Between Life and Death: From Despair to Hope

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Dr Kashyap Patel is a renowned oncologist in the US who works with terminally ill cancer patients. Through him, we meet Harry, who, after a life full of adventure, is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. As he stares death in the face, Harry leans on Dr Patel, an expert in understanding the process of death and dying. His questions and fears are addressed through the stories of many other patients that Dr Patel has treated- from the young and vivacious to those who had already lived full lives, from patients who could barely afford their rent to those who had been wildly successful What ties these stories together is the single thread of the lessons Harry learns along the way, lessons that ultimately enable him to plan his own exit from the world gracefully-dying without fear.

DR KASHYAP PATEL is a practising oncologist and has been working directly with cancer patients for the past twenty years. He is the CEO of Carolina Blood and Cancer Care Associates A certified trainer for physicians with the Education in Palliative and End-of-Life Care programme, he has been a speaker at several Continuing Medical Education events. He is also vice president of the Community Oncology Alliance, medical director at the International Oncology Network and chairman of clinical affairs at the Association of Community Cancer Centers, all in the US.

Dr Patel has led committees in numerous South Carolina hospitals and has extensive research experience in the field of oncology He has also published and presented several articles in medical journals.

Steve Jobs once said, 'No one wants to die. Even people who want o go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet, death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.'

Everyone understands the inevitability of death. We all know that our time is limited, and we see it around us as we go about our daily lives. We see our grandparents-and eventually, our parents-pass away from old age as we are left to mourn. We suffer the loss of friends to things no one could have predicted-a car accident or a sudden heart attack. We are acutely aware that our time on earth is limited to a finite number of ticks of the clock; indeed, we don't have any clue as to what that allotment is. We see the inevitability of death in the news when a hurricane strikes and leaves hundreds dead in its wake, or when an earthquake levels a city, along with many of the souls residing in it.

And yet, despite the omnipresence of death around us, no one ever wants to think about it, or talk about it, or prepare for it. An unspoken fear surrounds the topic, almost as if people believe that if they avoid talking about it, they might be able to stave off its strike.

Certain manifestations of death are especially singled out as harbingers of this fear. I see this every day in my professional life as a practising oncologist. The moment the words 'cancer' and "death are mentioned in a conversation, the listener invariably recoils in horror.

Millions of people every year experience this recoil when diagnosed with cancer, abruptly forced to face the sudden fear of impending death behind the curtain of the fatal words, 'I'm afraid you have cancer. Their plans come to a screeching halt, and like a deer in the headlights, they are forced into a life of little more than waiting for that final breath before they pass away.

It is at that moment that the eternal awareness that we all know deep down rises to the surface-that, like everyone else, they know that they, too, will be leaving this world.

Until that moment, the desire to cling to life in an almost mythological quest for eternity, combined with often-profoundly mischaracterized illusions around the latest discoveries in science, had created a happy mirage of longevity. Until confronted with a stark eventuality, we all think we're going to live forever.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages