When American saxophonist and social activist Fred Ho was diagnosed with stage 3b colo-rectal cancer in 2006 he underwent immediate surgery to remove the tumor and began preparing for chemotherapy. Within days his friends mobilized to arrange grocery deliveries, transport, companionship, and housekeeping dutiesthey called themselves Warriors for Fred.”
Fred chose to write his astonishing cancer memoir as a diary, acknowledging that all the greatest warriors from Sun Tzu to swordsman Murasashi to Bruce Lee wrote daily diaries because warfare against a most formidable enemy will be won, ultimately, on the philosophical level. With incredibly detailed entries Fred talks frankly about his battlehis meticulous research, his various treatments, his successes, and his failures. Together, he and his loved ones discuss plans for future artistic projects: a new opera on Antony and Cleopatra, a project with a native Alaskan totem carver, and an underwater ballet for synchronized swimmers. He learns to find joy in the simple things: the beauty of the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, a fresh pork bun, or a night of Battlestar Galactica on DVD. Above all, we learn what it means to truly live in the presentthrough Fred’s unflinching description of the effects of colon cancerand about his search not just for a cure” in a medical sense, but for true healing. For Fred, this includes understanding the way of the warriorone who fights for beauty, justice, health, equity, and sustainability.
- ISBN10 1616083786
- ISBN13 9781616083786
- Publish Date 13 October 2011 (first published 27 September 2011)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Publisher Skyhorse Publishing
- Imprint Allworth Press,U.S.
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 304
- Language English