Offering the first scientific proof that remarkable recovery from terminal illness happens more than anyone ever suspected, this startling book gives new evidence of the powers of the human healing system.If the scenario has not already occurred, it's one we have all imagined: A routine checkup shows a complication, and a few more tests show cancer. Out of panic, or a desire to live, we search our memories and our communities for stories of people who recovered miraculously from a terminal illness after doctors predicted they would not live beyond a few weeks. What did those people do? Was there a magic cure?Until now, we have had no resource to turn to and no scientific way to interpret such seeming miracles and apply the knowledge to our own lives. Medical researcher Caryle Hirshberg and journalist (and cancer survivor) Marc Ian Barasch went on an epic quest to understand the mystery of those cures which defy current medical knowledge and to find out what these cures can teach us about getting well again.Hirshberg and Barasch sought out and interviewed individuals who experienced a remarkable recovery and who left their doctors baffled in its wake. All of these people approached the healing process in their own unique way. Some had faith in their doctors; others drew upon their spiritual beliefs. Some drastically changed their health habits, while a few others did not, refusing even to quit smoking. But patterns and common threads emerged, pointing to an innate healing system of mind, body, and spirit that can respond dramatically to the assault of disease. Hirshberg and Barasch believe that where the immune system functions beyond what science thought its capacities to be lie the answers to healing for all of us. They propose a new medicine, one based more firmly on the body's self-curative powers.Remarkable Recovery presents the work of a small nucleus of international researchers, unusual patient accounts, and novel theories about the nature of healing. It is an adventure of the mind and the heart, equal parts medical detective story, firsthand testimony of healing, and bold scientific call to arms. Its chorus of voices tells us about the extraordinary powers we have, to conquer what medicine has told us is unconquerable. Read Less