Alysa Cummings

CancerLand Bookshelf: When Your Life is Touched by Cancer

Posted January 24th, 2014

First and foremost, the book is well organized and indexed, which enables patients and caregivers to easily access information by immediate need or concern.


Alysa Cummings

CancerLand Bookshelf: It’s Probably Nothing…or how I learned to stop worrying and love my implants

Posted October 9th, 2013

Micki Myers’ poetic cancer memoir, It’s Probably Nothing, describes her CancerLand experiences – visiting doctors, surviving hospital stays, recovering from surgery and chemotherapy, shopping for post-mastectomy bras – none of which are “funny ha-ha,” in a classically humorous way.


Alysa Cummings

CancerLand Bookshelf: Survival Lessons

Posted September 13th, 2013

What can I say about such a precious, poetic book as Survival Lessons, written by New York Times bestselling author Alice Hoffman?


CancerLand Bookshelf: And in Health: A guide for Couples Facing Cancer Together

Posted September 10th, 2013

And In Health covers topics ranging from aspects of a couple’s emotional life to the finer points of successfully interacting with your medical team.


CancerLand Bookshelf: The Cancer Poetry Project 2

Posted June 13th, 2013

OncoLink book review by Alysa Cummings: The Cancer Poetry Project 2: More Poems by Cancer Patients and Those Who Love Them.


The CancerLand Bookshelf: How to Be a Friend to a Friend Who’s Sick

Posted April 3rd, 2013

After fifteen years in CancerLand, I know this much is true. After patients hear their doctor say, “I’m sorry, it’s cancer,” they do one of two things.


CancerLand Bookshelf with Annette Bennington McElhiney

Posted March 19th, 2013

I use a digital camera and hunt for colorful spring flowers to tune into the artist in me, while ovarian cancer survivor Annette Bennington McElhiney paints an alter ego she has named Althea.


CancerLand Bookshelf: Chief Complaint: Brain Tumor

Posted March 6th, 2013

Author: John Kerastas Publisher: Sunstone Press, 2012 | $16.95 US Information: ISBN: 9780865349087 OncoLink Rating: At first glance, John Kerastas and I couldn’t be more different from one another. For starters, he’s a guy recovering from recent treatment for a brain tumor and I’m a 15 year breast cancer survivor. Then there’s the issue of geography; […]


CancerLand Bookshelf: Looking at Light: 100 Poems in 100 Days after cancer

Posted February 6th, 2013

Somewhere in the middle of reading Looking at Light, a vivid moment from a cancer support group meeting plays back in my head, almost like a scene from a movie.


CancerLand Bookshelf: L is for Lion: an Italian Bronx Butch Freedom Memoir

Posted January 11th, 2013

L is for Lion is one big, beautifully written book, filled with colorful stories about many different things: Italian families, life in the Bronx, lesbianism and treatment for cancer.