“As an oncology nurse, I thought I knew cancer—knew it. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer myself, I realized I knew nothing at all about being a cancer patient: how terrifying having cancer is, and how lonely,” explains Theresa Brown, RN, a frequent contributor to The New York Times opinion pages, CNN.com, and the American Journal of Nursing. In her captivating 2015 New York Times bestseller, The Shift: One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patients’ Lives, Brown offered readers an eye-opening glimpse into a full day at her hospital’s cancer ward, providing a compassionate view inside the complex inner workings of our healthcare system and the individual struggles of her patients. Now, Brown has returned with an unprecedented look at this system from the viewpoint of a cancer patient she had never encountered: herself. In her new memoir, HEALING: When a Nurse Becomes a Patient, Brown tells her intensely personal story and presents an honest – and rare – look at struggling with the illness while navigating the maze of American health care from the unique standpoint of both a patient and a practitioner. But despite years working as an oncology and hospice nurse, Brown is constantly surprised by the lack of compassion she experiences during her treatment. Like the 4 million women in the U.S. who live with breast cancer, Brown deals with the challenges and frustrations that characterize our healthcare system. She also reflects on her time caring for patients. Did she treat them with the dignity and respect that she now craves? What could she have done to make other people’s suffering even a little bit easier? Answering these questions and more, Brown does something few practitioners ever do in print: she reevaluates her own role in this problematic system. Brown shows us up close a system that may offer advanced medicine but still lets people down, giving a candid critique that shows we can and should prioritize kindness over profit.