This is a story I hoped that I would never write and certainly when Taylor began her journey through brain cancer treatment we were both full of hope. After the shock of the initial experience and we realized that what always happened to others had happened to us, we still thought we would be different, that Taylor would be the one to beat the odds. It was that feeling that kept Taylor going and it was that hope that buoyed me up as well. Perhaps it was only denial, but that last year of her life is as vivid to me today, ten years later, as it was when it happened. Our hope was that something she and I wrote might help other young cancer patients cope with their disease and treatment. I still have that hope.
The memoir alternates between my fatherly recollections of my daughter throughout her life coupled with Taylor’s actual diary (in italics) which she kept throughout her treatment. For the readers understanding, my daydreams of Taylor are also italicized, but actual conversations I had with her are in regular text.
Taylor kept a diary of her experiences from the day of her diagnosis until a few weeks before her death as CBS cameras followed her throughout that year as part of a 60 Minutes program which would air, ironically, after her death, due to the events of September 11. The following excerpt if from her first diary entry when her journey began.