Leukemia, My Husband and Me:  |    What Lies Behind  |    Widow's Walk
The day my husband was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, my life became a photograph, a distorted picture that I was forced to look at every day. An image that stayed the same, capturing a moment in time, a moment that changed everything.

Seasons passed, birthdays and holidays, but the disease remained, hanging on a branch right in front of my face like a rotten piece of fruit I wanted to pick and throw away. My husband’s diagnosis became our life, overcrowding our marriage and squeezing everything else out.
In order to completely describe the turbulence that my husband’s cancer caused, I have to revert back to the beginning of our relationship.

Different personalities, age, and how one conducts their daily life as well as the behavior of family members plays a major role in how one might handle a diagnosis such as this.
In movies and books it's often portrayed as a sort of renewal for the relationship, the spouses uniting as a strong force, preparing for battle. I quickly learned that this is a misconception.  Denial can be the enemy of any disease. Reality had smacked me square in the face, a painful sting that lasted for many months, a sort of lingering anguish.


I dedicate this book to all the doctors and nurses at the St. Luke’s facilities in Bethlehem and Easton, Pennsylvania. They are a team of dedicated, caring professionals, who supported and loved my husband like their own while he fought his battle.
JC Cerrigone