HARPHAM, Wendy S(chlessel) 1954-

PERSONAL:

Born October 18, 1954, in New York, NY; married Ted Harpham (a professor), December 30, 1979; children: Rebecca, Jessica, William. Education: Cornell University, B.S. (with honors), 1976; University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, M.D., 1980. Hobbies and other interests: Playing violin, watching high school volleyball.

ADDRESSES:

Office—P.O. Box 835574, Richardson, TX 75083-5574. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer, public speaker, and physician. Physician in private practice of internal medicine, beginning 1983. Host, ACS Cancer Survivors Network; speaker, consultant, and patient advocate.

MEMBER:

American College of Physicians, various Texas and U.S. medical associations, National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Natalie Davis Spingarn Writer's Award, National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, 1998; Governor's Award for Health, Office of Governor George Bush, 2000; Ellen Glesby Cohen Leadership Award, Lymphoma Research Foundation, 2001; Outstanding Service Award, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, 2002.

WRITINGS:

Diagnosis: Cancer. Your Guide through the First Few Months, Norton (New York, NY), 1992, published as Diagnosis Cancer: Your Guide to the First Months of Health Survivorship, 2003.

After Cancer: A Guide to Your New Life, Harper-Collins (New York, NY), 1995.

When a Parent Has Cancer: A Guide to Caring for Your Children, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1997.

(With Laura Harpham) The Hope Tree: Kids Talk about Breast Cancer, illustrated by David McPhail, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2001.

Contributor to books, including Principles and Practices of Supportive Oncology, Lippincott, 1997. Contributor to professional journals and periodicals, including Ca, Ladies' Home Journal, Medical Economics, and Postgraduate Medicine. Member of editorial board, CURE magazine.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Happiness in a Storm.

SIDELIGHTS:

Wendy S. Harpham developed a passion for writing and public speaking when she was no longer able to practice internal medicine after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. She has since published a series of inspirational books that focus on the coping and healing processes following cancer diagnosis and treatment, including Diagnosis:Cancer. Your Guide through the First Few Months, After Cancer: A Guide to Your New Life, When a Parent Has Cancer: A Guide to Caring for Your Children, and The Hope Tree: Kids Talk about Breast Cancer.

Harpham demonstrates her unique perspective as both doctor and patient, in her books. In When a Parent Has Cancer she also demonstrates her strength as a mother of three who was forced to deal not only with her own disease, but also with its affect on her family. The book blends together her own experiences—grappling with the fear of diagnosis, right up through the sickness she felt while undergoing treatment—along with advice from other parents undergoing similar ordeals. Her strength is evident, as she manages the responsibilities of parenting throughout the many stages her illness—which happily has gone into remission. Writing in the Bergen County, New Jersey, Record, Michael Precker called the book "A straightforward mix of advice," while in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Sylvia M. Ramos maintained that When a Parent Has Cancer "should help give children and their parents a context within which to deal with life after cancer and to 'find the courage to face the future honestly, with love and hope.'"

On the other side of diagnosis, The Hope Tree was written to help children cope with a mother's breast cancer. Using animal characters, many sensitive issues are discussed. The sons and daughters of women suffering from this common cancer, who often feel "stifled by the chaos and fear experienced by the family," will "greatly benefit from the discussions this book should stimulate and the comfort it provides," praised Mary R. Hofmann in a School Library Journal review.

Harpham told CA: "In 1983, I opened a solo practice of internal medicine with a mission to help others through the synergy of science and caring. When illness made it impossible to practice clinical medicine, and forced me to redefine my career, writing and speaking became different but equal passions, and ways to reach more people than I ever could in my medical office."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Medical News, December 7, 1992, Wayne Hearn, "Drawing on Experience to Help Cancer Patients Cope," p. 42.

Booklist, February 15, 1997, Kathryn Carpenter, review of When a Parent Has Cancer: A Guide to Caring for Your Children, p. 974.

Journal of the American Medical Association, March 25, 1998, Sylvia M. Ramos, review of When a Parent Has Cancer, p. 961.

Library Journal, May 15, 1992, Janet M. Coggan, review of Diagnosis: Cancer. Your Guide through the First Few Months, p. 110; August, 1994, Janet M. Coggan, review of After Cancer: A Guide to Your New Life, p. 114; February 15, 1997, Mary J. Jarvis, review of When a Parent Has Cancer, p. 156.

New York Times, September 28, 1994, Jane E. Brody, "A Doctor Who Survived Cancer Uses Her Experiences to Help Guide Other Patients," p. C10; February 12, 1997, Jane E. Brody, "Children Need Special Help When a Parent Has Cancer," p. B12.

Publishers Weekly, June 22, 1992, review of Diagnosis: Cancer, p. 59; December 10, 2001, review of The Hope Tree: Kids Talk about Breast Cancer, p. 73.

Record (Bergen County, NJ), March 3, 1997, Michael Precker, review of When a Parent Has Cancer, p. H1.

Rocky Mountain News, July 4, 1996, "War on Cancer Got Stuck, and There's No Will to Unglue I," p. A42.

School Library Journal, October, 2001, Mary R. Hofmann, review of The Hope Tree, p. 127.