A local teacher and cancer survivor has written a guidebook about her personal experience with the disease.

Lynda Peterson, 48, hopes it will offer a valuable reference for people going through treatment of their own and the encouragement to continue healing.

Peterson, a former teacher at Porter Creek Secondary School, released her self-published book, The Healing Journal: Taking Control of Your Journey Through Cancer, last month.

The guide was designed as an interactive manual, with sections for patients to write in and record their personal thoughts and feelings as well as practical treatment information, such as appointment times and schedules, offering a personalized guide to recovery.

The book includes a personal journal section, as well as sections on healing strategies, counsellors and support groups, exercise schedules and appointments as well as pages to record goals and personal thoughts.

A unique feature are two interior pockets, one to store business cards and documents and another for photographs and personal articles, "to remind them why they are fighting so hard.”

Peterson is no stranger to the fight, having undergone treatment for cancer twice in the last five years.

Peterson was first diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 2006 and had to begin treatment immediately.

"Being diagnosed with cancer is like having the rug torn out from under you and being pulled up by the ankles,” Peterson said in an interview today.

"It shakes your whole world and leaves you in complete disarray.”

After the diagnosis, faced with new travel schedules, tests procedures and information on treatment, Peterson was unsure of how to manage her new responsibilities.

"I remember sitting in my oncologist's office and feeling overwhelmed and thinking to myself, ‘It's time to get organized. With organization comes empowerment,'” she said.

"I started looking online for a book that would help enable me to keep these new part of my life organized, to keep track of appointments and record medical information and things like that.”

Unable to find what she was looking for, Peterson decided to write the book herself.

"I started off just writing my own story. I wrote about how I felt, from my mind to the paper, and it was an amazing, cathartic experience,” she said. "I believe something good should come out of something bad.”

Initially, Peterson had difficulty sharing her most intimate experiences with the public, but decided that her story could act as a guide to support others and include information that other books on cancer treatment have not provided.

"It came down to, ‘What would I like to see?'” she said.

"I thought of how many people going through treatment need to organize their travel arrangements and record financial information, not just for themselves, but often for a primary caregiver as well, and it just sort of built from there.”

Initially, the project received little interest from publishing companies, and after Peterson went into remission, she put the project on hold.

Five months later, Peterson developed an even more aggressive form of cancer.

With newfound resolve, she once again began documenting her experiences and eventually published the book herself.

Today, after a bone marrow transplant and years of self-healing, Peterson is cancer-free.

In sharing her experiences, Peterson hopes to make it easier for others who are facing similar treatment.

She also hopes to raise money for research. Fifty per cent of the proceeds from book sales will be donated to various cancer research and support charities throughout Canada and the United States.

So far, it's for sale in Whitehorse at Mac's Fireweed Books, the Alpine bra boutique, the Great Canadian Dollar Store and Well Read Books.

The journal is also for sale in the United States on Amazon.com and at Peterson's website, www.thehealingjournal.ca.

Peterson hopes to expand the sale of her book to stores across Canada and the U.S. to reach patients and their families as they struggle with one of the greatest challenges they will ever face.

"My hope is that the book will be made available at hospital gift shops and anywhere people need it, it can be located,” she said.

"If the book can reach someone and help them through their journey, then I have done what I set out to do.”