Praise for Here Comes the Sun: A Young Family’s Journey through Cancer
“My daughter Michelle was 17 years old when she died of leukemia after a ten-month battle with the disease. Through it all she never questioned ‘why me?’ We failed to find a match for Michelle yet her dying wish to me was to keep up the search so that others could benefit from our efforts to ‘find the match.’ Here Comes the Sun, written by Brian Lucas, is an inspirational story about his wife, Betsy, and the trials and tribulations their family endured during her battle with cancer. It is a book filled with tears and ultimately smiles, for today Betsy is cured.
Somewhere up above Michelle Carew is happy.”
– Rod Carew, Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, NY
“Here Comes the Sun is not just a story of one family’s cancer journey, it is also a celebration of the strength of community. From the extraordinary caregivers and researchers at the University of Minnesota, to the selfless gift of a young man in Germany, Brian Lucas’ remarkable story highlights the importance of reaching out to others, and shows what we can accomplish together.”
– Walter Mondale, former Vice President of the United States
“Intensely personal, heart-rending, and terrifying. What happened to this family could happen to any of us, and yet with wisdom and love, Brian Lucas shows us how a path was found through the fear and pain. Inspiring.”
– Arthur Phillips, Author of Prague, The Egyptologist, Angelica, The Song is You, and The Tragedy of Arthur
“Here Comes the Sun kept me on edge. With complications seeming to crop up just when things were starting to look good, the book took me on a life-shaking emotional roller coaster. Brian Lucas has written a beautiful story. The strength and determination shown by Brian and Betsy, by their daughters and Betsy’s mother, by their donor, and by all of the medical personnel involved has to be an inspiration to others going through this now.”
– Barbara Delinsky, New York Times bestselling author of Sweet Salt Air
“A heartfelt journey of family, love, ups and downs, and the shock of realities we face. Here Comes the Sun is a testament to the progress and limitations of medicine. Most importantly, it provides a vision of hope and togetherness and the value of teams at all levels (family, friend, support, medical). This is why I love my job.”
– Dr. Jeffrey Miller, Hematologist/Oncologist, Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota
“This book is for all of us. Each of us has a crucible moment, when we make a choice to believe, to dig deep into our own resources, to open ourselves to the loving care and support of others and to act with courage. Each of us can find inspiration in this story, for whichever role we are called upon to play, spouse or partner, parent, neighbor, friend, professional. Only together can we grow through life’s darkest moments, emerging again into the light. Thank you, Brian and Betsy for this important gift.”
– Marilyn Carlson Nelson, Retired CEO Carlson, Author of How We Lead Matters
“Here Comes The Sun is testament to the truism that it takes a village—in this case a global village of family, friends, nurses, docs and an anonymous German hero–to go into battle against a life threatening disease. Lucas shares invaluable insight into the medical transplant process and the life-giving transformation his wife, daughters and he experienced. Beautiful and authentic.”
– Harvey Mackay, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive
“Here Comes the Sun is a very personal and touching story of the journey thousands of patients and families take every year from diagnosis through survivorship. Brian Lucas allows us to understand and feel the fear, anxiety and uncertainty that accompany the family throughout the journey. However and more importantly, he reinforces the essential elements of hope, family and friends in facing a life-threatening illness. This book will help patients and families better understand and cope with their personal journey. Members of the medical team can also gain insight into the role they play in their patients’ and families’ mental and physical well-being.”
– Dr. Jeffrey Chell, CEO, National Marrow Donor Program/Be The Match
“Brian Lucas has written a powerful book about his wife Betsy’s journey as a survivor of chronic myelogenous leukemia in the book Here Comes The Sun. This account of Betsy’s diagnosis, treatment and survivorship is a story of personal courage and of hope. The life lessons they share from Betsy’s experience will inspire other blood cancer patients and families through their individual treatment journeys. All of us with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society are grateful for Brian and Betsy’s generous support of the LLS mission and for sharing their story with us.”
– John Walter, President and CEO, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
“Beautiful! The love, caring and determination of Betsy’s journey inspires patients and health care providers through this maze of cutting edge stem cell biology. Here Comes the Sun should be required reading for any patient considered for a BMT.”
– Dr. Greg Vercellotti, Hematologist/Oncologist, Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota
“In his beautiful new book, Here Comes the Sun, Brian Lucas takes us inside his family’s journey dealing with his wife’s leukemia. The story of her successful treatment, including stem cell transplant, will resonate with anyone who has traversed a similar path, whether with cancer or other life-changing events. The book will be particularly helpful to the families of patients who need to create their own team to help care for someone they love. The Lucas’ powerful story of love coexisting with fear can inspire all of us.”
– Dr. Susan Sencer, Medical Director, Hematology/Oncology, Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota
“Here Comes The Sun is the story of a miracle. It is an authentic, inspiring action plan for facing a crushing crisis and ultimately celebrating victory in the most challenging game… Life.”
