I had an appointment for a breast MRI and biopsy on my husband’s birthday, May 1, 2019. We spent that day at the imaging center. It was a cold, drizzly, gunmetal-gray day out. The rain was just spitting. I spent hours in the imaging machine, holding onto the panic button they give you, earplugs in my ears. I was praying the whole time with my eyes pressed shut: Please, please, please, God. Let me not have breast cancer.
The test was grueling. I was in the MRI machine for hours. They’d numbed my breasts; I could hear the biopsy machine making that whirring, drilling sound, and I was thinking, I cannot wait to get out of this thing. When they rolled me out, my back was killing me—you’re in there for so long with your arms stretched out in front of you. The surgeon who did the biopsy said, “I don’t like to let people wait around with false hope. Lisa, I want you to know that the area I saw had jagged edges around it. It looks like it’s cancer.”
I could not believe it. I’ve been such a health nut my entire life, and I never thought it would happen to me. I work out a lot—tennis, the gym, ice skating. When she told me it looked like breast cancer, I felt like I was floating over myself and the doctor in the exam room, watching the conversation. All I could think about was dying. I wondered how much time I had.
Fast forward to now. After a lumpectomy and being prescribed a pill I take every day to rid my body of the hormone that fed my cancer, I’ve been cancer free for five years. In that time, without intending to, I’ve become a breast cancer awareness advocate. I appeared in a local television commercial celebrating the milestone anniversary of Dana Farber Cancer Institute. I walked in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer fundraiser sponsored by the American Cancer Society, wrote a column for a local magazine about my breast cancer journey, and participated in a photographic exhibit of cancer survivors focused on sharing stories of faith and survivorship to encourage the demystification of cancer.
One event I reflect upon the most is a “fireside chat” in which another survivor and I spoke to high school and college students who are doing internships at Dana Farber. I spoke about self-care, how I met the challenges of the disease and the importance of empathy on the part of health care providers. The future health care professionals were engaging, had many questions and indicated that they benefited in their learning process by hearing from us.
Now each May 1st I focus on celebrating my husband’s birthday with him and he celebrates me for attending to my breast heath and advocating for awareness.
Book Summary
Dancing Between the Raindrops: A Daughter’s Reflections on Love and Loss, is a powerful meditation on grief, a deeply personal mosaic of a daughter’s remembrances of beautiful, challenging and heartbreaking moments of life with her family. It speaks to anyone who has lost a loved one and is trying to navigate the world without them while coming to terms with complicated emotions.
Lisa Braxton’s parents died within two years of each other—her mother from ovarian cancer, her father from prostate cancer. While caring for her mother she was stunned to find out that she, herself, had a life-threatening illness—breast cancer.
In this intimate, lyrical memoir-in-essays, Lisa Braxton takes us to the core of her loss and extends a lifeline of comfort to anyone who needs to be reminded that in their grief they are not alone.
Publisher: Sea Crow Press
Print length: 158 pages
Purchase a copy of Dancing Between the Raindrops on
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Dancing-Between-Raindrops-Daughters-Reflections/dp/1961864088/
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dancing-between-the-raindrops-lisa-braxton/1144935014?ean=9781961864085
You can also add this to your GoodReads reading list:
About the Author
Lisa Braxton is the author of the novel, The Talking Drum, winner of a 2021 Independent Publisher (IPPY) Book Awards Gold Medal, overall winner of Shelf Unbound book review magazine’s 2020 Independently Published Book Award, and winner of a 2020 Outstanding Literary Award from the National Association of Black Journalists and a Finalist for the International Book Awards. She is also an Emmy-nominated former television journalist, an essayist, and short story writer.
She is on the executive board of the Writers Room of Boston and a writing instructor at Grub Street Boston, and currently serves as President of the Greater Boston Section of the National Council of Negro Women and is a member of the Psi Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
You can follow the author at:
Website: https://lisabraxton.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lisa.a.braxton/
Twitter: @Lisaannbraxton OR @LisaReidbraxton
Instagram: @lisabraxton6186
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisabraxton/
Blog Tour Calendar
April 29th @ The Muffin
Join us at WOW as we celebrate the launch of Lisa Braxton’s memoir Dancing Between the Raindrops. Read an interview with the author and enter for a chance to win a copy of the book.
https://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com
May 1st @ Beverley Baird
Lisa Braxton, author of the memoir Dancing Between the Raindrops, shares the experience of being an adult orphan.
https://beverleyabaird.wordpress.com
May 3rd @ A Storybook World
Start the month with a touching memoir. Read more about Lisa Braxton’s Dancing Between the Raindrops.
https://www.astorybookworld.com
May 3rd @ Beverley Baird
Bev reviews Dancing Between the Raindrops, a memoir by Lisa Braxton.
https://beverleyabaird.wordpress.com
May 5th @ Choices
How important is it to be part of a writing group? Dancing Between the Raindrops author Lisa Braxton gives her opinion on writing groups.
May 6th @ Anthony Avina
Stop by for a surprise guest post with Lisa Braxton, author of the memoir Dancing Between the Raindrops.
http://www.authoranthonyavinablog.com
May 8th @ The Shaggy Shepherd
How to answer the question “Do You Have Kids?” with guest post Lisa Braxton, author of the memoir Dancing Between the Raindrops.
https://theshaggyshepherd.wordpress.com
May 9th @ Boys’ Mom Reads!
Find out how a Boys’ Mom feels about the memoir Dancing Between the Raindrops with today’s review.
https://karensiddall.wordpress.com
May 13th @ Word Magic
Stop by for a guest post about growing up in the family business by Lisa Braxton, author of the memoir Dancing Between the Raindrops.
https://fionaingramauthor.blogspot.com
May 14th @ What Is That Book About
Looking for a new book for your TBR pile? Stop by for a spotlight on Lisa Braxton’s memoir Dancing Between the Raindrops.
May 15th @ From the TBR Pile
Dancing Between the Raindrops author Lisa Braxton will be visiting with a guest post today.
https://fromthetbrpile.blogspot.com
May 16th @ Fancy That!
Lisa Braxton, author of Dancing Between the Raindrops, is at Fancy That today writing about grieving the death of elderly parents.
May 23rd at Words by Webb
Read a review of Lisa Braxton’s Dancing Between the Raindrops today.
https://www.jodiwebbwriter.com/blog
May 24th @ World of My Imagination
Enjoy Nicole’s review of Dancing Between the Raindrops, a memoir by Lisa Braxton.
