Cancer, the dreaded six letter word that will affect almost everyone at some point in their life; whether cancer is theirs or a loved one’s. What happens when the cancer the doctors said was gone comes back only a year later and this time worse than before? For Mary Williams, this just so happened to be her case. Her malignant melanoma is back and this time an unspoken ‘terminal’ is present in the diagnosis. As a mother of two young girls, eight and eleven years old, Williams is given no choice but to fight. It does help that her team of doctors are from New York’s elite cancer treatment facility Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center which is known to be working on a new drug on melanoma patients. So when she is offered to be in a once-in-a-lifetime …show more content…
The memoir focuses on her learning to deal with cancer, the struggles of having a loved one with cancer, and the healing power of human connection. Anyone with cancer knows that the first step to having cancer is getting through the first initial feeling of being out of control, even though they are. Mary states, “Imagine that someone woke you up in the middle of the night, put a pillowcase over your head, threw you into the trunk of a car, and then dumped you in a foreign country with a parting message ‘This is where you live now.’ You don’t speak the language. You don’t know the terrain. Your new job, for whatever you may have left of your sorry life, is to figure out. This is what the period immediately following finding out you have cancer is like” (31). Mary continues on to talk about how Midtown East, Manhattan, a place she has never really been, will now become her home. Between doctor visits she will learn the area, she will learn the language that the doctors speak, even though she has no …show more content…
When speaking to her friend Debbie, Mary says “When it’s your own cancer, it’s tough because you’re feel like you have no control over what’s happening to you. Seeing it with you and with Dad, I get it now that when it’s someone you love, it’s different kind of tough. Because then you really have no control” (page 125). Toward the end of the book, she uses this topic again when talking about Debbie’s scans, because they are not looking good. She talks about how it is not fair and how she wishes that Debbie could use the same miracle drug she was given. One of the other struggles Mary talks about is the unknown and how she has no idea when it will be her last day or the one she loves last day. She writes “Our families walk to the cars, and we promise to see each other again as soon as possible. I wonder if we will, though. See each other again, I mean cancer has a way of changing your relationship with the future and your plans for it” (page 193). Cancer is an uncontrollable illness that will do whatever it wants to, for people as sick as Mary and Debbie, it could all change in a flash. All of a sudden they are dying and there is nothing that can be done. Thankfully they do see each
In this book, Kolbert travels to many places to find out what is happening with global warming. Quite often she ran into the same fear at the places she went, the fear for loss before the next generation. When she went to Alaska, many people were fleeing from their homes because the sea ice surrounding them, creating a buffer zone for storms, was melting and that was causing houses to just be swept away.
I read a book about the Boston Massacre the was originally named the bloody massacre. The amount of killed persons is generally accepted to be 5 people. The Fifth of March is a 1993 novel about the Boston Massacre (of March 5, 1770) by historian and author Ann Rinaldi, who was also the author of many other historical fiction novels such as Girl in Blue and A Break with Charity. This book is about a young indentured servant girl named Rachel Marsh who finds herself changing as she meets many people, including young Matthew Kilroy, a British private in the 29th regiment.
Diane was a patient of Dr. Timothy Quill, who was diagnosed with acute myelomonocytic leukemia. Diane overcame alcoholism and had vaginal cancer in her youth. She had been under his care for a period of 8 years, during which an intimate doctor-patient bond had been established. It was Dr. Quill’s observation that “she was an incredibly clear, at times brutally honest, thinker and communicator.” This observation became especially cogent after Diane heard of her diagnosis. Dr. Quill informed her of the diagnosis, and of the possible treatments. This series of treatments entailed multiple chemotherapy sessions, followed by a bone marrow transplant, accompanied by an array of ancillary treatments. At the end of this series of treatments, the survival rate was 25%, and it was further complicated in Diane’s case by the absence of a closely matched bone-marrow donor. Diane chose not to receive treatment, desiring to spend whatever time she had left outside of the hospital. Dr. Quill met with her several times to ensure that she didn’t change her mind, and he had Diane meet with a psychologist with whom she had met before. Then Diane complicated the case by informing Dr. Quill that she be able to control the time of her death, avoiding the loss of dignity and discomfort which would precede her death. Dr. Quinn informed her of the Hemlock Society, and shortly afterwards, Diane called Dr. Quinn with a request for barbiturates, complaining of insomnia. Dr. Quinn gave her the prescription and informed her how to use them to sleep, and the amount necessary to commit suicide. Diane called all of her friends to say goodbye, including Dr. Quinn, and took her life two days after they met.
In his book, An Imperfect God, Henry Wiencek argues in favor of Washington being the first true president to set the precedent for the emancipation of African-American slaves. Wiencek delves into the evil paradox of how a nation conceived on the principles of liberty and dedicated to the statement that all men are created equal was in a state that still preserved slavery for over seven decades following the construction of the nation. Washington’s grandeur estate at Mount Vernon at its peak had the upkeep of over 300 slaves 126 of which were owned by Washington. First, it must be understood that Washington was raised on slavery receiving ownership of 10 slaves at the age of 11 years old and that Washington was a man of his time. However, it must also be understood that Washington’s business with slavery was in the context of a constrained social and political environment. Weincek maintains that this does not exonerate the fact that Washington maintained slavery however; it does help to quantify the moral shortcoming by which Washington carried until his last year of life.
