Tim Wendel

It's official: "Cancer Crossings: A Brother, His Doctors and the Quest to Cure Childhood Leukemia" will be published this weekend.

Thanks to so many people for believing in the project, which was a departure for me in many ways.

The great group of editors at Cornell Press, starting with Dean Smith, Fran Benson and Suzanne Gordon, made this a much better book than the original manuscript.

Also, thanks to the doctors who spoke with me and took the time to explain what it was like to take on this shape-shifter of a disease. We lost Dr. James Holland, one of the giants in this field in recent weeks. But his words and philosophy live on in these pages.

And, finally, special thanks to my family. We've been through a lot together and we continue to sail for the far horizon.  Read More 

In this column, I write about an important conversation I had with Dr. Donald Pinkel while researching "Cancer Crossings: A Brother, His Doctors and the Quest for a Cure Childhood Leukemia." Dr. Pinkel was the first director of pediatrics at Roswell Park in Buffalo and went on to build St. Jude Hospital in Memphis. Here he's shown with the hospital's founder, actor Danny Thomas.
Pinkel's insights helped me understand the dynamics within my own family during the years my brother was battling acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
The new column is entitled "No Time for Conversation."  Read More 

With the manuscript into Cornell Press, the production phase is now underway. There will be 15 photographs in the book, placed within the text instead of the usual insert. The permissions from the various hospitals and outlets have been secured. In addition, several family photographs will be used.
At one point, the working title was " Read More