Stripped: At the Intersection of Cancer, Culture, and Christ

by Heather King

I’m a lawyer turned writer, a Catholic convert, and a sober alcoholic. In 2000, I was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. The good news: a small tumor; the least advanced stage. Still, doctors recommended surgery, radiation, high-dose chemo, and five years of the aggressive hormone drug Tamoxifen.

Terrified of dying, yet determined to steer my own course, I began researching. I found that chemo could kill, radiation could cause secondary cancers, Tamoxifen had severe side effects, and long-term studies on any of those treatments was virtually nil.

STRIPPED is a memoir about coming to the decision to have the tumor surgically removed—and to forego all further treatment. To love this world with all my heart, even as I know I’ll be leaving it one day, is to dwell at the intersection of a cross where mystery, paradox, and a sense of humor meet.

Which is maybe why the very best thing to come out of that dark-night-of-the-soul year was the phone call I made to my friend Brad the night I got the diagnosis. “Brad!” I keened. “I have it! I have cancer!”

“That sucks,” he replied. “Could it have been that time I smoked in your car?”

Genres: Nonfiction

224 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2015

About the author

Heather King is an essayist, memoirist, and blogger. Raised on the coast of New Hampshire, she struggled with alcoholism for many years, got sober in 1987, and converted to Catholicism in 1996.

She is the author of nine books of essay and memoir, and has recorded over 30 slice-of-life commentaries for National Public Radio's "All Things Considered."

She also speaks nationwide, writes a weekly arts and culture column for “Angelus,” the archdiocesan newspaper of LA, and a monthly column on unsung saints for “Magnificat” magazine.

Her work, which she roughly defines as "the tragicomedy of the cross," ranges in subject from addiction to vocational crises, conversion, food, money, cancer, unrequited love, prayer and healing from abortion.

She lives in Pasadena, CA. For more info and her blog, visit Heather King: Mystery, Smarts, Laughs.

Reviews

[Melanie Rigney · Rating 5 out of 5]

The finest writing I have read in some time. Heather King skillfully walks the tightrope between sharing and oversharing. She is humble and yet aware of the gifts she has been given and the deep love the Lord has for her... and desires her to have for others. I find myself revisiting two passages in particular: On page 160: "The evil was that I had settled for so long, in every area of my life, for the shortcut instead of the slower, more arduous path of changing my behavior, awakening consciousness, and growth." And who of us has not been there? On page 18, which puts into words my feeling about returning to the Church after many years away: "Catholicism is not some timid, rigid, dead set of rules. The whole purpose of the rules is to allow us to explode within them. To be a Catholic is to hover on the edge of orgasm and to consent to continue to hover, indefinitely, in almost unbearable tension, which paradoxically allows us to break out in all kinds of other sublimely interesting, glorious directions and ways."

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a memoir, it is a incredibly well written look at what she is thinking and feeling. She looks at faith in a different way than I do, it leads to thinking over things and coming to possibly new conclusions.

[Chris Chase · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really took a twist that I did not expect. Having known any number of people who have taken ever treatment under the sun for their cancer- a few miraculously healed but most having a decreased quality of life- this author came to the decision with all the information at her hands not to have treatment. She is cautionary in her prose on this decision but I really appreciated the last 4-5 chapters. Before that it dragged in a few places but her understanding of spirituality, her relationship to God and her place in being Catholic was really refreshing. She sees her place in "Church", which has little to nothing to do with contemporary dogma of "the Church", but with her love of the sacraments and her place with Jesus Christ. This is an excellent book but not for the faint of heart looking for some simple answers.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gutsy memoir sharing unexpected diagnosis of early-stage breast cancer, consideration of treatment options, and impact on the author's life and spiritual journey. Although treatment and care options may have advanced slightly (sadly...) since her experience 15+ years ago, it was encouraging to hear from someone who has passed through and is now on the other side of healing. Don't expect this to be a glib, black/white "have faith and you'll be healed" story. This is about living in the grays ... finding the Divine even in the midst of our vulnerability.

[Zee Monodee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the tell-it-as-it-is approach that the author takes in this book. I faced pretty much the same diagnosis of breast cancer a while ago and as such, I am always on the lookout for fellow survivor stories and how they navigated this storm and how they came out of it. Heather King tells it as it is, and the words are infused with a witty humor that makes a smile pop up when you least expect it.

[Ginny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read some of Heather King's other books, and love her way of writing about faith and life. This is a book that makes you think.