Lyric Sumner is taking care of her mother, who just got diagnosed with cancer. She decides to write to the author of a book, who wrote a subject dealing with it himself when he lost his father few years back. Huntley Crisp and Lyric Sumner begin exchanging letters and they eventually realize they needed that treasured kind of friendship and begin to love one another over the letters they write.

Excerpt:

Chapter One

Lyric

Dear Mr. Crisp,

I want to thank you for writing the book, How To Deal With A Loved One Having Cancer. It touched my heart and helped me so much. I am sorry that you lost your dad last summer. I have read many books on cancer ever since my mom got diagnosed last year. I have never wrote a fan letter to an author before but your book helped me cope and I felt so connected with you and your story. Thank you for your words and that book.

Sincerely,

Lyric Sumner

I wasn’t allowed back in the chemotherapy room with my mom so I always brought my fun pack as I called it. It wasn’t really that fun but I knew to bring my canvas bag every Wednesday, which was chemotherapy day. It had a Bible verse etched on the bag, reminding us that we had strength through God. Philippians 4:13 had became our theme throughout this whole ordeal.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Philippians 4:13

All things, I thought silently. I didn’t want my mom to be sick. But God could get me through this. Being a caregiver for a sick loved one was hard.

But I took the advice of the social worker assigned to our case. Anytime there is a sick patient, they always assign someone to each person to make sure that the caregiver or the sick person has all the resources they need. So you get a dietitian and case worker to help you through the travesty of cancer.

Cancer, the word sounds very horrid, doesn’t it? I just don’t understand why my mom had to get so sick and weak.

She got diagnosed in December and started radiation treatment in January. They wanted to start treatment in December but she refused, saying we deserve one happy Christmas, where no one was sick.

One of her friends had treatment before. And she said after the radiation and chemo, Louise got so weak. And my mom decided, she didn’t want to get treatment, she would live with the cancer. But then, her grandkids changed her mind. She wanted to get better for them.

No, they weren’t my kids. I never been married and was single. I was dating this guy named Adam Reynolds but he said I was spending too much time with my mom. Um, what a thing to say. So you see, I lost no sleep dumping him.

My brother had twin girls. Stacey and Stella and so my mom was determined to get better for the five year olds.

My dad worked all the time so that left me to be my mom’s caretaker. Yes, I worked, too, but I ended up taking a leave of absence from my office job and moving in with my parents to help out with my mom.

I had a nice apartment but being with my mom was more important. I had built up a small savings account, so I was able to help out and my dad had agreed to give me two hundred dollars a month so I could help out a lot. My mom drew a little money on disability as she had a stroke years ago but thankfully, it hadn’t affected her speech. I would cry if I couldn’t hear my mom’s sweet voice. She was partially paralyzed on her left side. I say partially because she could still get around but it took her a minute to move and her left hand trembled all the time.

But going back to what I was saying, I took the advice of the social worker assigned to our case to read some books, dealing with taking care of a loved one when they had cancer and I stumbled upon Mr. Huntley Crisp’s book and for some reason felt led to write him. I knew a famous author like that would not write back because he probably didn’t have time. But in my fun pack, I had packed paper and a pen to write in the meantime. I had books to read, paper to doodle and write with, and a crossword puzzle. Oh, and my Bible. My mom and I would pray a short pray all the time before she started her treatment. Wednesdays were rough on her and she felt so tired and weak by the time she did end up getting out of treatment.

I would go down to the lobby and sit and stare at the big orange fish swimming around in the aquarium. I named it Skipper as it seemed to “skip” around in the water. So while I watched the fish swim, I decided to write Mr. Crisp. I took out his book to get the address of his publisher and noticed on the back the picture of his smiling face.

The cute man with dimples stared back at me as I told him silently thank you for your book. It’s just what I needed. I clutched the book to my chest as I let a tear roll down my cheek. But no, I had to be strong for my mom. I could do that, couldn’t I? I just had to as I stared at the Bible verse on my bag. Mr. Crisp had been strong for his dad but the author’s biography revealed his dad had passed away so he had written the book to deal with his grief. He felt led to write about their times together for he was thankful they got to spend one on one time with one another.

And so I would cherish every moment with my mom. True, I was not allowed to sit back with her in chemotherapy but we spent a lot of time together, ever since she got diagnosed. She had to take radiation Monday through Friday and then after radiation, she would go upstairs to the Chemotherapy room. The radiation treatment lasted only fifteen minutes each day but Chemotherapy dragged on for hours.

I got to know the other patients in radiation as they would sit and talk to me before they got called back. One guy had cancer of the tongue so it was hard for him to talk but he was my friend as I waved to him everyday and he would talk out of one of those voice boxes. I felt so bad for all of them. But it was amazing the amount of sad stories you heard crammed into a measly fifteen minutes. Other caretakers would talk to me and I enjoyed the small talk as we waited patiently for our loved ones.

But chemotherapy days, I was pretty much alone for the day in the lobby. So as I waited for it to be over, I took out my pen and started to write the author I never met. I had packed a few envelopes and sealed the letter. I would mail it tomorrow.

My mom finally came down from the Chemo Floor. And I hugged her. I asked her what she wanted to do. She smiled, weakly. “I am a little hungry,” she admitted.

Yay! Today was a good day, then. Sometimes, she felt too tired and weak to eat but if she was hungry that means I can take her to her favorite place to eat. So that is just what I did. It is called, “The Country Cafe.” Her favorite meal is the Beef Tips Special. It comes with little roasted potatoes, her fav. I sometimes get grilled chicken but today, I opted for the same thing. Yummy. It was delicious. But now, hopefully, she could keep it down as she sipped her sprite.

After lunch, we went home and we both took long naps. All the waiting wore me out and I was relieved, she did not get sick today. But there’s been times that happens. But today was a good day. I woke up before she did and kissed her forehead as she still slept. She was lightly snoring and I felt like that was the most beautiful sound in the world.

I decided while she slept I would go out to the mailbox and place it in the box. I had a few stamps on my dresser in my room so tore one off and walked to the mailbox. I put the flag up and felt a little silly I had taken the time to write to someone who probably wouldn’t have time to reply back. But I went ahead and did just that.

Written Hearts

Release Date: Oct. 14, 2020

Number of Pages: 139

Self-Publish through Amazon KDP

Language: English

ISBN-13: 979-8687392440