Category: Health/Wellness Publisher: Morgan James Publishing
ISBN-10: 1683507274
Type: Non-Fiction
Pages: 225
Copyright: June 26,2018
ISBN-13: 9781683507277
Price: $8.49 (eBook)
A love story between mother and daughter, Paint Your Hair Blue provides a first hand playbook on celebrating every day, despite a cancer diagnosis, with hope, inspiration and courage.
Sue Matthews, along with her sister Andrea Cohane, is the author of Paint Your Hair Blue: A Celebration of Life with Hope for Tomorrow in the Face of Pediatric Cancer which is a heartwarming story of heroic courage and unbridled love that will inspire and empower you, no matter what your circumstance, to embrace life and take control of your life. Paint Your Hair Blue chronicles the journey of Taylor Matthews, a courageous young woman who fought pediatric cancer and shows readers the triumphs and heartaches of her journey. It also shows a unique insider perspective to the underfunded world of pediatric oncology.
Taylor remained strong and courageous in the face of pain and uncertainty in the five years she was fighting cancer. Taylor remained passionate about living a life not defined by cancer and helped other kids struggling with cancer do the same. Paint Your Hair Blue poignantly tells the story of the love and determination Taylor embodied, while simultaneously educating parents both practically and emotionally as they navigate their child’s treatment and urges parents to be their own advocates in their children’s healthcare.
Paint Your Hair Blue is deeply moving and carries the powerful message that love prevails overall. Taylor’s story captures reader’s hearts and emotions. Her grace and heroic fearlessness challenges readers to live life to the fullest no matter their circumstance.
Excerpt
A Bad Hair Day
About a week into diagnosis, listening to the sound of running water while Taylor was in the hospital shower, I silently sobbed. I knew it would be one of the last times, for a long time, she would feel the suds cascading down her long chestnut-brown hair. Gleaming and satiny, her hair was the kind I loved to run my hands through. I wondered if Taylor had yet connected the dots and realized it would soon fall out.
I shivered as I heard the clanking of the rusty faucet turning off, quickly wiped my tears, and thought about the person Taylor was inside. Was I the only one anxious about this? She was beautiful but never vain. I used to beg her to shop for clothes, but all she ever wanted to wear were the same pair of ugly, comfortable, elastic-waist pants in every color from the Gap. “Who cares what I look like, Mommy?” she would argue. Maybe Taylor would be okay with the dreaded words a mother never dares to think she will have to tell her daughter.
When my angel came out of the shower wrapped in two towels, one on her head and one on her body, I gestured for her to come cuddle on my lap. As I caressed her face, I gently explained, “Tales, within two weeks, you are going to lose your hair.” She didn’t say a word, tightened her grip around my shoulders, and breathed deeply, taking the air from my lungs directly into hers. A few tears silently slipped down her porcelain face, wetting my sleeve. She peacefully rested her head on my shoulder. The moment was so tender. We held each other for as long as I can remember, and although the circumstances were dire, it is those times that I cherish the most—the moments of sheer unconditional love shared between mother and child.
As her wet towel and soft tears dampened my shirt and shattered my heart, Taylor taught me the first of many life lessons. No one would wish cancer on his or her worst enemy, but there can be some good that comes out of it. If you let it, cancer slows life down just long enough to afford you opportunities to hold close the ones you love, breathe in their scent, feel their skin upon yours, and unwaveringly thank God for bringing them into your life. As long as we had each other, nothing else mattered.
In that moment, I was reminded of one of the kids’ favorite Dr. Seuss Christmas movies: “And what happened, then? Well, in Whoville they say that the Grinch’s small heart grew three sizes that day.” Trapped within the four walls of a cold, dank, and alien hospital room, where fear tried its best to strangle me and convert all my love to anger, instead my heart grew bigger. Cancer changed a lot, but it can’t change that.
Professional Reviews
Kirkus Review
PAINT YOUR HAIR BLUE
Sue Matthews and Andrea Cohane
BOOK REVIEW
A debut memoir chronicles a girl’s battle to survive—and her joy, despite the odds.
The authors tell the story of 11-year-old Taylor’s courageous five-year cancer fight. With three daughters and lucrative careers, Matthews (Taylor’s mom) and her beloved husband seemed to have it all. But in 2003, Taylor was diagnosed with bone cancer. Though she died at age 16, this poignant account—told from Matthews’ first-person point of view—is more about living than dying. A bright, vivacious girl, Taylor often kept her family laughing with her high-spirited sense of humor. By 16, she had undergone 16 surgeries, but instead of dwelling on the negative, feisty Taylor—who lived life to the fullest—advised a cancer patient “to dye her hair pink or a combination of all her favorite colors.” According to Matthews and Cohane (Taylor’s aunt), treatments for the teenager’s type of cancer have not changed in decades. In addition, they assert, all pediatric cancers receive only about 4 percent of the National Cancer Institute’s budget. A creative girl, Taylor founded a nonprofit group called tay-bandz, which has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars for pediatric cancer research. Today, the organization bears Taylor’s name. In this touching memoir, Matthews’ authentic voice is likable, and she gives an honest account of a mother’s desperation (sometimes she screamed at doctors). The smooth prose sprinkles in vivid details that accurately reflect a caregiver’s fear and exhaustion. In one heart-rending scene, Matthews recalls sitting in a bright yellow waiting room, staring at children’s artwork on the walls. She was tired and terrified, but she kept a frozen smile on her face for Taylor’s sake. And though the authors are not highly critical of doctors or specialists, they paint a realistic portrait of human error. According to the book, an anesthesiologist who didn’t check Taylor’s allergies before an operation caused a dangerous complication. The volume, which features family photographs, concludes with a list of practical, in-the-trenches advice, like insisting on being in the recovery room when a child wakes up. Though some of the anecdotes may be horrifying for readers who are beginning a struggle with cancer, Taylor’s short life spreads rays of hope for the future.
