Compiled as a mixed media scrapbook of journal entries, personal text messages, and life lessons, this inspirational memoir is the work of a father, Stewart, diagnosed with cancer leaving behind memories, life lessons, and personal thoughts for his children. Through candid journal entries, Stewart vulnerably shares his journey with cancer from diagnosis to what he calls "ringing the bell." The father of seven children, Stewart takes the opportunity of compiling this book to set down “the life lessons, adages, and reflections that helped me endure hard times and avoid harder ones.” Warm and wise, Living is, above all else, a literal act of love. In notes from a recorded interview conducted by his daughter's husband, affectionately dubbed "bearded son-in-law," Stewart chronicles his life before his cancer diagnosis, from his childhood growing up in Oregon to the present. (“Yesterday, I tested positive for Covid. Exciting.”) Stewart provides advice on love, enjoying life, and handling the inevitable bad times, all while sharing fascinating anecdotes from his own life’s highs and lows, such as winning $25,000 and a car on the college edition of Jeopardy, meeting and marrying the love of his life in college, and getting “kicked out” of Princeton. Juxtaposing the clinical and bleak appointments and treatment with his cancer with his paternal 100 inspirational lessons such as "life is a long first draft" and "do it until you are it," Stewart blends in humor and loving insight that readers will take to heart.
Living is a work curated out of love and with intention to impart a life’s accumulated wisdom. This touching memoir will resonate with anyone who has lost a loved one to cancer or experienced a cancer diagnosis. This remarkable memoir is the product of taking the time to say goodbye when given the opportunity and leaving behind a history and legacy for the loved ones left to grieve the loss—a final and powerful act of love.
Takeaway: A father's touching compendium of insights and final words.
Comparable Titles: Meghan O'Rourke's The Long Goodbye, Audre Lorde's The Cancer Journals.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
LIVING
INSPIRATION FROM A FATHER WITH CANCER
BY JEFF STEWART ‧ RELEASE DATE: MAY 10, 2023
Complex and thoughtful, with a refreshingly upbeat attitude.
Stewart’s cancer diagnosis prompts a reflective memoir filled with advice for his children.
After years of trying unsuccessfully to donate his kidney, the author was finally accepted as a live donor by Duke University in July 2022; he needed just one more CT scan to make sure that he had two functioning kidneys. That was when the transplant team informed him that he had two small cancers, one in his kidney and the other around his small intestines. Stewart was told it would require one operation performed by two surgeons to remove the cancers, one for the kidney and the other for the gastrointestinal stromal tumor (a GIST). The surgeries were performed on the same day. The author is a healthy 50-year-old (except for the cancers, he adds jocularly), and the five-year survival odds were at an optimistic 97%…until the doctors discovered during surgery that the GIST was a more complicated tumor than what was expected. Next steps included chemotherapy and radiation. A healthcare consultant in the pharmaceutical industry (and a former Jeopardy! College Champion), Stewart understands all the numbers and scientific terminology. He is able to sort through, process, and skillfully communicate all the intricate details of his cancers, treatments, and associated side effects, which makes the narrative highly informative. There are more than a few tense moments as readers wait along with the author for the results of a test or a prognosis. But this is more than a book about cancer; despite some scientifically detailed sections that are challenging to read, the memoir is lighter in tone than most others in this genre, filled with humor and optimism. For Stewart, the glass is decidedly half-full. Many chapters devoted to guidance for his children are only one or two paragraphs in length, frequently witty as well as wise: “Inspiration # 74 - Smart people read,” ironically follows “Inspiration # 73 - You can’t learn to ride a bike by reading a book.” For Jeopardy fans, there is also a delightful chapter on the making of a champion.
Complex and thoughtful, with a refreshingly upbeat attitude.
