Product Description

Racing to a Cure is not a cancer memoir. It is a cancer cure memoir. In 1998 Neil Ruzic was diagnosed with mantle-cell lymphoma, the deadliest cancer of the lymph system, whose spread is reaching epidemic levels in the U.S. and Europe. Instead of following recommended courses of chemotherapy and radiation, he took control of his treatment by investigating cures being developed in the nation's cancer-research laboratories.

Although chemotherapy harms the immune system and is increasingly demonstrated to be an ineffective long-term cure for the vast majority of cancers, it remains the standard treatment for most cancer patients. Ruzic, a former scientific magazine publisher and originator of a science center, refused to accept this status quo, and instead plunged into the world of cutting-edge treatments, exploring the frontiers of cancer science with revolutionary results.

Ruzic went on the offensive: visiting scores of laboratories, gathering information, talking to researchers, and effectively becoming his own patient-care advocate. This book presents his findings. A scathing critique of the chemotherapy culture as well as unscientific "alternative" therapies, the book endorses state-of-the-art molecularly based technologies, making it an illuminating and necessary read for anyone interested in cancer research, especially patients and their families and physicians.

Neil Ruzic was expected to die within two years of his initial diagnosis. Five years later he has been declared cancer-free and considers himself cured.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #664953 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 448 pages

From Booklist
In September 1998 publisher and scientific journalist Ruzic was diagnosed with mantle-cell lymphoma (MCL), an aggressive cancer of the lymph system. Even for an otherwise healthy man in his upper sixties, this was worse than a death sentence. He faced a prognosticated further life-span of 18 months, and that would be made insufferable by side effects from the prescribed chemotherapy. For Ruzic, a self-defined "change agent," consuming large quantities of chemical poisons only to allow cancer still to claim his life was unacceptable. In his opinion, physicians too easily rely upon what is considered the gold standard of cancer treatment, chemical therapy. His scientific mind was certain that there were other, perhaps more effective and certainly less deadly treatment options, if one could find them. He made finding a cure for his cancer a full-time job, one in which he emptied entire file cabinets only to refill them with volumes of new research. He discovered that an abundance of biological therapies is being developed in the scientific, rather than the strictly medical, arena; and he reports that those biotherapies and vaccines are proving highly effective for cancer treatment. His well-written memoir recounts a four-year odyssey that took him from splenectomy and diagnosis, through successfully ditching chemotherapy in favor of biotherapy, and to what he boldly calls a cure. Donna Chavez
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Great education on cancer - what is it? how are we tackling its cure?
What an interesting book! The author does a great job at explaining what cancer is and the various ways that scientists are tackling the "cure" for it...

He does go through his own health story, but the information seems relevant to anyone interested in the beast called cancer. His journey was unique in that he had access to premier scientists world wide and was able to investigate a variety of leading edge technology. We should all be so lucky.

Highly recommend to anyone who has cancer, has had cancer, or knows someone who has cancer.

Mixed Impressions
Having had lymphoma for five years now, I was eager to read Ruzic's book. I learned quite a bit -- or at least terms to use in my never-ending research into indolent lymphoma. Four years ago, I had been so sick that I could hardly walk across a room; I coughed incessantly, and if I ate anything, it came up the next time I coughed. I had just about every test anyone could imagine, but the malignancy never surfaced as the cause for my horrible night sweats, constant weight loss, endless coughing. My doctor thought I had lymphoma, but even after two weeks in the hospital, no one could find anything to blame the symptoms on.

In desperation, my husband got me an appointment with an oncologist at UAB in Birmingham, AL (250 miles from home); my doctor there did the usual biopsies, which continued to be
"Inconclusive." However, he had a DNA study done, and eventually, he found my aggressive Type B Lymphoma. I received CHOP and Rituxan for 8 treatments--my husband drove me to Birmingham for each treatment--I still go to Birmingham for my CT scans and treatments. After the first treatment, I began to feel much better than before. I have not experienced the terrible side effects Ruzic describes of chemo. The staff at UAB was very well trained in ways to avoid nausea and pain. I was also on Nulasta to build white cells. After two years, I was declared "cured" because aggressive lymphoma almost always resurfaces if it is going to within two years. However, after three years, I discovered swollen lymph nodes again. When I had a biopsy again in Birmingham, the diagnosis was malignancy, but for indolent lymphoma, non-curable. The oncologist says that I had indolent lymphoma all along, but it had transformed to agressive in 2002; now I'm looking at treatments for the rest of my life because indolent is not curable.

I am presently receiving Cytoxin, Prednisone, and Rituxan.
I tell my story here so that you will understand "where I'm coming from" regarding Racing to a Cure. I disagree with Ruzic's description of the chemo culture; I've found caring, professional people trying to help me "get my life back." During the three years I was in remission, I saw my grandson born, and then my granddaughter. I consider the three years that chemo gave me a special blessing and a great gift.

I wish all cancer victims had the time and money to do the things Ruzic did -- I can't even imagine getting into the places he got into, and knowing the people he knew. His studies certainly add a measure to our understanding of biologic treatment and give us hope for something better than chemo.

But I have to "stick up for chemo" and the value it has added to my life. Receiving Rituxan in my initial treatment and again after my relapse certainly came at just the right time in 2002 and then in 2006. I don't know if I would have made it without Rituxan.

I was so sorry to read that Mr. Ruzic has succumbed to lymphoma. I am thankful for his research and its preservation in the form of a book which is easy to read, but at times, I thought I was reading some sort of science fiction book. (Alas, the traveling and so forth made me think of _Gulliver's Travels_); however, I am probably too harsh a judge, being a college English professor.

These are my impressions of the book and the reasons I awarded the book only three stars. I am thankful for chemo and Rituxan!
I think every lymphoma patient should read the book for the possibilites Ruzic discusses, nonetheless. I celebrated by 59th birthday yesterday, and every day I live now is very special to me; I know I would not have lived another three months without chemo in 2002.

Good points, but the end result, bad news
I read the book, then found out that the author died after writing it - how saddening that was. Yes, I have to give credit where credit is due - a lot of good points were brought out, but I've since found other books on healing methods that aren't damaging to the body that are more current with better info and the authors are alive and well after using their own advice.