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Philadelphia Man's Memoir Describes The Rollicking Lighthearted Story Of His Battle With Cancer

By John Ostapkovich

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A Philadelphia man is recounting his battle with throat cancer in a surprisingly upbeat way.

Cancer can be pretty daunting stuff so when chef and self-described beer evangelist Lynn Hoffman got it, he started writing a blog about his journey, which became grist for his memoir.

"You know, a blog is like a little note that gets slipped under your breakfast plate every day. So you have to smooth it out a little bit but I was very anxious to keep that feeling of present tense communication, here's what happened today."

Hoffman is snarky, which is why the second line of the title of his book Radiation Days, is "the rollicking, lighthearted story of a man and his cancer."

Now cancer-free, knock on wood, he says he learned how little all our belongings mean at crunch time and how much he values the kindnesses he gave and received.

Hoffman is especially happy with the staff at Fox Chase Cancer Center who he says, to a person, exhibited tremendous caring and empathy.

Hoffman is currently teaching an open-to-the-public course on beer at Drexel University.

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