Author Kathy Mydlach Bero is a healthy, active forty-year-old who enjoys camping, rock-climbing, mountain biking, and skiing. She and her husband Ron refer to themselves as “the wilderness couple.” But all this activity comes to a crashing halt when she is diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer. E.A.T. (An unconventional decade in the life of a cancer patient) is Kathy’s story of how she deals not only with breast cancer, but a variety of other health issues she endures during the same time period—spinal arthritis, head and neck cancer, spina bifida, spondylosis, liver and kidney disease, and PTSD—as well as the distressing aftereffects of the many treatments required for each illness. She attributes her recovery in part to her use of integrative medicine¬—meditation, reiki, selective food choices, and traditional medicine.
The author skillfully weaves together a cohesive account of her illnesses, treatments, and emotional consequences. While the focus of the narrative is narrow, it is broadened by rich details, strong descriptions, and revealing thoughts, feelings, and perceptions of what was happening to and around her. The vulnerability she exhibits while revealing intimate details of her ordeal serves to connect readers to her story. It is easy to appreciate Kathy’s erratic emotions as she explains the various aspects of her journey. She’s angry at times, sad at others, then grateful and hopeful, then back to being angry, while battling fear daily. Her introspection and self-reflection help discover the truth and make sense of what happened to her. Her insight does more than merely drive the story–it becomes the story—on of the hallmarks of a well-written memoir.
E.A.T. is not only a medical narrative but a reminder that a person’s illness can impact more than just the individual. Family members and friends may also be affected as they watch someone they love struggle with their health. Kathy talks about people close to her having to fill certain roles previously held by her, how relationships change, and how heavy medical expenses can affect a family’s future. She covers these elements of her story with sensitivity and empathy.
Kathy Mydlach Bero’s E.A.T. (An unconventional decade in the life of a cancer patient) is a heartfelt, compelling story of the author’s harrowing battle with multiple debilitating diseases, shared with brutal honesty and vivid details that allow others to relate to and extract meaning from her experience and insightful self-discovery.
~Florence Osmund for IndieReader