"Every page of this book reveals the author's keen awareness of the challenges faced by patients, families, and caregivers dealing with life-threatening illnesses. Practical and wise suggestions that are well grounded in personal experience." (Robert Kastenbaum, Ph.D., Editor, Omega--Journal of Death and Dying)

KENNETH J. DOKA is a professor of gerontology at the Graduate School of the College of New Rochelle and a Lutheran minister. He is the former president of the Association of Death Education and Counseling and the author of Disenfranchised Grief and Death and Spirituality.

Foreword by Charles A. Corr. Responses to Life--Threatening Illness. Understanding the Illness Experience. Understanding the Road Before. The Crisis of Diagnosis. Living with Disease. Coping with Recovery. Facing the Crisis of Death. Facing Illness as a Family. Coping with Loss. The Sensitive Caregiver. Conclusion. Appendix 1: Resources. Appendix 2: Examples of Health Care Proxies and Living Wills.