Rare and Resilient: Sarcoma Survivor Stories

Inside this volume

Fifty first-person accounts describe sarcoma, the family of rare cancers that grow in bone and soft tissue. Writers first noticed a lump the size of a lemon, a purple mark on the scalp taken for a bruise, a bump on a swimmer's rib, a lump in the arm nine weeks after a baby, or a kidney stone visit that found something else. Others were told it was sciatica, a boil or a fatty lump. They range from a sixteen-year-old in Helsinki and a high school pitcher in Dayton to a tailor in Accra, a farmer of six hundred acres in Iowa, a noodle cook relearning to eat and a widow who took three boats and a bus to reach treatment from Cebu. Treatments include chemotherapy, radiotherapy, limb-saving surgery, a chosen amputation, a rotationplasty, a clinical trial, watching a slow tumour and choosing the quiet option at seventy-four. Writers also describe sperm banking, hearing aids after chemo, a wound that would not close, raising money for a scan, pregnancy, dating with a scar and late effects decades on. Outcomes differ widely: some are years clear, while others live with spread to the lungs, metastatic disease with no end of treatment, or the knowledge that their time may be shorter than hoped.

Who it's for

For anyone newly told they have a sarcoma or living with one long term, and for the parents, partners and friends trying to understand scans, surgery choices and the waiting.

Format · Instant download · PDF & EPUB · Fifty first-person accounts · PDF: 238 pages

A collection of personal testimony, offered as companion reading — not medical advice.

• 50 single-author testimonies from real people
• A short, plain-language introduction to the topic
• Editor's note, contents page, and curated resource list
• Professional interior typesetting and an original cover

Every purchase includes a print-quality PDF (best for desktop, tablet, and printing) and a reflowable EPUB (best for Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, and phones). Files are DRM-free. You can download both instantly from the order-confirmation screen, and we email them to your inbox as well, so your books are always within reach.