"The Light Within: The Extraordinary Friendship of a Doctor and Patient Brought Together by Cancer," by Lois M. Ramondetta and Deborah Rose Sills.
Dr. Ramondetta, a gynecological oncologist at MDACC, struggles to balance a need for professional detachment and a desire to connect with her patients, many of whom are facing certain death. She strikes a relationship with one extraordinary patient, Ms. Sills, a professor of religion with a flair for life, and together they explore the role of faith and spirituality in medicine. As the two women try to come to grips with "the mystery of mortality," the book alternates between the physician's words and those Ms. Sills wrote before she died in 2006. The book can be difficult to read at times, as Ms. Sills faces the painful treatments with no hope of improvement and the knowledge that her children and husband will move on without her. But her training in the religions of the world also gives her the resources to understand the importance of living in the present. The message the authors deliver is simple: Focus on your life, the time you have left, and the survivors you leave behind.
By LAURA LANDRO
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
The Wall Street Journal
Read the article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123007391367631461.html
