CANCER - Resources for Everyone


Books by Dr. Wendy Harpham
Dr. Harpham's books are the most thorough, patient-centered tools for dealing with cancer that we have found. Her long bout with cancer forced her to give up her medical practice, but we are all the winners because of her dedication to the clear, easy, practical education of patients, families, and professionals. She is a wife and the mother of three children. “Just what the doctor ordered,” or should order, is how we feel about these up-to-date books. Be sure you get the latest edition of each as they have been printed several times. Her web site is a good place to take a look at the contents of the books.

  • Diagnosis Cancer - Your Guide to the First Months of Healthy Survivorship
  • When A Parent Has Cancer - A Guide to Caring For Your Children (Becky and the Worry Cup, a book for children, is included.)
  • After Cancer - A Guide to Your New Life
  • The Hope Tree - Kids Talk About Breast Cancer - Co-authored with Laura Mumeroff and illustrated by one of our favorite illustrators, David McPhail.
  • Happiness in a Storm - Be sure to take a look at this new book by Dr. Harpham that is due for release in September 2005.

P.O. Box 835574, Richardson, TX 75083-5574
Web: http://www.wendyharpham.com

National Cancer Institute 
The hotline is available 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. in your time zone. They will answer or find the answers to all your questions. The NCI web page links health professionals and the public to their vast free publications and to CancerNet for clinical trial information, etc. A few of our favorites are: 
  • Facing Forward: A Guide for People with Cancer 
  • Answers About Pain Control: A Guide for People with Cancer and Their Families
  • Managing Cancer Pain: A Guideline for Patients
  • Spanish books available. Free.
NCI Public Inquiries Office, Ste. 3036A
6116 Executive Blvd., MSC8322
Bethesda, MD 20892-8322

(800) 4-CANCER
Web: http://www.cancer.gov

Support for People with Oral and Head and Neck Cancer (SPOHNC)
Their top-notch newsletter and web site have in-depth articles written by and for patients and professionals.

  • Online newsletter
  • Chapters

SPOHNC has published “Eat Well and Stay Nourished, A Recipe and Resource Guide for Copying with Eating Challenges.” This book is not for those of us who need a liquid diet. Our reviewer appreciated the detailed, accurate nutritional information after each recipe. Wonderful gift.

SPOHNC celebrates 15 years with its “Celebration of Life” conference August 19-20, 2006 in Long Island, NY. If you have dealt with or are dealing with facial cancer we urge you to attend this two day “Celebration of Life.”

Nancy Leupold
P.O. Box 53
Locust Valley, NY 11560-0053
(800) 377-0928 or (516) 759-5333
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: http://www.spohnc.org

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Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma Foundation (ADEN-CYST)

This nonprofit network provides support and information for this rare cancer.

Nancy Whitman, Co-Chair
Monroe, MI 
Web: http://www.paonline.com/knippd/acc/

The Cancer Poetry Project: Poems by Cancer Patients and Those Who Love Them
Edited by Karen Miller. Nancy Sully has been dealing with a rare cancer of the jaw since 1979 and has had her jaw replaced twice. Nancy says that other than difficulties eating she is doing well right now, "though the future, as always, is uncertain."

As a cancer survivor and a poet whose submission to The Cancer Poetry Project was not accepted (!), I feel myself uniquely qualified to review this remarkable anthology. If you can lay hands on it, read it, learn, be moved by it. These wonderful poems are as different from each other as their authors, and as the ways cancer may impact our lives. But they share and unflinching honesty, a willingness to experience and explore the truth of the disease, and never descend into cliche or sentimentality. Anyone, cancer patient, those who love and care for them, poetry lover, or general reader with a willingness to enlarge their horizons would profit by reading The Cancer Poetry Project.(Reviewed by Nancy Sully.)

Publisher: Fairview Press

Choices in Healing, Integrating The Best of Conventional and Complementary Approaches to Cancer
Be sure to get the latest edition! Michael Lerner gives a detailed, comprehensive overview of available choices in cancer care. Paperback.

Publisher: MIT Press, Cambridge, MA

Clinical Trials
To find out about clinical trials going on all over the world, see the National Institute of Health web site.

Web: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov

Eating Well Through Cancer
By Gerald Miletello MD and Holly B. Clegg. An oncologist and a cookbook author team up to produce this welcome book that has nourishing solution for many unwelcome "side effects" of cancer treatment. Included in the book is everything from nutrition advice for the day of chemotherapy to delicious and clever ways to add protein laden and soft foods that sooth and nourish. 

Publisher: Holly B. Clegg
Breast cancer survivors can get a free copy by going to http://www.livingwithit.org

Face Value - Coping with Facial Disfigurement
In this paperback book, Linda Shafritz documents her and her family's life after she lost her eye to cancer. Very comforting book. For a free copy (while they last), write or e-mail Let's Face It (address at bottom of page).

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The Healing Jaw
By Susan Beaudette RN. If you have had jaw or palate surgery yesterday or 30 years ago, this cookbook is a teaching tool for patients, parents, and professionals. From Susan's Zip-N-Squeeze eating device to her recipes our bodies can be nourished to better health. Some have said that one of the worst things about jaw surgery is constipation. Susan deals with the hidden health hazards that come with palate or jaw surgery. See Zip-N-Squeeze for contact and ordering information.

Publisher: Zip-N-Squeeze

The Human Side of Cancer, Living with Hope, Coping with Uncertainty
By Jimmie C. Holland, M.D. and Sheldon Lewis, Memorial-Sloan Cancer Center. This book can lead all of us dealing with cancer or any chronic illness to be the best care givers we can be.

Mercy Me! Cancer Prayers, Poems and Psalms
Mary L. Roark's delightful paperback book presents a faith perspective to persons who are or want to be close to their spirit world during cancer treatment and recovery. She wrote this little poem for us to use here:

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
Those who love me, love me
     with or without hair
     with or without energy,
     with or without extra pounds,
     with or without body parts,
The others do not matter. ©2002

Publisher: Morgan Publishing Inc., Naples, FL 
E-mail: [email protected]

National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS)

  • Books, meetings, advocacy

Ellen Sovall, Executive Director
1010 Wayne Ave., Ste. 770
Silver Spring, MD 20910
(301) 650-9127
(877) 622-7937 - Publications
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: http://www.canceradvocacy.org

Oral Cancer Foundation
Two important videos:

  • What You Should Know About Oral Cancer - Hazards of Smokeless Tobacco (Education Program)
  • Xerstomia - Dry Mouth - A video that teaches innovative ways to deal with this disability.

3419 Via Lido, #205
Newport Beach, CA 92663
(949) 646-8000
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: http://www.oralcancerfoundation.org/

Radiation Treatment and Your Mouth
Chemotherapy and Your Mouth
Oral Health, Cancer Care, and You - Fitting the Pieces Together

These pamphlets produced by the National Oral Health Information Clearinghouse should be part of every persons cancer care! Easy to read and so important to your life after treatment. See the National Oral Health Information Clearinghouse for contact and ordering information.

CANCER - Resources for Children and Families

Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation

  • Newsletters
  • Books

P.O. Box 498, Kensington, MD 20895-0498
(800) 366-2223 - Parent Hotline
(301) 962-3520 - All other calls
E-mail: @candlelighters.org
Web: http://www.candlelighters.org

Childhood Cancer, 
A Handbook from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Editors Grant Steen, Ph.D. and Joseph Mirro, MD. Professionals and families are singing the praises of this sensitive, detailed, (600-page!) well-written  book. Questions are answered and medical details of all treatments are here for the reader. We think all libraries should have copies and that this would make a super gift to any family facing childhood cancer.

Publisher: Presses Publishing, 2000

Childhood Cancer Survivors
A book by Keene, Hobbie, and Ruccione. We welcome this detailed and well-presented book. The multiple short and long-term effects to the spirits, bodies, and minds of childhood cancer survivors and their families are all here. This book should spark creative, realistic, post treatment plans.

Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.

The Hope Tree, 
Kids Talk About Breast Cancer

By Laura Numeroff & Wendy S. Harpham, MD. Illustrations by David McPahil. A book for children about a parent's cancer does not get much better than this one! Each page with David McPahil's illustrations would make a super poster. The real issues of children (and all of us) are stated in their words and then illustrated by a McPahil "animal family." Thanks to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation for this important new hardcover book.

Publisher: Simon Schuster

Kids' Cancer Pages, National Childhood Cancer Resource Directory
Created by the Children's Cancer Association of Portland, Oregon. This directory covers all the issues - from where to begin your search for information to life after cancer.

Children's Cancer Association
7524 SW Macadam, Ste. B
Portland, OR 97219
(503) 244-3141
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: http://www.ChildrensCancerAssociation.org

The Paper Chain
By Blake, Blanchard, Parkinson. This delightful children's book is written for the child age 3-10 whose parent is undergoing chemotherapy or radiation therapy. 

Publisher: Health Press
PO Box 37470, Albuquerque, NM, 87176
(877) 411-0707
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: http://www.healthpress.com

Sammy's Mommy Has Cancer
By Sherry Kohlenberg. Sharing this beautifully illustrated book, a family can experience a sense of safety and encouragement. Ages 2-8. 

Publisher: Magination Press

What About Me? 
A Booklet for Teenage Children of Cancer Patients

First copy free. Call for additional prices.

Cancer Family Care, Cincinnati, OH 
(513) 731-3346

The Year My Mother Was Bald
By Ann Speltz.

Publisher: Magination Press