A book that will benefit everyone, especially those negotiating life-threatening diagnoses; their caregivers, family members and friends; and health care providers and their students. In ""Lessons from Joan"", Eric R. Kingson tells how his late wife's strength, warmth, humor, and love - and those of many people they met along the way - helped extend life and make it worth living. It is about the fear, hope, and intensity of their lives during the thirty-two months that followed Joan's cancer diagnosis and how Joan and her husband and children maintained their family life during this time. It is about some of the funny, moving and courageous things that happened along the way. And it is about what they did to access compassionate, state-of-the-art care, including aggressive interventions that provided hope and improved the quality of Joan's life. ""Lessons from Joan"" is not intended as a ""how-to"" book, but within its pages readers will find lessons and practical advice about how to deal with unexpected life-threatening illnesses.