Please help me welcome journalist and award-winning author, Marianne C. McDonough today with her book Beating Cancer One Truth at a Time.

I grew up watching different members of my family in courageous battles with cancer at least once every decade since I was a toddler. Sometimes twice. They have all passed away now, but I was still drawn to read this book written by a survivor. The target audience for this book is newly diagnosed cancer patients, yet I found it helpful in seeing what a patient might go through and how caregivers and family members can try our best to understand this journey. Marianne poses questions that may come up in a cancer patient's mind and tells them where to seek answers. She discusses how to go about reducing stress, treatment planning and seeking support. My favorite part is when she talks about developing a mindset for survival. She confronts myths about the disease and applies a bit of biblical inspiration without preaching or passing judgement. A must-read for anyone confronting a cancer diagnosis or supporting a cancer patient.

About the Book

Book: Beating Cancer: One Truth at a Time

Author: Marianne C. McDonough

Genre: Non-fiction, health and disease

Release Date: November 6, 2018

Like eagles soaring above a storm, cancer patients tackle an unpredictable disease. To navigate the turmoil, they must dispel the myths surrounding cancer, understand the facts, and determine how they want their journey to look. Armed with their convictions, they can create a path that achieves maximum health and gives them peace. Although support helps, ultimately, they must make their own decisions.

This book is about choices and the beliefs from which those choices emerge.

Beating Cancer One Truth at a Time encourages patients to:

Confront cultural myths about cancer
Clarify their own truths
Proactively plan treatment and prehab activities
Acquire positive and hopeful mindsets
Create a vision worth fighting for
Develop cancer smarts for survivorship

Designed for self-reflection and/or group discussion, Beating Cancer One Truth at a Time guides readers toward empowerment and freedom for a journey they never wanted but have to master.

Click here to purchase your copy!

About the Author

Journalist and author of award-winning 8 Steps to Getting Real with Cancer, Marianne C. McDonough believes the way to beat cancer is one truth at a time. She tells patients, “This is your journey. You’re the best person to lead it.” A cancer survivor since 2012, Marianne wants patients to assess the hard questions cancer presents and discover their own truths. She understands patients are stressed, anxious, and exhausted. From her personal experience, she offers a straight-forward book that inspires hope. A Minnesota native, Marianne enjoys lake activities at her cabin with her family, musicals, baseball, bridge, dancing, and walking through the woods or a nearby park.

Guest Post from Marianne

Why did I write this book?

Because I’ve battled cancer, and I know what it’s like to face mortality, fall to my knees, and fight an enemy that has lodged itself in my own body.

Cancer changed me. I don’t know how anyone goes through it without changing. The initial sense of powerlessness is overwhelming. It challenged me to the core. I remember learning words, concepts, treatments, statistics, prognoses, and a myriad of data I had never even heard before.

I was tired and confused. But I was also angry with cancer and determined to beat it.

Right after I was diagnosed, trying to figure out what to do, I went to a class at my oncology center because I wanted to talk to other cancer patients. When I introduced myself and said I had just been diagnosed, the other patients said something I didn’t expect and can now affirm, “You’re going through the hardest part.”

They were right, and as a survivor for six years, I am writing what I wish I could have found during that initial period of cancer. I didn’t have time for long books or theoretical treatises, so I tried to find short, practical, quick-read books that would give me solid tips for the journey. And I wanted someone to encourage me in simple, no-nonsense terms that I even had a future. But I couldn’t find those books.

Most of all, I needed a gut-level confidence that cancer was not in charge of my life, because cancer lies to patients and pompously declares, “From now on I’ll make all your decisions about what you’re going to do, when, and for how long.”

Cancer thrives on myths, misconceptions, and fear. Our best weapons are counteracting truths based on reliable data, firm convictions based on faith, and hope based on clarity of vision.

My first book 8 Steps to Getting Real with Cancer was released in 2016 and won the Midwest Book Award in the health division. I geared that book towards patients and those who love them. This second book evolved because my oncologist suggested my approach would work well for support groups. Since 8 Steps was primarily narrative, I decided to write a second book that could be read or discussed, even journaled if desired. Imagining a one-on-one conversation with my readers, I focused more on cancer myths and specifically addressed patients, although family and friends can surely benefit as well.

Beating Cancer One Truth at a Time isn’t about me or my journey. It’s about patients finding their own truths in their own way to beat cancer on their own terms. The subtitle states the main premise of the book: what you believe determines your journey.

If you are a cancer patient and you are discovering this book today, please know that the fight is worth it. You can do this. Let’s believe together for a journey you can be proud of.