Women Confront Cancer : Making Medical History by
Choosing Alternative and Complementary Therapies
by Margaret J. Wooddell (Editor), David J. Hess (Editor), Barbara Joseph
Reader Review From Amazon.Com
Alternative therapies are essential --21 women say why
Twenty-one very different women confront cancer and all come to the same conclusion:
that treatments offered by mainstream, conventional medicine are inherently harmful and
offer no guarantee to save their lives. Some discuss how the science confirms this view.
All come to the intuitive knowledge that something more is required. They learn that
current treatments have a poor track record in saving women from dying of cancer. Some
of them use some or all conventional treatments first--surgery, radiation,
chemotherapy,hormone therapy-- and then use other complementary therapies to reduce
the toxic effects, support their recovery and prevent recurrance of their cancer. A few
refuse conventional treatments and choose so-called alternative therapies. Individually,
the stories are very interesting, even gripping. The book taken as a whole is greater than
the sum of its parts, leaving the reader with a new understanding. It is
enlightening--presenting some of the less known scientific aspets of conventional cancer
treatment, revealing characteristics of the medical community which treats the disease,
and demonstrating, in 21 different ways, the psychology of taking charge of one's own
healing--regardless of personality or personal background. Some of these women make
us laugh, others may move us to tears of sadness or frustration. The bottom line for all
these women: they know that no one can predict whether or not they will die of their
cancer; that something allowed their cancer to come forward, so something in thier lives
has to change to prevent its recurrance. Since conventional cancer medicine does not
build health, they set off to find health partners, knowing that they themselves have the
key to their own healing. All seem to discover a spirituality, though many are not
particularly religious. All have lived with cancer in a way of their own choosing--all have
triumped over needless suffering, have discovered a new dimension to their lives. A few
have died in the last few months, long past the time when conventional medicine had
given them up for lost. . None of these women lost the battle--rather each is showing us
the way--and showing us that the way is as unique as each person who commits herself
to the task. For that, this book is inspiring and instructive.