Helpful Resources

If you’re facing brain cancer either yourself or with a loved one, you may need some help. Below are some resources that may or may not be helpful depending on what you need and where you are in your shitstorm with brain cancer.

I’m not linking to specific places where you can buy these books. I highly recommend you use local/independent bookstores or your local library when you can. Many of these books are also available in audio format so if you’re not capable of having the energy to read an actual book, try the audiobook! Many of them are read by the authors themselves.

Please note this is not a comprehensive list of everything that exists in this space. These are just ones that I’ve enjoyed/did not hate. Some books/podcasts may have some overlap between other categories but I tried my best to place them in the category that I found most helpful. Many of these resources are not specific to brain cancer or widows. Some of them are from the experiences of others with different cancers, from another grief perspective (parent, sibling, child, etc). I will do my best to note which ones are specific to brain cancer or cancer.

Please feel free to send me any recommendations, I love to read and listen to podcasts.

Books

Caregiving:

• Already Toast: Caregiving and Burnout in America by Kate Washington
  • Wife and mother of young children perspective of young husband with cancer
• The Caregiving Wife’s Handbook: Caring for Your Seriously Ill Husband and Caring for Yourself by Diana B. Denholm
  • I personally did not like this book as I felt like it was geared towards older adult wives and I didn’t relate to these stories at all. But someone else at a different life stage may find it helpful)

Patient Perspective:

• Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted by Suleika Jaouad
  • 20 something year old with AML
• A Matter of Death and Life by Irvin D. Yalom, Marilyn Yalom
  • Memoir with alternating chapters from husband and wife on their year long journey with her cancer diagnosis
• The Night the Lights Went Out: A Memoir of Life After Brain Damage by Drew Magary
  • Not brain cancer specific but many brain cancer patients face brain damage from the tumor, swelling, surgery, radiation, etc
• When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
  • A memoir of a young neurosurgery resident faced with terminal lung cancer

Greif:

• Bad Vibes Only (And Other Things I Bring to the Table) by Nora McInerny
  • Nora’s husband died of brain cancer. This is her 4th book, I think
• Before and After Loss: A Neurologist’s Perspective on Loss, Grief, and Our Brain by Lisa M. Schulman, MD
• Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
  • Memoir of Korean American woman who loses her mother to cancer
• Finding Chika: A Little Girl, an Earthquake, and the Making of a Family by Mitch Albom
  • Memoir of father who adopts a little girl with brain cancer. Highly recommend the audiobook, it has Chika’s voice in it. This is the dude who also wrote Tuesdays With Morrie
• Grief Connects Us: A Neurosurgeon’s Lessons on Love, Loss, and Compassion by Joseph D Stern
• The Grieving Brain: The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss by Mary-Frances O’Connor
• A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis
• How to Live When a Loved One Dies by Thich Nhat Hanh
• It’s OK That You’re Not OK: Meeting Grief and Loss in a Culture That Doesn’t Understand by Megan Devine
• Notes on Grief by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  • Written from the perspective of a daughter losing her father and not living in the same country
• The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
  • This wasn’t my favorite, but it’s not terrible

Widow:

• Black Widow: A Sad-Funny Journey Through Grief for People Who Normally Avoid Books with Words Like “Journey” in the Title by Leslie Gray Streeter
  • Memoir of young adult woman’s husband dies while making out and her experience as a black woman widowed by white Jewish man
• Confessions of a Mediocre Widow or, How I Lost my Husband and My Sanity by Catherine Tidd
  • Memoir of woman who loses her husband in an accident and caring for their three kids under 6 years old
• From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home by Tembi Locke
  • Memoir of a young woman’s experience with her husband long battle with cancer and widowhood
• Future Widow: Losing My Husband Saving my Family and Findying My Voice by Jenny Lisk
  • Memoir of a woman whose husband dies of brain cancer
• The Hot Young Widows Club: Lessons on Survival from the Front Lines of Grief by Nora McInerny
  • Nora’s husband died of brain cancer
• It’s Okay to Laugh (Crying is Cool Too) by Nora McInerny
  • Nora had a miscarriage, her dad died from cancer, and her husband died of brain cancer all with in 6 weeks
• Newly Widowed, Now Socially Awkward: Facing Interpersonally Challenges After Loss by Eileen L. Cooly Ph.D
• No Happy Endings by Nora McInerny
  • Nora’s follow up memoir to It’s okay to laugh
• Widow to Widow: Thoughtful, Practical Ideas for Rebuilding Your Live by Genevieve Davis Ginsburg

Death Culture and Practice:

So this section is a bit odd but I found it wildly helpful in normalizing something everyone eventually faces – death. In Western culture, death is “creepy” and “weird” which makes our grieving complicated. Other cultures have practices that help with the grieving process. I personally find it healthy to explore what options are out there and even normalize some thoughts of things you might want to do with your or your loved one’s remains. Some of these books are memoirs from people who work in the funeral business, some are about death practices across different cultures, and some are just curious about dead bodies.

• Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande
  • A surgeon’s memoir on death, dying, and his fathers experience with a spinal tumor
• From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty
  • Memoir of mortician’s travels in learning about death customs
• Smoke Gets in Your Eyes & Other Lessons from The Crematory by Caitlin Doughty
  • Another memoir from a mortician
• Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
• Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? And other Questions about Dead Bodies by Caitlin Doughty, Dianne Ruz (Illustrations)
  • Memoir of questions asked by children to a funeral director

Podcasts

• Terrible Thanks for Asking (TTFA)
  • Podcast by Nora McInerny – it’s not brain cancer specific but she normalizes talking about the hardest part of people’s lives
• Game on Glio
  • Brain cancer specific, started by the widow of a brain cancer patient

Websites

• American Brain Tumor Association
  • Tons of great resources for patients and caregivers, mentorship program, webinars for patients and caregivers, and national conference where patients and caregivers are encouraged to attend
• American Cancer Society
• BrainUp
  • Chicagoland specific brain cancer charity founded by parents of daughter who died of brain cancer, good resources and events for patients and caregivers
• clincialtrials.gov
  • Where to find clinical trials