Blood Brother, Susan Keller
Blood Brother, Susan Keller
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Blood Brother
A Memoir

Author: Susan Keller

Narrator: Lexi Mae

Unabridged: 8 hr 47 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 11/23/2021


Synopsis

As a happily married, fifty-five-year-old professional woman, Susan had it all—or thought she did—until the day of her shocking diagnosis with stage IV Mantle Cell Lymphoma, a rare and aggressive disease. Ninety-eight percent of her bone marrow was cancerous, and a heart attack or brain aneurism was imminent. Within minutes of being admitted to the hospital, her beautifully ordinary life disappeared.

Facing a possible death sentence, Susan experienced visions so lucid and beautiful that she imagined she was looking into the foyer of death or a magnificent afterlife. Her mind and body melded into all that surrounded her. Bliss replaced all fear.

But during the darkest moments, Susan questioned the nature of mortality. Does death have the same shape, sound, and feeling for everyone? Did the father she yearned for think of her the moment he died? What would she think of? Would there be regret, celebration, or nothingness?

After months of grueling inpatient chemo, she faced another seemingly impossible hurdle. To live, she needed a stem cell transplant. But Johnny—her brilliant, off-the-grid brother—was the only possible donor. He hadn't been heard from in thirty years.

About Susan Keller

With accolades in medical and scientific publishing, as well as literary awards, Susan Keller is uniquely positioned to write Blood Brother, a cancer memoir that explores medicine, family, faith, and survivorship. Her scientific work garnered awards from the American Medical Writers Association. On the literary side, her poetry has taken first place in slams; she was a semi-finalist in the Atlantic Review Poetry Contest; and received an Honorable Mention in the Bay Area Poets Coalition National Contest. Her fiction and essays have also been published in anthologies and literary journals.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Elaine on September 20, 2021

Healing from Dis-Ease—A Cancerous Journey More than a medical memoir, ‘Blood Brother’ takes us inside a fractured family’s past, present and future. The author, Susan Keller, diagnosed in 2005 with rare Mantle Cell Lymphoma, was told twenty minutes after entering her doctor’s office, that she had St......more

Goodreads review by Daniel on August 26, 2021

Wild and Indifferent Cancer Susan Keller gives us a riveting true story about the heartache and triumph of surviving twice: once from a traumatic childhood and again from a rare and aggressive cancer. Blood Brother: A Memoir is built around short chapters that keep the story moving at an engaging cli......more

Goodreads review by Nevin on September 15, 2021

Blood Brother, A Memoir Review by Susan Keller Anyone who has ever faced serious illness knows intimately the overpowering introversion it produces, as draining and deadening as any physical ailment. Blood Brother, a Memoir is a happy and inspiring account of one woman’s determination and coming to......more

Goodreads review by John Mancini on August 27, 2021

A story of love, courage, and forgiveness This beautifully written memoir chronicles how looking death in the eye can answer so many questions we have been afraid to ask about our relationships. Yes it’s full of revelations about ones own character flaws, strengths, and unlimited capacity to love, bu......more

Goodreads review by Shanessa on September 05, 2021

Wow. That's all I could say when I finished this book. Wow. Wow. Wow. Keller's story and her writing are both truly breathtaking. Blood Brother is a raw memoir about a woman's cancer journey interwoven with memories of a complicated childhood fraught with toxicity. Childhood scars...cancer scars...s......more