Writing this brought back many memories and tears. Hopefully some of my comments will help others.

Sharron, diagnosed in 2002 at age 62

Writing about my experience with breast cancer has felt good. It’s like digging in warm soil in the spring with my hands. Thank you!

Sheryl

I began reading this book the day after I was diagnosed with breast cancer for the third time. Opening the cover and beginning to read made me feel I was among friends, new friends who really understood how I was feeling and who supported me fully.

Bev Parker, Research Analyst, Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization

Dancing With Fear is a wonderful book of stories, told in many voices, about the experience of living with breast cancer. The reader may laugh or cry, agree or disagree with the numerous "healthful" hints. But one thing is certain; it is a healing labor of love for the author, the contributors, and all women, men, and children who have been touched by this disease.

Shelagh Coinner, Psychotherapist, Nurse, and breast cancer survivor

This book is for practical women who are looking for helpful tips from other breast-cancer survivors. It is not a medical book or gushy wallowing-in-self-pity book. It is very real and presents helpful stories or advice from women who have gone through the breast cancer process.

Maggie Twigg, Boston MA

A wealth of information to help so many women. Thank you for your wonderful book.  This is exactly what we needed a few years ago.  I am so happy to be reading it!!  I've told many friends about it. You are truly an amazing person.  You put together a wealth of information and this will help so many women........You are an angel, Leila.  Ciao
 

Modestina

Leila Peltosaari has put together a book that should be at the bedside of every woman with breast cancer. It is a perfect gift for yourself when you are faced with this diagnosis and for friends and loved ones to give to women with breast cancer. It answers all the questions the doctors and nurses don't get to. It is well structured to find what you want, but more than information it took me deeply in to the emotional ups and downs of the illness and recovery. I felt surrounded and supported by all the women who spoke their truth for the book. So often we are told "each woman is different, each reaction is different," but Leila's book contains all the voices and reactions and each of us is in there again and again. The wisdom, truth and will to live gave me a sense of personal power just be reading it.
 

(Susan Halpern, Berkeley CA)

I have just finished reading this book. I finished my treatment for breast cancer this past April. How I wish I had found this book at the beginning of my diagnosis - it would have helped me see that what I was going through was normal and that there were even others who had experienced the same things. Even now, it has made me feel okay about my fears and about some side effects I am still experiencing. I think what is so sad is that the fight against breast cancer has been going on for so MANY years and yet there is still so much that doctors don't tell their patients about this disease and what they are experiencing. Thank you for putting this book together. I feel like I know all the women who responded to your questionnaire. I'm so glad I found your book - thanks to Amazon for suggesting other reading sources when I was searching for a book about survivors! You've done a great service for all women. It should be required reading for every woman diagnosed with breast cancer.
 

Pamela A. Cassidy, Silver Spring MD

I read this book cover to cover in 2 days and loved the quotations, experiences, suggestion, wisdom, thoughts and feelings of those touched by breast cancer.
I was particularly struck by the cover of the book to start with. I have had a recurrent dream starting in the long ago past in which a huge wave (looks almost exactly like that picture) is coming which will wipe out all life on earth. I have to decide if I'm just going to stay put, try to outrace it with my car (useless) or try to swim through it. I decided to start swimming. I wonder if this was a message to me in advance to "just keep swimming" as Dory in Finding Nemo kept singing. Most of the stories written here encourage us all to do just that.
 

M. Brooks, King of Prussia PA

Hi Leila! I am a survivor who has many quotes in your book, Dancing with Fear. I just got a copy yesterday and I couldn't put the book down. It truly is a wonderful and inspiring thing to read. After I finished it, my husband read it and was brought to tears. He wants to order some copies for both of our daughters and at least one friend of his whose wife is going thru cancer, but not breast cancer. As my husband said, this information is useful to anyone! I have continued to have problems related to my treatment which have given me and my family more challenges to overcome. Unfortunately, I am no longer able to work as an RN and am not able to keep up my "normal" fast pace of life. I find that I go back to this book from time to time to get some strength again.
 

Peggy Scott, Southern Maryland

I am a three-year breast cancer survivor and have read many, many books on the subject, but "Dancing With Fear" was one of the most personal. By the time I finished reading it, I was thinking of the women quoted as friends of mine! They seemed so real, because they ARE real, and that made the book one of my favorites!
 