A moving, bittersweet account of enduring love.
Kirkus Indie, Kirkus Media LLC, 6411 Burleson Rd., Austin, TX 78744 indie@kirkusreviews.com
Mid West Book Review
Paint Your Hair Blue
Sue Matthews & Andrea Cohane
https://www.paintyourhairblue.com
Morgan James Publishing
11815 Fountain Way, Suite 300, Newport News, VA 23606-4448
www.morganjamespublishing.com
9781683507277, $19.95, PB, 248pp, www.amazon.com
Synopsis: In "Paint Your Hair Blue: A Celebration of Life with Hope for Tomorrow in the Face of Pediatric Cancer", Sue Matthews (with the assistance of her sister Andrea Cohane) takes you through the heartwarming tale of heroic courage and devastating blows that characterized her daughter Taylor's odyssey through the underfunded world of pediatric cancer.
"Paint Your Hair Blue" serves in equal portions as an inspiring tale of the power of love and determination, and a cautionary tale of the need for parents and all caregivers to be their own advocates. It will empower you, no matter what your circumstance, to take control of your own destiny.
Most of us will be touched by cancer in some way during our lifetimes. The reader will discover how Taylor and her family learned to balance the necessity of her continuous medical treatments with the need for her to be a kid and live as normally as possible.
"Paint Your Hair Blue" offers dozens of tips and pointers, gleaned by trial and error, about navigating the maze of pediatric oncology through the lens of a layperson and better understand how to face fears with strength, fortitude and confidence while living life to the fullest.
In the pages of "Paint Your Hair Blue", Sue and her sister Andrea will make you a better warrior in the war on cancer with this story of survival, where love transcends all and where every moment is a celebration of life.
Critique: Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "Paint Your Hair Blue: A Celebration of Life with Hope for Tomorrow in the Face of Pediatric Cancer" is an impressively informative and ultimately inspiring read that is unreservedly recommended for anyone having to deal with cancer within themselves or a loved one. While especially and unreservedly recommended, especially for community library Health/Medicine collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Paint Your Hair Blue" is also available in a digital book format .
Online Book Club
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Paint Your Hair Blue" by Sue Matthews.]
Book Cover
4 out of 4 stars
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‘Titanic’ was one of my favorite movies back in the days. I fell in love with the movie and its theme song. But after having to listen to the same song everywhere I go, on endless repeat, I began hating the Celine Dion hit. However, after reading Paint Your Hair Blue, I now have a newfound love for and a different meaning I can associate with the song 'My Heart Will Go On.'
Paint Your Hair Blue is a memoir written by Sue Matthews with the help of her younger sister Andrea Cohane. The book recounts the struggles of the Matthews family when Sue’s second child, Taylor, was diagnosed with cancer. Taylor was only eleven then and never showed any signs of sickness prior to her diagnosis. During a family trip to London, Taylor asked her parents if she could dye her hair. Sue gave her daughter a dismissive ‘Absolutely not’ in response. Unbeknownst to Sue, months after that trip, her daughter would be battling cancer and would eventually lose her hair. Sue then wished they had died Taylor’s hair blue, Taylor’s favorite color.
The book discusses the Matthews’ entire journey, from Taylor’s initial diagnosis until her death five years after. This memoir was written by Sue Matthews in memory of her dear daughter and also as a means to promote their family’s advocacy. A percentage of the profit made from the sales of this book will be donated to the Taylor Matthews Foundation, a foundation that helps in raising awareness and funding studies on pediatric cancer. Paint Your Heart Blue is not for the lighthearted. There will definitely be a lot of tear-jerking moments, and if you can’t handle these, I suggest you avoid reading the book.
However, please note that the book does not only focus on the struggles and the difficult times. The book also highlights the triumphs of Taylor and her family. The Matthews braved through all the challenges together. Taylor also proved to be one amazing young lady, achieving the impossible over and over, and even shocking her doctors. As the author mentioned in the Introduction of the book, Taylor may have died; nonetheless, Taylor led a successful journey. Despite her condition, Taylor lived her life to the fullest and showed love to a lot of people. There are no other better words to describe Taylor than this line written by her own mother:
We don’t measure Taylor’s life in sunrises; we measure her life in love.
The book was professionally edited; thus, there’s really nothing negative I can comment regarding the writing. However, I did find the picture of Taylor’s open letter a bit difficult to read. Perhaps the author could replace the picture with one with a higher resolution, or maybe encode the letter like she did with Taylor’s other letter and poems. The author also explained a lot of medical procedures, and at the end, she even provided tips to anyone who requires medical assistance—not just cancer patients. I do commend this effort to help her readers. I am just not sure about the author mentioning the names of doctors in the narrative—full names at that—including those doctors they had issues with during Taylor’s medication. I am fine with the doctors being named, but I fear other readers may find this off-putting.
Though I have some concerns—very negligible concerns, I must stress—I give Paint Your Hair Blue 4 out of 4 stars. I admire the author’s bravery in retelling the heartbreaking moments as she witnessed her daughter suffer from cancer. But more than this, I admire the author for finding the strength to move forward after a tragic loss. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about pediatric cancer. As much as it is heartrending, Paint Your Hair Blue is also very inspirational, and any person could use a dose of inspiration any time.
