Roads to Meaning and Resilience with Cancer

Forty Stories of Coping, Finding Meaning, and Building Resilience While Living with Incurable Lung Cancer

By: Morhaf Al Achkar

Narrated by: Peter Bierma

The book tells the stories of 39 patients with incurable lung cancer. It aims to help patients, families, and healthcare providers understand the experience of living with cancer. It also invites reflections on the essential questions of meaning, resilience, and coping with adversity in life. The author is a family doctor, teacher, and researcher who is also a stage IV lung cancer patient himself. He is patient number 40.

Facing one's mortality, patients with cancer develop an urgency to find meaning in life. They struggle with the illness, its emotional impact, and the consequences of treatments. However, with time, reflection, and support from others, they develop resilience. Cancer patients often are not passive. Instead, they choose different strategies to maintain and restore their health. They also leverage a variety of approaches to cope better with their struggle.

The book is for cancer patients who are tarrying at the limits of time. It is also for those who live around patients with cancer: caregivers, families and friends, and health care providers. People who struggle with other illnesses will also find aspects of their story reflected here. Also, the ones who have experienced a crisis of identity will discover elements of their story here as well. By sharing the experiences of the forty authentic individuals, the book opens the space for them to teach others. This book is about the essence of the human experience at its limits. It is for every listener.

©2019 Morhaf Al Achkar (P)2019 Morhaf Al Achkar

Inspired to make every moment count

Every human can relate to this book - it touches on fear, regret, hope, and faith. The story is shared in a way that moves between the author's reflection and experience, and the interviews with patients. I found myself reflecting on those of my family who've been impacted by cancer and having more empathy for their journey. I also became even more inspired to make every moment count since reading this book. Definitely a worthwhile read!

Love it

I did listen to it twice . I didnt expect a physician to be such excellent writer
WOW .
Thank you for taking time and write it

Thank you

I very much appreciated your thoughtful insight into this condition. Do you are at work very often. I especially Enjoyed your thoughtful presentation by incorporating many others views. Well Done!

Great book

Deep heart-felt book written by an authentic voice of a physician and a patient living with lung cancer.
The book is timely, as more people with lung cancer are living significantly longer now than would have been few years ago.
The book tells the stories of 40 patients living with lung cancer and trying or not to find meanings of their experiences with this terrible disease.
This book helps everyone, whether those suffering from bad diagnosis with cancer or other terminal disease; and those healthy yet struggling as seeing loved ones going through this tough experience. This book is for everyone.

One of the most meaningful books

I had the chance of meeting Morhaf and Leo and I am grateful for that opportunity. I can't start to imagine what each of them are/were going through but am thankful to have listen to their stories.