City of Hope, Duarte Calif.-Special to the Sun

Visualizing and writing about the Kern River has helped a cancer patient get better. That is how Anna Andrizzi Escobosa, 65, describes one of her entries in a just-released book 'Writing for Wellness: A Prescription for Healing.'

'Going back to the Kern River in my mind and in my poetry has helped me heal,' she explains. 'Visualizing the area and imagining myself there, has been very comforting, the river flows through my veins and beckons me to return.' Escobosa has been visiting the Kern River area since the 1970's. A colon-cancer patient, she is one of hundreds of participants at City of Hope National Cancer Center in Duarte who have taken part in Writing for Wellness classes for patients, caregivers, medical staff and family members as they each go through the 'cancer journey' from different perspectives. Sixty of those participants have their writings published in the book. Doctors's medical researchers and patients themselves endorse the unique new therapy to assist in healing from cancer or other catastrophic illnesses or tragedies. The therapy, which includes highly focused and directed writing, is explained in the book written by two-time-breast cancer survivor and college writing professor Julie Davey.

The book's foreward was co-written by Dr. Michael A. Friedman, former acting Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration and current CEO/President of the City of Hope National Cancer Center, and Dr. Lucille Leong, Associate Director of Clinic Afffairs, Department of Oncology, City of Hope.

The book has just been published by Idyll Arbor, Inc. a Seattle-area company. Escobosa is pictured on the back of the book in a classroom setting with other participants and Davey as the instructor.

Davey teaches Writing for Wellness classes at City of Hope, classes she started immediately after 9-11 in a conscious effort to volunteer her expertise as a way of giving back to her fellow cancer patients and her community.

'I knew I had skills that could help people express what they were going through during that time of upheaval in our country, and I felt cancer patients had a double dose of tragedy to deal with,' she said.

She continues to teach the bi-weekly classes.

Many medical centers and hospitals throughout the country provide writing-to-heal programs based on 'journaling,' expressing one's feeling and frustrations in diary format.

Although Davey encourages such programs and feels some patients can benefit from that approach, she has seen her unique method promote consistently positive results in the vast majority of patients and others going through traumatic events. Writers and so-called non-writers alike who attend Davey's classes report feeling better, much better.

'Using focused writing about specific topics works and it works almost immediately,' she says. 'Participants describe feeling relieved and even being able to cope better with chemotheraphy and radiation treatments because of it.'

'Patients, their family members, caregivers and friends attend the classes along with nurses and other medical staff member,' Davey explains. 'Everyone has a different perspective but everyone writes on the same topic.'

Her book takes the 'tell-one, show-one, do-one' approach to teaching writing, the same method used in her writing classes at Fullerton College where she received the college's top honor for excellence in teaching.

A specific theme, 'Expelling Anger' or 'Forgiveness,' for example, is designated for the day's lesson.

The first part of each chapter deals with Davey's own experiences with that topic as a patient, caregiver and family member. (Both her parents, her best friend and her college roommate died of cancer.) Through narration, she briefly 'tells' her story and gives examples of how she felt anger or had to forgive someone in order to begin to heal.

Next, the writings of others are 'shown' and copies distributed to give the reader ideas of how to begin to write or what approaches others have taken prose, poetry, essay. That section of each chapter is called 'Healing Words.'

Copies of cancer patients' writing are printed in the book and discussed as Davey points out why the specific writing samples are effective and how the facts and feelings combine to create an emotional response.

The final part of each thematic chapter contains a section called ' It's Your Turn,' an easy-to-follow writing prompt for the readers to use to begin to heal from what they are experiencing.

In addition to writing instructions, Davey's book contains a 'Jump Start' on each topic for those who may have trouble writing about traumatic and emotional events in their lives.

'Since not everyone considers writing as being useful for healing, some particpants benefits from a little boost to get them started,' she says.

Writing samples in the book come from bone-marrow-transplant patients, leukemia survivors, and children and parents of patients as well as colon, breast and pancreatic cancer survivors of all ages. All express themselves in inspirational, emotional and often humorous writing.

'Sometimes we shed tears in class, but we laugh a lot more often,' Davey says.

Some of Hollywood's top writers and producers attend Davey's classes and sit alongside some of the poorest of the poor from Los Angeles. Young and old, famous and unknown openly share their feeling and experiences.

Cancer and traumatic events bring them together. Davey's method shows them how to begin to heal. Recently for her writing classes at City of Hope, Davey was named the KCBS-TV's 'Women of the Week' in Los Angeles. KNBC-TV in Los Angeles also aired a segment during the 6 p.m. news featuring Davey, Dr. Friedman and class participants. The piece was reported by NBC's Cary Berglund, a well-known television journalist and cancer survivor.

'Our hope is for the book to be used in classes like ours created throughout the country. There is a great need for this form of therapy.' Escobosa said.

Kern River

Flow to me softy from the mountains on high,

where the trees try to reach toward the clear blue sky. Rush through the valleys where the animals graze,

flow through the meadows with the flowers ablaze, Flow to me softy for I'll be there someday

to touch your clear waters as you pass my way.

--Anna Andrizzi Escobosa

Writing for Wellness