Heal Yourself By Writing Your Memoir

What happens when you have to turn in your white coat for a johnny? 

It's not easy to go from being the doctor to being the patient.  But, sooner or later, everyone faces illness.  In my specialty, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R), we have a saying that "good health is a temporary condition."

I met Kim Allison, MD when she came to the Harvard Publishing course.  Kim had just finished going through treatment for Stage 3 breast cancer.  Ostensibly, she came to the course to hone her writing skills and to figure out how to publish her memoir.  However, I suspect that  she really came to the course to heal.  Healer, heal thyself.

Kim is the director of breast pathology at the University of Washington Medical Center--a difficult job for a breast cancer survivor to return to.  In her new memoir Red Sunshine, she describes what it was like to go from being a doctor to a patient and back to a doctor again. 

Kim writes, "...our stories connect us to a common core and can give us comfort that at least we are not alone in the experience.  Everyone has a story to tell.  This is mine."

Bravo, Kim, for writing your story and encourage others to heal!  What is your story?