Product Description: Tom Batiuk spent several years as a middle school art teacher before creating the comic strip "Funky Winkerbean" in 1972. Originally a "gag-a-day" comic strip that portrayed life in high school, Funky has evolved into a mature series of real-life stories examining such social issues as teen dating abuse, teen pregnancy, teen suicide, violence in schools, the war in the Middle East, alcoholism, divorce, and cancer. In 1999, Lisa Moore, one of Funky's friends and a main character, discovered she had breast cancer. Batiuk, unsure about dealing with such a serious subject on the funny pages, decided to go ahead with the story line. He approached the topic with the idea that mixing humor with serious and real themes heightens the reader's interest. Lisa and husband Les faced the same physical, psychological, and social issues as anyone else dealing with the disease. After a mastectomy and chemotherapy, Lisa was cancer free. She finished her law degree, opened a practice, and had a baby daughter, Summer. Then, in the spring of 2006, the cancer returned and metastasized. "Lisa's Story: The Other Shoe" is a collection of both the 1999 comic strips on Lisa's initial battle with cancer and the current series examining her struggle with the disease and its outcome. Additionally, it contains resource material on breast cancer, including early detection, information sources, support systems, and health care.
good book This was a great book, I had been keeping sporadic watch for the strips as they originally came out in the paper, but this puts them all together in one cohesive story. It brings you through all the emotions one goes through when one has breast cancer or otherwise (I had a lump in my breast which when biopsied was benign...whew!) and I was crying before I was halfway through the book. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone (it also has great references in the back of the book for support groups and alternatives) who might know of somebody (or themselves) who is going through a potential scare like this one.
Lisa's Story
A very good book for even teenagers too read. Well written. Would give too my own children and grandchildren
"As in La Boheme, there's Act IV...." Having been with a close friend who as found a lump, opted for double masectomy, been declared 'in remission' only to have it recur, spread and ultimately overtake her, Batiuk really captures the whole experience--the good, the bad, the sad, and the infuriating (even the lab bungle reads as it happened to my friend).
If you've lost anyone to breast cancer, this will cut deeply. But it is worth it. It's a story that is true, and very well told. Keep the tissues nearby.
Truth in Fiction I read an article about this book in Heal magazine, the magazine for cancer survivors. I am a 1 year Non Hodgkins Lymphoma survivor. When I received the book, I couldn't put it down. I read it through in one sitting. This is a great story for everyone-cancer victims, survivors, caregivers and anyone who wants to learn just a little bit more about patient's emotions. You don't have to have breast cancer to read this. It gives people who don't have cancer a greater understanding of what we go through. I cried after reading this story-not for me, but for all the Lisa's out there and especially for the husband she leaves behind. I found myself worrying about her husband and the wonderful way he took care of her. What a sensitive, thoughtful and caring story!
Lisa's Story is a lesson for us all What an easy way to spread the word about breast csncer...and how a significant other male can offer patient loving support through this kind of crisis. If there is a woman in your life, buy this for both of you, you'll never regret it.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
