Friday Favorite - Sunshine

Kate is a 20-year-old mother of a baby girl, happily settled down with a man she loves after a less than idyllic life growing up, when she is diagnosed with breast cancer that has metastized. Sunshine is based on a true story which happened in the early 1970's so treatment of cancer was much different and survival much less likely. Kate is given the option of having her leg amputated or taking chemo. The pills make her angry and sick and Kate makes the difficult decision to stop all treatment and live her remaining months to the fullest. As she does so, she tapes hour after hour of things she wants her daughter to know when she is gone.

I first read this book after I saw the made-for-television movie (of course there was a movie, right?). As I did with the movie, I cried and cried as I read the book. Here was a young woman, not much older than me, who died. Do you remember being that age? You don't think anything can kill you; then, once in a while, something comes along that makes you realize your own mortality. This book did that for me. I have no idea whatever became of my copy of this book and it is, sadly, no longer in print. I would love to read it again, as an adult and a mother, when I might have a different perspective on the choice Kate made. Although I still can't imagine making the choice to stop fighting, knowing that your child will never remember you as anything more than a voice on tape.

Friday Favorite is done in conjunction with Alyce of At Home With Books' My Favorite Reads.