with multiple sclerosis, his first bout with colon cancer, a loving marriage to Meredith Viera, the effect of illness on raising children, and the nature of denial and resilience, all told with grace, humour, and lyrical prose.

Cohen chronicles and celebrates a life brimming over with accomplishment, adversity and personal endeavour and his story has struck a chord with readers nation–wide. He has been interviewed by Barbara Walters for a nearly hour–long segment that ran on 20/20, he also appeared on wife Viera's program, The View and is scheduled for Charlie Rose, Larry King Live, Good Morning America, and the Paula Zahn Show, among others. Blindsided also received outstanding print attention and People magazine has run a first serial piece.

Autobiographical at its roots, reportorial and expansive, Blindsided builds on Cohen's story as a task aimed at emotional well–being, if not survival, pursued in sober tones that explore coping to its most redemptive and complex levels. Despite his extreme circumstances, Cohen's is a common struggle, recognisable as an integral part of humanity, and one which he explores with varying amounts of diligence, respect, personal revelation and humour.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In this moving and engrossing memoir, veteran television news producer Richard Cohen relates a life spent dealing with multiple sclerosis, first diagnosed when he was 25 years old and just getting started in the competitive world of broadcast journalism. As his career progressed, he struggled not only with the disease but the touchy question of how much of the truth about himself to share with colleagues and potential employers. Cohen spent much of his life running from the onset of the disease's symptoms from which his father and grandmother also suffered. Defiantly, he took challenging, sometimes extremely dangerous assignments in Lebanon, Poland, and on the domestic political campaign trail, even as his body deteriorated. But over the course of Blindsided, it becomes apparent that illness had actually built Cohen up even as it ripped him apart. Without the physical and mental toughness required to navigate a journalist's life while fighting back loss of eyesight and poor equilibrium, it's doubtful that the flaky kid we meet early in the book would transform into the award-winning professional Cohen eventually becomes. His marriage to journalist Meredith Vieira, every bit his equal as both newshound and deadpan cynical comic, gave Cohen the stable family life and children he needed when MS made it impossible to continue in a traditional news job. But two bouts with colon cancer in the late 1990s tested his resolve and his family's patience. While Cohen is both courageous and inspirational, Blindsided is not the overly sentimental clichéd tale that stories about fighting illness often become. He refuses to paint himself as the hero (except when making fun of his own failure to be heroic) and recounts in detail the strain that he put on his marriage and children. Stories such as this often end with the memoirist arriving at a state of peace and mental clarity but again Cohen remains more compelling and credible by offering no such pat answers. As with most people fighting to preserve their families, their lives, and their bodies, Richard Cohen's is an ongoing struggle. --John Moe --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

In 1972, when he was 25, Cohen, an up-and-coming television journalist, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a disease for which there is no cure. In this wrenching memoir, he tells how he has for the past 30 years succeeded in his determination to "cope and to hope." For a long time, he hid his condition from friends and co-workers, taking on dangerous assignments for CBS in Poland, Lebanon and El Salvador even though his mobility and vision were impaired. He became a senior producer at CBS, and although he eventually quit the station in 1987 because he felt it was pandering to commercial and political pressures, he worked as a producer for PBS, CNN and Fox until he left TV in the late 1990s to become a writer and teacher. In spite of his illness, he also married and had three children. He nearly lost his courage in 1999 when he learned that he had colon cancer, but after two operations and the realization that despair and anger would drive his family away, he come to grips with this, too. In painful detail, he chronicles the progress of multiple sclerosis - the increasing numbness in his hands and legs and the resultant falls, loss of vision to the point where he is now legally blind and, lately, mental confusion. Nevertheless, he writes: "These pages are not about suffering.... This book is about surviving and flourishing, rising above fear and self-doubt and, of course, anger." His wife, Meredith Vieira, a well-known television personality, has been portrayed in popular magazines as a martyr who bears a terrible burden. Cohen proves that nothing could be further from the truth. First serial rights to People magazine.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (February 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060014105
• ISBN-13: 978-0060014100
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #274,785 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #49 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Disorders & Diseases > Multiple Sclerosis

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Honest Inspiring Realistic Sobering, March 20, 2004

By 

J. a Locke "Book Hugger" (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blindsided: Lifting a Life Above Illness: A Reluctant Memoir (Hardcover)

Review based on hardcover 9/2003... Reviewer's comment: 'Until you walk in my shoes...' I offer that reminder to those reviewers and readers who may pass judgment on a writer, who openly shares his life of trials and tribulations, of what he does or does not say... how he does or does not react to his chronic illness. Here is a man who opens himself to public scrutiny of emotions from the heart -- that alone is a over-the-top fete to accomplish, in this reviewer's eye. Shalom, Mr. Cohen, thank you.

