Here Comes the Sun is the tale of a quest.  It offers a clear and honest look at what happens when an illness throws life off track, and how a combination of science, love, and serendipity can help put things right.

At the age of thirty-four, Betsy Lucas was diagnosed with late-stage leukemia. Without treatment she had only months to live. At the time her daughters were ten-months old and three-years old. Together, Betsy and her husband, Brian, started a journey through chemo, radiation, and a bone marrow transplant. The path was far from steady, but with the help of countless supporters and a generous young man in Germany, they put one foot in front of the other, crossing days, months, and years off the calendar on the way to being cured. Here Comes the Sun isn’t a cancer story—it’s a love story.

Why I wrote Here Comes the Sun:

Soon after Betsy’s diagnosis I began to write. It was partially a form of therapy, to help sort out the thoughts streaming through my head.  I also wrote to keep friends and family informed about Betsy’s condition and involved in her fight.  Often the updates would include specific calls to action for the hundreds of recipients, asking them to send thoughts, prayers or energy focused on a couple of critical areas for Betsy’s recovery.

The response to these e-mail updates was remarkable.  As soon as I hit “send” I could feel the strength pouring in from our team of supporters.  When Betsy read the messages we received in return from friends, family, and even strangers who had the updates forwarded to them, I could see her energy level rise.

Books about cancer tend to fall into one of two categories.  There is the straight memoir that documents the journey, giving an inside look at the realities of fighting the disease.  The second type is the “motivational” memoir, using cancer as a backdrop to impart lessons about how to live life and attack problems.

Here Comes the Sun is unique in that it offers the best of both approaches.  By using the updates and journal entries I wrote in the midst of the battle, it provides an honest look at the realities of fighting cancer.  Sections written with the benefit of hindsight show how we approached this fight in a positive way, working to keep perspective on what is really important.

I don’t look at cancer as a gift.  I don’t think Betsy and I are better off for having had this experience.  If I could erase the word “leukemia” from the story of our lives together I would do it in a second.  But since we had no choice but to go through this fight, it only makes sense to try to take something positive from it.

This book is not just about cancer.  At its heart, this is a love story.  It was love for each other, for our daughters, and from those around us that kept us going.  And it is this love that continues to help us everyday, through a journey that is far from over but has already taken us to places that we never imagined we would go.  I don’t want to tell a story of cancer enhancing our lives.  I want to tell a story of how our lives helped us through cancer.