Reflections of a Woman: My Memoir of Breast Cancer: Loss, Love and Laughter: Lisa Tugnette
Review
"I just finished reading your book and I just loved it. Your honesty is refreshing and comforting. It’s amazing that there is really nothing out there about the personal struggles that women deal with, such as body image and sexuality. I think your book will make a big difference for a lot of women. I’ve already recommended it to a number of people." — Natalie Witkin, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
"It is beautifully written - clear, informative, poetic and insightful. I’m sure it will be a HUGE help to many women." — Kathi Toth-Switzer, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
"Reflections of a Woman is filled with heart-warming emotion with both sad and happy times. She had to overcome many hurdles with her breast cancer experience and is now devoted to helping other survivors living with this disease." — Susan Coe, Howe Island, Ontario, Canada
"This is a great journey told with truthfulness and that twinge of sadness." — Janet Dikland, 3 time cancer survivor, Kingston, Ontario Canada
I knew from the prologue of Reflections of a Woman that I would like this book. The first step of Lisa Tugnette’s journey is really about foreshadow; an outing that weaves its way throughout her story where mother, daughter, and granddaughter launch their plan of sunbathing topless during the privacy of a wilderness canoe outing. Little did they know at the time that breast cancer was waiting "ghostlike’" in the two older women’s lives.
Tugnette’s memoir could be any young woman’s account of her breast cancer experience it is so real, so descriptive. I found myself -eight years after my own diagnosis - shockingly re-linked to my memories of those early post-diagnosis years. How many of us remember the comforting warm sheets the nurses carefully covered us with after surgery or how we found ourselves avoiding lingerie stores or magazine with busty models on the covers? Her story is haunting for anyone who has gone through the experience and for those who are newly diagnosed they will wonder how someone has gotten into their heads, so real and accurate the words. They will say, "She is telling my story. How can she know my thoughts, my worries, and my sadness? She is telling my story."
Tugnette’s book is a story of reflection. She presents a theme of examining herself in the reflection of a mirror as she journeys through the first years after a breast cancer diagnosis, but also boldly shows the mental and emotional reflections of a battle-scarred person and the emergence of a wiser, stronger self. Tugnette’s purpose in writing the book is to provide "information to help women deal with the emotional grief that follows the physical loss." Her experience becomes the roadmap for other young women diagnosed with breast cancer who struggle to make sense of loss, recovery and renewal.
On another level, Reflections of a Woman, is a book about women who have a family history of breast cancer. Mother and daughter are diagnosed with breast cancer on the same day as they are sadly added to the list of women in their family who have journeyed the same path before them. Together they show that life goes on, and that over time the grief of the experience is "a little less’.
Reflections of a Woman is a bright, new resource for young women diagnosed in Canada. — Barbara Thompson, Managing Editor, Atlantic Breast Cancer Net
When Lisa Tugnette was diagnosed with breast cancer on the same day as her mother, she became the fourth woman in three generations of her family to face the cruel disease. In the months that followed, she lost both of her breasts, and, as a result, suffered from depression and crippling self-doubt about her femininity and sexuality. She writes candidly about her physical loss and fear, all the while reflecting upon her deepened appreciation for life, the effect of the illness on her family, and the strength she drew from other survivors. Reflections of a Woman is a valuable resource for breast-cancer patients, particularly those under the age of forty-five, seeking to cope with the grief of the devastating diagnosis and the difficult road to recovery.