Graphic Medicine

She lost her left breast, her job, and her guy. She does not know it yet, but this is the best day of her life. An inspiring and surprisingly comedic tale of loss and acceptance told largely through silent sequential narrative, About Betty's Boob is seminal work from master storytellers Véro Cazot and Julie Rocheleau.

A cartoonist examines her experience with breast cancer in an irreverent and humorous graphic memoir.

The groundbreaking graphic memoir that inspires breast cancer patients to fight back--and do so with style. * "Powerful ... A vibrant, neon chronicle with plenty of atti­tude ... A triumph of imagination and spirit." --Los Angeles Times "What happens when a shoe-crazy, lipstick-obsessed, wine-swilling, pasta-slurping, fashion-fanatic, about-to-get-married big-city girl cartoonist with a fabulous life finds ... a lump in her breast?" That's the question that sets this powerful, funny, and poignant graphic memoir in motion. In vivid color and with a taboo-breaking sense of humor, Marisa Acocella Marchetto tells the story of her eleven-month, ultimately triumphant bout with breast cancer--from diagnosis to cure, and every challenging step in between.

When Catherine is diagnosed with acute leukemia, a deadly form of cancer that attacks the immune system, her life is turned upside down. Young and previously healthy, she now finds herself catapulted into the world of the seriously ill--constantly testing and waiting for results, undergoing endless medical treatments, learning to accept a changing body, communicating with a medical team, and relying on the support of her partner, family, and friends.   A professional illustrator, Catherine decides to tell the story of her disease in this graphic novel, and she does so with great sincerity, humor, and rare lucidity. We accompany her though the waiting, the doubts, the fears, and the tears--but also the laughter, the love, and the strong will to live.   Rich in emotion, lighthearted, and profound, Down to the Bone is a powerful book.

Decreased libido is a common effect of cancer treatment, but it can be awkward to talk about and it is often brushed under the carpet. Elizabeth Shefrin doesn't shy away from this most intimate of topics, and in this embroidered comic she shares with gentle humour how her husband's cancer treatment affected their sex life.

2016 Governor General's Literary Award Finalist 2017 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize Winner 2017 Joe Shuster Award Nominee Teva Harrison was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer at the age of 37. In this brilliant and inspiring graphic memoir, she documents through comic illustration and short personal essays what it means to live with the disease. She confronts with heartbreaking honesty the crises of identity that cancer brings: a lifelong vegetarian, Teva agrees to use experimental drugs that have been tested on animals. She struggles to reconcile her long-term goals with an uncertain future, balancing the innate sadness of cancer with everyday acts of hope and wonder. She also examines those quiet moments of helplessness and loving with her husband, her family, and her friends, while they all adjust to the new normal. Ultimately, In-Between Days is redemptive and uplifting, reminding each one of us of how beautiful life is, and what a gift.

A Guardian Best Graphic Book of 2015Iris (or balletgirl-42 as she's known on the internet dating circuit) is a zookeeper looking for love when she is diagnosed with breast cancer. Overnight, her life becomes populated with a carnival of daunting hospital characters. Despite the attempts of her friends - Maud, Granma Suggs, Larry the Monkey and a group of singing penguins - to comfort her, Iris's fears begin to encircle her until all she has to cling to is the attention of a lighthouse keeper called sailor_buoy_39. The Inflatable Woman combines magic realism with the grit of everyday life to create a poignant and surreal journey inside the human psyche.

As young girls in Cairo, Anna and Layla strike up an unlikely friendship that crosses class, cultural, and religious divides. Years later, Anna learns that she may carry the hereditary cancer gene responsible for her mother's death. Meanwhile, Layla's family is faced with a difficult decision about kidney transplantation. Their friendship is put to the test when these medical crises reveal stark differences in their perspectives...until revolutionary unrest in Egypt changes their lives forever. The first book in a new series, Lissa brings anthropological research to life in comic form, combining scholarly insights and accessible, visually-rich storytelling to foster greater understanding of global politics, inequalities, and solidarity.

