Veteran author, blogger thinks ‘Rollercoaster’ helps male caregivers cope with cancer

Veteran blogger-journalist-novelist-publicist Debbie Cohen writes about what “sometimes slips through the cracks” after diagnosis — a “male partner’s concurrent need for assurance in his new role as…primary caregiver.”

Debbie Cohen

She says that being “expected to be a pillar of strength…can be a frightening experience for many men. To help that fear, veteran journalist Woody Weingarten has written an important book titled “Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner’s breast cancer.”

It’s “exactly the type of book that Weingarten could have used himself,” she notes. “He lost his first wife to breast cancer.”

Although the book’s focus is on breast cancer, her blog continues, “any caregivers, particularly those who are there for patients with AIDs, Alzheimers or, indeed, any life-threatening or altering disease, would benefit from it.”

“Rollercoaster” is a memoir-chronicle, a love story, and an up-to-the-minute guide to research, meds, and where to get help.

Debbie’s blog is appropriately titled “Why We Need More Books and Advocacy On Behalf of Male Caregivers.”

Her first book, “Keeper of the Scale,” which deals with body image and the power of female friendships in forming a “diet buddy” threesome.  It is available in both paperback and in ebook format.