What do you think?
Rate this book
Red Sunshine: A Story of Strength and Inspiration from a Doctor Who Survived Stage 3 Breast Cancer
Dr. Kimberly Allison diagnoses breast cancer for a living. But as a 33-year-old healthy new mother, she never expected to find herself looking at her own malignant cells under the microscope. Like many others diagnosed with cancer, Dr. Allison was starving for stories of other survivors. She wanted to hear someone’s tale, to feel their experiences and look for hidden clues to what her own future might hold. Ultimately, the story that Dr. Allison was looking for was found in her own life.
Red Sunshine is a memoir about Dr. Allison’s sudden journey from physician to patient and her attempt to make the most of this terrifying and unexpected ordeal. Her experience reflects the incredible power of the bonds of friendship and family. It is about paying attention to the magic that is waiting to be uncovered in everyday life.
Red Sunshine is an uplifting story of survival in which Dr. Allison shares all the intimate details of her emotional journey with both humor and honesty.
Red Sunshine is a memoir about Dr. Allison’s sudden journey from physician to patient and her attempt to make the most of this terrifying and unexpected ordeal. Her experience reflects the incredible power of the bonds of friendship and family. It is about paying attention to the magic that is waiting to be uncovered in everyday life.
Red Sunshine is an uplifting story of survival in which Dr. Allison shares all the intimate details of her emotional journey with both humor and honesty.
- GenresMemoir
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
11 people are currently reading
149 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
July 29, 2025
This book is a really short read and I believe I could’ve read it in one sitting if I wanted to. But I couldn’t because again and again I had to put it down. I could not believe how deeply I related to Kim and her struggles, her mindset, her everything. Kim was even training for her first half marathon before her diagnosis…what was I doing? Exactly that. So happy my therapist recommended this to me. I would recommend this short read to anyone who wants a glimpse into someone’s experience with cancer.
January 19, 2015
I received a free copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads. FTC guidelines: check!
Kimberly Allison is a pathologist whose job entails looking at cancerous biopsy slides through a microscope and helping the doctors, who are treating the unfortunate patient, decide what type of cancer it is and how best to go about exterminating it. One day, the biopsy under the slide is her own and the cancer that she is trying to treat is within her own body.
This memoir reminded me of Yin, Yang, Yogini: A Woman's Quest for Balance, Strength, and Inner Peace by Kathryn E. Livingston in that both women developed breast cancer and struggled through treatment, but the similarities end there. Kimberly is an atheist while Kathryn is a spiritual person. Kimberly has had training in the medical field and knows almost immediately what she's going to be facing the next couple of months while Kathryn faced a great unknown and all of the fear that went along with that. I think that there's a serious advantage in having textbook level knowledge about whatever problem arises in life as well as relationships with the professionals who are going to save your life. And, when Kimberly doesn't have the knowledge that she needs to move forward, she asks some of her friends to do research for her and then applies that information to whatever it is that she needs- like proper nutrition or exercise during treatment. So, both women had quite a supportive net of friends and family around her to help her through.
What was most interesting about Red Sunshine to me was that despite Kimberly's lack of spirituality, she applies spiritual principles to her struggle and develops a life philosophy of her own. She does visualizations to beat the cancer, goes to acupuncture, completes magical rituals in her backyard to banish the disease. When the medicine is being pumped into her body, she images it being her own 'Red Sunshine', filling her cells with energy and healing power. As a medical professional, she knows the odds of her survival (which actually weren't very good in her case) and yet she beats those odds.
In the last chapter of Red Sunshine, Kimberly takes a hike through a remote part of Arizona and feels bonded to the earth and those who have traveled the road before her. She compares this connection to more than just surviving her disease, but also to the human condition. We all live through uncertainties and struggles, it is how we respond to them that determine who we are and what our priorities in the future will be. For having no faith to point to, Kimberly seems to have created her own truth and belief in the future and what it holds. It is a very powerful thing to find your own way and to share that strength with others. I hope that she shares her story with as many others who may needs it and that they take courage from her experience and journey.
Red Sunshine is a great read for anyone who's currently battling cancer or has a family member who is experiencing that trial. If you want a book about surviving cancer with a more spiritual bent to it, please read Yin, Yang, Yogini: A Woman's Quest for Balance, Strength, and Inner Peace by Kathryn E. Livingston.
