San Francisco paper bolsters 'Rollercoaster,' male caregiver's guide to light at tunnel's end
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| Woody and Nancy now |
Abracadabra!
Like welcome magic, the first full-length newspaper feature about “Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner’s breast cancer” has appeared.
Like welcome magic, the first full-length newspaper feature about “Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner’s breast cancer” has appeared.
The print version was published Jan. 10, 2015.
An online edition followed.
Editors put an intriguing headline on the piece: A memoir about cancer from the other side of the bed.
Here's the story, reprinted by permission in its entirety:
by liz harris, staff
writer
Their love story is sweet and also remarkable: Woody
Weingarten and Nancy Fox met as teenagers in New York and vowed eternal love.
They dated for a while and then, questioning their commitment, cut it off and
completely lost touch.
Decades later, after a chance meeting in Mill Valley,
their love rekindled. At midlife, they became husband and wife.
Seven years into their marriage, she was diagnosed
with breast cancer. Life became a wild ride.
In “Rollercoaster,” a book 20 years in the making,
Weingarten offers an unblinking look at how breast cancer affected him and Fox
from diagnosis to the present day. Its primary focus is to help male caregivers
through the process, thus the subtitle: “How a man can survive his partner’s breast cancer.”
“Rollercoaster” is also meant to help others navigate the
emotional and physical ups and downs, as well as the mountains of confusing
medical studies and different treatment options, that come with the disease.
Today life is good, Weingarten declares during an
interview in the couple’s sun-drenched hilltop home in San Anselmo. With Fox
cancer free for many years, they travel, enjoy a busy social life and pursue
lifelong passions. Weingarten, 77, who retired in 2007 after 24 years as
managing editor of J. (formerly the Jewish Bulletin), still writes for local
newspapers and is working on a new book. Fox, 75, a pianist whose white baby
grand piano is the focal point of their living room, still performs at local
retirement homes, senior centers and JCCs.
Weingarten acknowledges that “Rollercoaster” isn’t exactly
an easy read, but he believes it is a valuable one.
“My major aim is to help people — men whose partners have
any life-threatening disease,” he says. “What you go through. What you can
expect.”
He utilized his journalism skills to craft a love
story/“memoir-chronicle” and comprehensive resource for anyone affected by
breast cancer, with current, meticulously researched information on
medications, scientific studies and helpful resources.
He also includes a short list of books written for
partners of breast cancer patients. “In the last 15 years there have been 15
books published by [and for] men,” he says, while noting that “most of them are
way out of date, not well written.”
Weingarten’s book is “positive,” he says. “There’s light
at the end of the tunnel.” It also is sprinkled with humor. In fact, asked for
the most important piece of advice he can give
