Customer Reviews

Hope Is Contagious

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This handbook almost does fit your hand. Easy to slip in a purse, its unpretentious, unsentimental, and yet quite comforting. Breast cancer survivor, Margit Porter has put together a collection of tips and reassurances from others who have been down her road. They range in age from 29 to 86, but are weighted on the young side (Porter herself was 35 when diagnosed). Many of their quotes are succinct lessons in how to tell it like it is without being discouraging. E.g.

"I was on CMF. It made everything taste metallic, so I ate with plastic utensils."

"Chemotherapy is not a picnic...but it is survivable. I had inflammatory breast cancer, underwent an autologous bone marrow transplant, and I'm still here. Remember what your goal is."

"There is no sensation in my reconstructed breast, so sexually I feel nothing when it is touched. I do, however, feel sexier having both of my breasts."

There a list of resources in the back and good illustrations of scarf and turban tying.

Will appeal to: Any woman facing breast cancer treatment. Younger women may resonate especially to the many age-peers represented in the book.

This small book can fit in your pocket and give helpful advice at any time. The advice from survivors of breast cancer is organized by topic. Each piece of advice gives the name of the survivor (usually just the first name), her age at the date the book was published, and the date of her diagnosis. Just seeing women who had been diagnosed 30 years ago was heartening.

The advice itself is very practical and useful, and goes over the items that woment had undergone. A worthwhile book. After I read it, I passed it along to a friend who was also undergoing chemo - we both found it immensely cheering.

This is a great book for anyone who has been diagnosed with breast cancer or knows someone who has. Experiences, tips, and suggestions are given by those who have already experienced breast cancer and survived. Useful sources of wigs and bras are given as well as instructions on how to tie a turban/shawl. Very, very useful and uplifting. I have bought and given away at least six copies.