Pearls: A Memoir On Childhood Brain Cancer and Hope

The year is 2003. 7-year-old brain cancer patient Maggie Bushway decides she wants to write a book chronicling her experience. Meanwhile, 33-year-old Rob Bushway decides to start blogging updates on his little girl’s battle with cancer. The year is 2023. 28-year-old Maggie finds a box of her dad’s printed out blog posts, as well as the excerpts of that book she never finished. The pieces fit together, and 20 years of perspective on pain, chronic illness, family, and hope filled it in.

Maggie, Little Maggie, her dad Rob, tell the story of a journey that nobody wants to go on. The first part of the book focuses on her cancer diagnosis and treatment. The second part explores the long-term consequences of cancer treatment. And the third part focuses on living with chronic conditions as an adult and how her past shaped who she is today.