The Perfection of Hope: A Soul Transformed by Critical Illness

Jane Heath teaches psychology at Ryerson Polytechnical University in
Toronto.

This book describes the author’s experiences with a diagnosis of lung
cancer, majory surgery (which served to reveal that the cancer was
inoperable), a draconian treatment involving chemotherapy and radiation,
which sent her into remission, and struggling to regain some measure of
health and hope in the shadow of possible recurrence. As well, the
reader is told of the earlier loss of her mother, her sister, and two
friends to cancer, and of the very different ways in which they faced
life with cancer, and eventually death. Also described are the comforts
and sources of strength the author found along the way, including
alternative therapies (yoga, acupuncture, naturopathy, massage), nature,
love confirmed and deepened, the companionship of an old and beloved
dog, and, following its death, the life-confirming acquisition of a new
puppy.

Simpson communicates clearly and absorbingly her pain, fear, and
vulnerability, and her striving for hope, which culminated in her return
to “dependable joy.” Her account of one woman’s way of “making
sense of life’s misfortunes” will be of particular interest to
cancer patients and those who share their lives.