Cancer Talk: Voices of Hope and Endurance From “The Group Room®,” the World’s Largest Cancer Support Group

Extract

Selma S. Schimmel with Barry Fox. New York (NY): Broadway Books, 1999. 352 pp., $13. ISBN 0-7679-0325-0

After her bout with breast cancer at age 28 years, Selma Schimmel founded an organization to support young adults with cancer. In 1993, the organization expanded, and in 1996 it made its radio debut in New York. It has been on the air every Sunday since. Thus, the name “largest cancer support group,” a live call-in format that explores all of the aspects of cancer—physical, emotional, clinical, social, political, and spiritual. The book follows the format of the radio show: Callers are screened by oncology social workers, and Ms. Schimmel moderates a discussion among the panel, which consists of a radiation oncologist, a medical oncologist, and a therapist who is also a breast cancer survivor. Thus, the reader follows the discussions triggered by patient statements. The author fills in with essays in her own voice.