Review of First Survivor

[Melziew]

[Following is a volunteer review of "First Survivor" by Mark Unger.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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First Survivor: The Impossible Childhood Cancer Breakthrough is the true story of a young family’s emotional roller-coaster of understanding and coping with a childhood neuroblastoma diagnosis. Written by the father as almost a diary of the battery of doctors, tests, results, etc. that a cancer diagnosis presents, it gives the reader a glimpse of what family life can be like when a life-threatening diagnosis endangers one of your children. I originally questioned the plethora of medical information and the onslaught of medical terminology as the book began. However, it was immediately clear that it was a necessity. It was needed to convey the hurdles that parents with no medical background are presented with as they try to navigate through a life-threatening illness in their child. The inclusion of actual notes taken during doctor meetings and the subsequent onslaught of questions that were generated further impacted how overwhelming this reality must have been for the parents. This story takes the reader on an arduous emotional journey as a family learns to understand and cope with cancer. It is a trailblazing account of what it means to be a patient advocate, its importance, and how essential it is to do research, ask questions, and expect answers from medical staff. The editing could have been more thorough, as I found multiple grammatical and punctuation errors, such as not italicizing Bob the Builder, inconsistency of punctuation between hour(s) and minutes (9:00 vs. 9.00), incorrect use of a semi-colon versus a comma, etc. However, these errors did not take away the essence of the story. Also, there was no profanity or sexual content in the book. I rate this book a 4 out of 5, as the editing could have been much more thorough. As a parent, it was difficult to read through the effects of treatments on a patient. It was also difficult to imagine attempting to maintain a normal life for another child with school, holidays, activities, and family time. I truly appreciated the Ungers sharing this unthinkable journey.

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First Survivor
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