I follow a blogger, Nancy Stordahl, author of the blog Nancy’s Point, who also writes about her experience with breast cancer. Nancy recently wrote and published a memoir titled “Cancer Was Not A Gift and It Didn’t Make Me A Better Person.”
Even the title of the memoir is so Nancy, so honest and true, with a healthy dose of raw anger at the whole breast cancer experience. There are a lot of feel-good books about breast cancer out there, but this one will ring true for many in the world of breast cancer who did not find the experience of breast cancer to be rewarding or life affirming. Nancy doesn’t embrace the “pinkification of breast cancer” that so many breast cancer organizations promote and she is very honest in her recounting of the terrible impact breast cancer has had on her and her families lives.
The book is beautifully written and reads like a novel. Once I picked it up, I couldn’t put it down until I finished it. Nancy weaves together stories about her life and her relationship with her mother before and during breast cancer in a narrative that is so well written that it will draw any reader in, whether they’ve experienced breast cancer or not.
The memoir begins in 2010 when the author first begins to notice changes in her body and soon after receives a diagnosis of breast cancer. This diagnosis, terrible in itself, occurs shortly after her mother’s death from metastatic breast cancer which makes it all the more difficult to bear. Nancy intertwines these two separate breast cancer occurrences throughout the book, sharing the similarities and the differences as well as the anger and grief that she faces throughout both experiences.
In Nancy’s own words:
“I share about loss, my own cancer experience and some things I’ve learned along the way. I share about these things hoping to encourage others going through similar trials and to remind readers there is no right way to “do” cancer or grief. I share because sharing is healing, empowering and hopefully helps us all feel less alone. I share because everyone’s story matters, mine, and yours, too.”
Everyone’s story does matter and Nancy’s will provide you with an honest and candid look at one woman’s experience with this terrible disease. You can purchase a copy of this powerful memoir by clicking here.
Hi Claudia,
Thank you very much for the kind review. I’m glad my memoir resonated with you. My story couldn’t be told without also sharing some of my mother’s story. It was hard to share so candidly about such difficult and personal matters, but I felt compelled to share cancer reality, well, my reality anyway. I refuse to pretty up a horrible disease that is too often inaccurately portrayed in Pink Ribbon Fantasy Land. Cancer was/is no gift for me or my family and no, it did not make me a better person. Thank you again, Claudia.
It’s my pleasure, Nancy. You write so well and so honestly about your experience. I know it will help many others going through a similar experience. xo
Wonderful review.. I can’t wait to read your book !!!