Rating: 
Summary: Storming the barricades of orthodoxy
Review: A fantastic ride through illness and recovery. The author's account of his battle with myeloma is filled with his calm, rational tone that belies the earth shattering consequences of his decisions. A wonderful, literate look at illness and healing. A must read for health professionals and patients battling with any disease. Very highly recommended for those who doubt alternative therapies.
Rating:
Summary: Ignorance is NOT bliss
Review: As someone who's had cancer, I found this book particularly wonderful for a variety of reasons. Not only do I admire Gearin-Tosh's independence and courage but I applaud the fact that he actually THINKS. And he sure can write too! For those of us who love language, Gearin-Tosh is a particular joy. How many cancer self-help books quote Chekhov and Shaw? And G-T also cites many cancer "memoirs" by folks who had conventional treatments (and died) like Liz Tilberis and John Diamond. The citations from these books are so very moving. (I was reminded of the late Gilda Radner's story many times, the suffering and the seemingly endless chemos she endured.) I also did what G-T did when I got my diagnosis--I reached out to everyone I knew who'd had cancer (and asked my friends to find me people to talk to) to find out how they dealt with it. I was particularly interested to know if they pursued any alternative therapies and to find out which ones. I now take many "anti-cancer" supplements and follow nutritional therapies that hopefully will discourage a recurrence of cancer. So far, so good. G-T says the cancer specialist Dr. Barlogie wanrs that the most important thing is not to have "a recurrence." Amen to that but I know many folks with cancer who've had chemo and radiation and experienced recurrences. If the medical profession had all the answers, there wouldn't be such a demand for books like this!! Not only does Gearin-Tosh think, write in an accessible format that's both charming and amusing, but he's a role model in courage. In the real world, many folks do both conventional protocols and alternative protocols for a variety of conditions including cancer. Often they don't tell their doctors because the doctors are hostile, indifferent or just plain ignorant. G-T's portraits of medical people are marvelous. In a few words, he sketches an entire person. I think this book would be very helpful for doctors too. A little humility is in order. I agree with Gearin-Tosh that medical exceptions should be studied, not dismissed as mere anomalies. People get entrenched in positions. G-T never said he'd "never" go the chemo route. but he did say it was a last resort. He also says he'd be thrilled if the medical community came up with a real "cure." But given the death rates and horrific side effects of conventional therapies at the time he embarked on his journey, the choice was his to make. The dirty secret of the medical profession is that cancer patients are guinea pigs for the most horrible therapies. And if we die from them, so what? We were going to do die anyway. A cancer diagnosis is indeed terrifying; but there's a lot to be said for empowering yourself. Hurrah for Michael Gearin-Tosh.
Rating: 
Summary: glorification of quackery
Review: First off, I did not read this book and have no intention of reading it. But from a sense of public duty, I feel compelled to post a comment about it based on a review of same in the new york times review of books. I am a multiple myeloma patient who has successfully undergone conventional and high dose therapy with a bone marrow transplant. This book is dangerous! If you are diagnosed with this disease consult any number of qualified, reputable experts in this disease. Go to the website for the multiple myeloma foundation. Please eschew snake-oil treatments. And keep in mind that the treatments have advanced greatly since 1994 both in terms of effectiveness, survival and reduction and management of side-effects.
Rating:
Summary: glorification of quackery
Review: First off, I did not read this book and have no intention of reading it. But from a sense of public duty, I feel compelled to post a comment about it based on a review of same in the new york times review of books. I am a multiple myeloma patient who has successfully undergone conventional and high dose therapy with a bone marrow transplant. This book is dangerous! If you are diagnosed with this disease consult any number of qualified, reputable experts in this disease. Go to the website for the multiple myeloma foundation. Please eschew snake-oil treatments. And keep in mind that the treatments have advanced greatly since 1994 both in terms of effectiveness, survival and reduction and management of side-effects.
Rating:
Summary: I'd rather not walk a mile in those moccasins
Review: For the longest time I felt like I was 24 years old. Right up to about 45. Then I found I was very interested. This is just the kind of book I now like. Not that I want to scare myself - I just want to hear about somebody that stops to think about the very mixed messages we often receive from "experts" and then goes on to explore the options. And then takes the time to tell us about it.
Rating:
Summary: I'd rather not walk a mile in those moccasins
Review: For the longest time I felt like I was 24 years old. Right up to about 45. Then I found I was very interested. This is just the kind of book I now like. Not that I want to scare myself - I just want to hear about somebody that stops to think about the very mixed messages we often receive from "experts" and then goes on to explore the options. And then takes the time to tell us about it.
