When you hear a bad prognosis: Dire diagnoses

Jessie Gruman knows all too well what it’s like to hear bad health news: first at age 20 with a diagnosis of Hodgkin’s Disease, ten years later with cervical cancer, five years ago with a potentially fatal infection of the heart’s lining (viral pericarditis), and three years ago with colon cancer.

Based on her hard-won lessons on survival, she has written Aftershock: What to Do when the Doctor Gives You – or Someone You Love – a Devastating Diagnosis.

Advice to newly diagnosed people: Read her book.

Read one of our survivor stories, or read more from Jane Brody’s column in the New York Times on July 3.