Product Description
This inspirational story told by patient and author, John Amatuzio, about his long battle against leukemia, culminates a 20 year (and counting) journey of unimaginable proportions.

As the patient, John was told that his type of leukemia had never been successfully cured through bone marrow transplantation using a non-related donor. The count worldwide was 0 for 20 and mounting at the time.

With no other alternatives, John went through major testing, private investigator assistance, major turmoil and a donor materializing on the last possible evening in order to receive his transplant. Incredible bouts with faith and intense religious occurrences following the transplant finally led victory over defeat against insurmountable odds.

Stand side by side with John as he endures 106 degree fevers, organ failure, GVHD, total body radiation treatments, Last Rites, fist fights and experimental protocols. Personal betrayals lead to loneliness and a seemingly broken life that through twists of fate and unshakeable faith bring him to thanksgiving.

Readers from all walks of life will find this emotional tale thought-provoking and insightful. A must read if you or someone you love is living with cancer.

Customer Reviews (7)

No Fabrication Here!
I can say that this story is an accurate account of a very difficult time for John, his family and true friends. Ive seen first hand virtually every experience touched upon in Johns story and can attest to its accuracy. People may think, say or write whatever they like but ultimately God knows the truth. I highly recommend this book to anyone facing adversity.

God bless you and your family John

"Close enough to Know"

"but for the Grace of God go I" St. Philip Neri
John has articulated/enumerated in his book the fortitude, rectitude, focus and endurance that is necessary to survive any chronic illness...patient and family.
It is not a pleasant thing to be asked by God to persevere, especially, when one is seemingly at the mercy of so many others.
Job's wife instructed him to curse God and die...he would not.
John's suffering has not been self-imposed but has been a gift from God to bring him closer to Jesus in mind, body, soul, and spirit.I applaud him not only for the book, but foremost: for the testimony of his life.

Faith, Courage and Strength
This book exhibits tremendous human faith, strength and courage. Mr. Amatuzio has overcome tremendous physical illness and continues to do so today.

His book is an amazing detailed account of all the pain and suffering he has endured. In a small sense, the reader experiences the same physical pain and emotional roller coaster ride as the author.

John has been blessed with the ability to write a detailed account of his life and battle against leukemia and G.V.H.D.
His story is of great inspiration to all who are dealing with medical and physical adversity.

AMAZING!!!!!!!!
This book is truly amazing, and it was a valuable tool for me as a care giver. John tells it like it is, but leaves the reader with a sense of hope and faith.I can't thank John enough for the way that this book helped me through one of the most difficult times in my life, and for giving me a renewed sense of faith.

Courage in Action
Kudos !! The most amazing share of self and life experience! It was inspiring to see such a display of courage! Thank you for the contribution! ... Read more

Product Description
The 7th volume of the book series Acute Leukemias provides new updates on the biology of acute leukemias and especially the underlying genetic and molecular events. High quality contributions are provided by leading scientists and clinicians making the book an excellent overview over most recent achievements which translate into new treatment strategies and hence an improved outlook for patients suffering from acute leukemias. ... Read more

Product Description
This third edition of Leukaemia and Related Disorders represents a quite radical change in structure and emphasis from previous editions. The book previously contained an extensive basic science section, and while all forms of leukaemia are still covered, the basic science has been pared down, with emphasis on clinical management emphasized. The third edition also contains colour plates of blood films. ... Read more

Product Description
The world of experimental leukaemia research is a miniature of cancer research. Cancer research started from experimental leukaemia/sarcoma research of Ellermann and Bang and Peyton Rous in early 1900s. Experimental leukaemia includes most of important elements of cancer research; both viral and chemical carcinogenesis; most of important oncogenes and suppresser genes and the related cell biology. The author has added only a few sections such as skin carcinogenesis done by Yamagiwa and Berenblum and DNA viruses from outside of experimental leukaemia. By doing this, this book covers most of important topics of modern oncology, except researches done on human cancers. In this book, the author has arranged the chapters to contrast the pioneer works by Peyton Rous, Jacob Furth, and Ludwik Gross, etc, done more than half a century ago and the recent works by molecular biologists.Although the former pathologists provided various experimental materials, faced to severe criticism by contemporary researchers and they had tough hearts to cope with them, molecular biologists solved questions on these materials step by step by disclosing the invisible molecular events as a visible charts, molecular diagrams, or 3-D models just as magicians do. Experimental leukaemia has always afforded the key materials for solution of cancer. In experimental leukaemia, mutations and genetic recombination play an important role. They include ras gene mutations, insertional mutagenesis and gene transduction by retroviruses, recombination among retroviruses, and chromosome translocations. Most of them occur in highly specific genomic sites. However, the reason for the specificity in target sites remained obscure. The author was especially interested in the common target genomic sites for chemical carcinogens and retroviruses. Therefore the common pathway for retroviruses and chemicals became one of the main topics of this book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Leukemia
The book provides fundamental ,up-to-date information on the chronic leukemias that will allow those interested in these diseases to hone their diagnosticskills in this rapidly expanding area of hematology. ... Read more

Product Description
Webster's bibliographic and event-based timelines are comprehensive in scope, covering virtually all topics, geographic locations and people. They do so from a linguistic point of view, and in the case of this book, the focus is on "Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia," including when used in literature (e.g. all authors that might have Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia in their name). As such, this book represents the largest compilation of timeline events associated with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia when it is used in proper noun form. Webster's timelines cover bibliographic citations, patented inventions, as well as non-conventional and alternative meanings which capture ambiguities in usage. These furthermore cover all parts of speech (possessive, institutional usage, geographic usage) and contexts, including pop culture, the arts, social sciences (linguistics, history, geography, economics, sociology, political science), business, computer science, literature, law, medicine, psychology, mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology and other physical sciences. This "data dump" results in a comprehensive set of entries for a bibliographic and/or event-based timeline on the proper name Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, since editorial decisions to include or exclude events is purely a linguistic process. The resulting entries are used under license or with permission, used under "fair use" conditions, used in agreement with the original authors, or are in the public domain. ... Read more

