The Story
A caregiver's brutally honest account of the emotional toll
and practical challenges of caring for a loved one with terminal liver cancer
"Medicine is so advanced these days. This treatment is going to
work," my father insisted, even as his doctor had just explained that the
liver cancer treatment was about life extension, not a cure.
What followed was a year and a half of navigating his care while he refused to
acknowledge he was dying. Family tensions surfaced that we had spent decades
avoiding. Singapore's healthcare system excelled at treatment but struggled
with the human side of terminal illness. And I discovered that caregiving
someone in denial is nothing like what anyone prepares you for.
This book peels back the sanitized narratives around illness and death. It
looks at how terminal diagnoses can reignite unresolved trauma and force us to
confront what we've avoided in ourselves, our families, and our cultures. For
anyone who has faced loss and found themselves asking what really matters in
the end.
About the Author
Stephanie Chu is a former civil servant who traded government meetings for deadlifts when she started her own fitness business. A literature major who once taught in secondary school (which feels like several lifetimes ago), she has spent her career helping people in different ways, first through education and the civil service, then through mental-health-focused fitness.
Description
A caregiver's brutally honest account of the emotional toll
and practical challenges of caring for a loved one with terminal liver cancer
"Medicine is so advanced these days. This treatment is going to
work," my father insisted, even as his doctor had just explained that the
liver cancer treatment was about life extension, not a cure.
What followed was a year and a half of navigating his care while he refused to
acknowledge he was dying. Family tensions surfaced that we had spent decades
avoiding. Singapore's healthcare system excelled at treatment but struggled
with the human side of terminal illness. And I discovered that caregiving
someone in denial is nothing like what anyone prepares you for.
This book peels back the sanitized narratives around illness and death. It
looks at how terminal diagnoses can reignite unresolved trauma and force us to
confront what we've avoided in ourselves, our families, and our cultures. For
anyone who has faced loss and found themselves asking what really matters in
the end.
About the Author
Stephanie Chu is a former civil servant who traded government meetings for deadlifts when she started her own fitness business. A literature major who once taught in secondary school (which feels like several lifetimes ago), she has spent her career helping people in different ways, first through education and the civil service, then through mental-health-focused fitness.
