Now That I Have Cancer I Am Whole

Those of all religious persuasions and of none can appreciate the issues of human meaning and identity the book raises. Highly recommended. —Library Journal

According to a recent poll in USA Today, nearly two out of three cancer survivors and their families say something good has come from their experience with cancer. This builds on a growing body of research that suggests that the disease often changes people's lives for the better.

Meet one of those people. His name is John Robert McFarland and he has written a collection of meditations filled with hope, strength, and optimism called Now That I Have Cancer, I Am Whole: Reflections on Life and Healing for Cancer Patients and Those Who Love Them (Andrews McMeel Publishing, $9.95, April 2007). This revised edition of his 1993 book describes John's battle with colon cancer and his continued relationship with the disease due to the diagnoses of his wife, daughter, brother, sister, father, mother, and one-year-old grandson.

Despite the fact that cancer has permeated his life for the last dozen years, John believes that only through cancer did he learn to truly live. His view is that cancer provides an opportunity to connect to one's true self, to one's true purpose, and that that connection is the path to love and spirituality.

More than 20 million people in the U.S. are currently diagnosed with cancer, and 1.4 million people will be diagnosed in the coming year. That's roughly 56 percent of men and 42 percent of women. Virtually everyone is touched by cancer at some point in their lives. This book is for them all.

About the Author:

John McFarland has written for more than 40 publications ranging from Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion to the Chicago Tribune and Midwest Poetry Review. He is an ordained United Methodist minister who lives with his family in Sterling, IL.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — Contact: Shelly Barkes, (800) 851-8923, ext. 6818, sbarkes@amuniversal.com

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