Product Description
This volume provides a comprehensive account of the mostrecent trends in human leukemia, as presented at the NinthWilsede Meeting. Theinternationally renowned contributorsdeal with all different aspects ofthese diseases: As wellas discussing important clinical aspects of leukemia, newinformation on the biological basis of leukemia gainedusingthe methods of molecular genetics, cell and molecularbiology,virology, and immunology is covered. The book showsboth the complexity ofleukemia research, as well as thevalue of basic scientific research in furthering clinicalmedicine and therapy. ... Read more

Product Description
This volume covers all important aspects of drug resistance inleukemia and lymphoma. General mechanisms of resistance are discussed,including the drug resistance related proteins, MRP (multi drugresistance protein) and LRP (lung resistance protein), and the role ofglutathione and glutathione-S-transferases, as well as drug-specificmechanisms of resistance, apoptosis and its regulators and modulationof drug resistance. ... Read more

Product Description
Papers discuss the controversies on cytogenetic data and provide a detailed review of oncogenes in relation to B-cell disorders. Specific attention is given to researach studies using tumor promoters and biological modifiers in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia presents important information on topics such as variants of the disease, prolymphocytic leukemia, T-cell leukemias, Richter's syndrome, and B- and T-cell functions. ... Read more

Product Description
Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (or "chronic lymphoid leukaemia"), known for short as CLL, is a type of leukaemia in which too many lymphocytes are produced. Although the malignant lymphocytes in CLL may look normal and mature, they are not and these cells may not cope effectively with infection. CLL is the most common form of leukaemia in adults. Men are twice as likely to develop CLL as women. However, the key risk factor is age. Over 75 percent of new cases are diagnosed in patients over age 50. This book presents important research from around the world in this field. ... Read more

Product Description
This text is a patient-oriented guide to dealing with leukemia. Questions and answers cover basic questions about the disease such as risk factors and causes; methods of prevention, screening, and diagnosis; available treatments and how to choose among them; and ways of coping with common emotional and physical difficulties associated with the diagnosis and treatment. The authors, a leukemia survivor and a practicing oncologist/hematologist, team up to provide both a doctor's and a patient's perspective in answering these common questions. ... Read more

Product Description
The importance of gene therapy is increasing more and more. This book covers both somatic gene therapy of inherited human diseases as well as of cancer, with emphasis on malignancies of the hematopoietic system. Topics include the isolation and development of hematopoietic stem cells, genes involved in development and diseases, methods of gene transfer, carrying out gene transfer, oncogenes and antioncogenes as targets for gene therapy, receptors and their ligands in normal development and diseases, immunology and immunotherapy, radiation biology, clinical leukemias and bone marrow transplantation. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Inside George D. Amromin, M.D.'s Pathology Book
"Pathology of Leukemia" by George D. Amromin, M.D. is a standard cloth-bound hard cover book.It was published by Hoeber, Medical Division of Harper & Row Publishers, New York, Evanston, and London, 1968.365 black & white illustrations.Library of Congress Number 68-10702.No ISBN on or in book.

Why I am reviewing a 1968 book in 2010.Well, partly because I obtained a used copy just a few months ago and have a little time to write about it now.This book has been out of print for decades.The other main reason is I knew the author.I am a friend of one of Dr. Amromin's sons and know his whole family (four sons and one daughter)."George's" wife, the "Elaine" the book is dedicated to was like a second Mom to me for many years.During my early college years (late teens to early twenties), I often would pick through the doctor's home office trash can, picking out technical medical journals to read.As a biology major I found some amazing stuff in his trash!Great cell biology micrographs and electron microscopy in those journals.The medical pathology photography was less "artistic" and somewhat disturbing.I could go on and on.Back to the book.

In its day it was probably a "state of the art" book about its specialty, the pathology of leukemia and even today it is useful as a basic treatis about leukemia and its differential diagnosis.The electron micrographs are great, and actually artistic as photographic art.As are many of the "light" microscopy images.As a biologist and photographer I love micrographs.But of course the book is dated and 1968 is long before the days of recombinant DNA, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology, genetic engineering, and the use of computers for medical data analysis. Dr. Amromin's book is mainly a diagnostic text, little is dedicated to the thoeries or causes of cancer(s) per say.Though I did find at least one great quote in a chapter written by an associate, Dr. Raymond L. Teplitz:

"The genetic endowment of the neoplastic cells is of fundamental importance to its perpetuation.A tumor cell cannot assume a dominant status in a population among "normal" cells unless it is better adapted to the environment.Thus, the features of evolution, mutation, and selection may be thought of as at work in the origin and progression of a tumor.To take the view that one or the other must be the starting point for neoplasia may be an oversimplification, a reflection of the manner in which the origin of infectious disease was once viewed.Mutations or gross chromosomal rearrangements may occur at any time through the influence of various agents on chromosomes or cytokinesis.But the resulting cells must survive an environment to which the normal cell is supremely fit.It is clear that most mutations do not survive this challenge.Those that do, must succeed because of greater fitness endowed by the gentic change and/or environmental changes in which the "normal" cell is no longer competitively unassailable."

I found that extremely interesting, especially since it was written in 1968 or before.It sort of treats tissues as an ecological system.I will not go into details here, but I've read some really interesting theory on the etiology of cancers in some of Dr. Amromin's (often with co-workers) journal articles.This book is well worth owning by any oncology pathologist.Dr. Amromin was a brilliant man and I miss him.
... Read more