Dancing With Fear: Tips and Wisdom from Breast Cancer Survivors
by Leila Peltosaari
Released September 2005
USA $14.95, CAN $18.95, 224 pages, trade paperback (published by Tikka Books)

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Dancing with Fear answered all my middle of the night questions
Leila Peltosaari has put together a book that should be at the bedside of every woman with breast cancer. It is a perfect gift for yourself when you are faced with this diagnosis and for friends and loved ones to give to women with breast cancer. It answers all the questions the doctors and nurses don't get to. It is well structured to find what you want, but more than information it took me deeply in to the emotional ups and downs of the illness and recovery. I felt surrounded and supported by all the women who spoke their truth for the book. So often we are told "each woman is different, each reaction is different," but Leila's book contains all the voices and reactions and each of us is in there again and again. The wisdom, truth and will to live gave me a sense of personal power just be reading it.
—Susan Halpern, author, Berkeley CA, April 5, 2006, Amazon.com

I have been reading this book slowly ... and I feel that it must be read slowly. It is a marvelous piece of work.
—Patricia Gorman

With this book, my fear of being diagnosed with breast cancer, or any cancer, would be greatly diminished. Thank you so very much.
—Ellie, New York

Hope and Encouragement for Women with Breast Cancer.
This remarkable book reflects the real-life experiences of 125 women from the U.S. and Canada who offer hope, encouragement, and practical tips on how to deal with every issue relative to the topic of breast cancer -- at the time of diagnosis, before and after surgery and follow-up medical treatments, and during the long and emotional road back to a life that may never seem normal again. Because emotion rings on every page of this book, and because I, too, am a breast cancer survivor (see my own story on my Website), I found the book engrossing and difficult to put down. I believe every woman who is now facing breast cancer, or trying to reclaim her life after surgery, should read this book and then pass it on to the next woman of her acquaintance who will follow in her footsteps. (Without question, sooner or later, all of us will know one or more women with this disease.)
—Barbara Brabec, Author of books for home-business owners, (Naperville, IL USA) - amazon.com, March 3, 2006

Thanks for doing this book to help others with breast cancer. It was therapeutic for me just to write about this.
—Joni, breast cancer survivor

I began reading this book the day after I was diagnosed with breast cancer for the third time. Opening the cover and beginning to read made me feel I was among friends, new friends who really understood how I was feeling and who supported me fully.
—Bev Parker, Research Analyst, Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization

Dancing With Fear is a wonderful book of stories, told in many voices, about the experience of living with breast cancer. The reader may laugh or cry, agree or disagree with the numerous "healthful" hints. But one thing is certain; it is a healing labor of love for the author, the contributors, and all women, men, and children who have been touched by this disease.
—Shelagh Coinner, Psychotherapist, Nurse, breast cancer survivor

I'm a breast cancer survivor and have been reading the book. I just love it. I'm learning a lot myself from reading about the experiences of others. It's a huge relief to know that others have gone through breast cancer, with varying experiences, and are alive to talk about it.
—Joy McCarthy Sessing (Warsaw, IN) - amazon.com, March 2, 2006

This book is a major contribution to the literature on cancer, not only because it provides exhaustive and accurate information and survivor testimonials but also because it employs an artistic structure that lets anyone into the "dance" and shares with the public the "steps" that accompany it. This integration of content and structure brings us into the world of breast cancer survivors like no other book I have read, either popular or academic. One feels as if one is living the experiences with these women who speak so eloquently. Ms. Peltosaari chooses to dance (act creatively) with often unspoken fears and thus has created an exceptional work of art as well as a superb resource for all cancer patients. In my 25 years as music therapist at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, I have not come across a work on cancer that integrates clinical information, patient testimonial and literary art as well as Dancing with Fear. I highly recommend this book to all the people I see in my work and commend Ms. Peltosaari for her wonderful work.
—Bryan Highbloom (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) - amazon.com, September 23, 2005

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book--it was interesting and enlightening to see the range of experiences and our responses to them. I could relate to most of the people and for those I couldn't relate to, I marveled at our differences. This book offers practical tips to survivors and friends, and I found the read therapeutic even 13 years after my initial diagnosis!
—Donna Tremblay, breast cancer survivor

Thank you for letting me tell my story. I found it to be a very cathartic experience. I hope others will find hope and strength in the pages of your book.
—Rita, Santa Clarita, CA, breast cancer survivor

You put together a wealth of information and this will help so many women........You are an angel, Leila
—Modestina, breast cancer survivor

I will slowly read and feel the comments. It's so valuable, thank God for people like you who care so much.
—Carole Randall, breast cancer survivor

Writing about my experience with breast cancer has felt good. It's like digging in warm soil in the spring with my hands.
—Sheryl, breast cancer survivor

I am so thrilled and excited to receive your book. What a great job. It will be a keepsake forever. Live for today, smile a lot and remember. . . when the sun comes up, you can do anything. We all have choices and decisions to make so make them wisely, and enjoy every moment you have. Life is wonderful.
—Gwyn Ramsey, breast cancer survivor

When you go through cancer, isolation can be all encompassing. Often your support system needs you to be a stoic hero so that they can support you. Leila's Dancing With Fear realistically provides the reader who does not have cancer compelling stories of the depth of emotion cancer patients experience and how those supporting them can be of comfort. For the warriors of cancer, the stories provide important advice and illuminate the hopes, dreams and fears that make all survivors kindred spirits.
—Heather Resnick, breast cancer survivor

"Dancing With Fear" is an indispensable book that everybody diagnosed with breast cancer should have. Filled with wisdom from breast cancer survivors, it offers encouragement, practical tips and stories about the experience of living with breast cancer. It started five years ago, when Montreal author Leila Peltosaari was diagnosed with breast cancer and became overwhelmed by the number of books and websites about the disease, and at the same time felt the lack of a practical, down-to-earth roadmap so important to new patients who are too exhausted by the medical process to forage through all the information out there. Leila launched her website (dancingwithfear.org) to gather information from other survivors, to be shared with the newly diagnosed. The response was immediate and tremendous, resulting in a new book "Dancing With Fear: Tips and wisdom from breast cancer survivors" (Tikka Books, 224 pages, $18.95). "To know the road ahead, ask those coming back," says Peltosaari, quoting a Chinese proverb. In "Dancing With Fear", those coming back are 125 women of all ages from across North America and beyond. Instead of medical advice, the book reveals the maze of real-life experiences of finding the tumor, surgeries, lymphedema, chemotherapy, radiation, tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors, complementary and alternative treatments, fear of recurrence, optimism and pessimism, support, reclaiming life, spirituality, facing death, and humor. You can open the book at any page and read portions or focus on the chapter relevant to your own journey.
—A review in a pharmacists magazine published by the Canadian Pharmacists Association, distributed in doctors' waiting rooms across Canada.