Our Last Walk Home: Love, Cancer, and the Agony of Letting Go

by Jennifer Sanfilippo

In January, 2020, Jennifer Sanfilippo’s life was upended when her husband Jim was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia. Thrust into the cancer battle against the backdrop of a roiling Covid-19 pandemic, Jim fought for his life while Jennifer fought to protect their family from the indignities of the healthcare complex.

Our Last Walk Home is an exploration of cancer treatment in the US, from diagnosis to death, through the lens of a widow's grief. This very personal, often painful and surprisingly funny narrative challenges the big questions of mental health care for cancer patients and families, patient centeredness in teaching hospitals, and our nation's cultural refusal to create useful dialogue and practices that support individuals through death and grief. With a heartfelt and generous telling, Jennifer guides the reader through her journey of hope and loss

Genres: Memoir

223 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 4, 2024

Reviews

[Danelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Evocative and honest and beautifully written, a must-read

Jen Sanfilippo has penned an incredibly beautiful and insightful account of one of the hardest journeys imaginable - losing the love of her life to a battle against an aggressive cancer fought in a broken healthcare system. While the very topic may make potential readers want to turn away in fear, Jen is a gifted storyteller whose eloquence, compassion, humor and fiery spirit weave a story that you must hear and simply can’t put down. This is a gem of a book about love and life and death that I can’t recommend highly enough.

[Deena Lipomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

When her 56-year-old husband was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive leukemia in January 2020, the author struggled to support him and their two sons while navigating the hospital and her own mental health. When he died at home 6 months later, she was still processing the overwhelming whirlwind during the COVID-19 pandemic. This book was the result of her experience and its aftermath, as well as a tribute to Jim and their marriage. It is written with beauty, wit, and despair, and will make the reader smile and cry with heartache for their pain. The hospital scenes and and difficulties in getting mental health assistance or straight answers not fueled by insurance companies will ring true to anyone who has cared for a loved one through a care battle. Now, the author is a "end of life" doula, helping others process their feelings about the loss of loved ones and filling in the parts that medical professionals are not trained to deal with. This is a lovely book about life and death by a resilient woman.

[Marion · Rating 5 out of 5]

A heartbreaking and sobering must-read. Moving and powerful. It’s disappointing how the supposedly first-class medical system in my hometown really let them down in a highly stressful end of life situation (which took place in the early days of CoVid, making it even worse).