Stripped: At the Intersection of Cancer, Culture, and Christ

Note: this is an outdated version of the book. For an updated, current version, see STRIPPED: Cancer, Culture and the Cloud of Unknowing. 

Cancer--that unfair, indiscriminate, devastating disease--affects everyone at some point, whether a family member, a friend, or ourselves. It is a life-altering event of seismic proportions that forever impacts the landscape of our lives and, with raw force, pushes us to reorder priorities, reassess values, and perhaps rethink our faith. A diagnosed tumor forced Heather King to this crisis of mortality, to live at the crossroads of uncertainty, belief, fear, culture, and modern medicine. Only her faith in Christ, the Great Physician, helped her sort through the crippling uncertainty and choose her best way forward.

Stripped is a heartfelt expression of profound Catholic faith in the face of a cancer diagnosis. It chronicles King's informed decision not to blindly declare "war on her cancer" but to carefully examine all the medical evidence available and to choose to bring God into her decision making, even if that meant going against established medical advice.

The story of Stripped demonstrates how King's medical and spiritual journey led her to a place of freedom in Christ, where she could make an informed and faith-filled decision about her course of treatment and ultimately, accept her vulnerability. King learned, as we all must, that healing means so much more than simply "getting well."

Heather King is a Catholic convert with several books, among them Parched; Redeemed; Shirt of Flame; Poor Baby; and Stumble: Virtue, Vice and the Space Between. She writes a weekly column on arts and culture for Angelus News, lives in Los Angeles, and blogs at Heather-King.com.