Description
Eloquent and passionate, Caitlin Breedlove's cancer-focused memoir is rooted in her activism. It's often said that cancer does not discriminate. But some groups are more likely to suffer from cancer, and some are more likely to die from the disease. And we know classism and racism increase exposure to some carcinogens, including pesticides, corroded public water systems, and workplace toxins.Diagnosed with a deadly form of ovarian cancer in her 30s, Caitlin Breedlove draws on lessons offered by her political work, early motherhood, and her values in All In: Cancer, Near Death, New Life. With the lens—and heart—of an organizer, she chronicles harms caused by our profit-driven health care system; explores the rigors of single parenting while living with acute, chronic illness; and reveals her challenges with addiction. And like Audre Lorde (The Cancer Journals) and Barbara Ehrenreich (Brightsided) Breedlove calls out the insidious impact of "toxic positivity" on women who live with cancer. As she shares her individual journey, Breedlove connects it to broader struggles for health and social justice. The result is a intensely powerful narrative, centering experiences elided in other narratives.
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All In is a queer feminist memoir of cancer and what it means to survive. After years of experiencing painful periods that she was led to believe were normal, Caitlin Breedlove was diagnosed with ovarian cancer—the deadliest of all gynecological cancers, which disproportionately impacts queer women, trans men, Jewish women of Eastern European descent, and older women. As she writes, “It feeds on those who can’t go to a doctor and those who convince ourselves we do not need to.”Thrust into a series of major surgeries amid the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, Breedlove lingered at the edges of the living and made a deal with her ancestors: if she lived, she would write for them and all the suffering in her lineage that had gone unnamed.With the generous and community-minded heart of an organizer, Breedlove chronicles harms caused by our profit-driven health care system, and explores the rigors of single parenting while living with chronic illness; the medical neglect that women, the LGBTQ+ community, and others on the margins experience; and her challenges with addiction. And, like Audre Lorde and Barbara Ehrenreich, she calls out the insidious impact of “toxic positivity” on women who live with cancer. The result is an intensely powerful narrative about the connective potential of grief and forging a new life.
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