Kelly Turner embarked upon this book when she was moved by the anecdotal stories of patients who overcame their serious cancer diagnoses, which they were not statistically expected to survive. A social worker by education and training, she initially worked in the field of psycho-oncology before returning to school to pursue her PhD and the inspiring contents of this book.

The term “radical remission,” as she defines it, is healing that occurs in the absence of conventional Western medicine. So, Turner actively sought out instances of healing from the “alternative and complementary” fields that were used by people with cancer to transform their health in ways that could not be immediately explained scientifically by the medical community. In her research, she interviewed these people as well as healers of various diverse disciplines. Although her discussions with various healers offer different ideas as to the cause of cancer (and therefore how to treat it), Turner is careful to explain that this book is not a force in opposition to conventional medicine, but rather an “obligation,” as she sees it, to examine atypical cases of cancer and healing.  

After collecting stories from people with cancer and research with healers, Turner then delineated 75 factors they believed spurred their healing. Out of these 75 factors, nine came up repeatedly in almost every case. These nine factors of radical remission, according to Turner, include: radical diet change, taking control of your health, following your intuition, using herbs and supplements, releasing suppressed emotions, increasing positive emotions, embracing social support, deepening your spiritual connection and having strong reasons to live. This book dedicates a chapter to each factor and delves into detail about how implementation in daily life might look. She also considers what potential physiological change might align with incorporation of the factor into the person’s life. Each chapter is laid out to introduce the particular healing factor of one person’s story with cancer, with background information that highlights the particular factor and action steps toward activating or practicing this in your own life.

The target audience of this book is people diagnosed with cancer and their loved ones. It is a valuable read for psycho-oncology professionals, not only to be aware of what our patients might be exploring, but also because the tenets of healing explored in this book match our foundational approach to work (especially ideas such as promoting happiness, releasing suppressed emotions, garnering social support, etc.). As Turner points out, only two out of the nine factors are related to physically changing something— altering ones’ diet and taking supplements. The other factors are all social/emotional/mental in nature, which is highly intriguing to read about from where we stand as oncology social workers. One element not included in the nine factors of radical remission is exercise, which, working from an integrative care framework, is a very large piece of the puzzle to be missing. Turner does acknowledge this in the conclusion of the book as an important aspect of health. Even if following the nine factors in this book do not provide remission for everyone, there is something to take away as we approach our existing and new patients faced with cancer.