If you’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer, or if you’re close to anyone who has been, do yourself a favor and check out the new DVD  Breast Cancer: A Path of Wellness and Healing. It’s unbelievably comprehensive. I’d say something like, “covering everything from X to X” but truly, it encompasses every possible aspect of the disease and its treatment. It even takes you behind the scenes to actual radiation and chemotherapy sessions. The information is shared in straightforward, no-bull language by front-line researchers including renowned breast surgeon Susan Love, M.D., and survivors such as Christina Applegate, Sheryl Crow, Olivia Newton-John, Melissa Etheridge, and plenty of non-celebs, too. It’s roughly five hours long, but of course it’s not meant to be watched in one sitting; the idea is to pick and choose the parts that interest you most at the moment.

I paid special attention to the section from our advisor Harvey Karp, M.D., (the creator of The Happiest Baby on the Block and The Happiest Toddler on the Block) who shared his best advice on how to talk to your child—no matter his or her age—about your illness. His advice makes perfect sense and should make some very difficult conversations a little bit easier.

When my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer back in 1999—I’m grateful to say she’s an 11-year survivor—we armed ourselves with the most well-regarded books. But it was hard to read them. In some cases, there was more information than we were ready for, and in others, they raised more questions than they answered. I know my family would have preferred to watch a DVD like this, where the information is broken down into very specific categories and you choose to watch only what you’re prepared for. And there’s something about hearing the experiences of real people, whether they’re patients, survivors, or experts, that makes it somehow easier to comprehend.

Another very appealing feature of this DVD: 100% of the profits from the $34.99 price tag goes to fund breast cancer research.