Impressions Beyond the Terminal Cancer Diagnosis
written by Norma Woody
In this collection, as in her first book, Impressions Behind the Pink Ribbon, Norma explores a range of emotions and trials only a woman facing her own death can experience. A true and rich testament that only the examined life is worth living, she probes the depths and meaning of honesty, hope, friendship, and faith, as well as her own fear, isolation, heartache, and failures. For Norma, life was a kaleidoscope of miracles and experiences she felt compelled to capture in her writing, and had she lived, she would have penned many more books. We regret that this is her final manifesto of life, love, and hope.
PRAISE FOR IMPRESSIONS BEYOND THE TERMINAL CANCER DIAGNOSIS and IMPRESSIONS BEHIND THE PINK RIBBON
“As a Community Manager for the American Cancer Society, I work with people who have and have not been diagnosed with cancer. Because I work in the field of cancer and experience loss so often, I find myself wondering how many people live their lives with life itself going unnoticed until the moment of diagnosis. I am deeply moved by and profoundly grateful for Norma Woody’s honest and enlightening account of what it is to face a Stage 4 cancer diagnosis and try to live in the dying, make sense of the senseless, and yet acknowledge all the good things there are in the midst of the daily struggle. These very sentiments are what inspire the human spirit to find the hope and faith that are necessary to sustain life. Impressions Behind the Pink Ribbon is a gift for everyone who is searching to express the inexpressible about what cancer steals from us. Truly, we are all terminal from the day we are born, but cancer brings fear and starts the life clock ticking, which steals peace from those who are diagnosed and from those
around them. This book faces the tough emotional issues head on and will make you cry, make you laugh, but most of all it will allow you to see the beauty of the human spirit in the midst of the storm.”
—Amy Swartz, community manager, American Cancer Society
“Wow. Norma Woody has written a grace-filled, unflinching, and even, at times, whimsical book about her battle with Stage IV, Grade 3 cancer. Norma writes, “If we trust in God’s love, no matter where we are in life and no matter how difficult it can be at times, He will still bring beautiful people and beautiful things into our lives when we need them the most.” Norma and her book will be the beautiful person and beautiful thing many will find when they need them the most in the midst of their own life struggles.”
—Lynne B. Einhaus, Ph.D., licensed clinical psychologist and collaborative coach
“Anyone who writes a book while living with a diagnosis of terminal cancer deserves to be read. Few get the chance to have the last word about their life. In this book, Norma Woody does just that. She has insured that her experience will survive as her legacy to all who are on the same journey.”
—Betty Booker, Boomer magazine columnist and former Richmond Times-Dispatch columnist
“Norma Woody takes an unflinching look at her life after she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Her book is filled with poetry, pain, reminiscences good and bad, apologies for being sick, an assessment that her life by her own standards has been ‘mediocre,’ and a hard look at cancer and ‘all the stigma and negativity and needing that comes with it.’ I recommend it highly to anyone interested in how one should confront his or her own life and death or the life and death of a family member or friend.”
—Randy Fitzgerald, Boomer magazine columnist, former college educator and newspaper columnist