Contributors

Marissa Holzer

Marissa is a 40-something "flattie" in sunny SoCal living with metastatic breast cancer, her boyfriend (and high school sweetheart) and the memory of her not-so-mini schnauzer, Heidi, who was taken too soon by canine lymphoma. She enjoys reading, stress baking and roller skating. She hopes to inspire others with her stories about life with cancer.

Eugenia Mancini Horan

Eugenia Mancini Horan is an artist, lifelong anxiety sufferer and an early patient of humor and laughter as her medicine. She spent 2019 finding then fighting stage 4 lung cancer and defeating it by 2020, most likely one of the coolest things she’s done. That year in the medical system an end-stage cancer patient with 0% odds gave her a unique perspective about illness and survival. She proudly mothers two questionably behaved dogs and is married to the man who carried her everywhere that year she couldn’t walk. Gina has aspirations to change the world of oncology and also wants to be on the "Great British Baking Show," with only a fundamental lack of skill keeping her from the show. Nothing stops her battle for better patient care.

Debbie Legault

Debbie Legault is the mother of a young woman who was diagnosed with breast cancer at 27. Debbie chose to share the experience of being a full-time caregiver to her daughter during treatment in a blog called “Mom … It’s Cancer” and published the compilation of those thoughts in book format when active treatment was completed. Legault soon realized that the end of treatment was actually just another beginning and continues to write about the realities of survivorship both from her perspective as a caregiver and from her daughter’s point of view.

Tamron Little

Tamron was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma — a rare cancer caused by asbestos exposure — in 2007, as a 21-year-old new mother. As a woman diagnosed at just 21 years of age, she was anything but the typical mesothelioma patient. After more than a decade of living with mesothelioma, she began to share her experiences with others by blogging on 

Sue McCarthy

Suzanne (Sue) McCarthy is a comparatively new writer. Sue graduated the University of Delaware, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Education. After working in several nontraditional academic positions, she started her home-based tutoring business and in 2022 celebrated twenty-five years as a self-employed tutor and business owner, serving school aged students in the Pittsburgh, PA area.

Patti McGee

Selected in 2014 as “Women of Status” by the Oneida, NY Zonta Club for all she does to empower women and girls, life coach and inspirational speaker, Patti McGee is an author, a massage therapist and breast cancer survivor of 20 years. Her career encompasses many years of learning and teaching people about health, nutrition, spirituality and bringing the mind, body and spirit together. Patti has made it her mission to help women and youth to overcome health issues, move past trauma and connect with their mind, body and spirit. She believes living a peaceful and balanced life helps prevent disease and illness. Patti has specialties in mastectomy and breast massage and therapeutic massage. Patti is passionate about helping her clients reduce stress, manage pain and bring a sense of well being to their life.

Mary Sansone

Mary Sansone is a survivor of acute myeloid leukemia. She was first diagnosed in 2016 at the age of 51, and again in 2020. She received a bone marrow transplant at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa in 2020 during the pandemic.

Doris Helene White

A sixth-generation Texan from San Antonio, Doris Helene White earned a B.A. from Central State University in Ohio (an historically black institution) and a juris doctorate from Boston University School of Law. Her career in the government sector as a Massachusetts trial attorney reaffirmed her commitment to an equitable legal system. Retired in 2014, Doris returned home, where she indulged a passion for writing, became an amateur advocate for the history of African Americans in these United States and continued active affiliation with San Antonio Black Lawyers Association, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Jack and Jill of America, Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church and other community organizations. Husband Steven Soares, daughter Dr. Leigh Soares and son Steven Cooper Soares lead the best “cancer posse” in the galaxy!

Robin Zimmerman

Robin Zimmerman is a retired baker living in the Willamette Valley. In 2008, his wife lost her life at the age of 48 after a four-year struggle with melanoma, leaving behind an adult son and preteen daughter. Five years later, he had an early-stage melanoma diagnosed and removed. He now divides his time working part-time at a hospital and as a skin cancer advocate volunteering with multiple organizations.

Suzanne Adriana Remington

Suzanne Adriana Remington, a retired behavior analyst from Connecticut, has been fighting non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) since 2019. Like many NSCLC fighters, she never smoked. In fact, she was an avid runner before her diagnosis. Suzanne has spent most of her working life helping children, and now volunteers with children involved in the court system. She also belongs to ALK-Positive Inc, a group named for the gene that drives their particular cancer. They not only support each other, but raise money to fund their own research. This allows cancer fighters and cancer researchers to truly work together to find a cure.