‘I thought if I was going to die I should write some things down’

Kirsty Everett was going to be an Olympic gymnast. But as she made plans to win gold, life, as it does, laughed at the goal she’d set. Aged nine, she was diagnosed with leukaemia and spent the next two and a half years in treatment and attending the funerals of children she met in the cancer ward. At the age of sixteen, Kirsty’s cancer returned. Faced with a devastating prognosis, she threw herself into as much as she could – friends, school, drama, sport, even a life-writing course with Patti Miller. As she said, ‘I thought if I was going to die I should write some things down.’

Against the odds, Kirsty survived. She never achieved gold at the Olympics, but she learned a lot about people, attitudes and resilience.

This is a book about growing up different when you want to be the same; sparking hostility where there should be support; and how love can be tested to its utmost. It’s wise and unflinching and hopeful, and you won’t feel the same after reading it.