Review of First Survivor
Posted: 27 Jun 2024, 08:43
[Following is a volunteer review of "First Survivor" by Mark Unger.]
It is the absolute nightmare of any parent. As a mother of three girls, my heart seizes at the thought of this happening to my family. Mark Unger and his wife, Mary Ellen, learned that their young son, Louis, had neuroblastoma. This event opens First Survivor: The Impossible Childhood Cancer Breakdown. I could not put this book down. I read it entirely in one sitting. I needed to know, did Louis live?
This was not an easy medical finding. He had been erroneously diagnosed in the months prior with orthopedic issues. A pediatrician eventually determined the horrible diagnosis and delivered the news with as much sensitivity and tact as possible. Some parents would have immediately fallen apart. Mark Unger felt internal chaos. He responded with what has become his life's mission. He got organized, began his note-taking and documentation, and commenced the multi-year journey that cured his son. He also wrote a road map about the journey to help those who will experience a similar situation.
This is not a medical journal or a how-to guide. It is a real-life thriller that confronts perceived dead ends and culminates with a transcendence over a cancer that is too often fatal. This book is also an unexpected and beautiful love letter to Mary Ellen Unger. Mark loves her fiercely. This marital love grows as they together work to save their son. This aspect of the book profoundly moved me as a reader.
Unger is a brilliant man with obvious technical acumen. The level of medical detail in this book rises to that of a medical school curriculum at points. Readers who tend toward biological topics will find the discussions of CBC counts, hemoglobin levels, and stem cell harvesting to be interesting. Other readers with pharmaceutical inclinations will appreciate the book's coverage of a wide range of drugs, some quite innovative, including Vincristine, Doxorubicin, and various chemotherapy regimens. If this describes you, or if you are a parent who enjoys nonfiction and admires fellow parents who overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles, you will enjoy this book.
I give this book five out of five stars. It is well-edited and contains only the most minor typographical errors. I found just one aspect that I disliked about the book. A helpful timeline called "A Concise History of Survival" is included at the end, following the glossary. It would be extremely helpful to readers if Unger and his editors moved that timeline to the beginning of the story. It serves as a helpful guide in keeping track of the action-packed and at times chronologically overlapping events.
Louis and his parents fought this battle with positivity and resilience, in turn motivating those around them to rise to their level of strength. Like the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center pediatric oncologist and antibody inventor who saluted them in the book's foreword, I applaud the entire Unger family for their level of courage.
******
First Survivor
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
It is the absolute nightmare of any parent. As a mother of three girls, my heart seizes at the thought of this happening to my family. Mark Unger and his wife, Mary Ellen, learned that their young son, Louis, had neuroblastoma. This event opens First Survivor: The Impossible Childhood Cancer Breakdown. I could not put this book down. I read it entirely in one sitting. I needed to know, did Louis live?
This was not an easy medical finding. He had been erroneously diagnosed in the months prior with orthopedic issues. A pediatrician eventually determined the horrible diagnosis and delivered the news with as much sensitivity and tact as possible. Some parents would have immediately fallen apart. Mark Unger felt internal chaos. He responded with what has become his life's mission. He got organized, began his note-taking and documentation, and commenced the multi-year journey that cured his son. He also wrote a road map about the journey to help those who will experience a similar situation.
This is not a medical journal or a how-to guide. It is a real-life thriller that confronts perceived dead ends and culminates with a transcendence over a cancer that is too often fatal. This book is also an unexpected and beautiful love letter to Mary Ellen Unger. Mark loves her fiercely. This marital love grows as they together work to save their son. This aspect of the book profoundly moved me as a reader.
Unger is a brilliant man with obvious technical acumen. The level of medical detail in this book rises to that of a medical school curriculum at points. Readers who tend toward biological topics will find the discussions of CBC counts, hemoglobin levels, and stem cell harvesting to be interesting. Other readers with pharmaceutical inclinations will appreciate the book's coverage of a wide range of drugs, some quite innovative, including Vincristine, Doxorubicin, and various chemotherapy regimens. If this describes you, or if you are a parent who enjoys nonfiction and admires fellow parents who overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles, you will enjoy this book.
I give this book five out of five stars. It is well-edited and contains only the most minor typographical errors. I found just one aspect that I disliked about the book. A helpful timeline called "A Concise History of Survival" is included at the end, following the glossary. It would be extremely helpful to readers if Unger and his editors moved that timeline to the beginning of the story. It serves as a helpful guide in keeping track of the action-packed and at times chronologically overlapping events.
Louis and his parents fought this battle with positivity and resilience, in turn motivating those around them to rise to their level of strength. Like the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center pediatric oncologist and antibody inventor who saluted them in the book's foreword, I applaud the entire Unger family for their level of courage.
******
First Survivor
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