Rating: 
Summary: Mixed reflections
Review: I found the first couple of chapters very difficult to read because of the emotions that emerged for me, a bone marrow transplant survivor. The author quotes another book: "Bone marrow transplant allows us to give an essentially lethal treatment ... We take out some of your own marrow, freeze it in liquid notrogen, and when you're [very sick], we give it back. We haul you to the brink, push you a bit over, and then pull you back." (p. 30) That brought back memories I hadn't thought about for a while, and I had to put the book down for a while to compose myself. It struck me that in the early part of the book, the author was documenting everything negative he could think of regarding conventional cancer treatment as a rationalization for having not undergone that treatment himself. But having gone through the treatment myself, I have to focus on the positive aspects, though I'm well aware that there are plenty of negatives (some of which I still deal with on a daily basis). I think the audience best suited for this book is people diagnosed with cancer who have chosen not to undergo conventional treatment; or patients leaning toward alternative treatments who are grappling with the social pressures to rely instead on conventional treatment. (It would also be useful for someone facing the same myeloma diagnosis as the author. The medical case at the back of the book contains detail which could prove very useful to such an individual.) As someone who considered avoiding conventional treatment but then resorted to it in the end (rather in desperation, but definitely by choice), there was an aspect of the book I found troubling. One of the reviews on the back cover described the book as the story of a man who chose his own course. On reflection, it doesn't seem to me that the author *chose* much of anything. He seemed to be stunned into inaction after his diagnosis (understandably so), and I think if not for the influence of his 'take-charge' former student Carmen Wheatley, he might have done nothing at all! She was the one who arranged all the consultations, she wrote to specialists in the US, she educated him on the availability of alternative treatments ... Perhaps the author did at some point in the process articulate his preference for pursuing an alternative mode of treatment, but such an event didn't seem to be described in the book. To me, he just seemed to go with the flow. I appreciate that the book is a simplified version of reality, but as a patient for whom choice was a big issue through treatment, I found this point irritating. Having said all that nasty stuff :-) let me say that in a literary sense the book is beautiful. The author takes a very difficult subject matter and describes it with eloquence. The quotes he uses, ranging from Shakespeare's works to medical transcripts, are always perfectly appropriate. And perhaps most importantly, he describes his odyssey in a format much more creative than the basic journal format so many other survivors of life-threatening disease employ.
Rating:
Summary: Questionable cure
Review: I read Professor Gearin-Tosh's book, Living Proof with mixed feelings. After plowing through page after page of language parsings and philosophical arguments, My thoughts about the homeopathic treatments he writes about are still mostly negative. His talent is with language and literature, and it shows. I simply can't rationalize that dietary supplements are cures! If that were the case, I reason, this terrible disease could readily be tamed. Unfortunately, in the real world, it is not; survival rates, no matter what courses are taken, are abysmal. Compelling arguments throughout the book have been made supporting his juice diets, vitamin-mineral supplements and coffee enemas. Towards the end of the book, Dr. Carmen Wheatley writes an electrifying and insightful essay entitled: "The Case of the .005% Survivor". It is an excellent investigation and case study of Multiple Myeloma. I still tend to look more favorably to conventional treatments with COMPETENT oncologists.
Rating:
Summary: How To Save Your Life
Review: In the debates about education we seldom hear about the primary uses of thinking. Not just figuring and scheming how to get or stay ahead, not abstract philosophical or practical problem-solving, but as tools for survival.
When, almost a decade ago, Michael Gearin-Tosh received news that he had advanced myeloma, he faced two stark choices: begin chemotherapy at once or die in a few months. As a professor of literature at Oxford University, Gearin-Tosh was accustomed to giving much less weighty matters a great deal of thought, so he hesitated. He consulted other opinions, one of whom said that any of the radical therapies would kill him. At most he would have an extra couple of years, and miserable ones at that.
After a great deal of thinking, using linguistic and etymological analysis on each shade of meaning used by doctors and others, and doing a great deal of research into unfamiliar areas, Gearin-Tosh decided against chemotherapy and undertook various alternative therapies. Some of these have been deplored by many in the medical profession and hardly any of them would have been recommended by them.
Mr Gearin-Tosh has not been cured, but he is very much alive today. He is "Living Proof" of how to take charge of one's own life, instead of surrendering it helplessly to experts.
The most chilling moment of this enormously readable and gripping book comes when the patient has explored a range of unconventional therapies and goes to consult Sir David Weatherall, Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford, and one of the most eminent medical authorities in the world. He asks the expert whether he thought him mad for not following medical advice, and Sir David pauses - to think. Finally he says:
"What you must understand, Mr Gearin-Tosh, is that we know so little about how the body works." The book is a triumph of the mind not over the body but for the body. It never preaches or makes any claims for one particular method over another. Gearin-Tosh simply describes what happened, and the process of thinking that made him into a living proof. He carefully avoids telling you, if you have been diagnosed with cancer, what to do. But he teaches you to think for yourself so that you would have a chance to save your life. And that is all that a great teacher can do.
Rating:
Summary: Ignorance is NOT bliss
Review: It was by coincidence I happened upon this wonderful book, if you believe in coincidences. The style and method of presentation of this dreadful subject of cancer was superb. To gain the perspective in writing of a person with documented access and audience to the most well respected oncology experts in the world was wonderful. I was diagnosed with the same disease as the author had and I had taken similar steps towards health. I experienced many of the same symptoms, many of the same dilibitating conversations on the rush to treatment put out by the traditional medical community. The author relied heavily on others to help him in his daily regime. In that he is fortunate. It was a stunning experience to me to find how many previous people in my life were suddenly unavailable. Suggestion: Do not ever be single and and diagnosed with cancer. I congratulate and salute M. Gearin-Tosh for publishing an easily read book on a difficult subject. The book draws the reader to the next chapter, and on and on. His list of references is great. Check with the public library for a copy of the book (where I found mine). This is not an average book by any stretch, I am buying a copy even after having read it. My large container of coffee is cooking on the stove Mr. Gearin-Tosh. Perhaps we can compare notes re oncology or better yet life in a few years over a cup of tea.
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