A Cancer In The Family

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Oncologist and cancer gene hunter Theo Ross delivers the first authoritative, go-to for people facing a genetic predisposition for cancer. A Kirkus Best Book of 2016 Oncologist and cancer gene hunter Theo Ross delivers the first authoritative, go-to for people facing a genetic predisposition for cancer There are 13 million people with cancer in the United States, and it's estimated that about 1.3 million of these cases are hereditary. Yet despite advanced training in cancer genetics and years of practicing medicine, Dr. Theo Ross was never certain whether the history of cancers in her family was simple bad luck or a sign that they were carriers of a cancer-causing genetic mutation. Then she was diagnosed with melanoma, and for someone with a dark complexion, melanoma made no sense. It turned out there was a genetic factor at work. Using her own family's story, the latest science of cancer genetics, and her experience as a practicing physician, Ross shows readers how to spot the patterns of inherited cancer, how to get tested for cancer-causing genes, and what to do if you have one. With a foreword by Siddartha Mukherjee, prize winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies, this will be the first authoritative, go-to for people facing inherited cancer, this book empowers readers to face their genetic heritage without fear and to make decisions that will keep them and their families healthy.

Reviews

Ross combines her personal story with professional informationshe tackles issues that face more and more people as scientific knowledge and capabilities expand.
Washington Post

Authoritative and comforting without oversimplifying or sugarcoating and without sounding preachy or cheerleadery.
Oncology Times

A Cancer in the Family offers you invaluable insights about the challenges patients face when their cancer may be hereditary. Regarding the key tasks at hand (such as obtaining a family history), she provides practical advice bolstered with useful metaphors and mantras that you can steal and use with your patients without a shred of guilt.
Oncology Times

This book is an invaluable guide for a generation of people entering the new world of genetics. Moreover, it should be mandatory reading for medical students.
TheAmerican Society of Clinical Oncology(ASCO) Post

[Ross] is a strong advocate for understanding family history and options for genetic testing... [Her patients] use what might seem a negative result as a gateway to a longer and healthier future. They make better lifestyle choices."
The Dallas Morning News

An upbeat message that learning about a cancer mutation in one's family history is not about coping with bad news; it is about taking control and making choicesHighly recommended: an exceptionally well-organized, authoritative, and readable resource book.
KirkusStarred Review

"Packed with information shared by a compassionate and empathetic voice, Rosss tome is a thoughtful and measured tool for health advocacy that many will find useful."
Publishers WeeklyStarred Review

Ross weaves a brief overview of genetic theory, hereditary cancers, and her personal/familial struggles with cancer into a book that is more than the sum of these parts: an intriguing read even for persons not looking for specific cancer-related information.
Library Journal

"Knowledge of oneself is paramount to long term health. Theodora Ross candidly and expertly shows us, through personal and inspiring stories, what that means when the knowledge demonstrates a genetic predisposition to cancer. An important and eye-opening book."
David B. Agus, MD, Author,The End of Illnessand The Lucky Years

Dr. Ross wonderful book has changed the way I practice. It should be mandatory reading for every medical student and primary care provider.
Marshall A. Wolf, MD, Professor of Medicine Harvard Medical School

What would you do if the tables were turned and you became the patient instead of the doctor This is exactly what happened to breast oncologist and researcher, Dr. Theo Ross . . . A must read for anyone with cancer in their family.
Heather Hampel, MS, LGC, Clinical Cancer Genetics Program professor at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center

Ross guides us through this landscape with astonishing personal honesty, clear thinking, openness, and persistence. She explains with an empathy that can only arise from inhabiting the worlds of doctor and patient simultaneously how all of us (professionals and laypeople alike) with or without a family history of cancer, need help understanding genetics. We need help digging up our family histories, confronting those histories, and making the decisions that will protect us and our families.
From the foreword by Siddhartha Mukherjeee, MD, PhD, author of The Emperor of All Maladies

Author Bio

Theo Ross, M.D., Ph.D., is a professor of internal medicine and the director of the Cancer Genetics Program at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Ross is a leading researcher on cancer susceptibility genes, as well as a practitioner who specialized in treating breast cancer for more than a decade and now cares for all types of patients who have a family history of cancer. She is also a carrier of a cancer-causing mutation.