Tragedy, terrible luck and the need to keep going was what bonded a group of six women to become friends through writing.
The Book Incubator founder Kate Heaslip recently held a writing course through the Soalris Cancer Care helping Bunbury women impacted by cancer to create their own books.
“The Incubator is an opportunity for people to write, illustrate and publish books,” she said.
“I work with people so they can tell their stories, their way – I’ve always felt that people’s stories are really important.
“We had a writing group and we would meet every week, they’ve all earned the right to be here and earned their chance to speak, to be themselves and be ok with that.”
Mandy Roney was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer in 2014 and said her book was a journey of emotions and the physical journey.
“I think it’s vital that more stories like this need to be told,” she said.
“One of the biggest things I encountered was that people don’t know how to treat you or talk to you and it makes it a lot harder.”
Tracey Aitken was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 and said it was one of the toughest journey’s of her life.
“For me to get it on paper has been a healing experience, I’ve had to at times relive the past but at the same time pinching myself thinking did I really go through all that,” she said.
“By sharing my story and getting it out there, if I can help just one person who is on a similiar path then to me it’s totally worthwhile.”
Jane Bache is the only member of the tight-knit group to not have been diagnosed with cancer but tragically lost both her husband and son within two years.
“I’m very thankful for Solaris and Kate for what they’ve done in creating a platform that is very safe for us to come and be here,” she said.
“When my son died I decided to travel, I couldn’t go home so that was my journey of healing and I want to empower people.”
All exceedingly different from one another, the seven books will be launched on December 1.
