A Story About Cancer (With a Happy Ending)

This story was written because a ten year old girl asked the author why no one seemed to write a cancer story with a happy ending. In the long-drawn-out treatment that is usual for children with cancer of any kind, it would be simplistic to say that having a ‘happy ending’ is the be-all and end-all of their needs, but it is certainly the strongest and best outcome.  The fifteen-year-old girl in this story explains the five years of her life since she was diagnosed, and it hasn’t been an easy journey: the pain associated with her chemo; the problems she has had with her parents because they try too hard to be supportive and often get it wrong; her guilt feelings about her sister who doesn’t get enough attention; her friend, Maxine, who has died from the Leukaemia she herself suffers from and whom she misses very much; how she longs to be treated as ‘normal’ and how she meets Victor, her boyfriend, who is the only one who ‘gets it’. At the beginning of the story, she and her parents are walking to the appointment with the specialist who will tell her if her condition is cured or, transversely, if the illness is going to kill her.  Beautifully written, with illustrations showing the girl to be a grey shadow of herself, the only colour being of others around her, until the end when she and Victor fall into each other’s arms and she is able to tell him she is cured and her colour and vibrancy return.  It’s a moving story with much about what it feels like both inside and out when one is experiencing cancer, and it should be on every children’s or teenage ward that deals with young people diagnosed with cancer of any form.  The teenage romance is important because it gives reason for hope, and girls particularly will respond to that aspect.  An unusual and very beautiful production.