  Part memoir, part fantasy, Mammoir  is a full length comic book, whose words and pictures take you on a wild ride through Fussell's experience as a fourth grade Boston teacher diagnosed with breast cancer. Mammoir  is exhilarating, whimsical, serious and intense, mirroring the diverse ways cancer manifested in her life that year. The graphics and humorous characters help demystify hospital procedures, and will appeal to anyone who has visited a hospital and not understood a word the doctors have said. In addition, Mammoir  is a must-read for all those in education who struggle to reach their students. Finally, this graphic novel might interest those who have had similar experiences dealing with breast cancer.   Mammoir  weaves the reader in and out of a fourth grade classroom, the hospital, and Fussell's imagination, often suddenly, in the same unpredictable way that she lived her life during that cancer year. The story attempts to convey how a single entity in the universe tries to rise above one of the many irrational situations that are randomly dropped into all of our laps.   Get ready. Fasten your seatbelts. Enjoy the ride.

Each year, approximately 1.5 million people in the United States and Canada are diagnosed with cancer. This is one family's story. When Brian Fies's mother was diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer, he and his two sisters struggled with the effects of her illness and her ongoing recovery from treatment. Brian processed the experience in his journal, which took the form of words and pictures. The story that came to be known as Mom's Cancer first gained notice on the internet. It was posted anonymously, with the intention of sharing information and insights gained from his family's experience. Word of Brain's website spread, until it found its way to Abrams and, ultimately, a book contract. Since then his story has been nominated for the comic book industry's highest honour; an Eisner Award for Best Digital Comic, which is a category that was created with his work in mind.

During Will Betke-Brunswick's sophomore year of college, their beloved mother, Elizabeth, is diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. They only have ten more months together, which Will documents in evocative two-color illustrations. But as we follow Will and their mom through chemo and hospital visits, their time together is buoyed by laughter, jigsaw puzzles, modern art, and vegan BLTs. In a delightful twist, Will portrays their family as penguins, and their friends are cast as a menagerie of birds. In between therapy and bedside chats, they navigate uniquely human challenges, as Will prepares for math exams, comes out as genderqueer, and negotiates familial tension.  A Pros and Cons List for Strong Feelings is an act of loving others and loving oneself, offering a story of coming-of-age, illness, death, and life that announces the arrival of a talented storyteller in Will Betke-Brunswick. At its heart, Will's story is a celebration of a mother-child relationship filled with unconditional devotion, humor, care, and openness.

"Truly moving. Hayden has created a heartfelt and often hilarious tribute to her life-and to the resilience of women everywhere." -Publishers Weekly(starred review) Named one of Library Journal's BEST BOOKS OF 2015! A landmark work of graphic memoir and a cancer narrative that Gabrielle Bell (Lucky,Cecil & Jordan in New York, Everything is Flammable) calls, "comforting, straightforward and strongly connected to life." When Jennifer Hayden was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 43, she realized that her tits told a story. Across a lifetime, they'd held so many meanings- hope and fear, pride and embarrassment, life and death. And then they were gone. Now, their story has become a way of understanding her story. For everyone who's faced cancer personally, or watched a loved one fight that battle, Hayden's story is a much-needed breath of fresh air, an irresistible blend of sweetness and skepticism. Rich with both symbolism and humor, The Story of My Titswill leave you laughing, weeping, and feeling grateful for every day.

A hilarious and heartwrenching story about surviving middle school--and an unthinkable diagnosis--while embracing life's weirdness. Ross Maloy just wants to be a normal seventh grader. He doesn't want to lose his hair, or wear a weird hat, or deal with the disappearing friends who don't know what to say to "the cancer kid." But with his recent diagnosis of a rare eye cancer, blending in is off the table. Based on Rob Harrell's real life experience, and packed with comic panels and spot art, this incredibly personal and poignant novel is an unforgettable, heartbreaking, hilarious, and uplifting story of survival and finding the music, magic, and laughter in life's weirdness.