Prose To Go

You might have watched him on "Oprah" June 9. Grant Achatz is the revolutionary chef who spent three years trying to get his tongue cancer diagnosed.

He went to dentists and at least one doctor who told him not to worry about it. It was a sore that didn't heal and the pain was excruciating. For three years, he listened to the experts tell him it was nothing. Finally, he saw an oral surgeon who did a biopsy.

Stage 4 tongue cancer. In six months, without the radical removal of his tongue, mandible and part of his neck tissue, he'd be dead, experts said. Good Lord.

We're talking about a Chicago man recognized as one of our best chefs. Last year, Kim Cattrall announced that he won the James Beard Foundation's Outstanding Chef award, arguably the biggie for chefs.

Not only was he lucky to be alive and still tasting his creations, he'd won this fantastic award. He and his Alinea restaurant partner Nick Kokonos have baked a book proposal, Life, on the Line. I'm sure that's only the working title.

Since I was diagnosed with an earlier-stage tongue cancer at 27, I'd give anything to ghostwrite that book.

After his diagnosis, Achatz searched the medical community for an oncologist who would do chemo and radiation before removing his livelihood. On his fifth try and running out of time, he found that specialist at the University of Chicago.

His book will carry a take-home message for us all. Fight for your survival. Don't accept the usual recommended surgery if it can provide future survivors with an alternative. Never give up on what's most important for your mental and physical health.