Book Reviews – A Mild Touch of the Cancer

A Mild Touch of the Cancer
by David Downs

‘David Downs is a business leader, public servant, consultant, board director, comedian speaker, and a genetically modified organism,’ is a quote from a post online. Downs is also a cancer survivor and was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma after feeling like he had a mild touch of the man flu that was progressively getting worse. Downs has written this book cobbling together a series of posts that he wrote for www.stuff.co.nz as he documented his cancer journey. What makes this book so different to the others written on this harrowing topic is his irrepressible humour and endless optimism. Downs injects a decent amount of Kiwi irreverence into his descriptions of treatments and side-effects, and more than once I laughed out loud. Downs is surrounded by a loving family and a vast group of loyal friends and colleagues, which no doubt helped him through some very difficult times. This is not a depressing read and he is a very inspiring man … and he’s available for public speaking engagements if you’re looking for motivation!