BLINDSIDED is a book sized small in width and length, but powerfully-packed in content with exceptional use of words, phrases and sharing of personal privacy. Richard M. Cohen tells of his life, his family, his chronic illness with candor, wit, anger and courage. Cohen reveals heartache, emotional, physical and mental trials, with introspection of his actions and effect upon his family and self well-being. There are moments when Cohen sometimes goes within himself, leaving the reader, but faithfully he returns.

At age 25, Cohen was diagnosed with beginning stages of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) - a progressive disease. In later years, he battles recurring colon cancer with accompanying side effects, and deals with blindness attributed to side effects of MS. With honesty, the author vents the struggles of physical and mental pain. The fact that the medical profession was only mildly supportive in caring... unconcerned with applying the holistic approach, and the ramifications suffered by Mr. Cohen is appalling, a blemish on the medical profession -- albeit not a new occurrence.

At the beginning there are natural denials ... Cohen states, "Yes, denial can put the brain to sleep, anesthetizing the mind that refuses to face the truth and see the approaching freight train hauling the heavy load of heavy reality." Some of his "advisors" tell him... 'don't tell anyone'... then others say, 'tell about your illness'... 'full disclosure does not work in the real world...' Either route presented problems... within these advisors are coworkers, peers, relating to the damage or not of telling employers and prospective employers. Attempting to live life to the fullest with courage and dignity, Cohen continues his participation in assignments of travel including Poland, Beirut, San Salvador, Middle East and China.

Beyond medical distant (non) attention are the CBS networks executives who mistreated Richard Cohen as well as Meredith Vieira in her right to put family first ... that includes Mike Wallace, his use of ugly language to a female coworker related to baby Ben being brought to his mother's office and a natural act of a baby crying. Hooray for you, Ms. Vieira for not bowing to the ignorant authorities you had to put up with. My admiration of you grew through the years for not bowing to corporate dirty politics. And, your presence on ABC's THE VIEW is exceptional.

From Richard Cohen... "... the formula for successful coping rests in the eye of the beholder... no magic... Making peace is not a one-shot deal but an effort that spans a lifetime. Coping takes discipline and self-control."

Recommended reading: THE LAST DANCE BUT NOT THE LAST SONG, MY STORY author Renee Bondi

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is real!, February 17, 2004

By 

"hiskid217" (San Pablo, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blindsided: Lifting a Life Above Illness: A Reluctant Memoir (Hardcover)

I think this is a book everyone should read. Why? Well first let me tell you why I read it. I have a friend who has MS, and I felt this was a book I needed to read to support them, as well as just to gain a better understanding of what one goes through with MS. About half way through this book I realized, the book isn't about MS, it's about living with illness period. MS just happens to be the illness Mr. Cohen has been dealt, along with Colin cancer. At times this book is very intense with emotions and I wanted to just sit there and cry. A few times I just about did. Reading this book helped me to understand that when things seem to be getting bad, always put things in prospective. Think about where you are at that moment in time, and think about how well you have it to others. Count your blessings, especially the ones that matter the most to you. Mr. Cohen had to learn that he couldn't try to run away from his illnesses, he had to learn to run WITH them. It's not always as easy as it sounds; it's a process that Mr. Cohen had to accept. He also had to realize he is a work in progress. This book is one I think everyone should read because of the fact that it encourages you and reminds you that things aren't always easy, but with the ones you love around you, you will get through life with illness or a disability. Those with illness or a disability don't have to run life's race alone. That is probably the one thing in this book that I was encouraged the most about. This book is the best book I've read in a long time.

42 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A terrific book, as far as it goes, February 8, 2004

By 

Barbara L. Pinzka "Book Friend" (Cincinnati, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Blindsided: Lifting a Life Above Illness: A Reluctant Memoir (Hardcover)

I, too, suffer from a rare, chronic, progressive neurological disease. I saw myself so clearly in these pages - the frustration, the anger, the acknowledgement of the energy it takes just to make it from day to day.

This is not a "how-to-cope" book. It will take you inside the mind of a person who suffers from a disease -- severe MS in this case -- and is a journal of sorts of his battle for 25+ years. Insult is added to injury when he develops colon cancer - twice.

Cohen is marrried to television talk-show host (The View) Meredith Viera, and it's about the dynamics of their marriage and family (three children) as much as it is about him and his illnesses. The honesty is searing and made me feel as if I were with a compatriot in a lonely war.

What I have found to be of great help for myslef is developing my spiritual (different from religious) life. Cohen dismisses this avenue of help, although he talks a lot about atttitude, and I wanted to reach out to him and share the comfort I have found.

I still highly recommend this book to anyone who is chronically ill, or shares a life with someone who faces that challenge.