This book is an intimate and brave exploration of what it means to live with cancer. Upon being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2015, Cynthia Brown began writing regular updates to her community. These integrated her reflections on daily life, and on medical treatment and underlying sociopolitical realities. Cynthia completed the manuscript of the book just before she died in 2016.  It includes her updates, the responses from her community, and her analysis of cancer in political and economic contexts. 

Cynthia Brown’s words make the personal universal. Her writing is as keen and direct as a boning knife but offered with compassionate grace and humility. 
— Jaki Shelton Green, Founder SistaWRITE and North Carolina Poet Laureate ​
Cynthia Brown speaks with the wisdom of an elder, the love of a healer and the clarity of a warrior. ...In the tradition of Audre Lorde, Cynthia uses this book to show how cancer transformed her relationship to herself and her community and gave her key insights on how we can and must change everything we touch, starting with each other. 
​— Alexis Pauline Gumbs, co-editor of Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Frontlines and author of Spill: Scenes of Black Feminist Fugitivity. ​

From Cynthia's Introduction to the Book:
My worldview is shaped by growing up working class and poor despite the economic privilege I have enjoyed in my adulthood. I have spent more than 30 years working with community and organizational allies to hold corporations and government responsible for their failure to provide a range of resources that we all should have a right to access: fair wages, decent, healthy working conditions, quality fair housing, affordable quality childcare and healthcare, sustainable development, and a clean, safe environment.  

Gratitudes

This book has been made possible by a number of people:

Book coordination: Claudia Horwitz
​Book design: Mariel Eaves
Book cover:  Tema Okun
Writing support and editing:  Alease Bess, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Claudia Horwitz, RaVonda Dalton Rann, and Jaki Shelton Green
​Copy editing: Margie Hattori
Final editing: Jeanette Stokes and Rachel Sauls