A patient with metastatic breast cancer discusses what helps her find comfort.
PUBLISHED November 10, 2017
Martha lives in Illinois and was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in January 2015. She has a husband and three children, ranging in age from 12 to 18, a dog and a lizard.When patients with terminal cancer share their experiences, the rest of us can find comfort.
“That sounds a little macabre,” I recall a good friend of mine saying a couple of years ago when I asked if she’d come with me to hear the wife of Paul Kalanithi speak.
Kalanithi, for those of you who don’t know, was a neurosurgeon and the author of “When Breath Becomes Air,” a beautiful and stark bestseller about his work and his life with stage 4 metastatic lung cancer. He died of that disease in 2015 at the age of 37 — 10 months before his book’s publication.
His wife, Lucy, is also a physician. Kalanithi’s medical understanding of his progression and treatment is a reminder that even when we know what’s happening, we often must rely on other things — faith, love and hope — to get through
His wife, Lucy, is also a physician. Kalanithi’s medical understanding of his progression and treatment is a reminder that even when we know what’s happening, we often must rely on other things — faith, love and hope — to get through
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