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2 reviews for:
Cancer Crossings: A Brother, His Doctors, and the Quest for a Cure to Childhood Leukemia
Tim Wendel
4.67 AVERAGE
2 reviews for:
Cancer Crossings: A Brother, His Doctors, and the Quest for a Cure to Childhood Leukemia
Tim Wendel
4.67 AVERAGE
I will admit to being biased, as the author is a friend of mine.
That being said, the only reason I put the book down after starting it was because I had to go. The author intertwines the story of his family and how they dealt with his brother’s leukemia with the story of the doctors who, at the same hospital, were working to discover a cure for leukemia. The juxtaposition can make a book choppy but he brings the two stories together so that it flows well,
I learned a lot about the fight to cure cancer at a turning point in the battle as well as how a family works through it.
This is a touching story that brings to life the people in the book.
That being said, the only reason I put the book down after starting it was because I had to go. The author intertwines the story of his family and how they dealt with his brother’s leukemia with the story of the doctors who, at the same hospital, were working to discover a cure for leukemia. The juxtaposition can make a book choppy but he brings the two stories together so that it flows well,
I learned a lot about the fight to cure cancer at a turning point in the battle as well as how a family works through it.
This is a touching story that brings to life the people in the book.
CANCER CROSSINGS by Tim Wendel is a memoir that details an important time in cancer research--a time with which the Wendel family was all too familiar as the author's brother, Eric, was diagnosed with leukemia in 1966 at age 3 and given a year to live.
Wendel's book could have been crushingly depressing. Reading about a young boy's efforts to beat a disease that killed 90% of those diagnosed is sure to be heart-wrenching, right? But instead of a sob-fest, it's an interesting look at the doctors who were fighting to keep children alive against all odds, and a nostalgic visit to perhaps the best time to be a kid. Part memoir and part medical mystery, CANCER CROSSINGS shows one family's role as a part of medical history, and it details how they navigated an almost impossibly difficult time by banding together
It would be hard to pick favorite segments of this book. I loved reading about the adventures of the Wendel family as the navigated Lake Ontario on their boat, but I was also fascinated by the doctors and the work they were doing. I wish I had been able to get to know Eric a little more--he's a hazy figure considering that he's the central figure in the book. The photos included were helpful in bringing him into focus, and I found myself staring at the school picture toward the end of the book and wondering about a world where someone so young and so good can die. As noted by one of the people who met the boy before Eric's death at age 10, he deserved a lot better.
Kudos to Tim Wendel for the amount of research that went into this book, and for his willingness to revisit a time that wasn't easy for his family. My thanks to the author and publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.
Wendel's book could have been crushingly depressing. Reading about a young boy's efforts to beat a disease that killed 90% of those diagnosed is sure to be heart-wrenching, right? But instead of a sob-fest, it's an interesting look at the doctors who were fighting to keep children alive against all odds, and a nostalgic visit to perhaps the best time to be a kid. Part memoir and part medical mystery, CANCER CROSSINGS shows one family's role as a part of medical history, and it details how they navigated an almost impossibly difficult time by banding together
It would be hard to pick favorite segments of this book. I loved reading about the adventures of the Wendel family as the navigated Lake Ontario on their boat, but I was also fascinated by the doctors and the work they were doing. I wish I had been able to get to know Eric a little more--he's a hazy figure considering that he's the central figure in the book. The photos included were helpful in bringing him into focus, and I found myself staring at the school picture toward the end of the book and wondering about a world where someone so young and so good can die. As noted by one of the people who met the boy before Eric's death at age 10, he deserved a lot better.
Kudos to Tim Wendel for the amount of research that went into this book, and for his willingness to revisit a time that wasn't easy for his family. My thanks to the author and publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.