Trials: Two Cousins, Cancer, and the Doctors Who Fought to Save Their Lives

...An invaluable contribution to the literature of childhood cancer that delivers coping strategies, education, and surprising humor. Read Trials and you'll never think of childhood leukemia in the same way again. -Debra Whiting Alexander, Ph.D. Post-trauma treatment specialist and award-winning author of Zetty Bradley hits on so many of the issues for families going through the childhood cancer experience-siblings, school, self-image, endurance. Laughter as well as tears, disappointment, and hope all together. -Gary Jones, M.D. Two sisters face identical nightmares when their sons are diagnosed with the same leukemia. The boys' fight to survive coincides with perhaps the most miraculous medical story of the twentieth century. When doctors adopted a revolutionary approach to clinical trials, they not only developed a cure for childhood leukemia, they established the foundation of chemotherapy treatment as it is known today. In Trials, Bradley uses the personal journals of his wife and her sister to guide readers though a world where toxic, experimental treatments were given to children by doctors who wondered at times if they were doing more harm than good. More than one hundred interviews with physicians, nurses, and parents of children with cancer further illuminate this story. Trials will leave you wondering, "Could I do that? Do I have that kind of courage?"

In addition to being the father of a childhood cancer patient, Larry Bradley has volunteered for more than two decades with variety of cancer-support organizations, including the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life and Candlelighters for Children with Cancer. Bradley retired in 2018 after a thirty-year career in sales and marketing. He and Mary Lou, his wife of forty years, live in Eugene, Oregon. They have two grown sons and two grandchildren.