Almost a Princess

It's been said that cancer is a disease that steals away the feeling of perfection. Author Jane Loeb Rubin is all too familiar with this feeling. In Almost a Princess, she presents a collection of essays that document her twice-fought battle with cancer. In this memoir, Rubin, a hospital administrator and two-time cancer survivor, shares her experiences from the dual perspectives of a patient and a health care professional. She reflects on her life growing up in a secular Jewish home with a hard-nosed but loving father, marrying her high school sweetheart at nineteen, raising three children as a divorced single parent, working in the health care field, remarrying in her forties, and becoming a grandmother-all with the wise insights gained from struggling with her own health challenges. Almost a Princess discusses the coping strategies Rubin developed for herself, provides insight for other cancer patients and their families, and reflects on what it means to be a survivor. She communicates the importance of embracing what we are given each day, doing the best we can with it, and feeling the joy and fulfillment that comes with our past, present, and ongoing life stories.