Customer Reviews

Leukemia for Chickens

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"Roger Madoff." I was just on my way out from my hairdresser when the name on the book jacket caught my eye. Roger had been a star among my reporters for two years when I was stock market editor at Bloomberg in the `90s. He was brilliant, personable, knowledgeable but humble, an excellent reporter. Delighted to see his name in print and eager to see what he had written, I picked up the book and found a photo of a very young Roger with a huge Smoky the Bear in the background. My pleasure disappeared suddenly as I read the title: "Leukemia for Chickens."

My heart fell as I opened the book and read the foreword written by a dean at Weill Cornell Medical College. "When Roger was first diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 29, he very made a conscious decision to fight his disease...With candor and humor, Roger chronicles his illness up until a few months before he courageously faced death in April 2006."

I turned to my hairdresser. "I knew him!" I blurted. "His whole family comes here," said the hairdresser. "They gave me this book today."

Mumbling a plea to pass along my condolences, I headed for the elevator, images of Roger flooding my mind. It wasn't until I had arrived home and ordered Roger's book on Amazon that I realized that in my shock, I had walked out without paying the bill.

When the book arrived a day later, I thought it would be a tough read. Roger's widow, Jennifer, had published it herself. No surprise there - no doubt, agents would have wanted an uplifting account about how somebody beat the disease. Over the next few days, though, I found myself unable to put the book down. I finished it today, crying.

It took just one day for Roger to enter the tortures of the damned. Feeling tired, he went to the family doctor and had a blood test that showed a high white blood cell count. Within 24 hours of retest and diagnosis, he began chemotherapy -- the first step in a process that would involve the complete destruction of his immune system in the hope of growing a new, healthy one.

Roger had always been a compelling writer -- exuberant, totally original. A member of one of the most dynamic families on Wall Street, he had grown up talking stocks around the family table and probably knew more about the market than the rest of Bloomberg's New York news staff combined. But he never mentioned his family at all, and accepted editing with great grace. Grace, in fact, was a word that could have summed him up - he was a gracious person, graced with brains, a great personality, high energy, inventiveness, good looks, a wonderful family and a girlfriend, later wife. As a reporter, Roger had the equivalent of what my partner Victor Niederhoffer calls "a money-making personality" in traders - he had a story-making personality. He could find "new news" and do it justice. Not only was he an exceptionally vivid writer and expert phrase-turner; he had a merry sense of humor and would often put something outrageous into his stories -- just so that I would have something to take out, he once explained with a grin. I remember one classic Roger story that included the quote, "Puts are for putzes." I thought it was both funny and accurate, but a higher-up indignantly demanded the removal of what he deemed exceedingly offensive profanity. (One result of the incident is that we were treated to a highly detailed and hilarious explanation by the bureau chief of the scale on which "putz" falls.)

Roger was regarded with affection and respect in the newsroom. That doesn't explain why I, who rarely finish any book, finished his book. It wasn't as though we were personal friends. I knew he had gone to work for a unit of the family firm, Primex, on a project to build a digital trading auction, but I hadn't spoken to him in years.

The reason I couldn't put the book down is that it's a highly interesting, endearing first-person account by a stellar reporter of what it's like to undergo cancer treatment in the 21st century. You won't hear the real story by asking a patient or a doctor. The patient is likely to say, "I'm doing fine," while even an exceptionally sensitive doctor would be unable to give the story from the patient's perspective. While leukemia is rare, the stem-cell transplants that Roger underwent are used to treat two dozen other diseases. (He never had much more than a 50% chance - a fact that Roger says he was not aware of as he embarked on the treatment. His doctor, he writes, `discouraged me from inquiring about discomforting statistics."

Roger tells about the treatments, the geometrically expanding side effects and resulting physical ailments and difficulties associated with the treatments, about his own emotions, about the effect on his own family and his marriage. The gracious Roger I knew survived it all -- there is no hint of bitterness or rancor toward his doctors or anyone else. Eventually, he tells how he came to terms with not being a conquering hero.

"I had to reconcile myself to the fact that there are forces beyond my control, and yet I had to continue to work as if there weren't," he wrote. "Maybe I was turning a blind eye to the reality of my struggle, but I knew I would resume living my life as fully as possible. I would try to find richness in every day I had in front of me. I had always tried to live this way and I would reserve my strength for the moments that mattered, regardless of how small they were and how often they came."