– Tom Gegax, Chairman, The Gramercy Fund; author, The Big Book of Small Business (HarperCollins); Chairman Emeritus & Co-Founder, Tires Plus
“Here comes the Sun shows that by bringing together people with love and support, especially during times of need, great and miraculous things can happen. Thanks to Brian Lucas’ powerful sharing of his family’s journey, this book will bring even more people together.”
– Sona Mehring, Founder and CEO of CaringBridge
“Here Comes the Sun candidly retells a young family’s daunting journey through the dark clouds of illness into the bright sunshine of hope, healing and thanksgiving. As a clergyman, I have spent many hours with families who have wandered the wilderness of uncertainty and fear that is sickness. Brian Lucas offers both a practical and a spiritual roadmap through that wilderness. Here Comes the Sun is not only for families fighting cancer. It is for all of us who might grow in our appreciation of the blessings of family and friends, love and life….And that is all of us.”
– Rabbi Joshua M. Davidson, Senior Rabbi, Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York
– Elizabeth Foy Larsen, Co-author of Unbored, a manual for the modern family
“The remarkable honesty and poignant detail contained in this story will resonate with anyone who has walked with a loved one through a devastating diagnosis and brutal treatment course. There is such hope and comfort in the descriptions of life’s simple pleasures inexplicably found in the most unwelcome circumstances.
Nurses will recognize the miracle of seeing patients and families find unbelievable strength and resiliency while navigating life’s most difficult and painful moments. The opportunity to so closely observe these triumphs of body and spirit are the heart of nursing and inspire our most gentle and best care.
Brian Lucas’ story speaks to our shared experience as human beings as it illuminates how the ties that bind us to one another nurture hope, courage and healing. It is a beautiful story.”
– Sara Froyen Gernbacher, RN, CPHON, Nurse Case Manager, Hematology/Oncology, Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota
“Raw and powerful in its story telling, Here Comes The Sun offers an unforgettable journey through the dark night of cancer. Lucas details with brave honesty the point of view of spouse and caregiver, and the result is a profoundly inspiring love story.
This book is of immeasurable value to anyone facing that moment when everything changes. In other words, all of us.”
– Annie Sundberg, film director, Knuckleball!, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work; The Devil Came On Horseback; The Trials of Darryl Hunt
A beautiful love story by Brian Lucas, a devoted husband and father who faced the threat of losing his young wife Betsy to leukemia. The perils associated with her bone marrow transplant, and the courageous way she responded, was very personal for me. The book evokes memories of the heart-wrenching challenges that we faced as my wife Barb went with a bone marrow transplant to overcome multiple myeloma.
– Steve Wilkinson, Founder of Tennis and Life Camps and a Stage Four kidney cancer survivor
“Brian Lucas, with his wife’s help, has superbly chronicled the BMT journey with his own perspective as the spouse of a leukemia survivor who also survived just about every complication and attendant procedure of BMT. This story will be of great value to those facing the two steps forward and one step back of a bone marrow transplant, and the importance of fathers learning how to do pigtails and French braids.”
– Dr. Bruce Bostrom, Hematology/Oncology, Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota
“Here Comes the Sun is a poignant, descriptive, personal telling of one family’s journey through cancer. This compelling, masterfully written book, underscores the unique nature of each cancer journey, while giving the reader insight into the roller-coaster of questions, emotions and challenges faced by everyone swept into the wake of a cancer diagnosis.”
– Ruth Bachman, Author of Growing Through the Narrow Spots
– Dr. Joanna Perkins, Hematology/Oncology, Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota
“The physical and emotional toll on patients and their families during a transplant is difficult to understand unless one has lived through it. Brian Lucas takes us there in Here Comes the Sun, a personal diary detailing the inner strength and will to survive of his wife, Betsy, the resiliency of the human spirit, and ultimately their triumph over cancer.”
– Dr. Linda Burns, Hematologist/Oncologist, Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota
“Here Comes the Sun is a moving story about the power of both medicine and spirit in the fight against cancer. Brian Lucas describes his family’s emotional journey through a fight with blood cancer. While science has made great strides, much work remains. As a cancer researcher, Betsy’s story drives me to work even harder to find solutions to these devastating diseases.”
– Peter Espenshade, PhD, Professor of Cell Biology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
“An unflinching, moving, and ultimately life-affirming cancer survival story from the point of view of a compassionate (and funny) spouse. Truly inspirational, not only for people fighting cancer or with loved ones who are battling the disease, but also for people who are facing serious challenges of any kind in their lives.”
– Matt Berenson, Producer, The Place Beyond the Pines, Daddy Day Care
Here Comes the Sun: A Young Family's Journey through Cancer 