I have no idea how I convinced her, but somehow, I managed to talk her into spending an afternoon stomping around in the woods. If you look at this photo, you’d think she’s having a great time—what you can’t see is that she’s in pain. Of course, I didn’t know that at the time, and fifteen minutes […]

I had the chance to drop off a donation to St. Vincent Clay, where Sunshine played a big part in starting and organizing their Arts in Medicine (AIM) program. It felt really special, and even more so because it was on her birthday. As I dropped off the supplies, I couldn’t help but think about […]

That afternoon, we spoke on the phone, and she told me a long, detailed story about how she couldn’t see because she had been wearing an old backup pair of glasses she found buried in her purse. I could hear the frustration in her voice, but there was a sense that, even in the chaos, […]

One Friday afternoon, as the sun hung low in the sky, we ventured outside to spend a few precious moments in her garden. Donna was an avid gardener, and these quiet times in the yard brought her peace, even if chemo kept her away from the sun most days. It was a delicate balance—finding moments […]

For Sunshine, this attitude wasn’t just about optimism; it was about presence. During the darkest times of chemotherapy and treatments, she found strength in the details of daily life. Her ability to savor these small moments was an emotional anchor when the reality of cancer became overwhelming. No matter what she was doing, she turned […]

Ramos didn’t let even her worst day in chemo slow her drawing down. The result is an ICANCERVIVE series of cartoons about the small and large miseries of treating the disease everything from losing one’s hair to wearing a wig. Since January, doctors have told the 53-year-old that she is cancer-free. “I know that prayer […]