The Woman at the Washington Zoo

This book was written my Margorie Williams and finished up by her husband Timothy Noah. Margorie Williams was a renowed author who among other accomplishments worked for the Washington Post. This book outlines her writing life and her diagnosis, battle and treatment of stage 4 liver cancer. The uses humor and is nothing short of remarkable in describing all of her feelings from anger to acceptance. She begins at the discovery of a lump in her abdomen and takes you on her incredible journey from her initial appointments, to her scans, to her devastating diagnosis. You are with her each heartbreaking step of the way. You feel her fear, her anger, her complete devastation at the final moment when she accepts that she will succomb to this disease. You go with her as she goes from physician to physician hoping that one will be able to offer her hope and in turn finding out with her that there is no hope that any of the top physicians in the world can offer her. This is a must read for anyone who is struggling with cancer or a family member who is also dealing with this devasting disease. I lost my sister to liver cancer at the tender age of 33. This book described my sister’s journey almost in shocking detail as to what we lived through as well. It was a comfort to know that others had been to a place we were now going to. It was a guide of sorts as to how to accept and live with the time that was left. The one thing this disease does not give is time. Her book shows you must live each day to the fullest as if it will be your last and to take in every moment of your family and cherish it for all that it is worth and then some. It also shows that death does not have to come in the form of depression. She was a fine example of how to live out the remainder of your life with your head held high, knowing you had done all you could and that you left this world in a state of grace. I will always be grateful to Margorie Williams for writing this book, what I personally consider her finest piece of work. This book helped me deal with issues that I struggled with and of course there is no happy ending.