C: Because Cowards Get Cancer Too - John Diamond

I was handed this book by the consultant during my medical attachment in the ENT department. And from the first page, John Diamond had kept me flipping the pages to the end. I was so absorbed into his account of his life after the diagnosis, and it just had me wishing 'no, his life is not ending with this book' as I read. Publisher's Synopsis of the book Shortly before his 44th birthday, John Diamond received a call from the doctor who had removed a lump from his neck. Having been assured for the previous 2 years that this was a benign cyst, Diamond was told that it was cancerous. This is the story of Diamond's life with, and without, a ...  Read the complete review

This book is an autobiographical account of a man diagnosed with Cancer. It's not about his 'brave battle' with cancer because if we talk about cancer in those terms we mark those that die as 'losers'. Contracting Cancer is not something that only the brave do, there's not that many brave people around, but we often report that those who exist with cancer as undergoing a brave struggle (as if they have a choice). Which is why the subtitle of this book is 'Because Cowards Get Cancer Too...' It's an autobiographical work by journalist John Diamond and covers approximately a year in his life from when he was diagnosed with ...  Read the complete review

Writer and broadcaster John Diamond has cancer. For a broadcaster, he has a particularly cruel type of tumour, one which has (hopefully temporarily) robbed him of his voice. Luckily though, it has not taken his writing skills, nor completely eradicated his ascerbic sense of humour - although it is easy to imagine the latter becoming a bit 'dented' on bad days. Since diagnosis, he has written frank accounts of the progression of his disease and the treatment he has received in his regular newspaper columns, prompting hundreds of letters from readers wishing he had been writing when they had been diagnosed.In doing so, he shattered many of the taboos ...  Read the complete review

Well, here I am sitting at my office desk today, COMPLETELY sunburnt to a crisp (80 degree heat yesterday). The reason for my lobsterishness is the fact that I bought John Diamond's biography on Saturday. I was inspired to buy this book after watching the documentary a couple of months back on John Diamond and his fight against cancer. I bought it out of pure interest and curiousity and that was that. For those of you who don't know, the late John Diamond was a broadcaster who blagged his way into journalism and was married to Nigella Lawson and had two young children. It seems particularly cruel that he was struck down by cancer of the tongue when such ...  Read the complete review