Why I Wore Lipstick to My Mastectomy

Book excerpt: “A bold memoir” of one young woman’s courageous battle with breast cancer—the basis for the Emmy-nominated Lifetime movie starring Sarah Chalke (People). Having recently graduated from Columbia Journalism School and landed her dream job at 20/20, the last thing twenty-seven-year-old Geralyn expects to hear is a breast cancer diagnosis. And there is one part of the diagnosis that no one will discuss with her: what it means to be a young woman with cancer in a beauty-obsessed culture. Trying to find herself while losing her vibrancy and her looks, Geralyn embarks on a road of self-acceptance that will inspire all women. Although her story is explicitly about a period of time when she was driven by fear and uncertainty, Geralyn managed a transformation that will encourage all women under siege to discover their own courage and beauty. The important and outrageous lessons of Why I Wore Lipstick come fast and furious with the same gusto that Geralyn has learned to bring to every aspect of her life.