Dr. Harpham is the epitome of a Healthy Survivor, a term she coined to encourage people to get good care and live as fully as possible from the moment of their diagnosis. The essence of being a Healthy Survivor is that while taking steps to make things better you are embracing the life you have today and hoping for a better tomorrow. During the years of her relapsing lymphoma, Harpham developed a three-step approach to becoming a Healthy Survivor: obtain sound knowledge, find and nourish hope, and act effectively. It’s the approach that helped Harpham through the physical and emotional difficulties and helped her land on the good side of the bad statistics for her disease.

Patients nowadays are inundated with information and advice; big and little decisions are left up to them. In a comforting, conversational tone, Dr. Harpham provides a framework for sorting through the facts and myths about healing, deftly untangling the confusion surrounding conventional, investigational, and alternative therapies. Her discussion of the relationship between treatments offered by healers and the body’s self-healing potential highlights the many ways that a patient can help (or inadvertently hurt) the healing process. From tips for increasing the safety of taking a new medication to helpful charts comparing types of treatments, HAPPINESS IN A STORM is a practical tool for Healthy Survivors and their loved ones. And by giving readers confidence in making wise decisions about all aspects of their care – medical treatments, diet, exercise, and even what outfit to wear – Harpham nourishes patients’ hope.

Harpham also discusses the “new normal” that people experience once they have faced their own mortality. While many expect that their loved ones’ lives can return to how they used to be, most people after serious or chronic illness find that they can never see the world the same again. Harpham helps patients to come to terms with their own vulnerability and to explain to others how they have re-envisioned their lives.

Hope has become a buzzword in healing circles. Harpham charts new territory with her provocative discussion of overcoming the many obstacles to hope. Whether talking about the hope offered by science-based treatments or the hope inherent in uncertainty, she presents a cohesive argument for blending old-fashioned caring with high-tech care. Then, recognizing that knowledge and hope help patients most when patients take effective action, Harpham once again charts new territory by providing a practical discussion of how to narrow the gap between knowing the right things to do and actually doing them.

Millions of people today are surviving once-fatal injuries and illnesses, thanks to modern medical miracles. This survival often comes at the price of significant hardships. Harpham encourages every patient to become a Healthy Survivor, even if cure or recovery is unlikely. Her purpose goes beyond facilitating cures and bringing comfort: She believes that Healthy Survivorship frees patients to pursue happiness. HAPPINESS IN A STORM opens your eyes to opportunities for joy despite illness and, in certain cases, because of illness. For people in hard times, joy and humor are as elemental as blood and breath, and just as crucial to a full life.

Wendy Schlessel Harpham, M.D., author of several books, lectures nationally on cancer and serious illness. She received the 2001 Ellen Glesby Cohen Leadership Award from the Lymphoma Research Foundation, the 2000 Governor’s Award for Health for which she was inducted into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame, and the 1998 Natalie Davis Spingarn Writer’s Award from the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship. She lives in Dallas with her husband and children. Her web site address is: www.wendyharpham.com.

© 2005 HealthNewsDigest.com