Don't Bring Lasagna: Tips when somone you love is dealing with cancer

Do you have a friend or loved one who has cancer? Don't Bring Lasagna is a book for people who know someone who has cancer and is struggling with how best to interact with them. When someone suddenly gets sick, it can be difficult for people to relate to them. What do you say? How do you act? These are fair questions that many people struggle with this.

When I had cancer, I was always surprised at how people reacted to me. Some people always knew just what to say and do while others felt very uncomfortable. This is understandable as there is no guidebook for how to handle these situations. Some people visited regularly while others stayed away. Everyone wanted to be kind and supportive but many of them simply did not know how to pull it off. This book is for all those people. It is filled with tips and suggestions that I wish my friends and family had when I was struggling with cancer. In each chapter, I relate my own personal experiences along with a useful idea on how to engage meaningfully with someone with cancer.

For instance, have you ever noticed that when someone is sick a lot of people will say, "let me know if there is anything I can do." This is very common and a very thoughtful gesture and in most cases is a genuine offer to help. It happened to me all the time, but I almost never actually asked any of these people for help. The problem is that it shifts the responsibility of asking for help to the person who is sick. It can be awkward and embarrassing to call a friend to ask them to mow your lawn or pick the kids up from school. In chapter one of the book, I make several suggestions on how to reverse this and give an offer to help that won't go ignored.

The book is filled with short personal stories - some of which a funny and some of which are not funny at all, but all of which offer a useful lesson on how to best interact with that special someone that is living with cancer.