How Can Cancer Have Humorous Moments?

Never Ever Give Up Hope

During Ann Bancroft's first cancer treatment, which consisted of two surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation, she reached the point of being too weak to lift a light wastebasket or to walk further than a few yards. She was bald, her skin looked gray, smelled like chemicals and her mouth tasted like metal. It felt as if her life was draining away, and she could not imagine a time when she’d look and feel healthy again.

Ann Bancroft is a 71-year-old, two-time breast cancer survivor with a degree in journalism. Her debut novel, Almost Family, was recently published. Ann began writing fiction after a career in journalism and communications. Cancer prompted her to retire from a demanding full-time job to become a writer.

Ann has been a volunteer mentor to dozens of cancer patients. Many will relate to her story, and everyone will be encouraged. She shares how a second cancer diagnosis, thirteen years later, did not bring the fear that dominated her life the first time.

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Liz Millanova has stage four cancer, a grown daughter who doesn’t speak to her, and obsessive memories of a relationship that tore apart her marriage. She thinks of herself as someone who’d rather die than sit through a support group, but now that she is going to die, she figures she might as well give it a go. Mercy’s Thriving Survivors is a hospital-sponsored group held in a presumably less depressing location: Nordstrom’s employee training lounge. There, Liz hits it off with two other patients, and the three unlikely friends decide to ditch the group and meet on their own. They call themselves the Oakland Mets, and their goal is to enjoy life while they can. Together, Dave, a gay Vietnam vet, and Rhonda, a devout, nice woman who’s hiding a family secret and finds peace in a gospel choir, and snarky Liz plan outings to hear jazz, enjoy nature, and tour Alcatraz. In the odd intimacy they form, Liz learns to open up and get close, acknowledge and let go of the dysfunction in her marriage, and repair her relationship with her daughter. They joined forces to have an enjoyable time—but what they wound up doing is helping one another come to grips with terminal cancer and resolve the unfinished business in their lives.