Kimberly Allison is a pathologist whose job entails looking at cancerous biopsy slides through a microscope and helping the doctors, who are treating the unfortunate patient, decide what type of cancer it is and how best to go about exterminating it. One day, the biopsy under the slide is her own and the cancer that she is trying to treat is within her own body.
This memoir reminded me of Yin, Yang, Yogini: A Woman's Quest for Balance, Strength, and Inner Peace by Kathryn E. Livingston in that both women developed breast cancer and struggled through treatment, but the similarities end there. Kimberly is an atheist while Kathryn is a spiritual person. Kimberly has had training in the medical field and knows almost immediately what she's going to be facing the next couple of months while Kathryn faced a great unknown and all of the fear that went along with that. I think that there's a serious advantage in having textbook level knowledge about whatever problem arises in life as well as relationships with the professionals who are going to save your life. And, when Kimberly doesn't have the knowledge that she needs to move forward, she asks some of her friends to do research for her and then applies that information to whatever it is that she needs- like proper nutrition or exercise during treatment. So, both women had quite a supportive net of friends and family around her to help her through.
What was most interesting about Red Sunshine to me was that despite Kimberly's lack of spirituality, she applies spiritual principles to her struggle and develops a life philosophy of her own. She does visualizations to beat the cancer, goes to acupuncture, completes magical rituals in her backyard to banish the disease. When the medicine is being pumped into her body, she images it being her own 'Red Sunshine', filling her cells with energy and healing power. As a medical professional, she knows the odds of her survival (which actually weren't very good in her case) and yet she beats those odds.
In the last chapter of Red Sunshine, Kimberly takes a hike through a remote part of Arizona and feels bonded to the earth and those who have traveled the road before her. She compares this connection to more than just surviving her disease, but also to the human condition. We all live through uncertainties and struggles, it is how we respond to them that determine who we are and what our priorities in the future will be. For having no faith to point to, Kimberly seems to have created her own truth and belief in the future and what it holds. It is a very powerful thing to find your own way and to share that strength with others. I hope that she shares her story with as many others who may needs it and that they take courage from her experience and journey.
Red Sunshine is a great read for anyone who's currently battling cancer or has a family member who is experiencing that trial. If you want a book about surviving cancer with a more spiritual bent to it, please read Yin, Yang, Yogini: A Woman's Quest for Balance, Strength, and Inner Peace by Kathryn E. Livingston.
December 24, 2014
I wasn't in the mood for another cancer book as I have read enough during my 9 month treatment. However, this breast cancer pathologist/doctor had the same cancer as I albeit it further along in intensity and starting young. It reminded me of things I had forgotten during my treatments, the good and the bad, scared me a little of my own prognosis but that's ok. The message is still the same; believe and you will conquer.
Unlike myself, she was able to work around her days of cancer treatment and was successfully able to function with Taxol which could not benefit me. I especially could relate to nearing the end of treatments she could finally look ahead at her future again. For me the first week of treatment I remember looking in the mirror and thinking "I'm dying. If this was 100 years ago I wouldn't even know what hit me." A month later I was at a wedding reception watching everyone dancing thinking "Their lives are going on and mine has just stopped right now. I can't look beyond January." In my case, 90% of the tumor was eaten up by chemo but it was the first time I was able to finally begin planning the rest of my life.
I would certainly recommend this to anyone going through Triple Negative Breast Cancer.
Unlike myself, she was able to work around her days of cancer treatment and was successfully able to function with Taxol which could not benefit me. I especially could relate to nearing the end of treatments she could finally look ahead at her future again. For me the first week of treatment I remember looking in the mirror and thinking "I'm dying. If this was 100 years ago I wouldn't even know what hit me." A month later I was at a wedding reception watching everyone dancing thinking "Their lives are going on and mine has just stopped right now. I can't look beyond January." In my case, 90% of the tumor was eaten up by chemo but it was the first time I was able to finally begin planning the rest of my life.
I would certainly recommend this to anyone going through Triple Negative Breast Cancer.
December 22, 2021
Reading about other peoples experience with cancer is both terrifying and therapeutic. I found this one therapeutic in that she made it through all the treatments in one piece and is now cancer free. Hoping for the same outcome. :)
September 30, 2022
What an over inflated ego! What a shallow personality!
Sure, I don't doubt it was bad. And it's worse with thousands of other women every year, who don't have the benefit of being one of the guild.
