Special Needs, Brain Cancer, Inspirational 

Ten years ago, doctors at the Mayo Clinic told thirty-four-year-old Greg Smith that he had an inoperable brain tumor. They gave him three months to live. Today, ten years later, Smith is fit, symptom-free, and managing his tumor with an experimental hormone therapy--living proof that no matter how dire the diagnosis, you don't have to accept a death sentence. How did he do it? In this remarkable book, Smith draws on his own harrowing experiences, and those of other patients who "refused to lie down and die on cue," to show how medical "miracles" are made; from taking control of health care decisions to exploring experimental treatments; from finding the right questions for your doctor to finding the right doctor for your questions; from developing trust in your caregiver to developing faith in yourself; from battling insurance companies to battling the voice in your head that keeps asking, "Why me?" Making Miracles Happen is not just another survivor's memoir. The story of Greg Smith's return from the threshold of death is certainly inspirational--and deeply moving, and even darkly funny at times--but inspiration is only part of the story. "My purpose," says Smith in the introduction, "is to be helpful." In pursuit of that goal, he weaves the eloquence and insights of doctors, as well as the hard-won wisdom of other patients, into the compelling narrative of his own story. The result is a book that entertains, educates, and empowers at the same time; a book that inspires with information and insight, not feel-good nostrums; a book that doesn't just tell the story of how one man achieved his medical miracle, but lays out a road map that others can follow; a book that finally brings the light and air of reason into that darkest and most claustrophobic of all places in the heart: the fear of dying. - from Amzon