Our Cancer Boy reveals the conversations carried on by letters written by Michael Murdock and his second-grade classmates after Michael received a diagnosis identifying his cancer as a medulloblastoma. His classmate’s letters ask with candor the questions on any caring persons mind and provide glimpses into the joys and worries of children’s lives. Michael’s responses, like the interlocking building blocks he loves to shape into complex constructions, assemble a portrait, piece by piece, of a courageous and hopeful boy determined to live and to find joy.
Each student’s letter appears with a photograph of the writer and Michael’s response. Taken as a collection, the correspondence in Our Cancer Boy illuminates the precarious journey of children with cancer, inspiring young students to discover their inner resources and reach out to those around them and to grow with renewed compassion, courage, and hope, observed Gail Hasbrouck Malguy, school psychologist.
If you worry about someone you know who is living with cancer, if you are a parent or other adult who cares for a child in similar circumstances, or if you desire to meet a boy and his friends and discover the hardiness of their friendships and the durability of his hope, then Our Cancer Boy will share with you Michael Murdocks inspiring and heartwarming story.
