Terminally Illin’ – “Chaos in Humanhattan”

Today I got a real treat, my own personal copy of Chaos in Humanhattan - the scary, cynical, irreverent, twenty-something, mash-up of a memoir, a ”chemo-induced ‘Alice in Wonderland’ story and a “campy ‘Hollywood’ action adventure” graphic novel that focuses on the Kaylin Andres and her Ewing Sarcoma cancer battles. http://www.cancercomicbook.com/

While the story is fantastical, so is the fact that Kaylin is still alive. I believe she’s still living because she found humor – black humor, gallows humor, sardonic humor – an vehicle for empowering her fight with a dark, hideously unrelenting cancer that whacked her at twenty-three and kept trying to drag her into the grave.

“Chaos in Humanhattan” is written and drawn for millennials. If you aren’t a millennial in your age or in your soul, you might find it flippant or upsetting. To my way of thinking, Kaylin addressed that when she wrote her book and blog’s subtitle – “Cancer is not Funny … Cancer is Hilarious.”  If that line doesn’t resonate with you, don’t read this book.

But it you are a millennial, in age or attitude, you should read this book. The story, by Kalin and Jon Solo, is in turns bleak, poignant, darkly comedic and upsetting – like many cancer survivor stories. 

The graphics by Jon Solo and Jade Takushi are terrific - powerful, complex, and vivid. They are just as good as any Manga I’ve ever read.

What I really like about Chaos in Humanhattan is that Kalin and Jon capture all the horrible emotions that cancer victims go through, from “Why me?” to “Oh no!” to “I’m done” to “Now, I’m really pissed” and everything in between.

Here’s a link to their Facebook site: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Terminally-Illin-The-Comic-Book/178624932149196

“TERMINALLY ILLIN' BOOK 1: CHAOS IN HUMANHATTAN!” – Read it now!

Kalin Andres is one of my favorite “Badass Brain Tumor Bloggers” and she, and her collaborators, have just released “TERMINALLY ILLIN' BOOK 1: CHAOS IN HUMANHATTAN!” the comic book.

If you don’t know about Kalin or her partners, I’m sure you’re thinking something like, “Ok, that sounds weird, what’s that about and why am I writing about it.

To answer the first part, this is how it’s described on their indiegogo.com website: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/terminally-illin-cancer-comic-book--2

“Kaylin was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma, a rare bone cancer at age 23. Her life was immediately put on hold and a new journey began. Throughout all the pain and uncertainty, she discovered within herself a powerful coping mechanism in the form of humor and imagination. This comic book is the result.

Slightly cynical, slightly irreverent, and REALLY hilarious, "Terminally Illin" is a candid look into the life of a young adult battling cancer, but with a psychedelic, sci-fi twist! It’s more than a comic book: It’s provocative, educational, entertaining, and totally original.  Think of "Terminally Illin" as a chemo-induced "Alice in Wonderland' meets campy 'Hollywood' action-adventure.

In our story, our hero goes in for her first day of chemo, but ends up getting lost in a fantasy world within her own microscopic body - on a quest to meet her disease face-to-face and kick its butt!!

She's joined by her pet kitty, Iceman, as they set out to destroy Cancer City, the invading cancer cell army, and their leader - the little dictator that's bent on world domination. We hope you follow along and maybe even learn something.”

I love the book and want to argue with this description. I think it’s wonderfully cynical, absolutely irreverent and, yes I agree, really hilarious.

Now listen closely, here’s the part I love, “If we can raise one half of the print fees, the publisher will give us half of the print run. We'll have an extra 500+ books to give away free to cancer centers, hospitals, and patients. There are 72,000+ young adults diagnosed with cancer each year, and we'd like to help ease their experience by sharing Kaylin's experience, outlook, and humor.”

If you know of a young 20-something whacked by cancer, buy this book. If you care about young, talented 20-year-olds having their dreams yanked out from underneath them, buy this book. If you want see how a 20-something not only fights a vicious disease with humor and dignity and sense of giving back to the cancer community, buy and read this book.

Here’s a link to the Terminally Illin’” Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Terminally-Illin-The-Comic-Book/178624932149196?ref=br_tf

Beautiful Bad-Ass Brain Tumor Bloggers: Kaylin Andres Spotlight

When I came home from the hospital without a good chunk of my skull (resected due to an infection from my surgery) I yearned to find folks like me –brain tumor victims who were fighting a battle against a seemingly relentless and demonic disease.

Almost through sheer luck, I then discovered an entire tribe of brutally honest, utterly defiant and powerfully angry brain tumor and cancer bloggers. They were sick; they were mad and they were going to tell the world about it.

One of my favorite Bad-Ass Brain Tumor Bloggers is Kaylin Andres. Her blog is sardonically entitled Cancer is Hilarious which, of course, means it’s not.  As I’ve previously written, she writes about her medical and health challenges with intimacy and rage and honesty that makes me feel likes she’s talking to her best friend over coffee.

As of Feb. 4^th she was in the hospital and wrote wonderfully about her latest surgery. Here’s a link to that posting: http://cancerisnotfunny.blogspot.com/

If you read it, be sure to click the “flipping the bird” link.

John

PS – If you’d like to nominate another Beautiful Bad-Ass Brain Tumor Blogger for a “spotlight” posting, send me a note.

More on Fake Cancer Victims

I just read Kaylin Andres’ most recent blog regarding cancer fakers, i.e. losers who pretend to have cancer to get sympathy/attention/etc. That she has to give advice on how to spot cancer hoaxers makes my head hurt _____ (insert your own bon mot). 

As usual, she writes with passion and angst and horror about all this. Here’s a link to her site: http://cancerisnotfunny.blogspot.com/  If you go there, be sure to read the comments posted on that blog posting.

Kaylin also posted a link to a posting by Adrian Chen, who notes that cancer hoaxes aren’t particularly new. They’ve been around for years. His article/story, The Long, Fake Life of J.S. Dirr: A Decade-Long Internet Cancer Hoax Unravels, is illuminating and depressing. You can read it here: http://gawker.com/5914621/the-long-fake-life-of-js-dirr-a-decade+long-internet-cancer-hoax-unravels/