Poet Max Ritvo, who chronicled long cancer battle, dies at 25 before first book release

Max Ritvo, a poet who chronicled his long battle with cancer in works that were both humorous and searing, has died. He was 25. Ritvo’s battle with the disease — which started when he was diagnosed at age 16 with a rare form of cancer — informed his works. A June poem in The New Yorker discussed an experiment where cells from his tumours were used in cancer drug treatment experiments with mice. “I want my mice to be just like me,” Ritvo wrote. “I don’t have any children. I named them all Max. First they were Max 1, Max 2, but now they’re all just Max. No playing favourites.” Ritvo’s first book of poetry, “Four Reincarnations,” is scheduled to be published this fall.