If you are close to someone with cancer, or if you are in health care yourself, I'd recommend this book. As an example of great work performed under extremely adverse conditions, it is worthy of a Pulitzer.

once started, i could not put the book down! an incredible first person brutally frank and honest account of a young man's difficult journey through a terrible ordeal.

This funny, brave, honest little book educates and edifies. I recommend it to all, but foremost to those training to be healers. I know of no finer introduction to disease then the one communicated here with careful, journalistic prose. As a doctor, it taught me more about the experience of illness than any grand rounds or medical school lecture. The author shows us that the great battle that is terminal illness is fought in many ways and in many places. As we interact with patients as therapists, nurses, and doctors we have an opportunity through our actions to honor this battle or to miss that opportunity. We are summoned here to know the experience of illness more deeply and with this understanding to act with far greater sympathy and compassion. It has my highest recommendation.

While Roger's memoir is a lesson in living though illness, I found that this book was more about relationships based on love, courage, empathy and humor. Roger shares with us the remarkable intimate relationships he had with his amazing wife Jen, his family and all those friends (and strangers) touched by his infectious humor and optimisim. His account of his life as a patient should serve as an instruction guide for all in the medical profession; it will teach you more about the patients experience then any textbook or residency. For patients, it serves to teach us how to advocate for ourselves as well as help us to understand that medicine isn't perfect and our caregivers do the best they can for us with what is available.

This is a book about living. An inspiring and often times laugh-out-loud read. Highly recommended!

As someone who does judge a book by its cover - this one is not to be missed. The picture of the innocent little boy on the front cover grabs your heart and the story revealed inside reminds you how precious life truly is and how you must cherish those people around you. Roger tells his story with courage, dignity and a sense of humor that makes you laugh out loud. An incredible book that should be read by all.

I could not stop turning the pages of this inspirational book. I loved getting to know Roger, a witty, bright, and incredibly brave man, during his heartbreaking struggle against this horrible illness. His thought- provoking and humor-filled memoir about illness, but more importantly about the will to live reveal a rare literary gift. I highly recommend Leukemia for Chickens--I think it will touch all those who are lucky enough to share this journey with the author.

I anticipated a book about a young man's struggle against Leukemia to be quite difficult to read, however I couldn't stop turning the pages once I got started. As a person with loved ones who battled cancer, I was inspired by the author's courage, positive outlook, and ability to face many challenges with the support of his own family and circle of friends and doctors. Believe it or not, I actually laughed aloud in spots. I would highly recommend this book. It is a story worth reading.

LEUKEMIA FOR CHICKENS is a personal and emotional account of one man's battle against Acute Mylogenous (sp) Leukemia. It is a must-read for anyone who's life has been touched by cancer. This book is the touching story of how Roger Madoff faces a horrific ordeal, with the love and unwavering support of his wife, Jennifer along with friends and family, with a grace and dignity that is unimaginable. The book is written in a very conversational and accessible way, making it a compelling and quick, although sometimes painful, read. The first person account of Roger's struggles will offer insight to anyone who is fighting against cancer or loves someone who is fighting against it. I feel more enriched for having read this book and for bringing Roger and his family and friends into my life.

Roger Madoff is and was one of my best friends, and my review of his book is inevitably biased because of that fact. One might imagine that a story about a 30-year-old getting an ultimately fatal disease would make for a depressing story, but I believe that what makes Roger's book so amazing is that he manages to make you feel good about life even as he recounts the extremely difficult three-and-a-half years that he endured fighting leukemia. Roger succeeded in doing this because his book explains how he managed to maintain his courage, his good humor and his love for family and friends even as both the leukemia and the treatment attacked his body. I hope this book will allow many others to have the same fortune that I did in knowing Roger.

I went to college with Roger but lost touch with him after graduation. I read this book shortly after it was published, and it reminded me what a terrific person he was and how awful it was to lose him so soon. But you don't have to know Roger to appreciate this book. I'd recommend it for anyone, and especially anyone who knows someone struggling with cancer or who it struggling with it themselves. It's a smart and often wry guide to what to expect.