Synopsis "The Survivors' Walk"
When five women share a chemo treatment room, they learn they have more in common than a disease. When Jessie Gifford gets a call from her doctor after office hours, she knows it can't be good news. She'd been waiting to hear the result of a recent mammogram, and now, Dr. Ames was telling her he didn't like what he saw, that she'd need a biopsy. Soon after, the diagnosis of breast cancer is confirmed. And just that quickly, in an instant, Jessie's life is irrevocably changed. Initially, Jessie feels detached, as if she's watching it happen to someone else. Jessie learns that she's not alone in her turbulent feelings. She meets four other women at the treatment center who are also fighting the disease-Pam, who feels guilty for her husband's death; irascible Karen, whose negative attitude gets on everyone's nerves; Irene, who rarely speaks; and Marcie, a young mother who thought the "bump" on her breast was a result of lifting heavy boxes. They develop an unlikely bond as they meet each week for their chemo treatments and eventually see each other as more than women who share a disease. Jackie Ryan Witherspoon's The Survivors' Walk is a poignant, sometimes heartbreaking, often uplifting book, written from the heart and soul. Witherspoon sheds an honest light on the physical and emotional trauma of the characters in her novel, while thoroughly engaging readers in a vivid, emotional and moving story.
