Recent Writing
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT
Isabella Strahan, the 20-year-old daughter of ABC’s “Good Morning America” co-host Michael Strahan, will share her personal battle with an aggressive brain cancer in a TV special that I hope will be watched by millions. By publicizing her experience, she has the power to shift our collective thinking and humanize children with cancer whose plight too often makes people look away.
BOSTON GLOBE MAGAZINE
The man in line ahead of me was in agony. I’d been there myself when my child had cancer.
WASHINGTON POST - WELL+BEING
Berry bowls. Erewhon smoothies. Chia pudding. Many of us mindfully sprinkle wheat germ on grapefruit or embrace whatever healthy food trend promises to deliver a longer lifespan, and what’s the harm of that?
HUFFINGTON POST ・PERSONAL
A decade ago, my mother announced we were no longer celebrating Christmas. “Does anyone else think this is kind of crazy?” my brother asked.
A friend gave my daughter Emily a magic fairy wand when she was diagnosed with high-risk neuroblastoma at age 5. The note attached said it belonged to a little girl with cancer and that it cured her. It promised to cure Emily, too.
TODAY SHOW
God had allowed Emily to get cancer, and I didn’t understand why.
“I’ll be fine,” I told my father when he insisted on driving me to court. I was dreading hashing out the details of an unexpected divorce. For months he had felt helpless. Yet, during predawn heartbreak-sobs and panicked late night calls, he promised I’d be OK. Showing up has always been his superpower — for little things like my high school basketball games and big things like my daughter’s year in the hospital. Running late that morning, I spied my father under an umbrella outside, ready to protect me from the rain. But really, shielding me from life’s unexpected events.
On a Cape Cod beach last January, I braced for my daily cold water plunge. “Can I join you?” asked a stranger. I hesitated. But her red hair and wide smile reminded me of my younger self. “Sure,” I said. Ashley is 29. I’m 47. For seven minutes in frigid water, we shared our stories: her chronic illness and career change; my failed marriage and struggles raising a child with cancer. Every day since our first encounter, we’ve met to immerse ourselves in the ocean. We bond in a daily baptism. I now can’t imagine braving water, or life, without her.
NEW YORK TIMES
NEW YORK TIMES
This moment is painful and gut-wrenching and awful. And yet, it's also the moment I prayed for from the pediatric oncology floor. It feels impossible at times, but this is what's supposed to happen.