Jo Carbonetti, Harvard IL

I checked this book out of the library and now I am buying it, along with Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book. I also like the Mayo Clinics Guide to Women's Cancers. I was diagnosed a month ago, am recovering from a mastectomy, have Stage 3C cancer, and will be starting chemo and radiation. I love this book because it's written in plain English, it deals with the practical and the emotional, and it presents many sides of the issue. Every woman's cancer and treatment is different, and this book gives you an idea of the spectrum of what to expect every step of the way. It's also an easy book to flip through -- I plan to bring it to chemo, and I am copying my favorite bits of advice and quotations into a small journal. I hope to contribute to the sequel. It is filled with wonderful quotations and proverbs (not about breast cancer, but about life, healing, fear, etc.) This may sound silly, but I also like the size of the book, the title, and the cover art. I've checked some 20 books out of the library, and this is one my favorites.
 

K. Butler, Balsam Lake WI

Many women from North America and a few from Europe responded to a questionnaire involving the diagnosis, treatment and future prognosis of their particular type of breast cancer. They offered valuable insights and practical suggestions. More importantly, these women offered hope. They valued each day given to them and looked to the future with hopeful expectation. They are an inspiration.

M. Buxton

Competently compiled and deftly edited by Leila Peltosaari (currently five years cancer free), Dancing With Fear: Tips And Wisdom From Breast Cancer Survivors is an inspired and inspiring collection of shared advice and real-life experience in surviving breast cancer contributed by 125 women. Educating readers on the whole process of discovering breast cancer and guiding readers through an informed approach to the diagnosed condition possible, Dancing With Fear tactfully presents an easy-to-follow guideline of finding the tumor, dealing with the doctors and surgeries, lymphedema, chemotherapy and radiation, tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors, fear of recurrence, complementary and alternative treatments, optimism and pessimism, support and humor, spirituality and facing death, and aftermath and reclaiming life. For its outstanding collection of informed and helpful information, Dancing With Fear is very strongly recommended to all women at risk of or diagnosed with breast cancer.
 

Midwest Book Review

This remarkable book reflects the real-life experiences of 125 women from the U.S. and Canada who offer hope, encouragement, and practical tips on how to deal with every issue relative to the topic of breast cancer -- at the time of diagnosis, before and after surgery and follow-up medical treatments, and during the long and emotional road back to a life that may never seem normal again.
Because emotion rings on every page of this book, and because I, too, am a breast cancer survivor (see my own story on my Website), I found the book engrossing and difficult to put down. I believe every woman who is now facing breast cancer, or trying to reclaim her life after surgery, should read this book and then pass it on to the next woman of her acquaintance who will follow in her footsteps. (Without question, sooner or later, all of us will know one or more women with this disease.)
 

Barbara Brabec, author of home busindess books, Naperville IL

I'm a breast cancer survivor and have been reading the book. I just love it. I'm learning a lot myself from reading about the experiences of others. It's a huge relief to know that others have gone through breast cancer, with varying experiences, and are alive to talk about it.

Joy McCarthy Sessing, Warsaw IN

This book is a major contribution to the literature on cancer, not only because it provides exhaustive and accurate information and survivor testimonials but also because it employs an artistic structure that lets anyone into the "dance" and shares with the public the "steps" that accompany it. This integration of content and structure brings us into the world of breast cancer survivors like no other book I have read, either popular or academic. One feels as if one is living the experiences with these women who speak so eloquently.
Ms. Peltosaari chooses to dance (act creatively) with often unspoken fears and thus has created an exceptional work of art as well as a superb resource for all cancer patients.
In my 25 years as music therapist at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, I have not come across a work on cancer that integrates clinical information, patient testimonial and literary art as well as Dancing with Fear. I highly recommend this book to all the people I see in my work and commend Ms. Peltosaari for her wonderful work.
 

Bryan Highbloom, Montreal QC

Dancing With Fear, unlike medical books or one woman's stories, offers real-life reactions, hope and support in a devastating disease of increasingly common breast cancer. All participants are linked together by their experiences and generosity to share and give help to others. This book is comforting and useful to read when newly diagnosed and when getting through the initial despair and advancing to the other side and starting to reclaim life again. Women in the book offer honest glimpses from their journey, their struggle and victory with breast cancer. Highly recommended to anyone whose life is touched by cancer. Dancing With Fear collects a wealth of wisdom and experience from 125 women, all of whom have had their own, real-life experiences with breast cancer and came out triumphant on the other side. Walk with them on their journey, from diagnosis through the aftermath and reclaiming of life, and you will never walk alone.
Written by Leila Peltosaari, herself a breast cancer survivor. A portion of the proceeds from our original purchase went towards breast cancer prevention, awareness, and support, in addition to the good you do by buying it here. This 223-page book includes black-and-white images of all 125 breast cancer survivors. Back features a handy glossary and thorough bibliography, including both books and web sites.
 

