Hesitant Hope: A memoir of anguish, endurance and healing.

In 2013, Helen DeVries received a death sentence – stage IV cancer of the appendix. Her only hope was a drastic surgery that would take twenty hours and require removing the contents of her abdomen and flushing the peritoneal cavity with highly concentrated, heated chemotherapy – an extremely invasive procedure requiring days in intensive care and weeks in the hospital. The alternative was three to six months of symptom-free living followed by palliative care for another two and a half to three years… “but certainly not five years.” The HIPEC (hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy) treatment would take place at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital, but to even qualify for the procedure would require a six-month chemotherapy regime.

Hesitant Hope maps out the psychological landscape she and those close to her had to cross and illustrates the importance of a strong support network of family and friends.

A lucid, unflinching look at a subject that will touch almost everyone at some point in their life. While cancer treatments continue to evolve, statistics remain ominous – 1 in 2 Canadians can be expected to develop cancer in their lifetime.

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