Recipient of the 2021 Readers' Favorite Gold Medal for Non-Fiction - Health - Medical

"A professional and personal intimacy that sets it apart. Liza and John Marshall looked deep into the abyss of cancer and wrote about it with candor and honesty"

"This is a wonderful and engaging book - part memoir, and in equal part an 'autopsy' of the cancer establishment in this country. Written with immense care and kindness, it reminds us of how much we've achieved, and how much remains to be done."

"This book is a must-read for anyone going through cancer of whatever kind. As with so many, I was blindsided by my cancer diagnosis. I felt lost on an unfamiliar field, facing an intimidating foe. Off Our Chests is a captivating and informative playbook for anyone thrown into the cancer game, but it is also a candid story about one couple's experiences with cancer which strongly resonated with me and my own recent cancer journey."

"Off Our Chests is the powerful and deeply personal story of one couple's battle against breast cancer - a couple that happens to include a leading oncologist - told with honesty, candor and humor. Their alternating narratives will engage just about any reader, but for those who face their own difficult diagnoses, this is a sort of What to Expect When You're Expecting, an invaluable guide for cancer patients and their families who may be struggling with what comes next."

"In Off Our Chests, we are invited into the lives of Liza and John as Liza shares the cognitive dissonance of a young wife, mother and community activist with a serious triple negative breast cancer, and husband John, chronicles his dual roles of caregiver and world-renowned oncologist. The startling honesty, humor and intimacy of their writings are magnetically binge-worthy, as they open the kimono of Liza's threatened survival remodeling their marriage and careers, no holds barred."

"Courageous, Hopeful, Heartbreaking, and a great read. I've known Dr. John Marshall, and Liza Marshall for more than a decade and Off Our Chests brings into light so many things that we all could learn from. As a parent, a patient, a doctor, a friend, or a caregiver this is an incredible story from two of the best humans in this world."

"This book is both a practical roadmap for cancer patients and caregivers and an inspirational story of a loving partnership between one of those patients and her caregiver, who just happens to be an oncologist. As such, it's a must-read for patients, but also medical professionals, advocates and everyone who has been touched by cancer."

"Off Our Chests is a remarkable book that anyone who has lived in the grim world of cancer will recognize. But it is also the story of a couple's love and sacrifice as they bravely face an uncertain future together. This is an important book for the doctors and researchers in the pharmaceutical industry that illuminates the personal impact (both positive and negative) of cancer treatment."

"A must-read, inspirational memoir that will resonate with all those touched by cancer. Liza and John share personal reflections and insights into the cancer journey, and provide deeply meaningful perspectives from the patient, caregiver and oncologist point of view."

"Sensitive, candid, insightful, informative, and ultimately inspiring, "Off Our Chests: A Candid Tour Through the World of Cancer" is an extraordinary account and one that is especially

and unreservedly recommended for the personal reading lists of anyone having to deal with diagnosis of cancer for themselves or a loved one...A core addition to community, college and library Health/Medicine collections in general, and Oncology/Cancer supplemental studies curriculum lists in particular."

"Marshall of Georgetown University Hospital is a world-class oncologist who thought he knew everything about cancer. But when his wife, Liza, was diagnosed with breast cancer, both Marshalls discovered they needed more than that expertise. In alternating chapters, the couple details what worked and what didn’t, what helped and what hurt on Liza’s path to becoming a survivor."

"Off Our Chests offers an unusually intimate and revealing glimpse into the reality of dealing with a cancer diagnosis. At once deeply personal and bracingly universal, this book can offer cancer patients and healthcare workers alike the chance to meet one of life's most devastating situations with a rare sense of mastery and, yes, even hope."

"Liza and John Marshall have captured in vivid detail all that I felt and experienced after my stage 3 Triple Negative breast cancer diagnosis in 2009. Like Liza, I was treated by the same team at Georgetown's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. From the symbolism of the tattered pink ribbon on the cover to the post traumatic stress that every caregiver and cancer patient eventually comes to know, their breezy style and wit captures the roller coaster that every cancer diagnosis brings. This book is an essential read."

"Off Our Chests is the kind of book I wish I had when I faced cancer. Written by the husband-and-wife Marshalls (he's an oncologist; she, the cancer patient), this book is perfectly balanced left-and right-brain, which is to say a highly useful guide to entering the territory of cancer land and an empathetic best friend to support you along the way. It's also a genuine love story-but not some sappy 'Love Story.' Recommended highly."

"Off Our Chests is 'Edutainment' at its best. This book provides a unique, valuable perspective that will be of great interest to oncology health care professionals and their patients."

"Dr. Marshall and Liza's account of their journey, from both the patient perspective, and just as importantly, the caregiver's perspective, is an honest, emotional, enlightening, and at times, page-turning glimpse of the ups and downs and the never-ending decision-making that follows a cancer diagnosis. Anyone who has cared for a loved one with a cancer diagnosis will find their story brutally honest and hopeful at the same time. It's heart-wrenching to hear from an oncologist-turned caregiver as he navigates his wife's journey with breast cancer and begins to appreciate what his own patients and their caregivers go through, and the enormous ripple effect that it has on so many people."

"Every student, Resident, or Fellow who will care for patients with Cancer should read this book! As a high grade, metastatic cancer survivor (to date) I stepped between the pages of John and Liza Marshall's Off our Chests, and could not put it down. The open candor of dual perspectives from patient and long time spouse is captivating. Add the dedicated spouse's role as a senior oncology academic leader, and the tension is set. Each of us, as patients with cancer, enter roles as husbands, wives, and members of families suddenly facing our own mortality. The lessons from this wonderfully written gift to each of us are invaluable."

"The incredible journey of what happens when the accomplished spouse of an eminent oncologist develops an oft-fatal cancer. I laughed, I cried, I identified. Together they teach us the way forward."