The Book Whisperer Reviews a True Story

Andrea Wilson Woods has written an emotionally charged story of caring for Adrienne, her teenage sister, as Adrienne undergoes treatment for stage IV liver cancer. Andrea is Adrienne’s legal guardian, a young woman in her twenties herself when she faces caring for her sister through cancer treatment.

Better off Bald: A Life in 147 Days takes reads on emotional highs and lows. It is not spoiler for readers to know that Adrienne dies from the cancer. Still, as Andrea Wilson Woods points out in “Author’s Notes” at the end of the book, “We lost Adrienne, but did she lose?” That line is in response to a friend’s mother who said, “You will win if you measure winning in terms of good days and good hours.”

Much of the praise for Better off Bald comes from the medical community. Nicholas Borys, MD, Executive VP and Chief Medical Officer of Celsion Corporation, for example, writes "Better Off Bald is a raw story about two sisters, one a teenager and the other barely an adult, facing cancer. Andrea works hard to be the grown-up and a mother to her younger sister, Adrienne, when the diagnosis of cancer crashes down on them. Read this book to learn what goes on in the minds of patients fighting cancer. This book will jolt you emotionally and hopefully inspire all medical professionals to do a little better, and all patients to fight a little harder."

For anyone who is facing or has faced a serious medical diagnosis, especially cancer, Better off Bald will be a touching story that will resonate with the reader. Readers will weep and laugh with Adrienne and Andrea and the medical personnel involved in Adrienne’s treatment.

Andrea Wilson Woods started a nonprofit called Blue Faery: The Adrienne Wilson Liver Cancer Association. Woods also loves to tell stories. She has been a coach, writer, teacher, and advocate. She maintains a robust Web site: https://www.andreawilsonwoods.com/. I received a copy of Better off Bald from BookTrib which has in no way influenced my review.