Overview

Johnny's bone marrow could save her life, but he'd vanished thirty years earlier. Blood Brother: A Memoir-an inspiring and nakedly honest memoir-reveals the hope, beauty, and meaning of cancer and a second chance at life. As a happily married, fifty-five-year-old professional woman, Susan had it all-or thought she did-until the day of her shocking diagnosis with stage 4 Mantle Cell Lymphoma, a rare and aggressive disease. Within minutes of being admitted to the hospital, her beautifully ordinary life disappeared. How would cancer affect her marriage? Facing a possible death sentence, Susan experienced visions so lucid and beautiful that she imagined she was looking into the foyer of death or a magnificent afterlife. Her mind and body melded into all that surrounded her. Bliss replaced fear. Cancer and spirituality were one. But after months of grueling inpatient chemo, she faced a seemingly impossible hurdle. To survive, she needed a bone marrow transplant. But Johnny-her brilliant, off-the-grid brother-was the only possible donor. But he'd vanished decades earlier. Blood Brother is a family saga of curing an incurable cancer and of the enigmatic events that led to finding a man who never wanted to be found. It also explores why he disappeared and delves into what it means to forgive the parents who abused and abandoned them. Susan survived twice: once a violent childhood and secondly a devastating cancer. Blood Brother is a story of life after a bone marrow transplant. It's a moving tale of rebuilding a family, recognizing the unexpectedly stunning gifts of cancer, and of how to embrace a profoundly generous second chance at life. Blood Brother: A Memoir is narrative medicine at its best.

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9781956851403

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Being diagnosed with a rare and aggressive lymphoma at 55 launched Susan's writing career. During the life-changing journey that is cancer, she kept a journal. Later, she accessed over 1,200 pages of her medical record. Together, these allowed her to capture the specificity, fears, pain, and hope that defined her unforgettable year in treatment. Susan graduated from U.C. Berkeley with a degree in Public Health and Immunology. Her work in healthcare garnered awards from the American Medical Writers Association. Her dual background in science and literature makes the voice in Blood Brother lyric as well as credible. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband, Daniel.

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