Can I Take My Panda, Daddy?

by Greg Crooks www.braintumorbook.com Greg Crooks’ son, Sean Andrew Crooks, passed away from a brain stem glioma in January of 2000. Can I Take My Panda, Daddy? chronicles the family’s journey from the diagnosis to a year past Sean’s death. You can read the first chapter on the web site – you will be hooked into this beautifully written story. Greg has a different style than most writers, and I like it. I have now read the entire book. What can I say? I highly recommend this book. Greg writes what he feels, he holds nothing back when he writes. When he records conversations in his book, though, he holds back, writing what he would like to say in parentheses. How many times have we all done that? Many of his thoughts spoke to me. This one: “I have a weird feeling . . . Sean is now a patient and not my son. . . I have been crying for who Sean was and looking with revulsion at what he has become.” This thought crossed my mind briefly at diagnosis. Not many parents will admit this. I bring this up in my review to illustrate the sometimes brutal honesty with which Greg writes. Here’s another passage I marked, they are meeting with the doctors, soon to learn that their son has brain cancer: “. . . we answer, ‘Okay’, to the introductory, ‘How are you holding up?’ This is not the time or place for honesty. I don’t think these people could handle a tirade of profanities from me or an endless scream from Jane.” I recommend this book for all families of children with cancer, and especially for bereaved families. [PF, 9/06]