This time’s a charm

Today’s post is a guest book review by my friend Chari. She originally posted it on her blog Letters to America, and gave me permission to reproduce it here today.

How does a grown-up man afraid of needles become a four times (five times now, actually) cancer survivor? Well, Donald Wilhelm’s book, ‘This Time’s A Charm’, answers that and many other questions which may arise as one gets to know about his extraordinary battle against Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
After a ‘persitant sinus infection’ misdiagnosis becomes the grim reality of Cancer, Wilhelm applies his professional mental skills to set up the strategy that put him in charge of his own treatment key issues, the quest for the right oncologist being the first step. Armed with all the information available and tons of ‘attitude’, he navigates through recurrences and ‘intermissions’ for five years, learning but also teaching others along the way.

Physically, we witness a young body going through unbearable pain and suffering, yet resilient. Mentally and emotionally, there is lot of growing up happening within those pages and the newly acquired wisdom is selflessly  shared with the rest of us.

A compelling read, Donald’s book is full of honesty, humor, useful information for the ‘newbies’ (both survivors and co-survivors) and, above all, bucketloads of PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) to face the challenges all cancer survivors and their loved ones encounter after diagnosis.