AGAIN: Surviving Cancer Twice with Love and Lists by Christine Shields Corrigan

"This no-nonsense debut memoir recalls Corrigan's two-time battle with cancer and takes a pragmatic approach toward guiding other patients. Candid, sagacious writing on illness and adaptation." --Kirkus Reviews

Synopsis -

A breast cancer diagnosis at forty-nine forces Christine Shields Corrigan, a wife, mom, and meticulous list-maker, to confront her deepest fears of illness, death, and loss of control as she struggles to face cancer again. From the discovery of a “junky” cyst, to chemotherapy and surgery, sleepless nights filled with rosaries and “what ifs,” and shifting family dynamics, her adult experience mirrors her teen bout with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, with one exception—she no longer has parents keeping her in the dark.

With the ghosts of cancer past hovering around her, Chris falls into the same overprotective traps her taciturn Irish-Catholic parents created, striving to keep her family’s life “normal,” when it is anything but, and soldiering through on her own, until a neighbor’s unexpected advice and gift move her to accept others’ help. With fierce honesty, poignant reflection, and good humor, Chris shares a journey filled with sorrow, grace, forgiveness, and resilience, as she winds her way through cancer for the second time. Again offers practical guidance and hope to individuals that they have the strength to forge a path beyond a diagnosis.

Review - 

All I can say is WOW!  I have many friends who have told me they are breast cancer survivors. I have others who have gone through cancer (but from a distance), and I know others who did not make it.  My dad passed of cancer when I was in my 20's and I have a cousin far away who is going through it now. Despite all of this, I honestly have never been intimately involved in someone's journey with cancer. Nor has anyone really spoken opening with me about what this journey was like on a day-to-day basis. This was my look inside, behind the front, beyond the distance.  And the view was eye-opening.

I interview people on their life journeys. It's my twitch.  What amazed me here is as I read, I felt like I was sitting with the author, hearing her story, seeing these moments. That is not easy to create in the written word, so well done to Corrigan.  I came away with a better understanding of what those facing cancer treatment are going through and more aware of how I can support and help in the future.

I looked up the statistics on cancer before I wrote this and what I discovered was that they project 1 out of every 2 people will develop some form of cancer in their lifetime. For me, this made AGAIN: Surviving Cancer Twice with Love and Lists a must read for everyone. We need honesty. We need real stories. We need to understand this journey whether for ourselves or for someone we love. 

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Meet the Author - 

A fab author interview HERE!

Christine Shields Corrigan is a two-time cancer survivor, wife, mom, and author of Again: Surviving Cancer Twice with Love and Lists . In addition to Again , Chris has published a number of lyrical and practical essays where she gives voice to the beautiful ordinary. Her work about family, illness, writing, and resilient survivorship has appeared in anthologies, magazines, and other publications including, The Brevity Blog, Grown & Flown, Horn Pond Review, The Potato Soup Journal and Anthology, Purple Clover, Ravishly.com, Wildfire Magazine, and the Writer’s Circle 2 Anthology.

Chris’ essay, “Not Back to But Forward,” about how her cancer experiences helped her cope with COVID-19 is included in (Her)oics: Women’s Lived Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic (edited by Joanell Serra and Amy Roost), an anthology that draws together the stories of 52 women across the US during the Covid-19 pandemic (March 2021). A graduate of Manhattan College and Fordham University School of Law, Chris built a successful career as a labor and employment law attorney and as a legal writer and editor. After surviving cancer in midlife, Chris became a freelance writer. She also teaches creative nonfiction writing for an adult education program, provides writing workshops for cancer support groups, and is the chair of the programming committee of the Morristown Festival of Books. She lives in New Jersey with her family.

Connect with the author: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ instagram

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