Greater Good Store, CharityUsa.com, The Breast Cancer Site

"I am a three-year breast cancer survivor and have read many, many books on the subject, but "Dancing With Fear" was one of the most personal. By the time I finished reading it, I was thinking of the women quoted as friends of mine! They seemed so real, because they ARE real, and that made the book one of my favorites!"
 

Hilary King - BA (Hons) PGDip Psychol.

Everyone I have shown your book to has been very impressed and touched by the stories in the book.  Patients have also benefited from the practical advice listed within.  I noticed that Bev Parker had a major part in your book.  It helped me to read her story since I am also involved in the Y-Me organization.  I am currently going through the final part of my training to be a hotline operator. What a marvelous, wonderful, fabulous book you put together! Leila, I’ve finished reading the book. What a marvelous, wonderful, fabulous book you put together! I cannot say enough good things about it.  It's just great!  I am certain it will provide comfort to those facing breast cancer, or any cancer for that fact, and help them get through it.  I surely wish it were around when I was going through it. You are truly a remarkable lady!
 

Dikla Benzeevi, participant in the book

Dear Leila, I am loving your book.  At first I felt so deeply drawn down into the experience of cancer by the words of all the women, I was unsure I wanted to go back there.  But then as the date of my annual CAT scan approached I read your chapter on Fear and felt so much more ready.  The wisdom and spirit of all the women were just what I needed. I will write my appreciation to Amazon today.
And then yesterday I received a letter from an old friend in her 60's whose daughter, in her 40's has just had a recurrence of Breast Cancer and will undergo a mastectomy.  I am sending her a copy of your book.  She asks to hear from other women who are facing this  moment premenopausally, and here is your book, filled with the voices of many women.  I thank you so much for your effort and for asking me to participate in getting your book out into the world. This is a book of stories told by many women in North America and Europe. It's their journey through breast cancer from diagnosis on. If you have developed breast cancer, this book will validate your experience and offer comfort in profoundly isolating moments. It is funny in parts and sad in others. You will finish reading it feeling that you have been with a group of friends who truly understand what you have gone through
 

Susan Halpern

Dear Leila. Well, I have finally had time, while sitting on a plane to Boston to visit my sister, to read THE book.  I just can't believe how absorbed I became in reading of the tales of other survivors.  You have done a marvelous job my dear... and I am very proud to have been a part of it.   While reading I found myself nodding my head in agreement ...only to find I was reading my own story.  Once again Leila, thank you so much...and you have done a wonderful job. Hugs from Joan Fox.

Joan Fox, Victoria, BC

Hello Leila, I am so thrilled and excited to receive your book.  I have been reading through it and the presentation is terrific.  What a great job. I loaned it to my sister-in-law and she is placing an order for a copy when she gets back to Florida from North Dakota.  I do believe she has lost her mind to go that far north during the winter. Thank you for you kindness and for the book.  It will be a keepsake. I love your picture on the back and your grand daughter is beautiful.  Congratulations. Thank you again.
 

Gwyn Ramsey, Florida

Hi, Leila. I'm putting a note in the mail to your today, along with my check for the extra book I ordered. Just wanted you to know that I read the book right away and have to tell you that you've done a magnificent job with this work -- certainly your greatest accomplishment to date, especially when you consider the status of your health during this book's writing/design/publication. I'll do what I can to help publicize it for you through my Brabec Bulletin and website. I won't duplicate my other comments, coming in the mail, but know that I admire you greatly and commend you for the positive outlook you have on life. It takes great strength of character and a whole lot of faith in God to remain positive when life deals the kind of hands you've been given lately. God bless you.
 

Barbara Brabec

Hi Leila, I received your book yesterday.  I appreciate your sending it to me.  I will slowly read and feel the comments.  It's so valuable, thank God for people like you who care so much.  Many thanks.
 

Carole Randall

Hi Leila, I received your book yesterday.  I appreciate your sending it to me.  I will slowly read and feel the comments.  It's so valuable, thank God for people like you who care so much.  Many thanks.
 

Carole Randall

Hi Leila, Donna T. gave me your book that you signed. THANK YOU so much! I love it and can't stop reading it. Congratulations!! Well done. I'm sure this will help newly diagnosed breast cancer patients and "old veterans" like me (3 years). I'm really honored to be part of your book. Hopefully we will get to meet again at one of the support group meetings. Take care.

Lorraine