MS: two letters that spell "perseverance" for Nancy Davis:
"...Nancy Davis .... reclaimed her life after being diagnosed with MS following a ski accident in Aspen 14 years ago, when she was 33. ... Davis responded to the shocking news by vowing that she wouldn't let MS get the better of her. She would send it packing.

She established a star-studded annual Hollywood fundraiser, the Race to Erase MS, and a national research collaborative, the Center Without Walls. She explored alternative treatments, remarried and had twin girls, earned a black belt in karate, started a jewelry design business and wrote a book.

LEAN ON ME
10 Powerful Steps to Moving Beyond Your Diagnosis
and Taking Back Your Life
by Nancy Davis

'Lean on Me: 10 Powerful Steps to Moving Beyond Your Diagnosis and Taking Back Your Life' ($22.95, Fireside) hit bookstores late last month, and is being hailed as a valuable resource for others facing health challenges of their own."

"Her grit and resolve can be traced to her childhood. The daughter of the late billionaire Marvin Davis was no stranger to chronic, incurable diseases. Her little sister, Dana, has diabetes and was the inspiration behind her parents' effort to establish the world-class research and treatment facility, the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes, in Denver. Nancy worked hand-in-hand with her mom on the center's fabled fundraiser, the Carousel Ball, which was renamed Carousel of Hope following the Davis family's move to Los Angeles in the 1980s...."

"For those who accept responsibility for protecting, nurturing, and enhancing their own health, this book has much to offer."
– Sidney Poitier

Nancy’s book should be required reading for all medical students and health care professionals everywhere.”
– Steven Hauser, MD, professor and Robert A. Fishman Distinguished Chair, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco

Nancy Davis was a healthy thirty-three-year-old wife and mother when she was on a ski vacation about to take her last run of the day and of her trip in Aspen. She took that run and during it, had a horrible fall, tearing her right ACL (anterior cruciate ligament). That fall ended up being the catalyst to Nancy’s diagnosis of a degenerative and life-threatening disease.

Fourteen years ago, Nancy Davis was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and was told by her doctor “There is nothing you can do. Go home and go to bed…forever.” Nancy could not live down to that prognosis and was determined to learn everything possible so she could live a full life and defy the odds. In LEAN ON ME: 10 Powerful Steps to Moving Beyond Your Diagnosis and Taking Back Your Life (Fireside/Simon & Schuster, Inc; March 28, 2006; $22.95), Nancy shows why this book is essential if you find yourself, a friend or a loved-one in a life-altering situation and are desperate to gain back the most precious gift in the world – your life.

LEAN ON ME is the story for anyone diagnosed with any chronic illness, from cancer to heart disease to Lupus to Parkinsons to AIDS. Nancy discusses what everyone has to do if this happens to them and understand all the secrets that lay behind our very complicated and twisted healthcare system that isn’t user friendly.

In the 10 steps, she imparts her hard-earned wisdom and experience to teach people to learn and empower themselves to make good choices.

Step One: Embrace Change
Step Two: Fear Less
Step Three: Never Take No for an Answer
Step Four: Find Your Dr. Right
Step Five: Build Your Health Team
Step Six: You Are What You Ingest
Step Seven: Let’s Get Physical
Step Eight: Explore Alternative Therapies
Step Nine: Tame the Health Care Monster
Step Ten: Give Back

About the author:
Since her diagnosis, Nancy has created a new, happy and healthy life. She is the mother of five (she had twin daughters a year and a half ago), a black-belt in karate, a skier and a tennis player. Nancy founded the Center Without Walls, a national medical research foundation, a noted spokesperson on MS, and the director of the RACE to Erase MS, now in its fourteenth year, which has raised $22 million for MS research. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Ken, and children Brandon, Alexander, Jason, Mariella and Isabella. Nancy is the daughter of (the late) Marvin and Barbara Davis. Her family is the reason she was so determined to fight to regain her health and stay healthy in the future.

LEAN ON ME
10 Powerful Steps to Moving Beyond Your Diagnosis and Taking Back Your Life
by Nancy Davis
Fireside/Simon and Schuster
Publication Date: March 28, 2006 / $22.95 / Cloth / 0-7432-7640-X