Diary of a Radical Cancer Warrior

Fighting Cancer and Capitalism at the Cellular Level

Fred Ho

• Publisher: Skyhorse
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9781629144023
• eBook ISBN: 9781628731354
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Medicine Biographies

When American saxophonist and social activist Fred Ho was diagnosed with stage 3b colo-rectal cancer in 2006 he underwent immediate surgery to remove the tumor and began preparing for chemotherapy. Within days his friends mobilized to arrange grocery deliveries, transport, companionship, and housekeeping duties—they called themselves "Warriors for Fred."Fred chose to write his astonishing cancer memoir as a diary, acknowledging that all the greatest warriors from Sun Tzu to swordsman Murasashi to Bruce Lee wrote daily diaries because warfare against a most formidable enemy will be won, ultimately, on the philosophical level. With incredibly detailed entries Fred talks frankly about his battle—his meticulous research, his various treatments, his successes, and his failures. Together, he and his loved ones discuss plans for future artistic projects: a new opera on Antony and Cleopatra, a project with a native Alaskan totem carver, and an underwater ballet for synchronized swimmers. He learns to find joy in the simple things: the beauty of the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, a fresh pork bun, or a night of Battlestar Galactica on DVD. Above all, we learn what it means to truly live in the present—through Fred's unflinching description of the effects of colon cancer—and about his search not just for "a cure" in a medical sense, but for true healing. For Fred, this includes understanding the way of the warrior—one who fights for beauty, justice, health, equity, and sustainability.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Authour Notes
• Contents
• Foreword
• “Song from the Womb of Yemaya” by Magdalena Gómez
• Introduction: The Art of Breathing and Other EverydayRevolutionary Practices by Cynthia G. Franklin
• Prologue: I Am Not a Cancer Survivor but a Cancer Fighter!
• PART ONE: The Cancer War Begins
• Please Join the “Warriors for Fred” LISTSERV
• Diary 1: Fred Ho Plays the Sax Again!
• Diary 2: The Warrior Reflects
• Diary 3: Bed and Benadryl
• Diary 4: Shoulder to Shoulder
• Diary 5: No Sorbet, No Peace
• Diary 6: Real Dragons Fly!
• Diary 7: The Irresistible Dialectic
• Diary 8: Fighting the Battle of Jericho
• Diary 9: The Results of Your Love and Support
• Diary 10: The Fatback Fan Club
• Diary 11: Chemo Number 11 (One More to Go!)
• Diary 12: The Cells of One’s Sound—Chemo Number 12 (The Final Treatment)
• Diary 13: The Ultimate Urban Dragon Fights the Gauntlet of Hades
• Diary 14: Transcendence and Transformation Is What We Must Expect
• Diary 15: Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst; Understanding the Integrated Strategy and Tactics of a Protracted Cancer War
• Diary 16: The Road Through Hell Is Love
• Diary 17: The War Continues
• Diary 18: Hell Is a Mansion of Many Rooms
• Diary 19: Beyond the Beyond, When You Cannot Go Back, You Can Only Go Forward
• Diary 20: Road to the Future—A Life Impossible!
• Diary 21: A Slow Recovery and Healing—Challenges and the Unknown of a New Life
• Diary 22: The War Continues—Cancer Again Attacks Fred Ho
• Diary 23: Hope Redux
• Diary 24: Trouble on My Mind
• Diary 25: Do the Impossible Tonight and Sleep
• PART TWO:The War Returns—Rejecting the Allopathic for the Naturopathic
• Diary 26: The War Returns, the New Fred Ho Takes a New Direction
• Diary 27: Letter from Ben Barson
• iary 28: The End Is Near—Facing the Crossroads
• Diary 29: Letter to Dr. Zofia Stadler Regarding My Termination of Treatment at Memorial Sloan-Kettering
• Diary 30: We’re Gonna Dance! Putting the Stare on Cancer and Confronting the Teratogenic-Carcinogenic-Iatrogenic Matrix!
• Diary 31: Turning the Corner, Facing the Truth
• Prefigurative Prelude: An Afterword
• Appendix