Mom's Cancer

By Brian Fies

Each year, approximately 1.5 million people in the United States and Canada are diagnosed with cancer. This is one family’s story. Brian Fies is a freelance journalist whose mother was diagnosed with lung cancer. As he and his two sisters struggled with the effects of her illness and her ongoing recovery from treatment, Brian processed the experience in his journal, which took the form of words and pictures. The story that came to be known as “Mom’s Cancer” first gained notice on the internet. It was posted anonymously, with the intention of sharing information and insights gained from his family’s experience. Thanks to the words and illustrations of Brian Fies, readers have already responded that they were surprised and gratified to realize that they weren’t alone. Abrams ComicArts is proud to bring this story to a whole new audience.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jul 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9781613122419

Book preview

Reviews for Mom's Cancer

[kurtwombat · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Often when someone becomes ill, their identity is supplanted by their illness. The people around them no longer see a life in progress just the diagnosis. This bothers me about this sometimes compelling, often not graphic novel. We have lost the MOM to her CANCER while she is still alive. This is even reflected in the title where the key word is CANCER and not MOM. I can’t think that this was the intention of the author, this feeling of detachment—where instead of being the earth, MOM was relegated to the moon.

This book, however, does have some strengths. It might have been titled CANCER FAMILY instead of MOM’S CANCER to better reflect what it does best. There are three adult children. Seeing how each goes through their own stages in different ways and how they come together or don’t come together over the illness is to finally be invited into the story. The siblings are rendered with an honesty that makes them feel real. I wish that had been extended to the MOM.

I have been part of a cancer family several times, including my own mom, and expected this to hit me harder than it did. I actually hoped it would hit me hard as a means of remembering and grieving. Instead, I felt like I was reading about a plane crash from the point of view of the land that was hit rather than the people on board.

[susan.macura · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The author chronicles his mother's experience in dealing with stage four lung cancer from her early symptoms to her diagnosis and treatment to her life after cancer in the form of a graphic novel. This is a unique look at how a family coped with and dealt with this diagnosis that affected an important member of their family. Having experienced a similar diagnosis and treatment journey with my father, I can say much of what this author experienced is universal, making it a wonderful resource for anyone going through something similar.

[paakre-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Expressionistic yet scientific chronology of a family learning that their mother has cancer. It is a gripping story of medicine as it is now practiced, and a loving family's ability to cope with it. As an appeal to stop smoking, I am not sure it is successful.

[kivarson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Visually and emotionally appealing.

[krizia_lazaro_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It's an okay book if you don't have someone close to you who have cancer. I really like this book because I connected to the characters. It was too familiar to me. It made me realize that what families feel and what they go through are the same wherever you are, whatever kind of cancer. This book made me laugh and cry and HOPE.

[stephmo_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If you've been through cancer with a family member, you will see parts of your experience in this collection of Brian Feis's webcomic that was started when his mother was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer. This is an honest look at how cancer impacts an entire family where we're spared the cliched movie-of-the week life lessons and magical epiphanies where everyone comes together to do the right thing. This is the reality of the sometimes humorous side of illness, the long and draining side of it, the inappropriate moments and the stress that a long-term illness will have on everyone and the way that they'll approach the illness.Above that, it's a story of the hope that a family will find in each other. It's the kind of story that will find you laughing one moment and tearing up the next. Much like life.

[merijenben · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A family's struggle with cancer provides the plot for this touching and honest graphic memoir.Brian's mom, after suffering a brief seizure, discovers that she has stage 4 lung cancer that has metastasized to her brain. She has less than a 5% chance of survival. Her choice to fight, and the awful toll cancer treatments take on her body and independence changes the family dynamic. Brian, Kid Sis and Nurse Sis each take on a different care-giving role, and the best and worst of their personalities come to light.What I love about this book is that it's not what it seems to be. Picking it up, I thought "Great... another dead parent memoir." However, ultimately, this is a story about life and hope and families. Fries' slightly cartoony art style works gives realism to the proceedings, but remains clean and accessible. Also, sometimes, it's just nice to see a happy ending.

[essfair · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I picked this book from a list of recommended graphic novels. It is the first graphic novel I have read and I wanted to see what they were like. A fast read--there isn't much to read. I picked it because it covers a subject with which I am familiar.Good book--first of all because it is realistic. It covers both the ups and downs of dealing with cancer. The author was not afraid to look at the awful parts but he was able to show readers that there can also be funny parts. A book to help you keep your balance when you are having a bad day dealing.

[opinion8dsngr · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What is truely remarkable about this book is that Fies wrote it as a webcomic while his mother was being treated for cancer. At the time he did not know if his mother would live and he was struggling to express himself and handle the stress of the situation through the strip. It takes a great deal of courage to honnestly examine your family's situation and then bring it to the public's attention when uncertainty is definitely still in the air. Because of this honnesty, the story seems very genuine. My mother, a former hospice nurse, said that it seemed "very real" to her. The aknowledgements in the begining of the book say that the comic is now being referenced in medical schools to show and example of a patient's perspective. Good. In addition to containing the very well done strip, the book also contains comments from "Mom" and an epilouge describing the more recent developements in the story of the Fies family. It is good to see that Fies family supported the release of the book too. A sign that they agree with the power and importance of this display of human adaptability and survival.

[wyvernfriend · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I've read this one online and I was very touched and moved by the story and how it resembled my own.Yes it was like that.

[ethomsen_8 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This memoir of a three adult children working (mostly) together to support their mother through her illness was originally published as an online web comic. The author and his two sisters, who he calls Nurse Sis and Kid Sis, each struggle with their own issues, and fumble through their own uncertainties and fear while earnestly trying to help their mother deal with lung cancer.Mom and children are sometimes brave and sometime fearful, and their book is real, funny, sad and touching.