Renowned oncologist Dr Kashyap Patel pens the real stories of brave cancer patients in his book ‘Between Life and Death’

BILKULONLINE

Ahmedabad, Feb 13: There are stories of seven brave cancer patients in a unique book “Between Life and Death: ‘From Despair to Hope’ – authored by renowned oncologist from the US Dr. Kashyap Patel is a life changer.

The book shares real-life experiences and conversations about thoughts and attitudes towards death witnessed by Dr. Patel from close quarters over the course of his work with cancer patients for more than 20 years.

The book highlights the altruistic and humanistic aspects of the struggle against cancer and recounts the stories of ordinary human beings who put up extraordinary bravery in the face of extreme illness and certain death. It shows how its diagnosis affects emotions, how it creates a cycle of anger, frustration, denial, and eventually acceptance of the situation and learning how to live with the disease in the face of death.

“I came across some exemplary individuals, who chose to accept cancer as an autumn leaf getting ready to fall off a tree and make their transition from the land of manifest existence to return to the place, we all come from. The book’s focus is on philosophical and psychological concerns. This book is to inspire people suffering from cancer and other serious ailments around the world. How does someone look at death, how do they initially avoid thinking about it, how do they feel about it, and what impact does the fear of death have? These are some of the questions the book answers. The book has the potential to fuel a movement that will transform people’s understanding of death,” says Dr. Patel who is the CEO of Carolina Blood and Cancer Care Associates.

The book narrates the process of death, the ultimate reality. From one’s own thoughts about death to the experiences of seeing it in others, the journey is unique and different for everyone. However, everyone has the capacity of choosing how to react to the fear and the challenge death brings. The book helps people think about death carefully and clearly and perhaps realize that death is no great evil, but only a brief pause in our journey.

A certified trainer for physicians with the Education in Palliative and End-of-Life Care, Dr. Patel has been a speaker at several events. He 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 journals. He is also a part of US President Joe Biden’s Cancer Moonshot initiative, which is aimed at improving cancer screening, enhancing prevention, supporting patients and survivors, and learning more from people living with cancer.

Dr Patel’s book is available on kindle. Dr Patel is  a champion of life mantra, besides highly educated, trained and practiced in medical field, Dr Patel

has studied all religious books and Sufism. No wonder his US hospital has ‘healing garden’ and music for ears to please. He believes that no one should fear death as it is definite and those who are suffering from serious illnesses just wait to know when and how are they going to meet the end of their life.  Dr Patel says music to the ears of serious cancer patients, whisper into their ears, touch of love are all gestures that give a soothing feeling to their last days of life.

“Live life to the fullest” insists Dr Patel who has closely worked with different kinds of cancer patients during his illustrious career as an oncologist. At 62, he plans to set up a state of art laboratory. Having authored 105 research papers and delivered over 100 lectures in his medical field Dr Patel is associated with top notch research teams  and the idea of liquid biopsy is on cards. So that far flung patients can also be tested of the disease easily with blood test and at early stage.  An optimistic Dr Patel says “its a matter of some five years that cancer would be treated as a chronic disease”.

Dr Patel is going to publish two more books shortly named “solo genome” and “miraculous recovery – case of five brave cancer survivors’ inspiring stories.

Published by Penguin eBury Press, Between Life and Death: From Despair to Hope runs 216 pages, priced at Rs 499 and is available in popular bookstores as well as on e-commerce platforms.