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Tom Brokaw, seventy-five, is one of America's most revered newsmen. He was in Germany when the the Berlin Wall came down, interviewed Nelson Mandela upon his release from prison, witnessed the horrors and heroics of September 11th, and was on the scene during other transformative events both in the U. S. and abroad. He has been blessed with a happy marriage to Meredith, his high-school sweetheart and wife of fifty-one years. Tom and Meredith have three devoted daughters and five grandchildren who bring them immense joy.
When Brokaw began to feel out of sorts in 2013, he thought little of it--a few twinges as one ages are not unexpected. When his condition did not improve he consulted various physicians, and discovered that he had multiple myeloma, an incurable cancer of the plasma cells in the bone marrow that can cause excruciating compression fractures in the spine. In his memoir, "A Lucky Life Interrupted," Brokaw discusses his shock at realizing that he had a serious illness; determination to do whatever he could to recover; and his gratitude to the incredible doctors and nurses who did so much to get him back on his feet.
Brokaw's lucid, candid, and unaffected prose makes us feel as if he is speaking directly to us about some of the issues that are on his mind: his initial reluctance to let the public know that he was ailing (he still wants to work on documentaries and other projects); his realization that he needed strong advocates to help him navigate the maze of America's knotty health care system; and his ultimate acceptance of the fact that, even if his condition stabilized, nothing would ever be the same. He experienced debilitating pain, lost a great deal of weight, and felt his strength drain away. Throughout his ordeal, he remained curious about the people he met.Read more ›
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I am a myeloma patient, who was diagnosed just six months following Tom Brokaw's unfortunate encounter with the same cancer. His book was not only enlightening and encouraging to me, but very interesting in the way he interwove the narrative with familiar historical events. This is a book that will certainly appeal to anyone dealing with MM, or with cancer of any kind. I recommend this book for anyone really. It is very uplifting.
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I’m always on the lookout for books that make it easier — there’s no easy way — for people to explain to others what’s going on when a person is told he/she has a very serious illness. Art Buchwald’s 2006 memoir “Too Soon to Say Goodbye” (Random House) is an excellent example and a friend just sent me this book (more about this later in the review). The graphic novel and later feature film “American Splendor” by Cleveland OH VA worker Harvey Pekar is another good one to read and get more than a laugh or two along with sage advice.
The latest book in this vein — no pun intended, although people visiting doctors had better be aware of veins and arteries — is Tom Brokaw’s “A Lucky Life Interrupted: A Memoir of Hope” (Random House, 240 pages, $27.00).By any definition, Tom Brokaw, born in South Dakota in 1940, has led a fortunate life, with a strong, loving marriage, a wonderful family, many friends and a journalism career culminating in 22 years as the respected anchor of “NBC Nightly News.”
All this changed in the summer of 2013, when back pain led him to the doctors at the Mayo Clinic, his run of good luck was interrupted. He received shocking news: He had multiple myeloma, a treatable but incurable blood cancer. Friends had always referred to Brokaw’s “lucky star,” but as he writes in this inspiring memoir, “Turns out that star has a dimmer switch.” Another way of looking at it is capsulized in the Yiddish proverb “Man plans, God laughs.”
Brokaw began to keep a journal, approaching this new stage of his life in a familiar role: as a journalist, determined to learn as much as he could about his condition, to report the story, and help others facing similar battles.Read more ›
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Tom Brokaw is a fascinating and as he accurately puts it lucky guy: he has a beautiful wife with whom he's shared half a century of togetherness and a career filled with innumerable accomplishments and well-deserved awards. But then the glow on his life dims unexpectedly by the diagnoses of a dreadful disease: multiple myeloma, a rare cancer of the blood. Is his charmed life over? In A Lucky Life Interrupted, Brokaw takes us from the debilitating back pain that ultimately leads to the diagnosis of MM and through the many setbacks during a rigorous treatment that in the end will give him the news his cancer is in remission. As a multiple myeloma patient myself, I can't recommend this book highly enough. Brokaw prose is straightforward and candid--he puts his journalistic skills to good use. And although he experiences some dark moments during his treatment, self-pity never encroaches his narrative. Perhaps the note that most resonated with me was his frustration when he felt his medical team was not communicating with each other at crucial moments. This is endemic not only to this disease but every serious disease as well. Doctors tend to concentrate on their area of expertise and go MIA at times when their knowledge might help other doctors who are looking at a patient from a different prism of knowledge. Thanks to a cadre of doctors I was able to put together outside the team of specialists in charge of my treatment--a strong recommendation by Brokaw to other MM patients--I was a able to interpret the information delivered in confusing medical terms and question how one doctor's findings influenced another' recommendation. Brokaw has been in remission for three years. For me it has been five. And like him I'm claiming my life back, and experiencing some of the "old self" showing through the veil that was once cancer. Thank you Mr. Brokaw for putting a face to this terrible disease.
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This item: A Lucky Life Interrupted: A Memoir of Hope (Random House Large Print)
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