Happy National Book Lovers Day! Do you love to read? Would you like to support cancer survivors? We’ve put together a list of books for you and, you guessed it all the authors are cancer survivors!
Love After Cancer – Keesha Carter
Cancer was the diagnosis. Purpose was the answer. Now, 9 years later, Keesha La Luz Carter shares her story of facing stage 3 cervical cancer with a unique twist. Feel the H. E. A. T. today when you read her new book, Love After Cancer: A Journey through Hope, Empowerment, Affirmation, and Transformation! The thing that has broken you—the thing that has consumed you—the thing that has torn you down, flipped you around and shook your world until it crumbled into millions and billions of pieces—yes, that thing—it may be the thing that has made you stronger. Life experiences have created you to be the awesome person you have become. Embrace the brokenness. The moments you have grown to hate—learn to love them. It is what makes you fierce and unstoppable. Look at it from a different perspective and life as you know it will be transformed. You have made it before, and you surely can, and will, do it again. Once you absorb this to be true, you will enjoy and love life in a way that will blow your mind. People will look at you in amazement when they hear your story. After knowing what you have been through, they won’t be able to fathom how you made it. They will wonder how you kept going. It is your purpose birthed from your pain that keeps you moving. It’s your destiny that is discovered through your dirt—your divine destiny. So, as a child of the Most High, put on your crown, Diva and walk into your divine destiny. Keesha “La Luz” Carter Works with women who are fighters and survivors on their cancer journey. As the founder of Serenity, Courage & Wisdom, Inc. (SCAWINC), she has helped dozens of women to use the Creative Arts as an outlet on their cancer journey. SCAWINC also helps survivors with obtaining resources for their basic needs while in treatment.
https://www.amazon.com/Love-After-Cancer-Empowerment-Transformation/dp/1979688028
Everything Happens for a Reason:and Other Lies I've Loved – Katie Bowler
Kate Bowler is a professor at Duke Divinity School with a modest Christian upbringing, but she specializes in the study of the prosperity gospel, a creed that sees fortune as a blessing from God and misfortune as a mark of God’s disapproval. At thirty-five, everything in her life seems to point toward “blessing.” She is thriving in her job, married to her high school sweetheart, and loves life with her newborn son. Then she is diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer. The prospect of her own mortality forces Kate to realize that she has been tacitly subscribing to the prosperity gospel, living with the conviction that she can control the shape of her life with “a surge of determination.” Even as this type of Christianity celebrates the American can-do spirit, it implies that if you “can’t do” and succumb to illness or misfortune, you are a failure. Kate is very sick, and no amount of positive thinking will shrink her tumors. What does it mean to die, she wonders, in a society that insists everything happens for a reason? Kate is stripped of this certainty only to discover that without it, life is hard but beautiful in a way it never has been before. Frank and funny, dark and wise, Kate Bowler pulls the reader deeply into her life in an account she populates affectionately with a colorful, often hilarious retinue of friends, mega-church preachers, relatives, and doctors. Everything Happens for a Reason tells her story, offering up her irreverent, hard-won observations on dying and the ways it has taught her to live.
https://katebowler.com/books/everything-happens-for-a-reason/
Joy – Joy Clausen Soto
In this moving memoir, Joy Clausen Soto vividly brings us into her world. We see her go from her dream job to fighting for her life and how she is able to come back from it all. You can't avoid falling in love with her quirks, indomitable spirit, and wry sense of humor.
Soto takes readers on a compelling journey as she faces cancer and the challenges she encounters while re-entering "normal" life. Her ability to find something amusing, redeeming, or beautiful in every situation is not only relatable, but wonderful to experience. This is an inspirational story of how joy can be found in the smallest moments and something meaningful can be created from our greatest challenges in life.
https://www.joyclausensoto.com
Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips – Kris Carr
Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips gathers the lessons learned and cancer tips offered during my journey as well as my cancer posse’s experiences. Full-color photos accompany personal stories and candid revelations in this scrapbook of advice, warnings and resources for the cancer patient.
Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips covers everything from choosing an oncologist, to building a complementary team, to navigating your changing social life, to essential tips on nutrition and how to boost your immune system. You’ll have recipes, medical and holistic resources, and information on young survivor support groups at your fingertips. The resulting cancer resource book is a warm, informative tool for any man or woman newly diagnosed with the disease and for the people who love them.
One day, when I was an actress and photographer, I thought I had a hangover, but a Jivamukti yoga class didn’t provide its usual kickass cure. A visit to my doctor confirmed that my “liver looked like Swiss cheese,” as it was covered with cancerous tumors. I entered trench warfare (wearing cowboy boots into the MRI machine, no less). Cancer needed a makeover, and I was just the gal to do it!
I began writing about and filming my journey, documenting my interactions with friends, doctors, alternative “quacks,” blind dates and other women with cancer, which is, sadly, a growing group. I compiled my cancer tips into a fun cancer resource book for people who want to navigate their wellness journey with humor and love.
https://kriscarr.com/products/crazy-sexy-cancer-tips/
Seriously What Are You Waiting For? --Tamika Felder
Many of us are waiting for the right moment, the perfect opportunity, the sign that the time is ripe for change. But what happens while you’re waiting?
Time passes you by – time you’ll never get back while you’re waiting for that perfect moment.
A seasoned broadcaster and international speaker on women’s health and cancer prevention, Tamika Felder shares in this book her secrets for making magic happen. If there’s an obstacle holding you back from igniting your life, Tamika will help you push through it. If there’s a truth you’re not strong enough to face, Tamika will help you find the courage to face it.
Whatever your struggle, Tamika will get you living your life beyond it. Tamika isn’t just a survivor. She’s the cheerleader who can light that spark and help get you soaring in life! Seriously, what are you waiting for?
https://www.tamikafelder.com/book/
Ovarian Cancer Journeys: Survivors Share Their Stories To Help Others by Ayala Miron
"All of the research has reinforced that ovarian cancer is not a silent disease as was once thought and as is shown quite eloquently in this collection of stories.... The value of this collection of stories is that it helps raise awareness about symptoms, need for patient persistence, and the importance of being treated by a gynecologic oncologist." Barbara A. Goff, MD Professor and Co-Director, Division of Gynecologic Oncology University of Washington School of Medicine Women of ages 17 to 78 join to tell their true stories. Find out about the lessons they have learned along their ovarian cancer journeys; from symptoms to diagnosis, trough treatments, and survival. Ovarian cancer facts: Occurs in 1 out of 57 women 89% have symptoms at the early stages of the disease 75% are diagnosed in the late stages of the disease 90% do not have history of ovarian cancer in their family Early detection is critical and can improve survival rate to 90%
https://www.amazon.com/Ovarian-Cancer-Journeys-Survivors-2004-09-09/dp/B01F9FULHW
It Isn't Ugly Forever.: What I wish I knew when I went through cancer - Stacey Peterson
We all know cancer is ugly. Too many of us have been there, done that and received a t-shirt. Others have stood next to the thrivers of the world and helped to beat down doors. Too many times we did this while making up the rules as we went along. The day after I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer I started to wonder what I was supposed to do next. Being a natural list maker I wanted to know how I would get through cancer and I tried desperately to cross off something from my list.Ten years after I was diagnosed I have published the book I wish I would have had when I was on my cancer journey. It includes my story and a variety of lists that I wish I would have had to know that I was moving forward.Patients and caregivers alike will be able to enjoy this book and gain direction of how to move through cancer with purpose and drive.
https://www.amazon.com/Isnt-Ugly-Forever-through-cancer/dp/0692721533
Jellybeans for Mom - Stacey Peterson
AnnMarie is visiting her mom at the hospital and giving readers an inside scoop of what it will be like when they visit their loved one. She introduces new words to young readers and encourages and supports them through this journey. Vivid pictures help readers feel comfortable with the hospital scene and the helpful hints in the back of the book allow caregivers to guide children through difficult days.
https://www.amazon.com/Jellybeans-Mom-Stacey-Peterson/dp/0692740147