An interesting look at the subject of cancer using a comic strip. Update:
This is from an article that appeared in the Observer on Sunday October 15, 2006
It was an unusual reaction. When Marisa Acocella Marchetto was diagnosed with cancer she responded to the news by 'pulling on her five-inch heels to kick cancer's butt'.
It was 2004 and the New York socialite, also a renowned cartoonist for the New Yorker and the New York Times, was due to marry in three weeks. The marriage went ahead. Two years later, and after a graphic novel based on the events has been lauded by the critics, Marchetto's story is set to be made into a film with Cate Blanchett in the lead role.
The book is billed as 'What happens when a shoe-crazy, lipstick-obsessed, wine-swilling, pasta-slurping fashion fanatic with a fabulous life finds a lump in her breast'. In it, Marchetto draws in loving detail how she and her mother consulted various doctors and were advised on different treatments after her diagnosis.
Central to this are the shoes she wore to each chemotherapy session: 'Casadei faux-croc platforms' in October and 'Pucci rain boots' in November.
'For me, shoes were comfort food,' she said. 'My five-inch heels made me feel wonderful and gave me the strength to fight this thing. I've tried to be as true to the experience as possible but also have a sense of humour. My message would be: Don't be a victim. Be a vixen.'
Marchetto claimed she was lucky in the end. Her cancer was 'caught early' and she had a lumpectomy instead of a mastectomy, a procedure which involves removing the tumour and some surrounding tissue instead of the entire breast.
'A percentage of the [profits from the] book is going to breast cancer research,' she added.
'Around 49 per cent of woman diagnosed with it who don't have insurance have a greater risk of dying. Now I'm 100 per cent cancer-free and my negativity is in remission.'