The drama, Mission of Mercy, by Esther Lipnick is a very inspiring read. It tells about a girl who doesn’t want to be like her proper, fancy family at all. Instead she wants to become a nurse. She leaves her home and becomes a nurse. It inspires me because both of my parents, and other family members of mine, are teachers, although I’m not going to be one. Mission of Mercy is a drama that could inspire many people to go for what they want, even if other people don’t always approve of it. Florence changes throughout all of the the scenes 1, 2, and 3.
In the beginning, Michelle is described as despising being at the hospital. She thinks that “the hospital bed is hard and confining”, while she also recalls the painful procedures she is to go through, as “she’d have to lie there, gritting her teeth, while nurses poke and jab to set another IV”. However, when the nurse, Brenda arrives, she reassures Michelle regarding her case going into remission, by mentioning that “cases like yours go into remission for years, and are able to live a relatively normal life”. This is foreshadowing a bright future, where Michelle could go back to her desired normal life, and is later confirmed by Claude, a middle aged man also battling leukemia, who is still alive, despite fighting the illness for nearly eight years. Another case of foreshadowing is in the beginning of the story, when Michelle is imagining the events happening outside of her window, and she thinks to herself, “sometimes the fog got so thick it looked like you could walk right out the window and keep on going”.
Cancer is a deadly disease that millions of people die from a year. Many loved ones are killed with little to no warning affecting families across our world. My family happened to be one that was affected by this atrocious disease. This event changed the way my family members and I viewed cancer.
The book Seven Kinds Of Ordinary Catastrophes by Amber Kizer is a story about a girl named Gertie that has seven major problems. There is heartbreak, the future, highschool, boys, friends, jobs, and family. Her friends Clare and Maggie bring in way too much drama that Gertie does not want to handle with at the moment. The future is really big for her too like college to go to and what job to get. Lots of things matter in highschool and she doesn’t want to fail it.
Cancer. The word by itself can conjure images of severely ill and frail people attached to IV medications and chemotherapy drugs as they cling to life in a hospital bed. Other illustrations and pictures depict unrecognizable, misshaped organs affected by abnormal cells that grow out of control, spread, and invade other parts of the body. Cancer studies show that close to one-half of all men and one-third of all women in the United States will be diagnosed with cancer during their lives. Today, millions of people are living with cancer or have had cancer. As patients are newly diagnosed with their specific type of cancer, whether it be breast, lung, prostate, skin, or blood cancer, etc., each patient has to consider what will happen with their future health care plan and who will be involved in their long journey from treatment to recovery. Once diagnosed, cancer patients become the focal point and the center of all activity in terms of care but cancer not only physically invades the patient’s body and well-being, it goes beyond the patient and significantly affects the emotional stability and support from from their loved ones and caregivers. Based on the insidious nature of cancer and typically late detection of malignant diseases, family members (either spouses, children, parents, other relatives, and friends) often become the patient's main caregiver. These caregivers, also known as informal caregivers, provide the cancer patient with the majority of the support outside of the medical facility or hospital environment and become the primary person to provide various types of assistance. They provide the physical support with bathing and assisting in activities of daily living, they become emotional ...
Ann Rinaldi has written many books for young teenagers, she is an Award winning author who writes stories of American history and makes them become real to the readers. She has written many other books such as A Break with Charity, A Ride into Morning, and Cast two Shadows, etc. She was born in New York City on August 27, 1934. In 1979, at the age of 45, she finished her first book.
The implications of becoming aware that you have been afflicted with this disease may extend far beyond just a physical condition. Learning that you have cancer can significantly affect a person’s mental, emotional, and physical health. This could cause tension in social relationships, finances, or other lifestyle choices. Becoming more anxious or depressed can considerably hinder a person’s ability to make rational decisions when it concerns their well-being. For these reasons, it is crucial for one to seek professional help for all aspects of their lives when they become aware of any serious changes.
“Just take my hand, together we can do it, I’m gonna love you through it.” (I’m Gonna Love You Through It- Martina McBride). Breast cancer is an awful disease that will change your life in a single moment. ”Everything in my life was turned upside-down. I really had a wonderful life; A husband, three children. And breast cancer came along and just smashed my world” (Janelle’s Journey). Breast cancer is an aggressive war that takes a great amount of fighting to survive. “You go from being perfectly healthy, to feeling like, ‘okay, I’m dying’. It started a whirlwind of things that I never anticipated having to go through.” (Bonnie’s Story- Beyond The Shock). Did you know that the youngest person ever to have been diagnosed with breast cancer
Through the difficult, cancer-controlled lives of Augustus, Hazel, and even Peter Van Houten, we see just how bad some people have it. They must deal with the fact that what they were given is not ideal, but must be dealt with. Augustus had to deal with this up until the last days of his life, where he began to focus on his legacy and making sure his life had a purpose, which makes it evident that others will also search for things like these throughout the course of their
The Friday Everything Changed” written by Anne Hart describes how a simple question challenges the
When one hears the word “cancer”, thoughts about how their previous life is about to change cloud the mind, but when one hears the word cancer for their child, it is a whole different outlook; the affects of childhood cancer are not only taken on by the patients, but also by their families; the affects can range from emotionally to physically, socially to financially, and even educationally. “Childhood cancer is considered rare, especially compared with adults. Still it’s the leading cause of death in children pre-adolescent, school-aged children” (Report: Childhood Cancer Rates Continue to Rise, but Treatment Helps Drive Down Deaths). Around 12,000 children in the United States are diagnosed with cancer every year and around one in five children that are diagnosed with cancer will die.