Ill Will

For the last nine years, Penney Divan visited her gynecologist, received an "all's well" diagnosis, and was told to come back next year. But this year is different for this well-respected and busy high school principal who loves her work and lives an active lifestyle. This year, she learns she has breast cancer.

The diagnosis places her, her family, and her friends on a roller coaster ride of questions, doubts, and emotions. Strong and independent, Penney finds herself facing the formidable throes of guarded diagnoses, treatment protocol dictates, and misguided concern. Her world teetering, Penney must grasp a newfound courage to discover she is her own best resource, supporter, and advocate.

Diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer, Penney looks deep into her spirit to overcome her mounting terror and build a tenacity that can get her through biopsies, surgery, scans, treatment, her work, and her daily life. As she fights to maintain this spirit, those around her often take a surprising step back.

In this first installment of three in the Cancer Chronicles, Penney emerges with a stronger sense than ever of who and what she is all about. "Ill Will" is geared toward cancer patients and others suffering from serious illness, their caregivers, both professional and nonprofessional, and by anyone who has ever asked, "What should I say and how should I act now that she has cancer?"