For The Love of George

for_the_love_of_george Published: October 2014
Author: Irene Kappes
ISBN: 1502741482/978-1502741486
Format: Paperback/Kindle

George Pantziarka, an extraordinary little boy, is diagnosed with cancer on the day of his second birthday. For the next couple of years, he is mostly to be found zooming around hospital corridors in a pedal car, or playing his favourite game of hide and seek in between chemotherapy, radical surgery and radiotherapy.

George survives and as he grows up is determined not to let cancer define him. But he is plunged once again into a life of hospital appointments and treatments when, at the age of fifteen, he develops skin cancer and then a tumour in his jaw. After further tests he is diagnosed with Li Fraumeni Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that predisposes sufferers to cancer. In the years that follow, George’s struggle for survival takes him to multiple hospitals, from London to Frankfurt and then halfway across the world to China.

As he reports on Facebook, by the age of 17 he:

“…will have had: 3 different types of cancer, 17 operations, 13 scars, 22 different vitamins, 7 chemotherapy drugs, 3 very powerful anti-sickness drugs, 2 very powerful pain killers and one pretty f****d up genetic disorder.”

‘For the Love of George’ is an account of one young man’s love of life – a story of warmth, humour and the human condition.

George Pantziarka passed away on 25th April 20011. This is his story.

The book is available on Kindle and as hard copy from Amazon.

In the UK: Kindle or Paperback

In the US: Kindle or Paperback