Cancervive - Hardcover

Nessim, Susan; Ellis, Judith

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0395561906 ISBN 13: 9780395561904

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1991

Synopsis

For this country's five million cancer survivors, the good news is that they are cured; the bad is that they cannot put cancer behind them. They are ostracized by old friends and former lovers, discriminated against on the job, refused insurance, left with physical and psychological effects from the cancer, often unable to have children, and always fearful of recurrence. Yet because they have been "cured," they have difficulty communicating their problems to friends and relatives or to the medical profession.
Susan Nessim, who had cancer in her late teens, faced many of these hidden problems. Several years ago she founded Cancervive, a support group that deals with the problems of survivorship. This book is based on the experiences of Cancervive's members and the advice of experts in the field. In recent years, recognition of the needs of former cancer patients has led to the formation of support groups in ten major hospitals across the country. Other survivor groups are regularly being founded as former cancer patients and their families become an increasingly vocal constituency. Addressed to the individual cancer survivor, this book, with its expert advice and its understanding, empathetic tone, will also be a resource for the growing postcancer community.

About this title

About the Author:

A documentary filmmaker who was diagnosed with cancer when she was in her early teens, Susan Nessim organized a national support group for cancer victims called Cancervive. She speaks at medical centers throughout the country and has produced seven documentaries on cancer.

From Kirkus Reviews:

A down-to-earth guidebook for survivors of cancer, who face many problems when they finish treatment and reenter the everyday world of the well: ending their emotional ties with their care- givers; managing fear of cancer's recurrence; rebuilding relationships with family, friends, and lovers; obtaining medical insurance; getting or keeping a job; coping with the long-term effects of chemotherapy and radiation and sometimes with loss of a body part or loss of fertility. Especially useful are the sections on insurance and job discrimination, which summarize legal rights and provide lists of sources for help and information. The value of support groups such as Cancervive, which Nessim (herself a cancer survivor) founded, is emphasized. Personal anecdotes from cancer survivors and professional advice from social workers, oncologists, nurses, and others are used judiciously throughout to reinforce the authors' points. Although aimed specifically at former cancer patients, the common-sense approach employed by Nessim and Ellis (the latter has written for Life and L.A. West) makes this valuable reading for survivors of other chronic illnesses facing social barriers and physical and emotional burdens. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0395561906
• ISBN 13: 9780395561904
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 264