Book Description

David Farmer's "The Cancer Diaries: A Journey through the Crucible" is the poignant, moving, intimate story of how cancer affected his family, and how this Christian family responded to and dealt with the illness.In 1998, Carol Farmer, an active, vibrant mother of two, received a diagnosis from her doctor that is every woman's worst nightmare: You have breast cancer. Compounding her struggle, four years later, David was diagnosed with kidney cancer.David, Carol and their two children, Cherise and Danielle, lived an ideal life in beautiful Lancaster County, Pennsylvania before this disease turned their comfortable existence into a frightening and confusing one. After the family recovered from the initial shock, their day-to-day activities went from worrying about schedules and school to sorting out the complexities of cancer and planning their survival strategy.While they were processing the enormous amounts of information on the subject, consulting with doctors and determining the best course of treatment, each began journaling their experiences, their deepest fears and the rollercoaster of emotions one goes through. Each was unaware that the others were doing so.This narration is a compilation of the four different diaries. From four different points of view, the reader is drawn into a four-year period of the family's experiences, from diagnosis through the surgeries, chemotherapy and recovery.The "Diaries" takes the reader from the shock of the initial diagnoses through the fears, prayers and hopes of the family. It tells the struggles to continue a normal life amid the confusion and frustration of doctors, hospitals and medications. It also tells the humorous side of the disease, a prosthesis that doesn't stay in place, how a bald guy buys mousse, and taking hemlock to help the cure.The book details the family's internal stresses and the complementary therapies they employed, everything from Pak Man, through Chinese herbs, massage, homeopathy, positive imaging, natural foods, to prayer and anointing.This personal and powerful story of a family's battle with illness not only focuses on the disease but on the psychological, social, economic, emotional and financial aspects. It is a story of faith, hope, recovery and how each one dealt with and escaped from what the author calls "the dragon."