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The Child Who Was Meant to Be
Tomorrow is Children’s Day. And I can’t think of a better day to tell you about my favourite child. Sometimes I think we moved to America just to have him. After an ectopic pregnancy and four miscarriages, we’d stopped trying. We had quietly accepted that perhaps parenthood wasn’t meant for us. Then, a week before…
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Why I Don’t Call Myself a Survivor
There is one word I’ve never quite been comfortable with. Survivor. Especially when it’s used to describe me. Now, before you disagree with me, let me say this. If that word gives someone else strength, I completely respect that. It simply isn’t the word that feels right for me. Here’s why. Every year, more…
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Semi Moore
When I was younger, a few people would tell me I reminded them of Demi Moore. Naturally, I never argued with them. There are some compliments in life that one simply accepts with great humility. Fast forward a few decades… Cancer entered the chat. Chemotherapy did what chemotherapy does, and my hair decided to…
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Extraordinary in the Ordinary
My mother had a gift. She noticed things the rest of us walked straight past. A rainbow after a storm. A particularly beautiful sunset. A flower that had quietly bloomed overnight. She found joy in simple things and never seemed to be in a hurry to move on to the next one. She was…
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The Birthday We celebrated a Year early
My sister is four and a half years older than I am. This fact has been true for our entire lives. Which makes what happened next even more ridiculous. When she was approaching what I thought was her fiftieth birthday, I decided she deserved something special. So, I planned a one week trip to…
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Nobody Gives Us a Manual
One of the unexpected things about cancer isn’t the treatment. It’s the people. Not because people stop being kind. Because most suddenly become… wonderfully human. Some don’t know what to say, so they say nothing at all. Some send messages every week. Some pretend everything is completely normal, which can be surprisingly comforting. Some…
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Taking Stock
There are moments in life that divide everything into before and after. Hearing the words, “You have cancer,” is one of them. For some, there are tears. For others, anger. Some feel numb. Some immediately start asking questions. There is no right way to react. For me, there were tears. There was fear. Certainly, a…
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Our Boobs Are Not Watches
I’ve discovered that doctors have a language all their own. Perfectly sensible to them. Completely baffling to the rest of us. My oncologist, for example, has a black file for every patient. Inside is a hand-drawn sketch of a pair of boobs. Every. Single. Time. Now, I adore my doctor. I trust him completely.…
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The Man Who Bought a Bicycle
People often ask me where I get my resilience from.The truth is that I come from a line of pretty remarkable people. I have been fortunate with the men in my life—my father, my husband, my son, and a cousin who has always felt more like a brother. But if I had to choose men…
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Meet Javier
Every expensive wig, I’m told, deserves a proper mannequin head. Apparently, that’s how you keep it in good shape. Now, when you’ve never bought a wig before, you also haven’t spent much time shopping for mannequin heads. Neither had my husband. Being the wonderfully practical man that he is, he immediately went online and ordered…
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