ROOTLINES

A woman recalls becoming a stem cell donor for her ailing sister in this debut memoir.

West’s book opens in August 2016 in the Santa Cruz Mountains with a description of the author sparring in a muay thai boxing match. In her early 60s, West recounts how her training “reshaped” her body, offering her a level of fitness that would prove vital for what lay ahead. The morning after the bout, she received an email from her older sister, Linda, revealing that she had developed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Linda had been given the prognosis of “a painful though fairly rapid death” unless a highly suitable stem cell donor could be found. The sisters had not spoken in months, having fallen out over details of their mother’s health care. Despite their differences and the author’s being two decades over the age limit for donors, West agreed to be tested and was found to be a perfect match. The memoir charts Linda’s journey to recovery and examines the author’s past life, from coming out as a lesbian in the 1970s to confronting alcoholism. West channels the immediacy and energy she gleans from muay thai into her writing. The result is a vibrant, punchy narrative, exemplified by her discussion of her alcoholism: “Drinking came easily, like bullets sliding into a chamber. My drinking was naturally destructive. I blacked out, hid bottles, stole from anyone, lied to friends, cheated on lovers.” Always candidly confessional, the author tempers her prose style by including contrastingly meditative passages: “I find that silence calms me. That lets me sense myself differently….Rather than feeling isolated, as I often do in my thoughts, in silence I connect to a web of friendly energy.” The narrative is deeply and admirably introspective. One minor criticism is that insufficient effort was made to consider the journey from Linda’s perspective, which would have given the account a valuable extra dimension. As the book now stands, readers never get to know her fully. But this does not detract significantly from a well-written memoir that deftly describes cancer as an opponent that can be faced and beaten.

A remarkable story of hope and determination passionately recounted.