The Guest House
A Journey of Discovery through Cancer
by
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In September we go to Macungie to celebrate grandson Andre's tenth birthday. On Sunday we accompany Claudia to Bethlehem, PA where she will run a half-marathon. We drop her off at the starting point and slipping out of the van she says, "This one's for you, Jackie".
I'm not only stunned but deeply touched by her statement. I begin to cry. We drive pass police vehicles whose rapidly blinking lights stab red and blue that blend into a shrieking strobe. Volunteers put up barriers and set up cones. I see this through a blur of tears. I've recovered by the time we drive into the restaurant parking lot for breakfast but after we travel to the vicinity of the race tears begin once again.
As we watch the runners I silently sob behind my sunglasses. Claudia finally comes into view looking fresh as a daisy having completed what she thought was a 13 k half marathon but what she discovered en route was actually 13 miles. I hug her and sob. "I thought of you through the whole race and you just pulled me along," she says,"just as you will be pulled along in your race - and you will win it."
There is an air of triumph in that small city square. People mill about talking and eating fruit from stands bursting with color. A band plays. David and Andre begin to dance. I look up into the blue September sky. Above the chaotic scene a lone Monarch butterfly floats effortlessly. This is my hope.
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About the Book
As a healer, author W. Jacqueline Johnson knew a cancer diagnosis could be a gift in one’s life, bringing valuable life lessons and even transformation. But nothing prepared her for her own diagnosis and the debilitating effects of chemotherapy and radiation. In The Guest House, she narrates the story of her diagnosis, treatments, and the surprising aftermath.
Johnson shares how, as a healthy woman who only saw the doctor for checkups, she is thrown into the medical system’s maze, having tests she never heard of and accumulating enough insurance receipts to fill a large notebook. Her progress is as slow and unpredictable as an upstate New York spring.
In Guest House, she tells how she lost all faith in the healing process. But one day something happened as she danced beside a flowing stream, and she felt the subtle energy returning to her body. Slowly, bit by bit, the healing process worked within her in ways she never thought possible as she experienced the liberation of vulnerability and doorways opened through pain. She learned lessons during the journey that led her to believe that cancer is, indeed, magical.
About the Author
W. Jacqueline Johnson is a former educator who has devoted her retirement years to inner work and a deep study of healing. She and her husband David have three adult children and two grandsons. They live in the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York with their cat Gia.