Sure, I don't doubt it was bad. And it's worse with thousands of other women every year, who don't have the benefit of being one of the guild.
April 25, 2021
A story of strength and inspiration
October 24, 2012
Hmmm... This is not a book for me. I'm sure that some folks might find Dr. Allison's story comforting and relatable, but her narrative style wasn't really my jam and I found some of her "humor" offensive.
This is the story of a white, upper-class woman's battle with breast cancer. She details the story of her diagnosis and treatment, including limited aspects of her emotional trajectory. She calls cancer "unfair" saying, "I had seen active heroin addicts have complete responses to therapy and young mothers die of their disease." Dr. Allison has a clear view of who does and doesn't deserve good health and she states it freely here.
I also took exception to her discussions of alternative therapies, which she all but wrote off. She eventually goes to see some kind of shaman after joking that "these people probably only exist in the darkest depths of tribal forests".
I could not get into this book. I would have enjoyed it just fine if Allison hadn't derided others in her attempt to share her own narrative. Aside from her rude quips it was a fine enough book, if not quite a narrative that speaks to me.
This is the story of a white, upper-class woman's battle with breast cancer. She details the story of her diagnosis and treatment, including limited aspects of her emotional trajectory. She calls cancer "unfair" saying, "I had seen active heroin addicts have complete responses to therapy and young mothers die of their disease." Dr. Allison has a clear view of who does and doesn't deserve good health and she states it freely here.
I also took exception to her discussions of alternative therapies, which she all but wrote off. She eventually goes to see some kind of shaman after joking that "these people probably only exist in the darkest depths of tribal forests".
I could not get into this book. I would have enjoyed it just fine if Allison hadn't derided others in her attempt to share her own narrative. Aside from her rude quips it was a fine enough book, if not quite a narrative that speaks to me.
October 1, 2015
When I started reading this book a couple weeks ago, I was in a pretty dark place. I took a break from reading all the technical books on breast cancer (I call them the "What To Expect When You Are Expecting Breast Cancer" books) and I gave this memoir a try instead. I wasnt scared by the descriptions In Dr. Alison's book. Maybe because she obviously survives to write the book. Maybe because she just always has such courage and convinction in the midst of her treatments. At any rate because I wasn't scared I just kept reading. And eventually I realized that I'm going to survive this too. Thank you Dr. Allison for sharing your story.
October 14, 2015
A quick read. Ridiculously short chapters. Funny. Raw at first and then strangely the voice changes in a bit of a disappointing way, but still plenty of redeeming moments, especially for someone's first book! I tried to follow her continuing journey but the website is gone. She's no longer clinical director of breast pathology at the UW. Her husband's restaurant looks to be closed. Hopefully she's not dead now because that would sort of defeat the purpose of my having read it at this stage in my diagnosis.
July 19, 2012
Really enjoyed hearing about her first hand experience with breast cancer. It was eye opening to read a book about a woman who went through what she did at such a young age. I pray that no one close to me will have to endure what she did, however it was great to hear from her perspective how one could support someone going through this ordeal. Good, easy summer read. I am looking forward to meeting the author at our bookclub meeting in Aug!
January 30, 2021
Inspiring and healing. A terrific read.
As someone who works on cancer drugs in a pharmaceutical company, I always wanted to understand a patient’s journey, rollercoaster emotions, and what’s like that o go through lines of therapy. This is a very telling story, a detailed and incredible journey, inspiring and healing.
As someone who works on cancer drugs in a pharmaceutical company, I always wanted to understand a patient’s journey, rollercoaster emotions, and what’s like that o go through lines of therapy. This is a very telling story, a detailed and incredible journey, inspiring and healing.
June 17, 2023
informative and personal
Great read. I am also a breast pathologist. I have not had breast cancer but I have a lot of friends and friends of friends and patients who have breast cancer and I will recommend this book to anyone who is newly diagnosed.
Great read. I am also a breast pathologist. I have not had breast cancer but I have a lot of friends and friends of friends and patients who have breast cancer and I will recommend this book to anyone who is newly diagnosed.
June 27, 2012
Informative, insightful & uplifting. I'd recommend it to anyone touched by breast cancer.
July 22, 2014
been there, done that
January 14, 2015
Wow. If I ever have a health diagnosis, I hope I can attack and fight my illness with the strength, determinism and positive attitude of Kimberly Allison!!!!!
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews