Visiting a person who's dying is rarely pleasant and never easy. Even pastors who've made hundreds of hospital calls wonder what to say to a patient who's just received bad news from the biopsy.

But minister we must. One in four Americans now living will eventually have cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. Over the years, cancer will strike two of every three families.

In February, 1978, Betsy Burnham was healthy, the mother of two, happily active in the Presbyterian Church in Newton, Massachusetts, where her husband, Monty, was the new senior pastor.

In March, her happy life collapsed as emergency surgery revealed she had cancer.

Following that fateful diagnosis, Betsy found comfort and encouragement from the ministry of sensitive, caring friends. She also experienced the blundering and discomfort of those who wanted to help but didn't know how.

"How does a person like me help someone with a malignancy?" a young woman asked Betsy.

In answer to that question, Betsy wrote the book ...