If I Knew Then What I Know Now: The Clarity that Comes With Cancer and Age

If I Knew Then What I Know Now: The Clarity that Comes With Cancer and Age

Carol Ann Cole

Nonfiction: Autobiography, Cancer, Medicine
$19.95
192 pages
6" x 9" paperback
ISBN: 978-1-897426-12-8

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Carol Ann Cole writes of her incredible journey, the path she has walked from ages 16 to 60. She writes of the clarity that comes with age and, in her case, a recurrence of breast cancer 16 years after her initial diagnosis. In 1992, Carol Ann and her mother both battled cancer at the same time. In 2008, Carol Ann continued to learn from her mother as she faced this killer disease without her mother by her side.

In intimate and sometimes heartbreaking detail, Carol Ann provides insight into a woman's emotions and fears following a routine mammogram and ultimately a clean bill of health. Not taking herself too seriously, she shares the lighter side of her breast cancer recurrence and finds a way to lift your heart as you read her story. You will never view a mammography machine or an operating room the same way again.

The author speaks of her Comfort Heart Initiative fundraiser that is alive and well many years after being launched in 1998. There are more than 228,000 Comfort Hearts in the hands of people in Canada and around the world, and some of their stories are collected here. Carol Ann also includes stories from others who have opened their hearts to share their challenges of retirement, cancer and mental illness. The author writes of her own battle with depression and how she reached out for help.

If I Knew Then What I Know Now includes Carol Ann's passion for family, honesty, helping others, the bond of friendship, battling and beating cancer one more time and much more. If you are looking for that special book that will give you hope and courage, this is the book for you.


Carol Ann Cole is an author (Lessons Learned Upside the Head: From Boardroom to Bedroom - Career to Cancer and Beyond), a professional speaker and the founder of the Comfort Heart Initiative. She is a member of the Order of Canada and has received numerous additional awards including the Golden Jubilee Medal, the elite Maclean's Honour Roll and the Terry Fox Citation of Honour, to name a few. Carol Ann's website is www.carolanncole.com.