Heartfelt memoirs about facing a cancer diagnosis
Nothing ignites our appreciation for life quite like looking death in the eye. For these writers, it was an earth-shattering cancer diagnosis that forced them each to contemplate life with the sobering realization that their time had been cut severely short. Their memoirs — some survival tales, some not — transform the bleakest of circumstances into honest, heartfelt meditations on life itself.
‘Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved’
A Christian and a professor at Duke Divinity School, Kate Bowler believed in the prosperity gospel — that a person’s fortune is a blessing from God and any misfortune that befalls them is a result of God’s disapproval. At age 35, her life appeared to be full of blessings, but then she was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. Now, facing her own mortality in the wake of an illness she has no control over means reevaluating her long-held belief that “everything happens for a reason.” In a memoir that is unflinchingly honest, funny, dark and wise, Bowler explores the somewhat ironic but nevertheless revelatory experience of learning to live while dying.
‘When Breath Becomes Air’
At age 36, Paul Kalanithi was nearly finished with his neurosurgical residency when he found himself in a hospital room as someone needing treatment, rather than someone providing it, and receiving a devastating stage 4 lung cancer diagnosis.
“When Breath Becomes Air,” a Pulitzer Prize finalist, follows Kalanithi as he journeys through his studies and transitions from doctor to patient all while grappling with poignant, hard-hitting questions about life, death and purpose. Although Kalanithi died in 2015 prior to the completion of the book, his words are unforgettable.
‘Killer Graces’
In 2008, Steve Melen had it all: a successful career, a nice house and a newborn daughter he and his wife adored. Eagerly preparing for the years ahead, a devastating stage 3b stomach cancer diagnosis left him facing a cruel 15% survival rate, which meant the odds were stacked against any future Steve had envisioned for himself. His memoir, “Killer Graces,” is more than just another cancer story. In the wake of major surgery, which would leave him without his stomach, and chemotherapy and radiation, Melen faces addiction to painkillers, followed by alcohol abuse and a crumbling marriage. Navigating these challenges will require Melen to both admit weakness and muster strength in order to break through.
‘The Unwinding of the Miracle: A Memoir of Life, Death, and Everything That Comes After’
Before the age of 3,
Julie Yip-Williams had already survived a death sentence given by her Chinese grandmother, who believed a blind child was a burden to the family, and escaped the political upheaval of late 1970s Vietnam. Fast-forward to 2013 and Yip-Williams is a 37-year-old, Harvardeducated lawyer with a husband, two daughters and the most difficult years of her life seemingly behind her — that is, until she’s diagnosed with terminal metastatic colon cancer. “They say that ‘youth is wasted on the young.’ Now, as I approach my final days,” writes Yip-Williams, “I realize that health is wasted on the healthy, and life is wasted on the living.” “The Unwinding of the Miracle” is a moving, compassionate and balanced account of hope and honesty in the face of death.
‘Life is a Ride’
Chris Joseph was diagnosed with stage 3 pancreatic cancer at 59, and after months of chemotherapy, which took its toll on both his body and spirit, he decided he had had enough. Joseph fired his oncologist and, with no concrete plan, set off on an alternative path to recovery. Leaving behind an indifferent team of health care professionals, he finds opportunities to improve not just his physical health but his spiritual health and the health of his relationships to others. “Life is a Ride” takes readers on this unconventional journey.