Rallying ‘Round Mara
An Inspirational Blog About Fun, Friendship and Cancer
by Mara Galaty, edited by Carol Popper Galaty and David Mees
Available on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com
Excerpt:
“Mara, despite battling fatigue, you still communicate with passion, and we are so grateful…if our thoughts and prayers were beads, you’d be adorned in necklaces and bracelets from here to the next century…!”
This is an inspiring, beautiful story, about a fascinating woman, Mara Galaty, told by Mara herself, her family and her friends around the world, as events in the last three months of her life unfold. The content is taken directly from a blog, initiated when she first discovered and reports “straight from the horse’s mouth” that she has been evacuated from her USAID post in Amman, Jordan to the Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York for treatment after MRI tests showed she had metastatic melanoma cancer lesions (tumors) on multiple sites in her brain. The Blog entries and the stories told by her family and friends at her memorial services around the world attest to a life lived fully, with generosity, compassion and joy…you will find yourself laughing and crying, unable to put the book down. Mara lived life to the fullest. She was only 37 when she died, but she accomplished as much as most do in 90 years. Mara’s upbeat attitude and that of her world-wide web of family and friends enabled her to pursue the lifestyle she wanted, allowing her to enjoy her life to the last day. Many of the contributors to the blog as well as the medical and health professionals who have read it recommend this book to people facing tough cancer and life-style decisions. Mara’s example and her positive outlook are certain to help cancer patients aspire to a quality of life they might not have thought possible.
“…Her joie de vivre, her capacity for hope and the inspiring effect her life and words had on people the world over, are utterly compelling…I have no doubt that this book will be indispensable to those facing cancer themselves.”
—Amelia Cullinan, MD Palliative Medicine Physician, Northwestern Memorial Hospital
“…(Mara’s) questions came from a place in her heart that was dedicated to making the lives of others more comfortable. She had reason to worry about her prospects for survival, but she continued to be concerned about other to the end…”
—Grover Bagby, MD MACP Founding Director, Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health and Science University, Portland OR
“…Reading through her blog and the comments of her family and friends, I realize that in the shared feelings and exchanged tips, it’s always Mara taking care of her friends, helping them not to lose heart, cheering them up, wiping their tears, it is seldom the other way around!…”
—Zlatna Kostove, Bulgarian Translator, Journalist, Writer
“In her Blog Mara, her friends and family give us a beautiful picture and powerful voice for life with Cencer…she offers us a window into her world of cancer, where she was “un-embarrass-able” and inspirational!!!”
—Patty Gelman, Author, “Humor After the Tumor,” and member of the Buffalo, New York Chapter of The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation