The Extraordinary Story of How an Ordinary Man Faced Cancer

Sarasota, FL, August 15, 2007 --(PR.com)-- The ancient Greek writer Plutarch wrote, “The measure of a man is the way he bears up under misfortune.” When Dr. Robert Mignone, a well-respected psychiatrist and deeply loved family man, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2003, his life “appeared to be shattered.” But in Ordinary Valor: How Prostate Cancer Saved My Life, Mignone shows how having to confront his own mortality became a life-shaping odyssey—a choice between surviving and daring to live with hope.

Because the book began its literary life as a journal, readers are allowed to share in the most intimate moments of Mignone’s three-year struggle, experiencing his innermost fears and self-discoveries.

“As a friend once told me, ‘You can’t choose the cards you’re dealt, including whether or not you deserve them, but you can decide how to play your hand.’ Humor came hardest at three in the morning, during my umpteenth struggle to bring a precious ounce from the prostate fires. But even then, I sometimes burst out laughing. It was the only thing to do.”

Ordinary Valor is an intensely human account of how one man faced the darkness that is cancer and learned the value of living with a grateful heart and an open mind. Mignone’s well-written chronicle takes us through his years of growing up, including his days in medical school, where we see the molding influences of parents and peers. He also reveals how the adult image of himself as “Superdoc” was to affect this greatest of life’s challenges.

With Mignone, we experience the pain of his treatments and the escalating side effects; the power of a wife’s love and good humor; and the emotional, mental and spiritual challenges he continually faced:

“In the dark night of my soul, when the Great Mystery seemed especially vexing and when life was appearing both unjust and uncontrollable, God gave me courage and strength. Those, along with making peace with the potholes and rough terrain of my landscape, sustained my morale for staying the course. My intention was to live as fully as I could for whatever time I had.”

ISBN(s): 1598009309 Format(s): 5.5 x 8.5 Paperback; 5.5 x 8.5 Hardback w/Jacket SRP: US $19.95/CAN $24.95 Paperback; US $29.95/CAN $36.95 Hardback w/Jacket
Genre: Self-Help/Personal Growth

For more information or to contact the author, visit www.outskirtspress.com/ordinaryvalor

Dr. Robert J. Mignone attended Amherst College cum laude and graduated from Duke Medical School Alpha Omega Alpha in 1966, with later internships and residencies at Yale New Haven, Cornell, and Harvard Medical School. A teacher and academician, Dr. Mignone taught and practiced at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard from 1974 to 1988 before coming to Southwest Florida to start Gulf Coast Health Services, a multi-specialty mental health group with a mind/body approach. Dr. Mignone is also an ordained minister with application to spirituality and health. He is a physician broadcaster, who has worked in radio and television as a health educator and facilitator of personal growth. Readers can visit Dr. Mignone on the Web at www.robertmignonemd.com

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