Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

The best customer is an educated customer, especially when the business you dealing with is cancer! Mr. Ruzic, a man of Science and logic, fought his own personal cancer war against the dogmatic Chemo culture and won. He done it by learning to be a better-educated and well-informed customer in the advancing research field of cancer. If you life is touch by cancer (either personally or with a love one), you need to read this book and get your love one to read it too. It could give you an insight in saving valuable life (you will never know when you'll be called upon to make a life-and-death decision).

Mr. Ruzic's written style is excellence. He describes his search for his belief in a professional and objective manner. Because of his background, he is able to describe technical and medical matters in layman terms. By reading this book, you will surely learn a few things about the cancer as well as the latest advancements in cancer treatment/options (if FDA would approve it fast enough).

All in all, this is a pleasure and intellectual read. If I have to sum up one important lesson I learned from this book and which is "for matter that is important to you, don't rely completely on the so-call expert to advice you. One has to learn one's affair and be one's advocate."

Racing To A Cure is the personal memoir of Neil Ruzic, a former scientific magazine publisher and originator of a science center, who in 1998 was diagnosed with mantle-cell lymphoma, a deadly cancer of the lymph system. Even though he was expected to die within two years of being diagnosed, five years later he has been declared cancer free. Neil attributes his cure to his innovation and persistence; rather than rely chemotherapy and radiation treatment which is notorious in frequently being ineffective for long-term cures, he pursued cures that were being developed in the nation's cancer-research laboratories. Racing To A Cure presents Neil's discoveries in a harshly analytical light, attacking other "chemo culture" and unscientific "alternative" therapies while presenting the virtues and successes of state-of-the-art molecularly based technologies. Racing To A Cure is "must" reading for anyone having to deal with cancer in their lives or the lives of their loved ones.

Having had lymphoma for five years now, I was eager to read Ruzic's book. I learned quite a bit -- or at least terms to use in my never-ending research into indolent lymphoma. Four years ago, I had been so sick that I could hardly walk across a room; I coughed incessantly, and if I ate anything, it came up the next time I coughed. I had just about every test anyone could imagine, but the malignancy never surfaced as the cause for my horrible night sweats, constant weight loss, endless coughing. My doctor thought I had lymphoma, but even after two weeks in the hospital, no one could find anything to blame the symptoms on.

In desperation, my husband got me an appointment with an oncologist at UAB in Birmingham, AL (250 miles from home); my doctor there did the usual biopsies, which continued to be
"Inconclusive." However, he had a DNA study done, and eventually, he found my aggressive Type B Lymphoma. I received CHOP and Rituxan for 8 treatments--my husband drove me to Birmingham for each treatment--I still go to Birmingham for my CT scans and treatments. After the first treatment, I began to feel much better than before. I have not experienced the terrible side effects Ruzic describes of chemo. The staff at UAB was very well trained in ways to avoid nausea and pain. I was also on Nulasta to build white cells. After two years, I was declared "cured" because aggressive lymphoma almost always resurfaces if it is going to within two years. However, after three years, I discovered swollen lymph nodes again. When I had a biopsy again in Birmingham, the diagnosis was malignancy, but for indolent lymphoma, non-curable. The oncologist says that I had indolent lymphoma all along, but it had transformed to agressive in 2002; now I'm looking at treatments for the rest of my life because indolent is not curable.

I am presently receiving Cytoxin, Prednisone, and Rituxan.
I tell my story here so that you will understand "where I'm coming from" regarding Racing to a Cure. I disagree with Ruzic's description of the chemo culture; I've found caring, professional people trying to help me "get my life back." During the three years I was in remission, I saw my grandson born, and then my granddaughter. I consider the three years that chemo gave me a special blessing and a great gift.

I wish all cancer victims had the time and money to do the things Ruzic did -- I can't even imagine getting into the places he got into, and knowing the people he knew. His studies certainly add a measure to our understanding of biologic treatment and give us hope for something better than chemo.

But I have to "stick up for chemo" and the value it has added to my life. Receiving Rituxan in my initial treatment and again after my relapse certainly came at just the right time in 2002 and then in 2006. I don't know if I would have made it without Rituxan.

I was so sorry to read that Mr. Ruzic has succumbed to lymphoma. I am thankful for his research and its preservation in the form of a book which is easy to read, but at times, I thought I was reading some sort of science fiction book. (Alas, the traveling and so forth made me think of _Gulliver's Travels_); however, I am probably too harsh a judge, being a college English professor.

These are my impressions of the book and the reasons I awarded the book only three stars. I am thankful for chemo and Rituxan!
I think every lymphoma patient should read the book for the possibilites Ruzic discusses, nonetheless. I celebrated by 59th birthday yesterday, and every day I live now is very special to me; I know I would not have lived another three months without chemo in 2002.

This is one of the best books on the mystery of Cancer and why we still don't have a cure easily available that I have ever read. The author has a gift in his ability to explain the science of Cancer in a way that is easily understood by anyone.
This book can also provide Hope for anyone fighting Cancer by explaining how you can take control of your future medical care and help your Doctor by being a partner in your care and hopefully your cure. The author has seen the politics involved with Cancer research funding and the road blocks in the way of our scientists. This book will motivate you to write those letters to our Senators and Congressman and demand changes to the current system. This is an excellant book.

I read the book, then found out that the author died after writing it - how saddening that was. Yes, I have to give credit where credit is due - a lot of good points were brought out, but I've since found other books on healing methods that aren't damaging to the body that are more current with better info and the authors are alive and well after using their own advice.

In 1998, Neil Ruzic went in to surgery to have his spleen and three lymph nodes removed and came out of the surgery to find that he had Mantle-Cell Lymphoma, a very aggressive cancer that attacks the lymph system. Ruzic immediately set into action discussing his future course of treatment with oncologists and cancer researchers. As he had been the successful father of a scientific magazine, he appreciated the necessity and process of understanding his disease. He quickly decided that he did not want to undergo toxic chemotherapy whose side effects would likely take his life faster than the cancer and instead wished to find another method of curing himself. He went around the country visiting and investigating the newest methods of treatment and eventually decided on biotherapy. He went into remission for 5 years, 3 and a half more years than his original prognosis. Sadly, his cancer returned at that point and took his life.
This book is a must-read for people who are diagnosed with cancer, have relatives diagnosed, or who are simply interested in the emerging treatments available. Not only does it show the emotional side of cancer but it also describes in scientific, yet understandable terms many the many different ways of fighting it off. The back of the book has a notes section on many of the ideas mentioned as well as a glossary. Ruzic dropped the activities in his life and devoted his time to curing his cancer. This story is truly inspirational as it sheds light on the future and the many potential cures that we may one day see. This book gives recognition to much of the research being done around the country.
While Ruzic has much more money than the average person and is thus much more able to travel and find the best treatment, he still is easy to empathize with because he is racing against death. No matter how much money a person has, they need science to be cured. I found this book especially interesting because it teaches about the way cancer attacks the body through the treatments that are being studied rather than simply laying out the facts. I am intrigued by the emerging therapies and this book has sparked a desire for me to join the field of cancer research.

This is a must-read for all newly diagnosed cancer patients, and it should be re-issued with proper publicity. You know the Cancer Industry doesn't want potential customers to read it. I too refused chemo, and a few days after I was to have had my first round, it was ascertained I had no disease.

It gets a little technical, but the first few chapters will make you furious and get your attention, especially the fact that you will be denied real treatment until your body is destroyed by chemotherapy.