At Face Value: My Struggle With a Disfiguring Cancer

I was a senior at the University of California at Berkeley. At the age of twenty, my life had been smooth sailing, seldom interrupted with adversity or difficulty. I was confident and not concerned much with my appearance. But out of nowhere, a lump had formed behind my right nostril. I had cancer. I fought it and survived. But after multiple surgeries and radiation treatment, I would discover that I hadn't even begun to deal with what would become my greatest struggle for years to come - the disfigurement that resulted from it.

At Face Value explores the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual challenges that a disfiguring cancer brings to one's life. It's a story about tragedy, obstacles, and ultimately, about triumph. At Face Value is a personal story that tells about the life I celebrated, but took for granted; the life I abhorred and tried to change; and the life that I treasured because it finally had meaning.

Terry Healey is a cancer survivor who endured over thirty surgical procedures in an effort to reconstruct his face, which was disfigured by a rare form of cancer when he was only a junior at UC Berkeley. Through a long and arduous process, Terry realized that the scars on the inside had become far more disfiguring than the scars on the outside ever were. Today, Terry is a professional speaker, author, and runs his own high technology sales and marketing strategy consulting firm.