“When life gives you super sour lemons, add a lot of sugar and make lemonade.”

The Essence of Wife, Widow, Now What?

Rachel wrote this book to help others navigate the choppy waters of serious illnesses

and/or grief and loss.

When Rachel was 28 years old, her husband was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a.k.a-blood cancer. What they thought was the flu turned out to be the life altering illness that would forever change everything they knew. Rachel became a cancer wife, manager, team cheerleader and expert juggler at life, while supporting her husband throughout his illness, until he died two days after she turned 31. She had to reboot her life and learn how to start over as a widow, without a map or guidebook to lead her. Rachel's humor, moxie and faith helped her get through the cancer world, and survive the calamity of errors that kept-on coming after he died. She fought tooth and nail to survive and is thankful for everything that brought her to present day, despite how hard it was to get here. She wishes she had had this advice and a story to reference when she was in the jungles of her cancer life then widowhood. Her hope is to provide you with some laughter, comfort, solace and guidance on your own journey, whether it be through the world of cancer, or any other life challenges.

Wife, Widow, Now What? chronicles Rachel’s journey as a younger cancer wife then widow, using her narrative along with original Facebook, CaringBridge and Instagram posts, while giving resources on how to navigate serious illness diagnosis, treatment, insurance, disability, finances, health care directives, emotions, patient and caregiver self-care and support, and much more. When faced with a life threatening diagnosis, coming to terms with it all is an animal in and of itself. Rachel hopes to answer some of the what if’s and how to’s to provide some relief and comfort to you directly, or to equip you to support someone going through it all.

In addition, Rachel includes all the music she listened to during her journey, if you'd like to make a playlist to listen to while you read the book.