Racing to a Cure: A Cancer Victim Refuses Chemotherapy and Finds Tomorrow's Cures in Today's Scientific Laboratories [Paperback]

Neil Ruzic (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 7, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0252073576 | ISBN-13: 978-0252073571

In 1998 Neil Ruzic was diagnosed with mantle-cell lymphoma, the deadliest cancer of the lymph system. Unhappy with the success rates of standard chemotherapy and radiation treatments, Ruzic took control of his destiny and began to investigate the cutting-edge cures being developed in research laboratories. Going on the offensive, Ruzic visited scores of laboratories, talked to researchers, gathered information, and effectively became his own patient-care advocate. "Racing to a Cure" provides a scathing critique of the chemotherapy culture as well as of unscientific "alternative" therapies and endorses state-of-the-art, molecularly based technologies, making it an illuminating and necessary read for anyone interested in cancer research, especially patients and their families and physicians. Although expected to die within two years of his initial diagnosis, Neil Ruzic survived for more than five years before the cancer returned and claimed his life in January 2004. David Ruzic has added new material to this edition to explain the most recent cancer therapies for Mantle Cell Lymphoma as well as celebrate his father's achievements in extending his life, exploding myths about cancer, and setting precedents for patients wanting more from their treatment.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

In September 1998 publisher and scientific journalist Ruzic was diagnosed with mantle-cell lymphoma (MCL), an aggressive cancer of the lymph system. Even for an otherwise healthy man in his upper sixties, this was worse than a death sentence. He faced a prognosticated further life-span of 18 months, and that would be made insufferable by side effects from the prescribed chemotherapy. For Ruzic, a self-defined "change agent," consuming large quantities of chemical poisons only to allow cancer still to claim his life was unacceptable. In his opinion, physicians too easily rely upon what is considered the gold standard of cancer treatment, chemical therapy. His scientific mind was certain that there were other, perhaps more effective and certainly less deadly treatment options, if one could find them. He made finding a cure for his cancer a full-time job, one in which he emptied entire file cabinets only to refill them with volumes of new research. He discovered that an abundance of biological therapies is being developed in the scientific, rather than the strictly medical, arena; and he reports that those biotherapies and vaccines are proving highly effective for cancer treatment. His well-written memoir recounts a four-year odyssey that took him from splenectomy and diagnosis, through successfully ditching chemotherapy in favor of biotherapy, and to what he boldly calls a cure. Donna Chavez
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Racing to a Cure is a true adventure story complete with suspense, action, and the mysteries of cancer explained. The present relationship between all-knowing doctors and sheeplike patients should change into a partnership due to this book. It is must reading for anyone hoping to be cured of cancer."

Product Details

• Paperback: 456 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press (March 7, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252073576
• ISBN-13: 978-0252073571
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #829,228 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #24 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Aging > Cancer > Lymphatic

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A real life adventure with the ultimate stakes--saving lives, January 25, 2004

By 

bro "booksonscience" (Shreveport, LA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Racing to a Cure: A Cancer Victim Refuses Chemotherapy and Finds Tomorrow's Cures in Today's Scientific Laboratories (Hardcover)

I loved this book. Read it!! It really should have been publicized much more; far lesser books end up on the NYT bestsellers list. It is a true adventure story about a man diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma (one of the worst cancers) who refuses to be just another sheep within America's "chemo culture". Instead, he crisscrosses the country in his own airplane, meeting and talking to scientists (the true cancer doctors) within their own laboratories, at the cutting edge of knowledge, in order to try to find a cure for his disease. This book was truly eye-opening, and it is even worth a second-read. It was written with the painstaking efforts of a great science writer who can effectively communicate to the layman and hold the interest of scientists at the same time, something that's very hard to do. I applaud Mr. Ruzic's achievements and his selfless efforts to help others who haven't been blessed with his intellect and financial advantages in life. We need people like him in government. Things really need to be shaken up in the FDA. Ironically, the slow progress in the development of effective new clinical treatments for cancer continues at a time when the scientific understanding of cancer and its molecular bases has grown by leaps and bounds in the past 8 years. One problem appears to be that oncologists have their hands tied by the FDA, and as a result, they often neglect to keep up with the latest developments. This is why we continue to lose so many people to cancer, and so many cancers remain completely incurable (e.g. pancreatic cancer). For instance, even with new cancer vaccines and monoclonal antibodies under development, virtually all clinical trials today require the patient to first take massive doses of highly toxic chemotherapeutic agents. Often cocktails of toxic chemotherapeutic drugs are used that simultaneously devastate the immune system and end up making the cancer refractory to further treatment. What remedies can be taken against this wrong-headed philosophy in order get more of the latest less toxic biotherapies from the lab and into the clinic NOW? After reading this book, it is clear to me that the hospital administrators overseeing the oncology residency programs in America need to be replaced with fresh blood. Also, the FDA needs to be reformed from the ground up. I especially liked one quote in this book, which I have found to be so true, "Welcome to the world of cancer, where doctors are witches and patients are doctors........" Such is the state of affairs in this country, where our government has given us third-rate medical care for cancer, with doctors who fill your body with toxins and then leave you for dead, telling you there is nothing more that can be done. We deserve better treatment, even if that simply means regaining our God-given freedom to treat our own bodies against this dreaded disease.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Please Be Aware Of His Current Condition, January 25, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Racing to a Cure: A Cancer Victim Refuses Chemotherapy and Finds Tomorrow's Cures in Today's Scientific Laboratories (Hardcover)

I found this book to be excellent and recommend it as required reading to anyone who is currently battling cancer. However, please be aware that shortly after the book was published, Mr. Ruzic's cancer returned. The knowledge he gained during his hunt for the cure is invaluable - a real eye-opener to world of cancer treatment. He managed to excellently stem the progress of his cancer without using chemotherapy until this past year.

If you have cancer or are close to one who does, please read the book, but understand that the author had not yet been cured.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mr. Ruzic died, June 29, 2004

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Racing to a Cure: A Cancer Victim Refuses Chemotherapy and Finds Tomorrow's Cures in Today's Scientific Laboratories (Hardcover)

Mr. Ruzic died in late January 2004. His illness returned and claimed his life a few months after the book published. Nevertheless, his efforts and spirit as described in this book are heroic, and our medical practitioners have a lot to learn about how to train people and think objectively.