Cancer for Christmas: Making the Most of a Daunting Gift

by Casey Quinlan

In Cancer for Making the Most of a Daunting Gift, Casey shares the questions she asked her doctors, what she did with the answers, and how she navigated surgery, chemo, and radiation treatment with determination, ferocity, and a large dose of humor. Fierce and funny, thought-provoking and inspiring, Casey's story of her journey to cancer free is full of insight into how to survive, and thrive, after getting life changing medical news.

130 pages, Paperback

First published August 17, 2009

About the author

Stand up to cancer. Hell, kick its ass - I did!
Become a fan of my book "Cancer for Christmas", too.

Growing up in a Navy family, I learned early how to talk my way past a playground beating and into the hearts and minds of kids (and nuns) on both coasts, and in Europe too.

Moved to New York to be an actress, promptly became a bartender, which is the usual show-biz career track. Got lucky when NBC needed to start hiring grrl production techs to avoid getting sued by the gender police, and wound up covering stories across the globe from what I call the front row to the first draft of history: the news business.

I had a two-decade career in broadcast news and sports, covering stories for Dateline and Today, presidential campaigns, wars, presidential campaigns that turned into wars, NFL Playoff games, Stanley Cup hockey, and the NBA.

The pinnacle of my theater and improv work came when I talked my way out of police custody in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Shield in 1991. I talked my way out of jail, and then got to stay in Saudi for four months – I'm still not sure that was really a win, but it’s a great story.

The only member of my family not to kiss the Blarney Stone (for fear of breaking the space/time continuum), I honed my in-the-moment skills doing stand-up comedy, performing at Caroline’s, Gotham Comedy Club, Catch A Rising Star, and the New York Comedy Club. After facing drunken hecklers, corporate audiences are a walk in the park.

Literate, loud, opinionated iconoclast with a warm heart and a truth-telling tongue. My motto? Truth, justice, and irony. And "Whoopee! Cancer!"

Reviews

[Casey]

I wrote it. So of course I think it's readable.

[Ted Kopp · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently finished reading this book, which I had purchased a while back. I personally know the author – like her, I live in Richmond, Virginia, and she was kind enough to autograph my copy. Also, I have a family history of cancer – among others, my mother and her mother both died of it. Last but not least, I got hit with Stage 2 colon cancer last summer, and the fact that I am a six-month survivor now, in remission, finally jogged my memory about this book!

Now for the book itself – I liked most everything about it. It’s obvious that Casey has a comedic streak in her, which is a tough thing to put into a book about cancer. The car-wash analogy (being an uninformed patient is like being strapped to your car – on the outside – as it goes through the wash) is great. All the stuff she mentions (reading up on cancer, lining up friends and family for emotional support, pressing for answers from doctors, the critical role that nurses play, etc.) seems like advice from Captain Obvious, but until you experience it yourself, you don’t know how important this stuff really is. She’s still right almost 10 years later about cut, poison, burn being the common approach (they didn’t do the last one with me because of the tumor’s location). I love her names for doctors and nurses – I’m sure all of us have run into some version of some of these. Her commentary about the health establishment is also very good.

All in all, excellent! Men should read this book too. Hey Casey, it’s time for Version 2, including what you have been doing regarding cancer since this was first published, maybe also some comments regarding recent treatment advances, thoughts about the Affordable Care Act, guest commentary from other cancer survivors, etc. Go for it!