Alpharetta mother’s book spreads healing message

In 2011, Jennifer Dickenson was 44 and going full steam with family and career. She was an owner and partner in her law firm, and she and her husband had two young children.

But life took a sharp turn when she received a diagnosis of glioblastoma: grade 4 brain cancer.

Life expectancy with this illness, Dickenson said, is particularly low, even with treatments like surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.

“I was shocked by the news because I thought I had been living a healthy life: exercise, good food, et cetera … Yet I got sick,” the 56-yearold Alpharetta resident said. “Once I got my bearings from the bad news, I started to ask questions: How did I get sick? Did I contribute to this in some way?”

Her doctors assured her she hadn’t done anything to cause the condition she was facing, but she wanted to take a deeper look at her situation.

“My accolades and achievements as a lawyer melted away as I saw the truth about how I had been mismanaging my energy, my life: too many hours in the office in a stressful environment and not enough time with the ones I love doing the things we love doing together,” Dickenson explained. “Once I saw this truth, I hoped I had enough time to change my illness to wellness … I started thinking about hope. I thought, ‘If one person has beaten this disease, why can’t I?’ With that, I started looking for hope instead of the statistics.”

Today, she’s carried that feeling forward into activism, telling her story and reaching out to others who need hope.

The change

Dickenson’s close friend Pam Zeman, 53, of Johns Creek remembers talking to Dickenson about slowing her life down before the diagnosis. Her friend, she said, had been helping to run 12 law offices while also balancing family life.

“She tried to slow the train down, but when you’re in that kind of position and have that big of a company, obviously you just can’t in one day change your life,” she said. Zeman remembers how the diagnosis changed things.

“(She) was forced. God forced her to stop,” she said. “She had to change her life to survive … Everything she did — from what she put in her mouth to her faith to her meditation — everything shifted to stay alive. “

Dickenson said she inundated her body with healthy foods, removing what she felt wasn’t serving her, and she started focusing on her mind and spirit.

“I discovered that real healing is not just about surgery and medicine, although that can be part of the picture,” she said. “To me, the bigger picture includes the way we choose to manage our thoughts, how we love and support our bodies and how we engage in our spirit to discover deeper truths we can only find when we are quiet and asking questions of this other realm: mind, body, spirit.”

Armed with knowledge she gathered and as much positivity as she could muster, Dickenson underwent surgery to resect a golf-ball-size tumor. Radiation and chemotherapy followed. Today, she takes no medication and is cancer-free.

The book

Zeman recalls how people who knew about Dickenson’s success story began approaching her asking for advice. Dickenson put together a seven-page pamphlet with insights about lifestyle and resources that she’d gleaned through her own research and experience. She passed it out to people she met who were facing their own health challenges. She realized the demand for insight and support required a lengthier work, however, and production of “The Case for Hope” began.

“I had an editor work with me to make sure it was a good book people would like to read. That was very helpful, as I have never written a book before. I finally chose a good-sized publishing house that had a smaller company within it that allowed me, as the author, to retain ownership in the book, which is what I wanted,” Dickenson said. “We put together all of the pieces of the book — the cover (which I found and love), the pages, the back page — and then sent it to press. It was a very exciting day when I held my book for the first time.”

Now she’s looking for ways to distribute the work to more people.

“She needs a way to get the book in their hands, and then if she can facilitate and help in any other way,” Zeman said. “That’s her entire mission from here on forward.”

Zeman has traveled with her friend to promote the work and help her with engagements that have included podcasts, appearances at churches, book signings, corporate events and festivals.

“The feedback has been terrific, and I am so grateful for it,” Dickenson said.