The Sensitive One

At age fifty, Susan Morris is diagnosed with breast cancerand shes floored. Desperate to pinpoint the cause, one night she decides to type a question into her search engine: What are the risk factors of getting breast cancer? Shes surprised to discover research showing that long-term exposure to stress and traumatic childhood experiences can both increase the risk of breast cancer. The Sensitive One is a braided memoir that alternates between Morriss childhoodas a sensitive child and then teenager who shouldered the burden of caring for her younger siblings as her dads alcoholism tore at the threads of their home lifeand an adult who for a decade-plus has been living a trauma-free life with a caring husband and rewarding career in nursing . . . only to be diagnosed with breast cancer. This is a story of redemptionof a woman who manages to escape harrowing circumstances and start anewbut its also a story of how our legacy lives within us, and how healing from the adverse effects of childhood can truly take a lifetime.