When patients learn they have cancer they are swept into a new existence. Fear, incomprehension and withdrawal are the first reactions. But then life carries on. Patients must face their daily tasks, their families, their jobs, as well as their medical treatment. They must also accept a new form of dependence toward their caregivers.

Each patient reacts according to his or her personality, imagination and personal history. This is a practical book, close to patients' daily experiences. It shows them how to muster their physical and psychic resources at each step of their illness, so they can move forward toward a new life.

Cancer can be cured: not overnight, but with time and patience it can be overcome, and this fact should be emphasized. Such is the author's message of hope.

Professor Freyer helps you understand cancer so you can take action against it. He tells you how to:

— Transform stress into vital energy, so as to keep your morale and overcome unwarranted pessimism; fight against preconceived ideas; accept help; withstand anxiety and depression.

— Become a partner in medical decisions in order to benefit from the most recent scientific knowledge, adapt it to your specific case, and thus optimise health care.

— Continue fighting on a daily basis, by taking control of your body, eating properly, and using the best complementary and alternative forms of medical care, to optimise treatment.

— Learn to hope. Not losing hope will enable you to protect your health, participate actively in overcoming the disease — and to be cured.

This book offers a wealth of individual strategies to help patients live with this chronic disease.

Gilles Freyer is a professor of cancerology at the teaching hospital of the University of Lyon. He teaches humanities at the University of Lyon-II.